The Figure In The Mirror

1 0 0

by MPZ1968

by MPZ1968

The summer before I started high school, about 35 years ago. Yeah, I'm that old!!! I spent a lot of time with my best and only friend, Jack.

You see, I WAS, and for most part STILL AM, a nerd. I, now, have embraced my, "Nerdness" and don't really give a shit what anybody thinks. But back then, I was quiet, shy, unattractive, anti-social with very low self-esteem. I had big, military issued, thick black framed "Birth Control" glasses that screamed "Nerd" right from the door. My father was in the Navy, so they were free.

(No disrespect to our members of the Armed Forces.)

Now, I have wire frames.

I first met Jack at the roller rink, one Saturday afternoon. One of the rare occasions, I actually went out in public. He was an experienced skater. I, at the time, was not. I later learned how to skate, with Jacks' help and became pretty good at it.

Anyway, I made the mistake of cutting in front of him and he just plowed right over me. I hit the floor hard. Jack stopped and helped me up and we've been friends ever since.

Jack wasn't a nerd, by any means. He was just quirky and awkward. This made him socially unacceptable to the "beautiful people" and he seemed to be just fine with it. His acceptance of who he was, helped me accept who I was.

Anyway, Jack and I spent a lot of time together that summer. We would hang out at the mall, checking out girls, go rollerskating, sneak into the drive-in. I also spent the night at his house, A LOT!! His parents were cool with it, so were mine, so why not.

So, this one night in particular, Jack and I were just hanging out, eating pizza, listening to music — 80's Hair Metal, of course and playing Atari. Asteroids to be exact. I really miss Atari.

Anyway, it was sometime after midnight when I decided to stop playing and go to sleep. Jack had already fallen asleep about a half hour earlier. So, I turned off the game, turned off the TV and lay down to sleep.

At some point, I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remember was, what I assumed, was waking up and having to use the bathroom really bad. So I got up, crossed the hallway, into the bathroom and took care of my business, washed my hands, and went to leave the bathroom.

Then it happened.

As I was about to leave the bathroom, I looked into the mirror, which was right beside the door and saw a black figure, just the torso, where MY reflection should have been.

The figure then slowly slide down to the bottom of the mirror and disappeared. Now, I was looking into a mirror with no reflection, just the wall behind me

Suddenly, I "woke" up again, same spot as before, again having to use the bathroom. I got up again and the same scenario played out.

This happened about 6 or 7 more times

Finally, I woke up for real. Seeing Jack sitting there, eating a bowl of cereal. I turned to him and said, "Dude, I had the most fucked up dream."

"Let me guess, you went in the bathroom and saw black figure sliding down the mirror. Over and over again.", he replied.

I said, "yeah, how do you know?"

He said, "Dude, I had the same dream."