Every time Oren went into the bathroom for his bath, there he was - the boy on the other side of the mirror.

Oren thought he knew the boy but he was not sure. The boy looked very familiar.

The boy was always having things done to him by people wanting to keep him clean and warm. His hair brushed. Eyes wiped. Ears cleaned. Clothes changed. He was always so clean and handsome.

There was not much that Oren could do that the boy could not also do. He could stand like Oren. Wave his hands. He could even sit and cry.

But there was at least one thing that Oren could do that the boy could not. No matter how hard he tried, the boy could not leave mirror.

Oren would be marched away after a bath, and put to bed.

The boy just stayed there, behind the mirror, all night in the dark bathroom, and all day by himself, until the next night when Oren would return for his bath. It was such a lonely life for the boy inside the mirror waiting for his companion to return.  The boy was so pleased when evening returned and his friend would come back for his nightly bath.

The boy may have ended each day handsome and clean, but he was mostly very bored waiting for his friend Oren to come back to the bathroom.

One night, Oren waved the boy goodbye as he left the bathroom on his way to bed. “See you tomorrow,” Oren whispered (so no parent would overhear). The boy waved back, but then he decided that he could not bear to be left alone any longer. He banged on the mirror. “Let me out!” he cried. No one could hear. He banged and shouted, but still no one could hear. “I want to get out of here!”

He banged on the mirror with all his strength, until suddenly it cracked.

He stopped with fright  - what would the people in the house say? He had broken the mirror. He peeped through the crack into the bathroom. He decided he could not care what the people thought. He grinned. He was not going to stay behind the mirror a moment longer. He sucked in his chest, and slid through the crack. Free at last! He had never felt happier in his life.

He ran down the hallway into Oren’s room, only to find his friend asleep. He quietly lay down by Oren’s side. It was impossible to tell who was who.

When Oren awoke, he got the shock of his life. There was the boy by his side. Everywhere he went, the boy followed.

That evening in the bath, the two of them splashed to their hearts’ content, while Oren’s father wondered how the mirror had cracked, and why the bathroom floor was twice as wet as usual.