mirror :: malum

eerht

Michael's mum was beyond worried in the morning. Her son had never suffered with nightmares or night terrors, not even when he was a young child. He was more of a deep sleeper and didn't really have the time to dream, or in this case have a nightmare. it just wasn't possible, it wasn't michael.

she wondered what must have happened to cause it to be as bad as it was, and it was very bad.

When his screams woke her up, she knew something wasn't right. They didn't even sound like the screams from someone having a nightmare either; they sounded so full of pain. they sounded so blood curdling that her first thought was someone was getting murdered.

she remembered the sounds so clearly in her ears, something no mother should hear from their children. she ran to his room as fast as she could and saw him squirming and crying, covered in a thick layer of sweat. his eyes were streaming with tears although they were tightly shut. he looked so scared and michaels mum felt so hopeless. she wanted to take away the fear he was experiencing, and never let him feel it again.

"please stop!" he would shout every so often as his limbs kicked and wriggled. he clawed at his skin, screaming and shouting. the sounds brought her to tears as she shook and slapped his body, doing all she could to wake him.

it took her a little while to wake him up and when she did he refused to tell her what had happened, just muttering nonsense as he slowly fell back to sleep. she didn't leave his room that night, she couldn't. she wanted to be there in case it happened again. she just sat as comfortably as she could on the chair beside his bed, her eyes dropping ever so often and her forcing them open.

she couldn't let that happen again.

"Hey, Michael," she smiled sympathetically at his direction when she saw her newly eighteen year old son walk down the stairs, his hair a tangled mess on his head. His eyes were red and glazed over and his face was in a frown.

she hated seeing him look so- so not michael. his eyes just seemed so dull and tired, so gray. "can you come here a minute, I need to talk to you." The older woman tapped the seat next to her on the couch, picking up the coffee she prepared earlier from the table in which she handed to michael. She sent him a warm smile and watched him slump his shoulders and drag his feet to the comfortable seat.

He plopped down like slime, his body just slathered on the couch and looked up at her for a second before looking down at his fingers, picking at the skin. he knew what was coming. he had been dreading this talk all morning.

"What was last night about?" She grabbed his hands and squeezed them gently, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. "and i know you didn't want to tell me last night but, love, im worried. you really scared me." she didn't want to pry or make him uncomfortable, but it was so unusual for him that she just had to know. she watched a light sigh leave his lips.

her eyes scanned his face until they come across his neck. her eyes furrowed as she saw a faint bruise around his neck. she shrugged it off, however, thinking that it was because of something else, though it was strange so she made a mental note to look out for any other weird bruises or marks.

maybe it was a hickey.

no of course it wasn't. it looked a little more spread to be a hickey. no that was a bruise.

"i'm sorry." Michael whispered while his eyes avoided hers. "it was nothing, mum, just a scary dream." of course it was something, but he didn't want to worry his mum, not more than he had already. and anyway, how could he explain to her that he saw someone in his mirror, and then later dreamt about them being killed in front of it.

He wasn't even sure what he saw himself. he still hadn't processed it at all, too scared to relive the night, although it was the only thing on his mind.