Or did I....?
I remember "waking up" in complete darkness. I couldn't tell whether I was outside or just in a very large drafty room.
It was so much worse than just being in the dark alone. It was constricting, claustrophobic, and it seemed like it was choking me, killing me slowly.
I stood up, and tried to walk around. I failed, running right into a wall that didn't appear to exist, except I had just felt it.
Confused, I pounded my fist on the wall. My hand connected with something cold. It felt and seemed like it could be glass, but it was way too strong to be just that. Or maybe I was just too weak.
"I.." I jumped back, startled by my own voice. The complete and utter silence left my voice loud and clear in the darkness.
I tried to back up, and failed. I bumped into another wall, similar to the one in front of me.
I stood in the center of whatever I was trapped in, and held out my arms. My fingertips grazed a cold surface.
"Am I...trapped here?" I muttered to myself. I knocked on part of the solid bubble, and a square mirror shimmered into view. It reflected my face covered in perfect makeup. My hair was curled gorgeously, framing my face. I wore an amazing Victorian dress that was fit for a queen.
I frowned, and watched as my mirror image...didn't. She kept on smiling, showing off her pearly whites. And then, she sang.
"I'll keep quiet, you won't even know I'm here, you won't suspect a thing, you won't see me in the mirror.."
The beautiful girl in the mirror changed into just me. No makeup, my hair slightly wavy and ratty. A band T-shirt and knee length shorts.
"I crept into your heart, you can't make me disappear until I make you...." the girl in the mirror now looked more like me, but there was still something off about the reflection.
She cocked her head to the side, changing once more. Her skin turned the color of ash, a sickly shade of grey. Her eyes weren't mine anymore, they were as bright and as red as hot coals.
My mirror image began to....climb. She grabbed at the outside edges of the looking glass and launched herself out at me.
I tried to dodge out of the way in our confined space, but she was too quick. She grabbed hold of my shoulder and tackled me to the ground, trying to claw at my face and throat.
She continued in my voice. "I'll be here when you think you're all alone, seeping through the cracks, I'm the poison in your bones."
She feigned disinterest in me for a moment, studying her long, grotesque fingernails. "My love is your disease, and I won't let him set you free, until I break you!" she hissed at me, trying again to slash at my neck.
She nearly decapitated me many times before I finally threw her off of me.
The demonic girl slammed against the wall and slid down until she was on her knees, like she was sitting on her ankles.
She put her face in her hands and began sobbing violently, like I had that evening.
Another "person" with ashen skin and lava-colored eyes appeared in front of her, and hugged her tight. My dark mirror image stopped crying for a moment and grinned up at me wickedly. "Weakling. Can't even get through one day without breaking down, can you?" she taunted.
"Stop!" I snapped.
The male demon glared up at me. "Weakling. Can't even care for yourself. You can't support yourself, you can't help yourself, and you can't free yourself from a tiny bubble."
Now that I saw its face, the demon was a startlingly spitting image of Jack, except for the eyes and the skin and the hair, which was also a sickening gray.
"I said STOP." I repeated.
The male demon smirked before disappearing into smoke. The demon that resembled me stood up and faced me.
She took one of her jagged fingernails, as sharp as a knife, and ran it down my lower cheek, close to my jawline. I felt warmth spread across my face as the skin opened and blood slowly oozed out of the cut.
I tried to move, or hit her, or something to get her away from me! But I couldn't move. I was frozen where I stood.
"Struggling only makes the pain worse. You know that. All the sadness you have felt, I have inflicted. We are not so different, you and I." she said quietly.
Before I could respond, she flashed a ghastly smile that sent shivers up my back, and she too disappeared in a flash of vapor.
I clenched my jaw, and wiped blood off the cut, wincing and hissing in pain.
"We are nothing alike." I said angrily.
******************************************
I felt a mattress underneath my body. It was soft like memory foam, so it definitely wasn't mine. I tried to remember last night.
Mom....
I had told the story. All the way through, I told it. I hadn't lied about any of it, for the first time ever.
After Jack had hugged me, I didn't remember anything.
Did I...fall asleep against him?, I thought.
I felt my face heat up immensely with embarrassment. I groaned lightly at my stupidity and facepalmed.
I heard light whistling coming from another room. The tune was fairly repetitive, but the song was still pretty.
I opened my eyes and swung my legs over the side of the comfortable bed, stepping down onto the carpeted floor.
I opened the white wooden door slowly, and stepped out.
An Irishman wearing a grey flat cap was whistling softly and cracking eggs into a bowl filled with vanilla extract, flour, and cinnamon.
"Very manly." I said abruptly.
Jack turned to me, smiling contentedly, until he saw my hair. He snorted, trying to contain his childish laughter. He gave me another one of those mischievous smiles that would send any babysitter running.
"Nice hair." he said smugly.
"Nice gross, half solid pancake batter."
Jack grabbed a whisk from off the nearby counter and began rapidly stirring the mixture.
"What were you whistling?" I asked.
Jack grinned slightly to himself. "Moongazer." was all he said.
I furrowed my brow, but decided not to question it.
He poured the tan batter into two seperate pans on a stove and let them cook for a minute.
"Sleep well?" he asked, chuckling.
I flushed bright red. The nightmare came back. "Um, yeah. Thanks." I mumbled.
"No problem. Good ol' Irish hospita-" he stopped dead. He was staring at me.
"What?" I asked. "Is there something on my face?"
Jack frowned. "Where did you get that scar?" he asked.
"What scar...?" I asked, running a finger over my cheek until I got to a spot near my jawline. I winced in pain as I touched it. There was what used to be a large cut. It wasn't there last night.
"Where's your restroom?" I asked hurriedly.
"Down the hall, second door on the right."
I nodded thanks and rushed to the bathroom.
I stared at the closed up scar on my face in the large mirror.
I didn't dare look at my reflection in the eyes, for fear it would come alive like in my dream.
"Did you cut yourself in your sleep or something?" Jack asked humorously. I didn't laugh.
Seeing this, he matched my frowning expression. "Scars don't form overnight. So what happened?" he queried. I shook my head, silent.
"If you were planning on making pancakes that weren't burnt to a crisp, I'd suggest you go tend to them." I said quietly, lost in my own thoughts.
Jack pressed his lips into a thin line before nodding and heading back out to the kitchen, where the scent of burnt batter filled the air.
I continued to study the mark on my lower cheek.
I'll worry about this later, I thought.
Shaking my head, I followed Jack out into the pristine kitchen, where pancakes drizzled lightly in syrup sat on two paper plates on a dining table.
"Let's try this again, shall we?" Jack said, sitting down in front of his plate, a child-like smile plastered on his face.
I couldn't help but grin. "Ok. Mornin'." I greeted, taking a seat across from him.
Eating with a friend is so much better than alone.
(Hey guys! So, um...yeah. I'm listening to Five Finger Death Punch as I write this, So that's a thing. I'll be more active for the next two or three days because my school is letting students out for conferences. Feel free to send me a message and comment on this story, because I adore you guys and love hearing your feedback. Thanks SO MUCH for over 200 reads, by the way!! Like I said, I adore each of you guys, and I wouldn't be this happy without you. So thanks. And I'll see you next chapter.)
Bye, guys. -Light