Glass

Mirrors

2 days later...

I screamed.

Hands were covering my body, pushing up my clothes.

"Be quiet, bitch..." He whispered, sitting on top of me. He covered my mouth and my eyes widened as I saw something sharp glisten in his hand. He placed the tip of the knife on my skin, grinning as he watched fear fill me. "Don't worry, this'll be fun. For me."

"Kanna! Kanna, wake up! Kanna!"

My eyes shoot open to Lu, sitting over me and shaking me by the shoulders. I push him away as I sit up. My body is shaking, my face dripping with sweat.

"What happened? Why are were you screaming?"

I look at him. "What?"

"You were screaming in your sleep."

I look away, shaking my head. "It's nothing, it was just a dream...

"You were remembering something, weren't you?"

A hand runs up my thigh...

"No, I'm fine."'

Lu looks at me, a frown taking over his face. "I don't believe you."

"It doesn't matter." I stand up. "What are we doing today?"

Lu sighs and sits back. The past two days we've done nothing but gather things from different zones, one of us holding open the door and the other darting through certain danger. The square room is filled with handmade ropes and clothes, and a bunch of other bits of materials from other rooms. Yesterday we stripped the "electric" room, and Lu fashioned the wires and scraps of metal into two flashlights. 

"Today we're going to the mirror zone."

I nod. "Okay."

Over the past couple days, I've gotten to know a lot about Lu. When he makes a joke it's usually at my expense, and when he's frustrated, angry, happy, or sad, he covers it up by making another joke. So basically every second I spend with him I have to listen to him poking fun at everything he knows about me.

But the real Lu comes out when he's scared. When he's afraid, he pushes back his platinum blond hair and starts taking everything as seriously as he can. It feels sad to say that I've seen him scared way too many times in the short amount of time I've known him.

"Hey bandages, eat this." Lu tosses me something red.

"What is it?" I ask, holding it up.

"I don't know, but it tastes good."

I glare at him. "I'm not eating this."

"Why?"

"Because you messed with it."

"I did not!"

"Yeah, you did."

"No, why would I do that? It's perfectly fine!"

I put one hand on my hip and hold out the red thing with the other. "Fine, then take a bite and prove it."

Lu shrugs, and grabs it from me. He takes a large bite. Pink juice runs down his chin. He swallows, grins, and gives it back. "See? Nothing wrong with it!"

I squint at him, trying to read if he's lying. Then cautiously, I take a small bite.

Instantly my whole mouth is on fire. I start coughing and double over, dropping it on the ground.

"Haha! You just got PRANKED!" Lu shouts, cackling as he falls to the floor. He's clutching his stomach and crying with silent laughter.

I kick him in the stomach and grin as he gasps in pain. "Screw you, Lu. Just take me to the damn mirror zone and shut up."

It takes him a few minutes to calm down.

Believe it or not, this is the third time he's done something like this to me. From now on, I'm only eating that stupid corn...

Whoosh.

Click.

We step into the hallway, moving down about halfway before stopping.

"Alright bandages, this time you go in. There's not anything that'll actively attack you in here. The problem with this one is that if you go in too far, you'll most definitely get lost. So stay in sight of me, you got that?"

"Yeah."

"Good, I was worried you couldn't keep up." His green eyes glint with amusement. "Just get two mirrors and bring them out."

I roll my eyes and step inside.

And then I back up quickly, shocked by what I see.

It's me. I slowly realize that I haven't seen what I look like for at least three days.

"Be quiet, bitch."

No, longer than that. There were no mirrors in Rick's basement.

I take a moment to look at myself. My black hair is tangled and messy, and it sits heavy on my shoulders. My small nose is smudged with dirt. My clothes are stained with blood. I have heterochromia, resulting in two differently colored eyes. One is a deep, milky brown, and the other is a soft dark green. Each of them look tired and worn. There's a large cut down my lip that's still healing. Bruises cover my arms and legs.

"Hey, Bandages! Hurry up!" Lu calls.

I nod and step forward, reaching to grab one of the mirrors. There are, according to Lu, thousands of different mirrors in here, all set up in an endless maze. I pull, hard, but the mirror in my hands doesn't budge.

"I can't get it off!"

"Try harder, bandages! Even someone as pathetic as you can do this."

I take a deep breath and throw all of my weight backward, gasping with surprise as the mirror comes loose.

I gasp again as I realize I'm going to fall, and it's going to land on top of me. I crash into the mirror behind me, still holding the one I set free. Broken glass rains down on me. I open my eyes and feel something wet dripping down my cheek. I touch it with my hand. It's blood.

"Damn it, Kanna! Are you okay?" Lu asks. He's sitting on the ground, hit feet on the opposite end of the door frame and his back pushed against the heavy metal door. He looks scared.

"Yeah... " I push the mirror off of me and stand slowly, watching as bits of glass fall off my shoulders. Then I lean down and pull the full-length mirror back up. It weighs a lot, and it's almost twice as tall as me. I drag it over the doorway and barely lift it over Lu's feet.

"Here... you sit down, I'll get the next one."

I nod, breathing heavily. I take his place on the floor.

Lu grabs the next mirror much quicker than me, grunting as he carries it through the door. "Ta-da! Look at that, we did it." He kneels on the ground and looks at me, frowning as he watches a drop of blood drip from a cut on my cheek. He swipes it away with his thumb. "Guess I'll have a legitimate reason to call you bandages again, you klutz." He smiles at me, then helps me up. "Can you manage carrying one of these?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I look away from him and reach for a mirror. Looking into it, I'm taken aback by the fact that my cheeks are pink. I'm blushing. I shake my head and lift the mirror, trying to avoid eye contact with Lu as I carry it down the hall.

Author's Note:

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed it!

Please vote and comment! I appreciate any feedback that comes my way!