Watching Her

Chapter 3

It was early on Monday morning. The dim light of sunrise had started to show through the curtains. Lucy sat in front of the mirror in just her strappy pyjama top brushing her long hair, she had to get up earlier to remove 'bedhead' and then do her makeup. As she worked in sales, looking her best, whilst seen as sexist, was in her head still vitally important.

Lucy kept studying and checking the mirror, nothing untoward was happening, every stroke of the silver handle as it brushed down her long hair matched her own arm. She could not get her head around it. She put her now silky-smooth brushed hair up in a high ponytail and removed the clumps of hair from the brush and for convenience dumped it in the empty ashtray, and then delved into her carrier bag, she pulled out her foundation cream and started to work it into her pale face, she closed her eyes as she massaged her whole face including her eyelids.

She opened her eyes and again studied the mirror, she played with the mirror and shook her head and poked her tongue out at it, nothing.

Lucy glanced down at the bag and brought out the primer and applied it to her face and slowly massaged it into her skin, she again kept checking. Nothing.

She pulled out her long makeup brush and twiddled it between her fingers, whilst watching the mirror with one eye as she dug out her concealer and with the brush, she got to work under the weekend bags under her eyes, as she was busy focusing on her eyes, she suddenly coughed as she rocked back on the stool, she gulped as clocked her Reflection suddenly had a cigarette burning brightly dangled in the corner of her mouth.

Lucy placed her fingers to her lips to double check that there was nothing there. As her fingers touched her reflection did the same, put the fingers around the cigarette in a large V and clamped them together. It then removed the cigarette from her lips as the smoke drifted out of her lips. Even to Lucy the cloud was sexily almost teasingly as the drift became a flood as the Reflection exhaled from her actual lips.

She was sitting there looking at the mirror open-mouthed aghast. As a gentle stream of smoke rises towards the ceiling from the cigarette between her Reflections fingers in the mirror in front of her. Lucy sniffed the air, and looked around there was no smoke in the room, she shook her head in confusion and the Reflection copied.

Lucy pulled out her powder and brush and touched her lips, as she did the reflection dangled the cigarette in the corner of her lips. As she applied her powder, the Reflection, reflected every move. With the cigarette still dangled in the corner of her mouth, smoke rhythmically moved breath for breath with Lucy. It drifted out her reflected nose as she got to work with her eyes, she leaned forward to apply her favourite light blue eyeliner. Once finished she again touched her lips, her reflection's cheeks collapsed inwards, and the face relaxed as the tip of the cigarette burnt bright orange as the lungs of her reflection pulled on the cigarette. As her hands rested on the table her image in the mirror both of them tilted their heads slightly as the mirror image exhaled a cone of light grey smoke out of her mouth and up and away.

She glanced behind her at the alarm clock on the bedside table grimaced, it was taking much longer this morning as she was sitting there watching something like herself smoke.

Lucy rummaged in the bag one handed, keeping one hand on the desk, for no reason other than her reflection had a burning cigarette between her fingers until she found the black mascara. She had an urge to touch her lips again with her spare hand and the reflection placed the nearly finished cigarette back between her lips.

With the mascara applied she shuffled back on the stool and looked at her Reflection either side to ensure her eyes looked good as she turned her head, she couldn't see her eyes, as the smoke rising from the cigarette, she touched her lips, and the reflection removed the cigarette. They smiled at each other Lucy then repeated looking closely at her makeup.

With the gentle pink lipstick applied Lucy waved goodbye to her Reflection as she got up and tutted to herself for waving at her own reflection as she glanced at the butt in the reflected ashtray. However, on her side of the dressing table the ashtray was very much clean. There was no ash or cigarette butt in the empty ashtray. The room had no smell of cigarettes. But she had just watched her reflection smoke a whole cigarette as if it were a YouTube video in her mirror.

With the button on her black work trousers done up and her white work blouse tucked in, Lucy threw some of her makeup from the dressing table into handbag and slipped it over her arm and headed down the stairs. The bag swinging off her arm. She was completely baffled by what had just happened.

***

Lucy sang to herself as drove home from work in her little second-hand red Mini, she had to remind herself to turn off at the correct junction. As for the last five years she had been going the opposite way. She turned off the main road, she slowed down and knocked the indicators to highlight that she was pulling in, as she clocked a corner shop up ahead. She was thinking about stopping on the way home to pick up some rice to go with the chicken dinner her mum had kindly left yesterday, but at first glance she could not see an empty parking spot. Then with a peek in the rear-view mirror there was a car close behind, so with a shake of her head she flicked the stork the other way and reluctantly carried on to her new home.

She was faced with her bare living room with four large cardboard boxes taking up most of the space in the middle of the lounge. She sighed loudly, dropped her black work jacket on the sofa and thought about the boxes before shaking her head and leaving them there and heading up the stairs unbuttoning her blouse as she went.

Lucy smiled at her finished bedroom, the dressing table, bed, curtains all looked good. She pulled open the mahogany chest of drawers that matched the dressing table and pulled out a large green t-shirt to wear whilst cooking so as not to ruin her work blouse, so she could get away with wearing it again tomorrow.

She dropped her white blouse on the edge of the bed and pulled the t-shirt over her head and tugged it down over her white lacy bra. Then glanced to the side, and her bright blue eyes studied the mirror then they widened. She couldn't see her own reflection in the glass, but she could see from the angle on the right-hand mirror that she was looking at a golden yellow pack of Benson and Hedges on the dressing tabletop next to the ashtray. She bit her lip, her Granny smoked those. She knew it wasn't there in reality, as it was a clean top other than the perfume bottle, gold lighter, empty glass ashtray and a blue box of tampons that she had picked up off the kitchen table, carried up the stairs and forgotten to take to the further five steps to bathroom, there was nothing else on top. Certainly, no pack of cigarettes, was the mirror confusing the boxes sanitary products and cigarettes. She did a double check, but the Reflection definitely showed a golden yellow pack of Benson and Hedges cigarettes.

Lucy ran her tongue across her lips and worriedly bit her bottom one. This whole thing was really starting to freak her out.