Dead End | Jun-ho

12 | Look into the Mirror

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Aera stared back at the unknown figure in the mirror, barely recognising it was herself. Her features portrayed a dishevelled and tired look, it should've been written on her face with how obvious it was.
As rings of darkness circled her once lively eyes, it drowned her of all happiness. She didn't have the power to show an expression, her face sunk, no muscle in motion.

Her cheeks were oddly pink, looking ostracised compared to her gloomy features. It may have been the strange effect that the mysterious man had on her, which she despised herself for if it were the cause. Slapping herself one too many times could also be used as a counter argument. It wasn't something she was particularly focused on, although standing out, she didn't have the effort to debate with herself.

Despite her overly tired and dismal appearance, she certainly looked more presentable than yesterday. Her hair was freshly shampooed and her skin had been scrubbed of the blood and dirt covering her.

As soon as she'd walked in the bathroom, Aera was quick to notice her cyan outfit had been removed. It wasn't particularly a pleasant sight; covered in various patches of blood, fragments of sand embedded in the material. Unbearable to wear any longer, she was glad it had been discarded of.

On the other hand, she felt the need to keep it. Not as some sentimental object of the atrocious nightmares she'd experienced, but for evidence. But who was she kidding, nobody would ever believe her. It was hard to believe herself, and she'd seen it first hand. A pathetic fantasy; a silly nightmare.

It felt like key evidence had been thrown away, which could have been used to discover so much. If only her the memories could be discarded that easily. They tainted everything; everything she did, said or thought, they were there. Aera didn't recognise herself, feeling as though sanity didn't exist anymore.

She just wanted to forget, even if it were for a few seconds.

Filling in as a guard was a big opportunity for Aera to finally get answers. She didn't need to worry about competing, and from a different perspective, it may be easier to figure the place out. It wasn't entirely an 'opportunity' as he'd basically threatened her into doing it. Not that she had a choice.

It was unbearable before, and Aera wasn't sure if she could handle it again. The two games she'd played had given her enough trauma, she didn't want to add to it anymore. The selfish man didn't care, forcing her to do it anyways.

A deep breath in was needed, trying to convince herself it was all going to work out fine. By the end of the day, she could possibly figure out what was going on, and why the strange man had such an interest in her. Impossible to calm herself down, her heart raced in her chest; a train rushing down a never ending train track.

The urge to be sick was all too familiar, until she noticed something else on her appearance, that could no longer the ignored. Craning her neck, she didn't think her face could sink anymore, realising the bruises on her neck were very much still there. The thought had slipped her mind, too focused on everything else. They'd appeared out of nowhere, despite other important duties, she was still determined to find out who gave them to her.

Her mind raced back and forth, trying to figure out who possibly could have done such a despicable thing to her. She lightly traced her fingers around them, like a dot-to-dot there were so many. Leaning closer into the mirror, Aera noticed they'd gotten darker.