On The Inside

Strangers and Gasoline

"Sleeping in again, now are we?" I awake startled by an intrusive voice and sudden sunlight drawn upon my eyes. My skin feels a low burning sensation at the sudden heat, my eyes stinging from the scorch.

"Come on, it's Saturday!" I complain and squint my burned eyes at Mama Jo, who has assumed the role of bad cop this fine morning. I climb out of bed and stalk over to the window, to quickly shut the curtains that were abruptly opened. Turning to glare at my mother who is standing confused.

" I know, but it's almost 6 pm! Don't you have plans with Emma tonight?" She admonishes. 6 pm? Thinking she must be lying, I look over at my digital clock, which in fact read 6:07 pm. Huh?

Looking out the window I see that the afternoon sun has started to dim, descending to the crest of the Earth. The reddening sky is a defining backdrop for the magenta clouds bubbling across the darkness. There is no lie, I have in fact over slept.

How did I sleep in this late? Come to think of it... I don't remember going to bed last night at all. I saw Emma and Lucas out the door and then... and then......

Nothing. I can't remember anything after that.

"Mar, are you listening?" mom returns, crossing her arms and pushing a dark lock behind her ear.

"Wha-? Oh! Yes, uh I do have plans with Emma tonight... I didn't mean to oversleep, guess the party last night really took it out of me." I say honestly, because that  is the only reason I can think of. Maybe I had too much cake and went into a sugar induced coma? 

"Thats' okay, as long as your nightmares didn't come back... I'll see you later I'm going to go meet your mother at the hospital." Then she turns to leave, meanwhile I try to unravel what exactly happened last night. She's right, I didn't have any nightmares. How strange. I can hardly remember when the last night of sleep I had that wasn't  haunted by those terrifying ruby eyes, just thinking about them, I shiver involuntarily. 

Unfortunately, I don't have an opportunity to mentally investigate last night, as I have a bash to get ready for. I change into a pair of nice jeans and a floral button up blouse, I guess its a little bit grandma, but its whats clean. My dark brown hair is in dissaray, I don't have much time to fix it so I just throw it into a bun and move on to a bit of makeup. Looking in the mirror I feel a familiar sickness in my stomach, as I have the past 18 years of looking into mirrors. There is a girl on the other side I don't recognize. She has freckles, her skin looks warm, her eyes are a milk chocolate brown, her features are soft.  This girl is in pictures on my walls and reflections in my mirrors, but never once have I been able to identify as her. Something is off about the girl in the mirror. With everything else off and alarming in my life, I move on from it, and hope it goes away.

I text Emma that I'm stopping somewhere then I'll be over to pick her up.  I pull up to my favorite rest stop, a little ma and pop gas station with a convenience store that sells the best baked goods in all of Lake Katherine. Its therapeutic for me. Getting out of the car, I notice a flashy black car sitting in the parking lot. It strikes me that no one in this part of town would typically have this kind of money, and being snoopy by nature, I dart into the store to see what sad tourist missed the exit to Orlando.

Smiling at the owner of the store, Vera I walk towards the muffins looking everywhere but in front of me in search of these new comers. 

THUMP

"Ouch! Sorry I should have been paying attent-" I stop mid sentence as I look upon the stranger in front of me. He reminds me a bit of my red eyed stalker, tall, intimidating, unnatural features such as alabaster skin and white hair. However, his eyes are a deep brown, nearly black. They are not less terrifying as he stares at me with a stomach turning intensity. The more he stares at me the more his eyes widen. He suddenly grabs my shoulders.