Exposure, part four

    The boys stared into the mirrors, first puzzled, then angry, then afraid. They backed away slowly, then turned and ran. Harbley looked on, dumbstruck, I thought, until he reached down to help me to my feet.
     He was there. All there. I felt like I was seeing him for the first time. Like he was letting me see him. His hand was warm around my wrist. His other hand was strong on my shoulder. My head didn't even reach his shoulder.
     Once he was sure I could stand without wobbling too much, he reached out for the mirror shield and slid his arm into a sleeve on the back. When he turned back to face me, he disappeared. All I saw was an empty hallway.
     Slowly the shield moved aside, and he stood there, fully visible.
     His dream is to have a shield to hide behind? But he already has one...I looked harder. No...his dream was to be seen. Seen truly.
     How could I not have seen him before? The shield wasn't real. Was it?
     It was real enough. He wore it always in one form or another to deflect the pain that so often came his way. Doing his best to mind his own business without attracting attention.
     He had my full attention now. The test was forgotten while I tried to understand.
     Until the professor came down the aisle. "Nice work, both of you." She patted both of us on the shoulder and walked on.
     ******
There's more, but it needs to be developed a little more.

(((((((((~)))))))))

11/29/14
I am unsatisfied with this post and am coming back to it the next day.
  

    This story is not progressing the way I wanted it to. In the original version, the shield of mirrors shows people who they are...or it reflects back to them what they are feeling or expressing at the time, so if they are feeling angry or behaving in an ugly way, that comes right back to them...or it is more of a deflector, concealing Harbley while showing simply an empty corridor. But I'm in the midst of a ferocious cold right now and just can't make a proper decision and then follow the path of consequence. Does Harbley really want to teach anybody anything, or does he simply want to be left alone? And judging by his general invisibility, it looks like he has already achieved his dream. He manages to walk the halls deflecting attention so well that nobody really sees him anymore. 

    So what needs to change is the assignment--the professor must ask them to find out about a secret. But what kind of public invasion of privacy is that?! A fictional one, that’s what. I would think that all of the students would fight against this as hard as possible.

    Hmmm. What if the narrator discovers the mirror shield during the process of looking for whatever she has been assigned to find? He would definitely use it to conceal his secrets from her.

    Hmmm again. She would have to have really amazing or profound inner vision to detect it.

    Well. This is a story that will require much more thought before going on with it here. But I feel better now about leaving it posted.

P.S.
The idea shield of mirrors must be at least partially inspired by a scene near the end of Man of La Mancha:

                                    The Man of La Mancha meets the Knight of the Mirrors