Mirrors Reflect

Date: 11/8/2016

I stumbled into the bathroom, my vision fuzzy and my knees weak. The fluorescent lighting buzzed to life when I grazed my fingertips against the switch. I shut my eyes and recoiled against the harsh light. When it passed I looked back into the bathroom. Powder blue tiles covering the bottom half of the walls, white on the top half, peeling tile on the floor, a toilet with its lid up, a bathtub hidden behind a clear plastic shower curtain, and a sink with a long landscape mirror above it. Nothing out of the ordinary. I found my way to the mirror and glanced into my reflection. A scream ripped out of my lungs but no sound came out. My feet tangled themselves when I stepped back in fright causing me to tumble to the ground in a heap. I looked up at the mirror from the ground. Just the bathroom was reflected back. I pulled up my hand and looked at it. My pale skin was smooth, my nails unpolished but clipped tidy. I brought my hands up to my face and felt my skin. Everything checked out, I was me. Shaken, but ready, I grabbed the sink and pulled myself up. Keeping my eyes closed. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes to see he mirror. Pale green eyes looked back at me for dark black sockets of a ghostly white wolf skull. Long straight scarlet red hair hung around her shoulders with feathers of a crow tied to the tips. She was wearing a black hoody a size too big for her, with the hood up. I swallowed back some fear beginning to rise up and lifted my hand. She raised hers. Her skin was night sky black with white speckles like stars. Her nails sharpened into claws and the same red as her hair. She mimicked my moment to the tee. She was me, but not me. "I'm here." It was just nearly an audible whisper, but it echoed around me like a shout in a stadium. I took my eyes away from her to look all around me. "Don't be afraid." I stepped back and so did she. "I will make it painless." I looked back at her, she was the only other person here. The only one who could be talking to me. "Didn't you call me?" Then she moved, I didn't. Her other arm raised and she looked like she wanted me to come to her for a hug. "I am here, I will take all your pain away." My breathing evened... I understood. I raised my arms to mimic hers. The response was immediate. She seemed to launch out of the mirror, fast enough to lose definition. A light tickle to my wrists and a weight added to my right hand brought my attention down. Two slender, perfect vertical cuts displayed on both my wrists. A decorative obsidian dagger in my hand. My back slumped against the cool wall. She placed a cold hand against my cheek. A single tear fell out of my eye as I fell all the way to the floor. And when my grip on the dagger lost all tension I woke up in my room. My wrists were not cut. And when I went to the bathroom: my reflection was me. -Anansi Silverthread