Lola in the Mirror

The drawing depicts a girl on a bike fleeing a massive monster claw emerging from the water. The museum label explains that this work was completed while the artist eluded Flora Box, and it suggests that the hand is invincible.

Lola runs. She knows she cannot go to the police station because her knife, with her fingerprints on it, is in Flora’s arm. Instead of going to the scrapyard, she keeps running. While cleaning up inside a gas station bathroom, she thinks of Danny but then discovers $50,000 inside her backpack. Wracking her brain, she remembers Esther’s hole in the ground, and when she arrives there, Lola convinces the woman to let her stay.

The sketch depicts broken pieces of glass reflecting parts of a woman’s face and landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Queen Street Mall. The museum label explains that this is a self-portrait that illustrates the artist as both predator and prey in her hunt for her identity.

Esther’s hole is much larger and more habitable than Lola thought it would be. For three days, Lola stays inside while the rain continues. She listens to the news on the radio. The hole is dark, but Esther likes it because she is invisible. One night, when Esther returns, she describes Danny in a brown vintage suit on the bridge. He goes every night, waiting for hours. When Lola insists on seeing him, Esther dissuades her because Flora’s men are everywhere. She advises waiting until the flood causes panic, for then, no one will notice Lola. She can go to Danny and meet her sister, Phoebe.

When the day to meet Phoebe arrives, Lola leaves. Wearing a yellow raincoat, Lola moves stealthily, and when she sneaks into the scrapyard, she feels guilt about the destruction Ephraim’s men caused. Her magic mirror is fractured into hundreds of pieces, and she whispers for Lola Inthemirror. The reflection responds from a hole in the dirt, her face composed of glass fragments reflecting different versions of her. When Lola, the girl, admits that she is falling apart, the woman tells her she must find answers and meet her sister. After the reflection claims that the girl will triumph, Lola disagrees, and the reflection dissolves into the soil. Before disappearing, the woman tells Lola that the mirror is not magical, the girl is.

As Lola weeps, Charlie appears with bruises on his face. Lola reveals her plan to meet her sister before running away for good. When Charlie sees the money in her backpack, he vows to come with her. They whisper “colorful” to each other, and Lola learns that he has not had a drink in four days. They plan to meet later, and then she asks him for the key to Danny’s house.

Lola’s drawing shows a dead girl with blood pooling at her abdomen. She is in front of Brisbane City Hall, which represents, according to the museum label, the city’s apathy for the artist’s demise.

As Lola rides past the river, the water churns angrily, tossing things as big as yachts and houses in its current. Lola pedals fast until she reaches Danny’s house. She races to the door, and Danny’s mother answers, knowing instantly who she is because Danny has not stopped talking about Lola. His mother says she thought it was a beautiful story of how they met, and she had hoped Lola would show up on the bridge.

When Lola steps inside the house, Danny is there, and she asks why he wore the brown suit to the bridge. He wants to be part of her story, and he tries to make them into the image in the mirror. Then, she cries as she explains having been in his house and seeing the drawing before he showed it to her. When he keeps his head down, she turns to leave, telling him to stop waiting for her. Danny refuses. He wants to help her and repeats this even after she says that someone else is writing her story and they can do nothing about it. As she pedals away, he pledges to never stop waiting and to always see her. She vows to never stop running.