Warm water cascaded from the shower head, obliterating the soap suds like houses caught in a tsunami. The shower floor was momentarily covered by a brown pool as the dirt of the day was washed away. The drain greedily inhaled the water body, feasting on the impurity and awaiting the next wave to help wash it down. A dainty hand reached out and twisted the metal shower nozzle to the left, stopping the stream. The drain gurgled in discontentment. The dainty hand reached out again and grabbed an embroidered blue towel from a rack, wiping away clusters of water droplets, starting from her head and ending with the soles of her feet. A high-pitched sigh was released and the towel was wrapped around her chest as she stepped onto a fluffy shower carpet before slipping into her rubber bathroom slippers. She could hear the muffled whispers of her bed through the bathroom door, the sultry voice of her silk sheets being the most audible amongst the rabble. ‘I’ll be there soon.’ she whispered back and the rabble fell silent in acknowledgement of this promise.
She turned to look in the mirror for a few seconds. Her eyes widened and she shook her head as she stared at her reflection, nose-shaped lines rested between her brows and creases ran down the bridge of her nose. There were pages hidden in those collections of lines that bound together to create a book that told the story of her working life, she hoped to retire before her face became a library. Her mind raced to think of solutions, maybe she should just give in to the trends and get anti-wrinkle cream. There was this one being advertised everywhere, what was it called again? Regen? Maybe smiling would help. She had heard that it would make you happier, even if it was a fake one. The corners of her lips stretched and she exposed her teeth. It was rigid but still, it was an attempt. She forced her rigid smile but the mirror did not give her the expected feedback. Her reflection remained neutral, in fact, it seemed to be frowning. She stopped smiling and stared quizzically, this time her expression in the mirror followed suit. It must have been my imagination, she thought, let me try this again. She once again forced a smile, and once again her reflection scowled but this time it did something even stranger. It spoke.
‘What do you think you’re trying to do?’. She took a hurried step back. ‘Wipe that look off your face. I’m not a ghost. I asked you a question. What do you think you’re trying to do?’. She took a few more steps back, this time a bit slower, and turned left to reach for the door. As her fingertips brushed the door handle a coarse hand clasped onto her bare shoulder and dug its fingers in. Its nails were unkempt and rugged, with particles of dirt congealed on the underside of each of them. She whimpered like a whipped dog as the grip tightened. The hand raised her slowly off the ground as she struggled to escape its grasp, thrashing around like an infant throwing a tantrum, but to no avail. Her blue toenails scratched against the floor tiles until they could no longer touch them, her swinging legs now inflicted violence upon the air. The hand adjusted her position until she was horizontal and hurled her towards the apparition in the mirror. She hurtled like a javelin thrown by an olympian through the air and right before she made contact with the glass, a second hand grabbed her other shoulder and held her in place. ‘You’re a pretty rude person. I asked you the same question twice and you tried to walk away like I wasn’t talking to you.’. The hands drew her closer to the mirror, inches away from what looked to be her own face. Its eyes shone, its brow creased, its lips shuddered. Droplets of spit leaked from its mouth and its arms began to tremble. The girl closed her eyes and pursed her lips, goosebumps ran all the way down to her toes.
Finally, it spoke. Its voice was as harsh and stinging to the ears as lime squirted directly into an eye. ‘You can try to smile me away, it won’t work. When you wake up, I’ll be there. When you sleep, I’ll be there. When you eat, I’ll be there. When you breathe, I will be there.’. It paused for breath, its pupils were dilated and saliva now fell like a stream from the corners of its mouth. Beads of sweat the size of raindrops trickled down her face. ‘You can’t escape me. Even if you quit your job you’ll find another way to bring me back around. I’m a part of you, and with the way you’re going, soon I’ll own you.’. She shivered uncontrollably, she could neither fight nor take flight from the danger in front of her. Tears welled up in her eyes and she began sobbing. It looked at her and smiled, its teeth were stained coffee black and its gums were littered with sores. Its grip on her shoulder tightened. ‘You’re so pretty when you cry!’ it shrieked. Suddenly, a shrill beeping sound came from her bedroom and the woman’s smile began to fade. ‘I guess it’s bedtime. I’ll let you get comfortable. Enjoy while you can.’. The hands let go of her and she dropped to the floor unceremoniously, her towel loosened and the cold floor tiles only compounded her shivering.
The beeping flooded her eardrums and suddenly she was awake again. She was stood upright, staring blankly at her reflection. As she saw her face in the mirror her legs gave way and her knees struck the floor tiles with a bang. She was sprawled on the floor, her chest rising and falling in rapid succession, her mouth dry, her eyes wide. It felt so real but was it really? The incessant beeping continued as she lay there dazed, she could feel everything and nothing all at once, trapped in a state of temporary paralysis. Ten minutes passed and her muscles slowly began loosening up, three minutes later she regained partial control of her limbs.
She crawled to the door, using her arms to propel herself forward, and reached for the handle. She stretched her arm as far as she could, straining every muscle that would respond, but she could not reach it and crumpled back onto the floor. She gritted her teeth and pushed herself against the door until she was leaning on it. Now the handle was within reach and she latched onto it, pulled down and pushed forward. The door weakly swung open and she continued her crawl towards her destination, her bed. She reached her bedside and stretched her hand out to grab her bedside table, she got a good enough grip and arduously raised herself off the floor and onto the bed. Her phone lay on the table and she tapped the stop button to finally silence the incessant beeping. The girl sat on the bed with her eyes closed for a few seconds, took a long, deep breath, and rolled into her silk sheets. As she lay under the sheets she unwrapped her towel and pushed it to the other side of the bed. Finally, she could attempt to sleep. She shut her eyelids and sighed, it was time to overwrite that nightmare with a sweet, sweet dream. A sense of calm spread through her body and she let herself submerge into the realm of slumber. As her final traces of consciousness were about to fade she felt a single fingernail brush against her skin, she jolted awake and looked around but there was nothing there. ‘My imagination is getting the best of me today.’ she said as she lay back down. She closed her eyes again, preparing to accept the gift of sleep that had almost been in her grasp. As she drifted off once more and her consciousness faded an audible whisper trickled into her ears. ‘See you in dreamland.’.
Comments