A Passage Through Time (Part One Of A Three-Part Short Story.)

The cold fingers of darkness that spelled the approaches a frosty November night, had steadily crept upon the village silently, and ever so suddenly, making Jamie feel a little uneasy and on-edge with herself. She had already been in bed just a little over three hours since falling asleep. But, she had already turned off the television in her lounge at just after 11 o'clock last night and had seen the dimness of daylight fade into night as sat curled up on her sofa.

Jamie could not recall getting from the sofa to her bedroom that night.

Her eyes had been glued to the flat-screen television on the wall of the lounge of her one-bedroomed flat, but right now, she could not even recall what she had been watching. It seemed to her that her mind had been elsewhere, and it was only now, that she was sensing her sadness, but at the same moment, had no idea why she felt saddened either. Sat huddled and alone in her bed, she noticed her drying tears streaking her cheeks. Almost at the same point, Jamie felt the dampness of the pillowcases and suddenly realized she must have been crying.

She fumbled, stretching out her left arm for the bedside lamp switch, suddenly there was a dulled sound of something banging upon the floor nearby, followed almost instantaneously by a sloshing sound.

'Click.'

Jamie located the lamp switch and the bedroom began to swathe in a warm amber hue. She grinned to herself as she suddenly understood that the noises she had moments ago heard, was her mug of hot chocolate being knocked to the bedroom carpet. Luckily the cup was intact, but the long-ago, cold fluid was definitely going to leave a stain on that floor. Sighing she resigned herself that the stain was the least of her worries. Serves her right she thought, for buying a light pink carpet!

She accepted the fact that she had gotten herself into a state of mind right now which made her feel as if her whole body was incessantly itching, as if ants were, in fact, crawling all over her body, where she was unable to lie back down and attempt sleep for a minute longer. After all, she felt sticky and uncomfortable as he slowly became more aware of the state of the bed she was currently occupying. The sheet she had been laid on was only half covering the mattress, whilst the duvet had already found itself in a heap at the bottom of her bed. Trying to recollect as to why, she could only assume she just had another one of those bad, unsettle nights. The thing for it now, she thought to herself, I need a hot shower, to help relax me...

Gingerly stepping over the wet patch on the bedroom carpet, she walked a few feet to the doorway to open it, to walk across the short landing to her bathroom. Immediately scrunching her eyes as the blinding light of the landing area dazzled her sleep-deprived eyes, coming from the bedroom which had afforded her some darker luminescence up until this moment.

As he turned on the shower, giving it a few moments to heat up to a nice warm and comforting temperature, she wriggled out of her 'sleepy bunny' pajamas. They felt cold to her skin now as the sweat had dried now. Ridding herself of them, she allowed them to fall into a crumpled heap on the bathroom floor, giving them a gentle kick to shove them to the corner of the small room.

She turned toward the mirror next to her already heating up shower now, which was beginning to steam up the shower enclosure rapidly. Jamie caught sight of her naked body in the bathroom mirror, reflecting the painful scar tissue across her left breast, reminding her of those painful heartfelt memories of a distant past.

At the mere age of 22 years old, Jamie felt abhorred by the breast scarring that stood out like a blackened railway gauge zig-zagging across the length of what she used to enjoy showing off those assets to men with her low cut tops, when she had been single and had proudly displayed her chest, just to watch men revel in the frustration of those who cast eyes upon her. Almost as if that sight was not enough to make the tears fall again, she saw the further scarring, but less visible now as the years had gone by, although she always knew they were there nevertheless, self-harm lines down the length of her arms, which she would (indeed could not) be allowed to forget they were there.

Jamie tore her eyes away from the damned mirror as if the sheer power of the mirror could so cruelly bring back her past to her whenever she gazed into it; almost as if the mirror held magical powers in itself.

Tears began to roll uncontrollably down her cheeks now as she willed her legs to take her headful of emotions away from the mirror as she attempted to step into the inviting shower enclosure. The heat of the shower spray felt invigorating to Jamie as allowed it to trickle over her short blonde hair and down across her short five-foot-tall slim body. The cascading water made her feel alive once more. The harsh memories of her night's sleep cut short by the hurt within her, were beginning to vanish and fade away into a far-off vault, to be locked safely inside of her, until the next time that night enveloped her.

After what to her, felt like an eternity, Jamie twisted the dial on the shower to stem the flow of water. Sliding open the shower enclosure, her arms fumbled for the towel she had earlier hung on the warmth of the radiator rail, to pat her face dry. Gingerly stepping down from the slightly raised platform of the shower, she started wrapped the towel around her slender body, not bothering to get herself dry, and eager to leave the bathroom without feeling the intense pulling nature that the mirror was attempting to draw her attention back to it.

The clock on the opposite wall illuminated the time. 3 am. Sleep was but a distant far gone memory now to her...

************

I wonder if this made you think of a night when this has happened to you? Follow me here on Vocal and catch my next two installments as they are published. If you liked it then please give me a heart. Tips are always optional but, they keep allowing me to push my creativity forward too...

If you'd like to join Vocal then please click here.

If you'd like to read more of my articles already on Vocal then please click here.

You can also find me on Twitter @JonathanDTowne1

_______________________________________________

To read the final parts of my short story on Jamie & PTSD you can visit Amazon to purchase the full version available from 30th September 2021 (see link below.)

____________________________________________________