Dark Spirit | muke au

03.

Michael awakes at three a.m. His body is sore, his neck aching as he sits up. He has to take a wee. He sleepily walks to the bathroom, his eyes narrow as he wipes the sleep away.

He doesn't bother to close the door behind him, and he quickly does his business. He walks to the sink, pouring soap into his hands as he waits for the water to warm up before washing them. He looks up, freezing on spot as he notices something odd about the mirror.

Absentmindedly, he grabs a towel from the hanging rack, wets it, before wiping away the hand print on his mirror. But it doesn't wash away. He scrubs, until his arm aches but it won't wash off. He gives up, sighing, and blames it on being awake in the middle of the night.

He trudges back to bed, ignoring the gust of cold air as he passes under the attic, and crawls back into bed. He pulls the blanket under his chin, staring at the wall even though he can only see darkness. He blinks, and he yawns again, pulling the blanket even tighter around him as he shivers.

The black shadow in his corner creeps closer, almost gliding across the hard wood floor. As if it were floating. The last thing Michael saw before falling asleep was blond hair and a sinister smile.

--

When Michael wakes up, the first thing he does is gather clothes for the day. He has the school day off, and he has no plans but he doesn’t want to stay in his pajamas all day. Maybe he could call up Ashton, and go see a film. He sends Ashton a quick text, even though he’s probably asleep, and then starts walking to the bathroom. He glances at himself in the mirror, but freezes on spot as he sees a hand print on his mirror.

He has goose bumps on his arms as he raises his left hand and sets it over the hand on the mirror. It’s much larger than Michael’s hand, he notices. He also suspects it’s a right hand, but that would mean…

That would mean the hand is from inside the mirror, and with that thought Michael quickly backs up because no way could that hand print be inside his mirror. That was only in movies. Specifically, the movie Mirrors. Michael wasn’t in a horror film based on mirrors filled with demons. No, Michael was living in reality and someone had to be pulling a sick prank, or Michael was going crazy. Michael backs up even further, bumping into his door as he frantically scrambles out of the bathroom.

He remembers now. He remembers waking up last night to wee and he saw the hand print but thought nothing of it. He vaguely remembers seeing someone, but that could have been his imagination. He isn’t sure. He’s sure, though, that he needs to leave before he has a breakdown, because Michael has never dealt with things like this. He isn’t even sure what is going on. He wants to believe it’s some sick prank, but no one has been in his flat since Ashton was here, which was yesterday, but he would have seen it last night before bed.

He walks back to his room, deciding to change there and he’ll just get a shower later. He grabs his cell phone, stuffs it into his pocket before fast walking out of his room, down to the living room where he slips on his vans, and he is out the door.

He knows Ashton’s mum is home, she’s probably awake knitting away on the couch as the rest of the family sleeps. Ashton still lives at home, even though Michael has offered him a room at his flat. He has an extra room, and maybe, just maybe, he could convince Ashton to move in.

--

Michael hastily knocks, rocking on his heels as he waits for someone to open the door. It doesn’t take long for it to happen, and much to his surprise its Ashton answering the door.

“Hey! You’re here early.” Ashton greets, stepping aside for Michael. Ashton is dressed, and surprisingly he looks wide awake.

“Hey, yeah.” Michael pulls out his phone, and checks for a message from Ashton. Which he did receive, a few minutes after sending one. “I forgot to check my phone. I thought you would still be asleep so I was just going to hang here with your mum until you woke up.” He shrugs, putting his phone back into his pocket.

“Nah, mum’s making me wake up earlier now. I think she’s getting tired of me.” Ashton chuckles as they both walk into the kitchen.

“My offer is still open.” Michael says, thanking whoever for this chance to bring it up. Ashton gives him a weird look. “The offer to be my roommate. You’d have your own room…privacy…” Michael sheepishly smiles, praying he said yes. “I know how much you hate sharing a room with your brother. You can have as much time as you need to find a job, and help pay bills. It’d be so cool.” Michael bits his lip, staring as Ashton stands quietly.

“I’ll think about it.” Ashton says, leaning against the counter as he stares at Michael.

“Well, I hope you say yes.” Michael grins, grabbing an apple off the counter, and bites down.

“Wait, that’s –“

Michael  spits out the apple, staring down at it with a disgusting face. “Why do you have fake fruit on your counter?!”

Ashton bends over, laughing. He puts his hands on his knees, afraid of falling over. Michael’s face is growing red from embarrassment, as he walks to the trash can and throws away the fake apple. “That was the worst thing, ever.” He says, scrunching his face as he pulls a water bottle from the fridge.

“Yeah, yeah.” Ashton is chuckling to himself now. “But very funny.”

“But very funny.” Michael mocks, making a face that throws Ashton into another fit of laugher.

--

The boys go see a new film, Transformers 4, and then spend the next twenty minutes in the car discussing how cool the graphics looked, and how the action was amazing to watch. They stop at Panda Express; they both order Orange Chicken with fried rice. Michael parks the car when they get their food, and they eat in silence for a while before Ashton breaks it.

“You’re going to help me with my belongings, right?” He asks. Michael stares at him, confused.

“What?”

“Well, you asked me to move in.” He chuckles, shrugging. “The least you can do is help me pack and move things.”

Michael grins, “Really?! You’ll move in?!” He shouts. Ashton nods, a wide grin on his face.

“Yeah, I mean it’s about time I move out. I’m twenty-two, I shouldn’t be with my mother.” He laughs.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll help you move. When do you want to start?”

“Now? If you want.”

“Okay.” He grins, putting his trash in the bag before driving off to Ashton’s, again.

--

Michael has so much fun helping Ashton pack, he forgets about what happened at home that morning. He forgets about being afraid, about the blond hair he saw last night. He forgets what awaits him at home, because he’s having the time of his life right now. Never has he been more excited, than now. Because now he wouldn’t be alone. His best mate was moving in with him. This was only the beginning of everything.