Mirror Mirror.

She entered the hotel room and stared at her reflection, examining the exhaustion and faint lines that had appeared over the last year.

"I just want to feel like my old self," Nellie desired.

Though the day had come to celebrate another milestone, birthdays had lost their luster to Nellie long ago. She sank peacefully into the soaker tub and appreciated the simple victories as the warm water enveloped her naked body.

She ran her hands down her sides, over her hips, becoming reacquainted with her own figure as she awaited Harris' return home.

She pictured him there with her stripped down bare, sculpting his arms around her waist from behind. His warmth on her neck as they melted together. His hands cupped her breasts through the silky fabric of her blouse, thumbs stroking her nipples slowly. She could almost feel him behind her, strongly pressed against her and rising.

Nellie dipped her own hands under her blouse, fingers dancing over her drenched figure. She imagined him making love to her as she celebrated her birthday alone.

"I miss you," Nellie whispered, not sure if she meant out loud or in her own mind. She turned, almost expecting to see Harris there, but she was still alone in the room.

The wine glass slipped from Nellie's grasp, shattering onto the tiled floor. She blinked, looking down at the blood-red puddle as she tried to remember when she had picked the glass up again.

As Harris had departed on another business adventure and handed her his nightcap pills, he reassured her, "it will be the best sleep of your life."

She disconnected from their romantic birthday video call, after breaking the pill in half and sending him a virtual kiss goodnight.

Slipping into dainty underwear and a t-shirt, her head met the pillow as she released her worries. An hour slowly passed.

HARRIS (SMS): "How does it feel?"

Her fingers began to slide across the phone, gliding away from the letters as quickly as she found them.

NELLIE (SMS): "A dream"

Harris slipped into a deep rest as Nellie pondered deeply on the struggle to press send within her melting state of mind. She could still expound with increased time and effort.

NELLIE (SMS): "Maybe it's just sleep and euphoria"

The thoughts lifted from her head like a hot air balloon. Floating away further and further and further. As she urged her consciousness to return, she felt her awakened mind leaving and the void taking over. A dream.

Nellie's limbs grew heavy as she sank deeper into the hotel bed. She listened to the roaring hum of the H-VAC unit and the soft whisper of the refrigerator. Each noise seemed significant, loaded with meaning. She laughed.