A Demon's Tale

Chapter Thirteen

- The Dark Room -

An alarm set off. A rush of adrenaline instantly threw me up from my bed as I deliriously reached for the stop button. That sound was horrifying. I hated waking up in a panic to that alarm every morning. It was so charged with anxiety. But as soon as I got the alarm to shut up, I remembered the past hours, and in the same instant, I went from dazed drowsiness from just waking up, -to becoming wide awake and alert, but not out of negative feelings of stress, but positive feelings of eagerness.

I had probably slept for less than three hours, but yet it seemed those three hours had been the most efficient hours of sleep I had ever had, and all the adrenaline and excitement set me in the most energized and ready state I had ever been to take upon life; eager to see my newfound friend once again.

I swung my feet off the bed and threw off the sheets and hopped onto the floor. For the first time in my life, I was truly excited to get to school. I opened my drawer and grabbed a clean pair of underwear and headed off to the shower. I got into the bathroom and into the cold bathtub, turned on the water, and cranked up the heat. I usually took long and hot showers as I stood with my head rested against the tile wall, just trying to forget about my own existence as the warm water embraced me and numbed my body, but this time, the water barely had time to heat up before I had finished.

I put on the new pair of boxers as I threw the old ones in the laundry basket and I grabbed my towel from the towel hanger and rubbed my hair.

The mirrors on the cabinet over the sink had not fogged up like they used to. I looked at myself in the mirror. I examined my face and my body closely. I pulled my hair from side to side and rubbed it every here and there to see what looked the best. I examined every part of me from every angle as if it was the first time I ever really looked at myself. I squinted my eyes and furrowed my eyebrows a bit with a sharper look in my eyes, and an almost cocky smile appeared on my face. I was really handsome. I felt very good about myself and confident. I had an athletic and lean body, a nice face, and sharp eyes, and quite distinct eyebrows.

Even though I had seen this reflection in the mirror so many times before, and I had studied every single aspect of my appearance to an almost obsessive degree, I had never really been able to look at myself this way before. I had always been so focused on the idea that something was wrong with me, and that I had to do everything in my power to correct it, so focused on every tiny little detail, to the expense of never really being able to look at myself as a whole.

I had never really been able to acknowledge or appreciate the fact that I was in fact a very attractive, fit, and good-looking kid. But for some reason, this morning, I was able to notice it. I was able to actually see all my beautiful qualities. I figured that all of that training had paid off and that I owed myself thanks for it.

Then I saw a bit of fluff on my upper lip. It was so thin that it was barely visible, but it was a tiny detail of imperfection that I did not really appreciate. I opened the cabinet and found my dad's razor. I gently swiped the blade over my lip scraping of the fluff. Then I saw a bottle of aftershave. I did not really know what it was for, but I knew it smelled good. I applied some of it on my upper lip, probably way too much. It stung a bit as it came in contact with my skin and the fumes oozed straight up into my nose.

"Phwoof" I let out reacting to the overwhelming smell.

I pinched my eyes and smiled for myself amused by my own silly experiment. 'Refreshing!' I thought to myself. I rubbed off the rest of the water with my towel, applied some deodorant, and took one final look at myself before exiting the bathroom.