Deadly Reflections
A short tale of horror
I awoke in pain, my body, my head, not wanting to move at all in the dim moonlight of the small hours. And I was still a little drunk from the evening, still in my dress and not my nightgown. I stumbled gingerly to the bathroom, holding on to the wall and partly hopping to get there, at first almost forgetting that walking was a difficulty for me now.
I needed desperately to relieve my aching bladder, and an awkward pivot to the toilet was required to sit, one leg locked straight to one side. Out the small window to the back yard, the full moon peeked between the tall trees that always kept the house in deep shadow. I considered the throbbing in my head, while relieving myself of the evening’s drinks.
After levering myself back upright, I hopped to the sink, washing my hands and drying them on the towel on the sink. The medicine cabinet behind the small antique mirror still had the row of my prescribed pain killers on the lowest shelf, all unopened, and maybe I hoped that merely looking at them would be enough to take some of the endless pain away. I closed the old medicine cabinet, swinging the mirror back into place and closed my eyes a moment, just breathing.
When I opened my eyes, the mirror reflected a face that wasn’t mine.
