MIRRORS (Haunted)

MIRRORS

“Come one, come all.”

The clown’s painted on smile was only a prop. It wasn’t needed; his real grin practically split his whole face, his teeth gleaming, a perfect, flawless white. I stood back slightly away from the group of friends I had come with. I shouldn’t have- the clown’ eyes still locked with mine.

There was a touch of something intimate and something brilliant in them. Even from here I could see his eyes-dark pits of nothing but darkness-glittering under the soft blue sky of spring time from above under all of the layers of makeup.

There wasn’t really a reason to not be cheerful and delighted-it was spring again. But that clown crushed my mood, my morning elation gone in that split second that our eyes connected and locked. He looked away first, his gaze drifting across the crowd as if he’d done nothing wrong.

But I saw it in his eyes. The dark, hidden thirst of thrill finally being quenched-I hadn’t imagined that.

My BFF touched my arm, his smile falling, settling into a frown. “Hey-what’s wrong?” Daemon asked.

I shook my head.

We’ve always looked forward for the spring fair and we’ve never missed one since we were in diapers. However a bad feeling settled into the pit of my stomach and churned. Today felt like a good day as any to miss it.

Except…Daemon had just come from his private school and I had missed him a whole lot.

I shook my head again and unclenched fists I hadn’t known I was clenching. Daemon looked down at them and fingered the half-moon crescents my fingers had imprinted into my palms.

“Hey-let’s go,’ he mumbled, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I didn’t know if he meant to go home or into the fair.

I glanced one last time at the clown but he wasn’t there. Poof!

My stomach clenched then relaxed. He was gone, nobody there to freak me out anymore. But as I crossed the banner announcing the fair, the hair rose on the nape of my neck. A prickly feeling overwhelmed me like a thousand bugs crawling over my skin, the undeniable, unshakable feeling of someone’s eyes on me.

A mad man’s eyes on me.

Daemon’s presence burned beside me. His arm remained draped over my shoulders, an easy-going yet protective grip. I leaned into him and he leaned down at me and grinned.

Don’t be ridiculous, I thought.

The fair was as cheerful and bright as usual but even though the sky was clear and laughter erupted all around me, I couldn’t just relax. Every part of me remained clenched and tense; I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching me.

When Daemon touched my shoulder, I jumped about a foot in the air. “Hey,” he chuckled. “Why so jumpy?” His soft, gentle blue-green eyes twinkled with amusement and comfort. He peered down closer at me. “What’s wrong?”

I immediately pushed back my creeped out feeling. It’d been so long since I last saw him so relaxed…it’d be foolish to share my paranoia with him about a mad clown and crush his mood. Besides, I was being ridiculous.

So I rubbed my arms, trying to get rid of my goosebumps and shrugged oh-so-casually. “Nothing,” I said nonchalantly. The lie burned in my mouth, leaving a sour taste behind; we were best friends and I told him everything.

Knowing me all to well, he didn’t look convinced. After a minute-probably the longest minute in my entire life,-he cocked a brow and pointed. Following his line of vision, I saw what picked his interest.