Reflection

Reflection

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but a candle burned in the window one night. The girl spotted the dim light through the falling snow. Her airbag partially blocked her vision but she could make out the outline of a small wooden frame cabin. She shook her head as if to clear it and tried to exit the vehicle. Unfortunately, the car was half-buried in a snow ditch and the door was blocked. She slid to the passenger and with some effort, found her way out into the cold.

Her first step took her breath away and as she looked down, she realized she was only wearing flip-flops. She quickly lost the feeling in her feet and had to force them with her mind to move forward. She used the light from the headlights to find her way to the front of the cabin. The absurdity of her situation hit her and she tried to wrap her mind around how she ended up at a deserted cabin, in the woods with falling snow surrounding her.

Jules Wentworth had begun the day with an early wakeup from her boyfriend of 5 years. Clayton had turned the light on at 6 and armed with a tall cup of coffee, attempted to rouse her from a deep sleep. Refusing to give her any answers, he urged her to get dressed and hustled her into the car. When she looked in the back, she saw their backpacks and some snacks already packed. Still clutching her coffee, she tried to wake up as they headed out of town.

She knew the reason for the impromptu trip; they had fought earlier in the week and he had slapped her hard. Ten years her senior, his possessiveness and jealousy had taken him over ever since his last birthday. This week, she set him off when she was an hour late from work. He had been waiting for her in the kitchen, throwing food in the garbage as she walked in. “Sorry…” she started but suddenly he was in her face, screaming. “Whore…I smell him on you!” Spit flew from his angry mouth as he hissed the words inches from her face. She knew not to wipe it off and then the slap, loud and aimed perfectly to sting for hours.

Jules glanced over at Clayton as he drove, singing to their playlist playing too loud in the car. “Where are we going?” “You’ll find out…” he laughed and roughly took her hand, spilling the coffee. They had driven hours, stopping to go through a drive-through, where he ordered for both of them. They ate in silence as the playlist ended.

It was dark when they arrived at a small hotel in a smaller town. He went in and soon came back out with a key card that he promptly slid in a door directly in front of where they had parked. The rest of the evening had been uneventful as they unloaded the car and took showers. Exhausted, they had gone to bed early. Clayton was snoring when her phone buzzed on the nightstand with a drunk text from one of her friends. Jules froze and pretended not to hear it but he sprang up and screamed, “Who is texting you at 1 am?” She began to answer but he took her phone and smashed it on the headboard, pieces hitting her in the face. She lay there for a few silent minutes afterward and then got up. “What are you doing?” he demanded. “I can’t sleep. I am going to go get some breakfast food for us. “ She grabbed the keys and was out the door before he could move. With only thin pajama bottoms and his jacket, she shivered as she adjusted the seat and backed out into the snow-covered streets.

She had found the fast-food easily enough, ordering him his favorite pancakes and syrup. The smell of the food wafted from the plastic bag as she moved it to the seat beside her. She should have headed back to the hotel then but his angry words were still ringing in her head. She turned the car away from town to a scenic highway touted by a colorful sign. The road began to curve and the lights from homes became less and less noticeable. Jules felt the darkness close in and the snow disoriented her. She could feel the ice beneath the pedals of the car, small skids broke up only by the yellow markers warning she was in the middle of the road. Suddenly, she saw a dark figure on the edge of the road and without thinking, she whipped the steering wheel to avoid whatever it was. The car had slid, in what felt like slow motion until it came to rest in the snow-covered ditch.

Jules stepped gingerly onto the sunken porch and again noticed the candlelight. Every other window she could see in the cabin was broken and frosted over, torn curtains dancing in the shadows. The front window, however, was pristine and the light shone brightly. As she made her way into the door, the smell of wet wood and old trash hit her in the face. Jules slid her numb feet along the floor until she could reach the burning candle in a chipped saucer. So surreal was the situation, that he didn’t stop to question how the candle had been lit or by whom.

The cabin was small with some broken furniture and trash bags piled in corners. The tiny kitchen still had food in jars and cans on the shelves but the entire place looked as if it had been standing in time for years. Jules found a staircase and ignoring the memories of a thousand horror stories, she began to climb slowly, her feet beginning to tingle awake. With one hand clutching the saucer and the other protecting the flame, she did not hold on but continued unsteadily up. Jules almost dropped the candle when a loud, menacing laugh echoed around her…the walls throwing it back to her again and again. It was an eerily familiar laugh but she could not place it… She longed to cover her ears and run outside but something made her feet stumble to the landing.

Three doors stood closed in the narrow hall in front of her. Not knowing why Jules chose the middle door and shoved it open. She found herself in a room with shadows all around the corners. Making her way forward, her hand touched something solid and dusty. She could not make out what it was so she moved the candle closer. In front of her, was an ornate wooden casket, dull black in the candlelight. She drew back but tripped and fell, barely holding on to the candle. Her legs shook as she stood back up and drew close again to the coffin. Her hands found a smooth metal lever and before she could think, her fingers pulled it. The top part of the coffin began to smoothly glide open, creaking ever slightly. Once again, Jules heard the laughter…it was coming from behind her…no in front of her… Panicking, she lurched forward until her face was inches from the coffin. She saw a face there…outlined against a red lining and covered with a lace veil. The laughter died down and Jules shone the candlelight on the veil. It didn’t appear aged or dusty but glittered white in the darkness. Someone or something else made her arm move forward to begin lifting the lace. She couldn’t look away and slowly, slowly the veil revealed a face. It was a pale face…blue lips and eyes wide open. Jules bent closer and felt a warm rush of air as she lifted the veil completely away. She saw it then, her face…her countenance as if in a mirror. Jules lost her breath then and began to fall; she did not hit the floor but kept falling into an abyss that never ended. Falling and laughter embraced her…surrounding her.

Jules awoke to a bright flashlight in her eyes and the sight of a young officer bent over her. She was not in the room anymore but at the bottom of the stairs. How did she get here? The policeman was asking her over and over if she was okay. “Yes, I think so,” was all she could manage. “I saw your car in the ditch and found you like this.” He brushed her off and noticed her shaking. “Let’s get you out of here and home.” “But I don’t live here,” she whispered. “Yeah, I didn’t think anyone did,” he laughed. “No, I live out of state…but you can take me back to the hotel, I guess.”

He guided her to his car and put her in the front seat. She burrowed down into her jacket, shaking uncontrollably. They rode silently until she asked if he had any water in the car. “No, I should but I don’t…” his voice trailed off. Suddenly he brightened and said, “But here…” Reaching into the middle console, he came out with a handful of mints. Try this…it will help a dry mouth. Jules awkwardly grasped the candy and put it in her pocket.

They arrived at the hotel too quickly and she pointed to the right door. As his headlights found their way across the window, a figure was suddenly silhouetted in the doorway. Clayton. She tried to search his eyes but the shadows concealed them. “You gonna be okay?” the young cop asked. “Yes…” she whispered to only convince him to leave.

The heavy hotel door slammed behind her and before she could speak, he grabbed around the throat…his fingers clutching to choke out the last breath she tried. He threw her on the bed, ripping off the jacket. She heard the hard mints hit the floor as she felt his weight on her. He only slightly loosened his hold on her throat as he moved against her, over and over until he collapsed and rolled over.

She lay, not moving-her breath stilled in her breast, and saw the f, ace again…her face there in the red lining. The vision was broken by laughter…loud and close by. She forced her eyes open to peek and saw Clayton laying there…laughing. Laughing and cursing at her…she couldn’t make the words out but knew they were aimed carefully. He unwrapped a mint and popped it in his mouth, between laughs.

Jules knew not to move so she lay there…the only vision in her head was her face in the casket. Somewhere in the blur of her mind, it registered that the laughing had stopped. She slowly picked her head up and looked at him. His face was purple now…his mouth gaped open…no sound. A thin line of spit slowly rolled out of the side of his mouth. She reached up to touch her face where he had spat before.

She stood, naked but strangely not cold, and, sat on the hard hotel chair facing Clayton. He reached out to her…his eyes pleading for help…for breath, the mint placed perfectly in his windpipe. Jules looked at his shaking hand and thought of it around her neck…she took a deep breath of reassurance to make sure she was awake…and alive.

Time crept by and she saw the sun come up through a slit in the heavy hotel curtain. When Jules finally looked at Clayton again, he was frozen in time; his mouth gaped open. He resembled the awful skeleton heads that decorated their apartment on Halloween. Eyes wide open but unseeing. She thought of calling for help for the first time her shattered phone across the floor. As she gathered her things, Jules picked up the mints from the floor and put them in the jacket of his she wore. The sun caught the snow and blinded her briefly as she closed the door softly behind her.