Pay Attention

The mirror showed a reflection that wasn’t my own. At least, it wasn’t the real me, but a version of me that looked ready for Halloween. Her long brown hair was matted with blood, one of her green eyes was swollen shut, and her pale skin was littered with bright red cuts and purple bruises. I walked closer to my bathroom mirror to get a better look at where she was. I recognized the room: it was my bathroom, and yet it wasn’t. The gray tile floor had a pool of blood by the bathtub and I could see a fist-sized hole in the door. I turned around to see if maybe a hole was really there. There was no hole, and when I turned back around, my reflection had returned to normal, leaving me standing in my flannel pajamas with a confused look on my face. No blood, no hole in the door. Maybe I was still half asleep? I decided to take a cool shower to help wake myself up. After finishing, I dressed, put on my makeup, and dried my hair. The reflection in the mirror never changed. I went downstairs to the kitchen to eat a quick bowl of cereal before leaving for work. I ate my sugar-powered breakfast quickly, washed my bowl, and headed out to my car.

Work was pretty uneventful, which made the day go by slowly. I drove home quickly and managed to get home just as the sun was setting. When I went inside, a feeling of dread settled into my stomach as I went upstairs to my bathroom to change and get settled for the night. When I walked into the bathroom I went toward the mirror and a chill ran down my spine. Halloween me was back, only this time she was on the floor crawling towards the door. She was in the same sky blue pajamas that were hanging up on the back of my door now, waiting for me since this morning. Except hers had a hole in the back and blood was pouring from a wound between her shoulders. I could hear my heart beating in my ears as I looked around in the mirror to see if anything else was amiss. I could see a bloody handprint on the white shower curtain that was too big to be mine, and I could see muddy bootprints coming from what looked like the direction of the stairs into the bathroom and leading to the shower. I could also see light coming in from the window. I took a deep breath and turned around to see if any of the horrors remained outside of the distorted mirror world. There wasn't any blood or bootprints to be found. I took a deep breath and finished getting ready for bed. I almost went to grab a different pair of pajamas, but I wasn’t going to let this crazy delusion get the best of me. Today was Friday, and now I have all weekend to rest. I was sure that was all I needed. My brain was just overworked. I went to the other door in my bathroom that led to my bedroom, and soon I was calm enough to sleep.

The next morning I awoke with dread. For the first time in my life I did not want to start my day by brushing my teeth and taking a shower. I felt ridiculous. Since when was I afraid of my bathroom? I knew there was no reason to be afraid, but I could not shake the bad feeling that had settled in my gut. Maybe just this once I could get ready in my downstairs bathroom instead. No, I needed to get a hold of myself. I had lived alone for too long to start being afraid in my own home. I sat up and walked towards the bathroom.

Rubbing my eyes, I beelined towards the sink to brush my teeth and I tried so hard to avoid looking into the mirror. I couldn’t help myself and was relieved when Halloween me was nowhere to be found. The muddy bootprints were back, but that wasn’t so bad as seeing myself covered in blood. I decided to go start coffee so it would be ready by the time I finished my shower when I noticed the floor. The bootprints were still on the floor. I knelt down to touch the mud to be sure it was really there when I felt a pain between my shoulders and let out a cry. I could feel the blood running down my back. I fell to the floor and rolled over.

Before I could focus I felt another blow to my face and my vision blurred. Tears stung my eyes as I tried to see who was attacking me. A large figure that I assumed was a man towered over me, his face covered with a ski mask and a large knife in his hand. I let out another scream and rolled over to try to get up. The man never said a word, he just stood there breathing heavily as I jumped up. My head was swimming but I kept moving my feet trying to get to the stairs. There was no point in trying to get my phone from my bedroom and I didn’t have a landline so my only chance was to get to my front door.

I managed to get down the stairs when I paused. Why wasn’t he coming after me? I looked towards the kitchen and made a split-second decision to grab a knife in case he caught up to me. I was almost to the drawer where I kept my sharpest knives when I saw another man dressed identically to the one upstairs sitting at my kitchen table. He had a glass in his hand and before I could turn and run he jumped up and smashed the glass into my face. I could feel pieces of glass cutting into my skin. I tried to throw my arms up to defend myself when large hands grabbed me and the man threw me over his shoulders and started back towards the stairs. I tried hitting his back and kicking my feet at his gut but it didn’t seem to phase him. Soon we were back in my bathroom where his partner was waiting.

I was thrown to the floor and I looked up at both men in terror. I could see the mirror behind them, only this time when I caught a glimpse of my reflection, Halloween me and the real me were one and the same.