The Clock of Miss Fortune ✔

Chapter - 7

Hannah treated Michael's wounds. It was not a big deal. A slight cut and bump on the side that will heal within days. The night was quiet. It was 9:00pm. The owl hoots, refusing to shut up. Or maybe it sensed something in the dark. Nothing really mattered at the moment. Michael's mind was racing on a track where it didn't stop or wanted to. There were no hurdles for him but the track itself was limitless. He couldn't an end point. All of this was rushing at him like a gust of wind bringing emotions with it. What was that giggle? Who was that in the house? It wasn't Hannah. There was supposed to be no one. But there was someone in the darkness. And what was that voice inside his consciousness? He couldn't figure it out.

Thunder roared outside. It was not suppose to rain as per the weather broadcast. But they are hardly correct these days. It roared louder. Hannah cooked dinner. Something quick and simple. Hannah finished first, "I'm going to take a bath. It sure is getting chilly." She said.

Michael nodded. Miley wanted to take a warm bath as well.

"Go in once I'm done." Hannah said to Miley.

"Sure." Miley said still munching. "Warm the water for me, mama." Hannah nodded to that.

The steam rose inside the bathroom, covering the mirror with it. She wiped it off and looked at herself in the mirror. Her face looked tired. She sighed and pouted to look at her lips and then her teeth. First she cleaned the makeup, brushed her teeth and loosened the towel revealing her naked body in front of the mirror. Nothing like the young me I saw in my strange dream, she wondered. If only it was reality and not a dream. Then she remembered that day.

It was during college. Before she met Michael. Before she even decided to get married and have a or any child. She was dating someone else at the moment. He was someone she was fond of. Neither of them wanted to get married or had a thought of having something meaningful in their lives. It was sunny but not too hot and the pool was cleaned and filled by the caretaker. Hannah's parents were out of town for some work and Henry, Hannah's boyfriend was visiting her for the weekend.

While the wind called their name and love was what they felt in that moment. They were really empty from inside. As if a unhealable hole had formed that no one noticed but them. Hannah was free, but that freedom didn't feel real. That unhealable hole was the cause of such a burden. And in those moments Henry and Hannah were together to share that burden. That is what connected them. That is what was love for them.

It was that day when she felt a different presence inside her. A presence that she never wanted to accept. That she could be normal. If wished she could have a normal life, a normal partner, a child, and a happy family. It was that hole that kept everything away from her. When her naked body submerged inside the water she felt the need to stay under leaving everything on the surface behind. She swam for hours, made love with Henry for what felt like forever, and inside the water she saw a future that she wished she could have. All those thoughts were real. More real than the reality she had created in her mind.

The steam formed on the mirror and she once again wiped it off smiling at those memories that she had left behind. That unhealable hole was still there but now there was someone to cover it. As she held her hands together on her bosom the only thought that circled was Mrs. Fortune and that dream. It was like steam rising up from hot water which hid the other side of the mirror. The reality that the mirror reflected. The doorknob turned and Michael entered in. He loosened his robe and let it slowly fall on the floor. His hands rested around Hannah's waist as he softly kissed her neck moving down on her shoulder then turning her and locking his lips on hers. It indeed felt like a dream. This. Whatever this was Hannah was being swallowed inside. Like the steam covering the reality with it.

Michael's hands played with her hair, then rested on her cheeks as their kiss deepened. Steam rose higher. A different atmosphere was being created. Like a forest covered in smog where one's eyes cannot see the other side. And just like that it covers you in it as well making you feel lost and alone yet together with something that holds you close.

Michael parted his lips and looked her in the eyes. As she blinked his breath touched her neck then moved up to her ears. "I need a son." Michael whispered in her ear. She closed her eyes when his fingers softly played on her back. And when her eyes opened there was steam and everything that happened seemed like a dream. She rubbed her eyes as tears strolled down and mixed with the water on her face. Just like her past and present, her real tears and those drops formed from the steam felt the same and unidentifiable at the same time.

Hannah submerged in her bathtub. She gently washed his face with warm water and was lost in a thought. Her body slowly soaked the water. Gently she caressed her body and scrubbed any leftover dirt. This bath was perfect, she had thought earlier in front of the mirror. She knew that it was her mind playing the trick and it was the same right now when she saw her younger self's head slowly emerging from the water. Blonde hair all soaked, blue eyes as sharp and pretty as ever, body so young that she reached out to grasp it as it turned into mist and reformed into younger Hannah once she pulled her hand back. Everytime she tried to grab her younger self's body it will turn into mist and form once again as if teasing the present Hannah of the beauty she can never ever achieve. In that moment she saw a small glimpse of Mrs. Fortune's memory or more like a resemblance to her and her younger self in front of her. And in all that she also saw Mrs. Fortune and her daughter which looked a lot similar to Miley. She never had a daughter. She never could, Hannah thought. Maybe Miley was just a reflection of reality and Hannah was trying to grasp something that has been long lost in the past.

The younger Hannah sat in the bathtub and taunting the present Hannah with her young and naked body. After a while the distant memory of her younger self faded away and didn't return. The warmth of the water was perfect. Hannah fell asleep.