Reflections

Waking Up - Chapter 1

Nathan wiped away the sweat from his forehead. It felt so cold. He put his hand to his chest. His heartbeat was rapid, and his breathing was heavy. Never has he been so scared in his entire life.

"You alright honey?" Nathan looked up to see his wife standing in the doorway. "You look rather pale, what's wrong?"

"Oh, oh it was nothing. Probably just a bad dream." Nathan did his best to give a smile, but he still felt shaky.

"Must have been quite the scare, what happened?"

"..Do you mind if I don't bring it up? I'd like to just try and forget it to be honest.." She gave a frown, and walked over to his side of the bed. On the end-table she put a white cup of coffee, steam still rising from it. Nathan took a deep breath, taking in the smell of the grinds. His wife looked at him, and gave a warm smile.

"Well I hope you aren't too scared to get out of bed. I'll be down in the kitchen if you need me okay?" She then gave him a kiss on the forehead, and walked out of the bedroom.

"Yeah, I'll get up soon. Thank you." He called out to her. The comforting smell of coffee in the morning was both waking him up and calming him down. He reached over and grabbed the cup. It was smooth, glossy. The white color contrasting with the dark brown and black coffee resting in it. Nathan brought it to his lips and took a sip. The temperature was perfect, as always. His wife knew exactly how he liked it, with a single scoop of sugar and a small cube of ice. The steam rose up and caressed his cold face. The touch of the cup and the heat from the coffee confirmed that Nathan was awake, and back in the real world. (It's probably time to get up isn't it?) Nathan thought to himself. With that, he took another sip of coffee, and got out of bed. 

He slowly walked over to the bathroom, feeling somewhat weak still. He set his cup down and leaned against the sink. (I probably should take the morning slow, I can catch a subway to take me to work today,) He contemplated.

"Yeah, that's a great idea!"

Nathan shot up, and looked around the bathroom. He could have sworn he heard a voice somewhere. (Was that just my imagination?)

"I guess you could call me that.."

What was going on? Nathan continued to swing his head around, looking for a source to the voice. His heart was beating fast again, and he was feeling cold again. He rested his eyes on the mirror, and saw his reflection. He looked pale, and was sweating through his pajama's. He leaned closer and noticed his eyes. They were bloodshot, almost to the point that you could barely see the whites of his eyes. He continued to lean closer, and pulled his eyelids back.

"What happened last night?" Nathan muttered to himself.

"Oh dear, if you keep staring into my eyes like that I'll start blushing darling." A raspy and cold voice came from the reflection.

"What the--!" Nathan yelped and jumped back. (Did the mirror just talk?) 

"The mirror didn't talk, I did silly!" The voice without a doubt came from the reflection! Nathan simply stood in shock and awe. The... Thing in the reflection took the same position, with the same facial expression on Nathan's face. But it's eyes, they weren't fearful. They were full of joyous mischief. It was as if it was laughing on the inside. However the look on its face slowly was changing, slowly breaking away from reflecting Nathan.

"Surprised? They always are these days." The voice spoke. "How was your dream? Still scared to think about it?" The reflection now was in a completely different posture compared to Nathan. It was all on its own, moving independently through the bathroom. It was looking at the pictures on the wall, brushing its hands over the towels, and occasionally chuckling to itself. "You know what? I think this is going to be my favorite memory so far." 

Nathan had finally found the courage to speak up. "M-m-memory? What are you talking about? Who.. What are you?" The reflection stopped walking throughout the room and twisted its head to look towards Nathan.

"What am I? Well isn't it obvious?"

"N-no, it's not o-obvious---" Nathan tried to respond, But was cut off. The thing on the other side of the mirror had whipped its whole body around, and was now pressing itself against the other side of the mirror. Everything about it was just so - so unnatural.

"I'm you, Nathan! And I have a feeling you and I are gonna have a great time together!" It's voice sounded so childish, but everything else about it gave off a sense of sadistic malice. "Now I'll see you soon alright? Very soon..."

Before Nathan could react, the body of whatever was in front of him shuddered back into the same position as him, and became a normal reflection. Nathan slumped to the ground, in shock of what had just happened. "Please wake up again." He whispered.