Stalker in the Mirror

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Adira

The last day of school went by, I passed my finals, and summer started.

Two weeks passed.

I hadn't seen him again, not since the first time, but I could feel him all the time... Almost all the time. The feeling of being watched had become so constant I barely noticed anymore. I could ignore it and block it out. I didn't see him, though, and had stopped looking after the first few days.

I hadn't told anyone about him, not my friends or my mom. My reasoning for that had mostly been because I didn't even really believe myself. How could I expect other people to believe me?

Summer was going to be uneventful, just as boring as school was, but being bored at home was a lot better than being bored in school. At least, in the beginning, it was.

I was sitting in my bedroom contemplating going downstairs and putting a movie in since it would be cooler. I was sweating bullets without doing anything, one of the reasons I didn't enjoy summer. You could put layers on in the winter, but there was only so much you could take off in summer. A loose tank top and short jean shorts was the best I was going to do - I didn't really fancy walking around in my underwear, even when no one else was home, not my style.

Sighing, I swung my feet over the edge of the bed. Once they hit the floor, the feeling was back, or I was just attune to it once again - it was getting harder for me to tell. I stopped moving and went still wondering if I looked, if I would be able to see him this time. It occurred to me as I glanced around my room that I never realized how many things have reflective surfaces. The laptop screen, all the metal handles on the doors, the metal structure of my bed and desk chair, the glass in the few picture frames I had, some of the well polished places on the wood floor were reflective, too. Part of me avoided looking at the mirror in the corner of the room across from me. I wanted to, but I was scared to know if I was actually seeing anything, or if everything really had been an illusion. Sometimes my imagination was quite vivid.

My eyes raised slowly, tracking the floor to the mirror, then rising up from the bottom. Black converse, all black converse including the soles and laces, black skinny jeans, long legs, another black shirt, still seemingly fitted, but this time it was a v-neck t-shirt. Long torso, long arms, sturdy shoulders.

I didn't want to look at his face. I didn't want to see someone, a person, standing in my mirror.

Oh, God...

A silent, deep breath in and I looked.

Sharp jawline, lips set in a cocky grin which made half his face scrunch up. Those pale green eyes the seemed to almost sparkle with amusement. Black hair, black black hair. Short on the sides like I had originally thought. The top was longer, but not actually curly. More like just messy and long enough it brushed against his eyelashes.

"Are you done checking me out?" He asked and folded his arms across his chest casually.

His words didn't register with me, I thought he wasn't real, I thought I was still hallucinating or something.

"What?" I stuttered the word after I took a breath - apparently I had been holding it. "Y-you're not really here, not real." I shook my head as I mumbled the last part to myself and closed my eyes.

It's not real.

"Oh, Adira, I assure you, I'm very real." He chuckled quietly at the end of his sentence and I could picture him shaking his head slightly, like I was being foolish.

I set my lips in a straight, determined line and stood up, my head still down, but my eyes open and staring at the floor. "No." One word. I took a step towards the mirror and lifted my head, making eye contact with him. "No, you can't be."

He disregarded my words until I was standing in front of the mirror, as close as I could without touching it. I had to look up at him. He in return had to look down, then he bent down so he was at perfect eye level with me.

"You can't make me go away, and you can't believe I'm not real. I'm in your head." He reached a finger up and pointed at my forehead. The glass wavered in its smoothness, like it was giving way to the pressure of his finger pressing against it. "And I know that you don't believe yourself when you say I'm not real, that I'm not really here."

I could feel his breath on my face, warm and smelling like mint. I wouldn't have been able to feel that or smell it if he wasn't real, right?

He stood back up, the cocky grin still spread across his face. "To answer your first question," he held a finger up when I went to open my mouth and ask 'what?' again, "I asked if you were done checking me out."

I opened my mouth to answer, but ended up just leaving it half open.

Was I checking him out?

"Yes, you were, quite intensely I might add. Did you like what you were seeing?" He whispered the last part, making the question seem much more intimidating than it should have been.

Yes. "No," I answered and turned my head away the slightest bit.

He full on smiled after my statement. "You can't lie to me, Adira."

"How would you know if I'm lying to you?"

He tilted his head to the side a bit. "Well, not only are you a bad liar, like I said before, I'm in your head." He slowed down the last three words like I was dumb and couldn't understand.

I stayed quiet, thinking without looking at his face - which was easy considering I was at chest level with him standing up straight.

Finally, I quietly spoke up. "I don't believe you."

"You will, eventually."

Then he was gone. When I looked back up at the mirror it was empty except for my reflection. Just like the last time I saw him.

Maybe he means to just psychologically torture me.

I turned away from the mirror and walked out of my room. I didn't want to think, I didn't want to wonder. I needed something mindless to do to calm my nerves and get back to being able to focus again without stressing - a necessary thing as I almost slipped and fell down the steps. Cursing quietly under my breath I made my way into the living room and to the movie shelf. I picked up a random one and found myself with Fast and Furious 7.

Good.

Mindless action and high speed chases would be a sure way to distract me. I hoped.

I sat down, after I put the movie in, with the full intention intention of forgetting what had happened in the past twenty minutes. One thing kept running through my head, though. Four of his words: I'm in your head.