*
When I came to, the warm light of sunrise bathed the bathroom. I was curled up in the tub; I reeked of blood. The morning light stung, but did nothing more as it bathed my back when I got out of the tub. Yay for technology. I started the shower. Damn it. My reflection greeted me with a finger to her lips. I had forgotten about my girlfriend.
Being as quiet as possible, I searched the house. I was alone. My reflection was messing with me as usual. While I was in the kitchen I threw my blood soaked track suit into the burnable trash bag. They never sorted, I was safe. The sound of splashing water and child like laughter echoed from the hallway mirror as I made my way back to the bathroom. She was having more fun.
It wasn’t hard to find out why she was having fun. A corpse, shredded and torn like it had been attacked by a wild animal, lay contorted in the tub. Red stained water pooled around it. The child like laughter crept up the stream from the shower head, leaving bursts of water in its wake.
“Take it back,” I spat at my reflection.
It shook its head and laughed.
I hit the mirror, but my reflection remained unfazed.
The blood that spotted my body like some macabre Rorschach test dried as I cleaned up the mess left by my reflection. I couldn’t stop this from happened again. Every time it happened at a different time, in a different way. No matter what precautions I took, I always had to clean it up.
I called my girlfriend and apologized for disappearing; she was understanding and told me she would give me some space while I recollect myself. My chest burned, my mouth watered. Oh how hungry she made me.
I wrapped the body in numerous plastic bags and took it to my basement. Where it would stay till sundown. I scoured the house for any sign of my mistake, any drop of blood, pieces of skin. I knew I wouldn’t find anything, but it didn’t hurt to look. I had too many mirrors; even if they were needed.
By the time I had finished my cover up, it was almost noon. I was also still half naked and covered in dry blood. I didn’t want to deal with my reflection while I showered, but it was a lesser evil, so I gave in. She was oddly placid in the end.
The sky was engulfed by dark clouds the morning it started. The ground silently moaned under the advancing shadow. It was only a scare tactic; something that meant little in the end. But mankind didn’t realize that. Some ran, some fought back, it was all futile. That was how catastrophe broke out. Mankind, without even time to pray, was consumed by the fear. Everywhere the cities, all covered by Death’s veil, turned to ruins of memory.
Now I am unable to run away; living in a cage of my own creation. Trapped in sorrow, tied to anguish, I live wandering in eternal night. Tomorrow never comes, always I dream for an end that never comes.
