Ghost From the Past

Because I Love You

CHAPTER 7

It's still nighttime when I wake up in a vaguely familiar bedroom, covered by a grey comforter from the waist down and beside me, snoring peacefully, is the man I had kicked off the bed just hours before.

"Did you have a bad dream?" A small voice asks. I must've sensed her watching me sleep, which would explain why I'm suddenly awake.

"Fable! You scared me!" I gasp, placing my hand over my chest to steady my heart beat.

Fable, standing by my side of the bed, reaches her finger out to touch my cheek. She frowns." Your face is sticky."

"Yeah.I guess I was having a bad dream." I stretch and slide out of bed." Come on, I'll tuck you back in bed."

She clings to my hand as I lead her across the hall to her bedroom.

"You're not going to leave me forever, are you?" She asks after I pull the covers up to her chin.

I try to smile a reassuring smile as I lie to her face." No."

"Good. I never want you to leave." Fable yawns and snuggles into her pillow." Daddy would be very sad if you left forever. I would be sad too."

I lean forward, kiss her on the forehead, stand up, trip over a toy, and make it to the light switch when she says," I love you mommy."

Gulping, I reply. "I love you too, now go to sleep."

. + . + . + . + .

Steam rises from the shower and sticks to the mirror and windows in a heavy fog, leaving me behind to shiver as water droplets race down my body.

There's a small towel hanging from the hook nearby, and I take it, wrap it tightly around my body, and pad back to the bedroom where Trunks is sleeping peacefully on the bed. He yawns, smacks his jaw like he's chewing something in his dream, and rolls over on his stomach. It's impossible to stay mad at him for sneaking in bed with me while I was sleeping. He looks too innocent when he's asleep.

I don't dare take my eyes off him as I make my way to the closet, clumsily bumping my hips into the dresser in the process and knocking over a bottle of perfume. Turning on the lights or actually focusing on where I'm going instead of Trunks would help, but who knows what Trunks will do when he sees that the only thing keeping me from being naked is a short towel?

At least it covers the important stuff, barely. I have a feeling this is one of Fable's towels due to its short length.

Trunks rolls over onto his side.

My breath catches. Seconds pass. Trunks doesn't move, and his breathing continues steadily as before. I relax slightly, daring to look away so I can open the closet doors. My heart accelerates, and my body freezes under the large eyes of the woman staring back at me from within the doors. I blink, the woman blinks too. Who is she? I quickly realize the answer when I shift under the towel, to keep it from sliding off, and she does the same.

It's me! I forgot the closet has mirror doors. I stick out my tongue in disgust, clearly able to see Trunks sleeping behind me. Of course he'd want large mirrors in the bedroom. Pervert.

I study myself in the mirrors, lifting my hands to touch my cheek and pull up my eyebrows. I'm a lot older than the last time I saw my reflection. My cheeks have slimmed. Strands of grey hairs stick out to me, although they aren't terribly noticeable. My eyebrows are a different style, pointed down instead of arched. Of course, that could just be my gloomy expression. My bangs are longer, strings of them fall past my eyebrows less than a centimeter away from my eyes, while the rest flow with the rest of my hair a little past the shoulders. My skin is still pale, never could get a nice tan, but I don't remember ever being this pale.