CURSED [Editing]

Chap 10: Steamy

Amelia Collins.

The young woman's reflection stared back at me, a frown etched on her face having those ridiculously brown round eyes with naturally long eyelashes opened wide, nose scrunched upside in a wierd but adorable way, the refined Cupid's bow leading onto pinkish red lips curved into a childish pout, lean forehead glistening with moisture from the humidity in the room.

I tightened my towel, the woman--having the same caramel skin as me--imitating me like a mime; making sure the towel was tight enough, I removed my hands from on it and brought them down to the tiled counter near the sink, fisting the cemented edges tightly into my tiny soft hands.

I looked back up at the shiny surface before me, same time as the woman did and stared at her auburn straight hair falling gracefully down her back, not an inch in frizzy and so so beautiful. What she doesn't know is how much work it got to make them that beautiful, that grease-less, that shiny, and oh so perfect. It took real work in making her to look like this. And what is she doing? She is standing here looking at herself in the mirror while she is supposed to be going out having fun during her vacation with her cousins. Why is she here you ask?

Well firstly because the morning sucked today. The sky just wouldn't stop pouring water down since five a.m in the morning, and she--I mean I--had gotten sick of staring out of the window in hopes of seeing even a single ray of sunshine. On top of that, the air has been extra chilly today, the furnace not being of great help thus making me--and four others--super lazy resulting in all of us lying somewhere or the other. I for myself, thought that staring at the window was getting boring after three consecutive hours so I went bold and acquired a change, and now I was standing in the bathroom in front of the mirror staring at my reflection in it. Yeah, I know. Super productive.

I thought if I want to have a relaxing morning then I might as well think about something to do inside the house which is relaxing as well as productive, ie. A bath. So here I was, standing in a towel in front of the mirror while the tub behind me was filling in with hot sizzling water just begging me to step into and fall in the perfect abyss of heaven- perfect remedy to a weirdly chilly day. The air around me had the perfect mixture of chamomile and lavender all thanks to the colourful round delicacies I made sure to pack with me- BATH BOMBS, the right way to transport yourself to a dazzling utopia and help you experience a surreal sense of calm and peace. Don't blame me! It said that way on the wrapper.

I turned away from the mirror and untucked my towel letting it drop down, picking up a long hairpin I gathered all my hair together and twisted them into a messy bun putting them up so they don't get wet. Raising up my left leg first, I climbed into the warm liquid and settled down slowly lying down until I only had my head out and rest of my body under water. The bath bomb had left a periwinkle shade behind, making the bubbles around me look awfully purple. I laid back my head on the edge of the tub and closed my eyes, letting myself go deep into the abyss of surreal calm and peace and let the salts do their work exactly the way it said on the wrapper.

********

Bang bang!

I must have slept off---while peace-ing out--because when I opened my eyes, I was still in the bath tub. My finger tips had already pruned off, gone all wrinkly and the bubbles no longer surrounded me, only water- purple water. The whole bathroom was filled with steam. I looked around me, trying to find my phone and saw it on the counter, picking it up I checked the time and saw that it had been two hours since I have been in here.

Suddenly I felt goosebumps forming all over my wet skin, like I was being watched, like someone was staring at me. And then it struck me, what woke me up, there was a noise, like someone was banging on the door maybe; no, not the door-it was the window. I turned around and rubbed my eyes, trying to see through all the steam, there it was. All the blood left my face, leaving it pale and cold; and even then there was sweat forming on my forehead. Fear does that to you, makes you feel nothing but everything all at once because there on my window, was a pale white hand sticking on it from the outside--no face, no body--just an arm coming out from the left and it's hand lingering on the glass surface and stuck to it. The palm of the hand was covered in blood, dripping down from the slippery surface, leaving behind a crimson wet stain on the glass. And even then a thought couldn't help but seep into my mind, like a consolation in the time of need-of fear-that maybe all this is just a dream, a nightmare just to make me afraid; and if I just wake up it will go away. So I closed my eyes tightly and then pinched myself. It was a stupid thought, especially in time like this but I was already shaking by now. Mind not working properly, instead it was running in a survival mode. I couldn't believe my eyes and mind that whatever I was seeing right now was real and not a piece of my mind playing games on me. So just when I thought that I was safe again, I opened my eyes but instead finding nothing before me, the hand was still there clinging to the transparent solid material and it did it again; it went into the air, formed a fist and struck the glass. Exactly two times.