Editing The Mirror (The Twilight Zone) (section)

==Plot==
In a [[Central America]]n [[dictatorship]], Ramos Clemente and his four lifelong [[confidants]], Cristo, D'Alessandro, Tabal, and Garcia, stage a successful [[revolution]] against the regime of General De Cruz. Clemente faces down De Cruz and revels in his victory, but the deposed general says that Clemente will soon learn the consequences of ruling by force and that his ornate mirror has the ability to reveal enemies in its reflection, though Clemente dismisses the latter.

When Clemente begins using the same repressive tactics used by De Cruz, a rift develops between him and his friends, now government heads. When Clemente looks into the mirror, he sees visions implying that all four of his confidantes are plotting to assassinate him. Clemente believes that the mirror reflects their true thoughts and accuses them of their supposed future crimes. A particular point of contention is Clemente's order for  [[Capital punishment|mass executions]] of prisoners he has declared to be [[enemy of the state|enemies of the state]]. When one confidant reproaches Clemente, Clemente throws him off a balcony to his death; later, Clemente orders two confidantes to start the executions and then secretly orders his guards to kill them as well. He shoots the last confidant himself.

Sometime later, Clemente is approached by a priest named Father Tomas, who asks him to end the executions which have been going on for a week. Clemente refuses, saying that as long as he has enemies, the executions will continue. Eventually however, Clemente seeks counsel from the priest, but finds no comfort in the priest's response that all [[tyrant]]s have but one real enemy, whom they never recognize until it is too late. Clemente takes one more look in the mirror and sees only himself. He picks up his pistol and throws it at the mirror, smashing the glass. The priest, standing outside Clemente's office, hears the breaking glass and then a gunshot. He rushes into Clemente's office and finds Clemente's lifeless body sprawled on the floor, killed by his own gun when it hit the floor and discharged. "The last [[assassin]]," he says, "and they never learn. They never seem to learn."