The hand inside my mirror.

Submitted into Contest #101 in response to: Write a story that involves a reflection in a mirror.... view prompt

0 comments

Drama Mystery

I woke up to hear something knocking on glass. At first, I thought it was the window until I heard it come from the mirror instead. I got out of bed and walked slowly to the mirror and heard it again, but this time, I could see that it was knuckles making the noise. I glanced at it, wondering if this was a real or just a dream.

The knocking came back, but more like tapping. The sound got faster and faster, louder and louder. And then, it stopped. I placed my hands on the mirror’s surface but felt nothing. Moving my hand feeling around for anything, but there was nothing.

I walked back to my bed, still facing the mirror. My reflection was staring straight at me. Few more steps and I felt the end of my bed brushing on my legs. I lowered myself onto the bed, keeping my eyes locked on the mirror the whole time.

After a while of seeing nothing, I crawled over my sheets and crawled back into bed. I lay there, covering every inch of my body with silky sheets. Staring at the ceiling, I listened closely to the wind blowing outside.

Hours went by and I was still staring out into the darkness of the night. I turned my head to my clock. The bright red light blinded me for a bit. I waited for a bit for my vision to clear, but it was still blurry.

“You need your glasses, Stupid.” I thought to myself. Reaching over to my bedside table, my hand hit something tall.

“That's my water. An open glass filled with water. Don’t spill it, Levettie. Don't spill it,” I thought to myself. Moving my hand slowly around the table, still looking for my glasses. I reached the tip of the glasses. Trying to grab them with the tips of my finger, I finally got them and picked them up but hit my glass in the act.

The sound of breaking glass echoed throughout my apartment, sending shivers down my spine. I could hear little bits of glass breaking, still cracking apart. Pulling off the sheet and sliding my glasses on, I tried to make sure I didn’t fall off the bed and hurt myself.

“It’s 2:46 a.m. That's just great. Got to be up at four and I spilled my water all over the floor. And the glass cup is broken too. I have to clean that up, too. Great, just great.” I said trying to find the switch on the lamp. “Where's the damn light switch on this thing? Think I found-”

My hand missed the switch, pulling the lamp off the desk onto the floor. I lost my balance and fell out of bed. Knocking off everything from my desk onto the floor. I could feel the pieces of broken glass cutting into my chest.

I forced myself up but hit the lamp with my right hand, making me fall back down again. Groaning in pain, I forced myself up again, making sure not to hit the lamp again. Getting up, I walked over and turned the light on, blinding my vision and making everything worse than it already was.

After my vision came back, my bedroom floor was a mess. The bed cover sheets were thrown over the side and all over the end of my bed and the floor. My bedside table had fallen over and was broken into pieces. Books, papers, phone, and other things were over the floor. The water got over everything. Broken glass was scattered across the floor.

I was walking to the bathroom, to see what I had made of myself, when a sharp pain went through my foot. I lost my footing and stumbled into one of my bedroom walls. Not wanting to fall back on the floor and hurt myself even more, I tried to keep my balance. Pushing off the wall, I was back on my feet, making my way to the bathroom.

The second I looked into the mirror, I didn't recognize myself. Bits of glass were stuck in my stomach and on my sides. All along my knees and my arms where tiny bits stuck and sending stinging pains all through my body.

My body was dripping with blood. My stomach was just smeared with blood from every angle. My arms had lines of blood dripping down to my fingertips. My legs were shaking from the pain that was going up and down, throughout my whole body. I could see the bits of glass in my skin, drawing out more blood by the second.

Turning around to look at the mess I had made, there was barely any glass on the floor. Most of the glass got stuck in my body.

“The glass wasn’t even that big!” Screaming at the floor, I grabbed my toothpaste and threw it at the mess. “Great, my toothpaste, and I just made a bigger mess. It’s so smart of you Levettie. You need that in a few hours. Whatever, I can do without it for a day. I’ll find some at work. Well if I can make it.” Groaning, I turned back looking at myself.

The water was everywhere and was going under my bed and getting some of my sheets wet. My books looked shocked throughout. My phone was just lying there in between books and my glasses case.

“Great,” I said aloud “my phone’s probably broken, my books are ruined, glass still on the floor, and there's water everywhere. This is going to take longer than I thought it would to clean up.”

After looking at the mess I made, I turned back to the bathroom and turned on the shower. While the water was heating up, I was pulling shards of glass out of my arms, legs, and my stomach. Placing glass into the sink, trying to make sure they didn’t get on the counter. After pulling out most of the glass I could see, I took my clothes off and threw them into the sink as well.

I took one last glance at the mirror to see a cut on my head with the blood dripping out. I could see bits of glass sticking onto my skin. I felt the pain throughout my head but I thought it was just from hitting my head on the floor. When I looked the first time in the mirror I didn’t see it. I took a closer look and saw some hair stuck in the cut.

“Why didn’t you look at your head, Idiot?” I spat at my reflection. “You could have moved your hair to look for anything, but no, I had to do other things. I’m so stupid sometimes. I bet it's infected now. There literally pieces of hair stuck in it!”

The room started to spin after pulling the strands out. I grasped the bathroom counter to keep me on my feet. The pain went all through my head, making everything bright. It felt like minutes had passed when I got my balance back.

The last thing I saw were bright, flashing lights, blinding my vision.

******

“Her name is Levettie Antoinette Bellerose. She was born on the 18th of September, 1992 in Le Puy-en-Velay in the Auvergne in France. She moved here with her mother, Mabel Bellerose Vargas and her Father’s name is Callus Bellerose Vargas, but he lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands.”

I started to get back my awareness and all I could see were bright lights, which seemed to be flashing. I could feel what I was laying on shake and shake. I felt like I was going to fall off whatever I was lying on.

“She’s 5 foot, 6 inches and weighs around 123 pounds. She is slightly blind in her left eye and that affects her vision. She sees random things like-”

“Sir,” the man was cut off, whatever I was on stopped moving. “I need you to go to the waiting room. If we don’t get her into surgery, the cuts will be opened for too long and may lead to an infection in her chest and stomach. You can see her after the surgery has finished.

“How long will the procedure take?” the man asked.

“As long it should take. Sir, please go to the waiting room.”

I could hear doors open and close and people talking around me. Looking around I could see white tiles and what looked like blue curtains flowing around me. It felt like it was a dream. Voices started talking about things I didn’t know.

“She’s awake,” a woman's voice rang through my ears. “Put more of…”

******

“Levettie. Wake up Levettie.” a husky voice ringed through my head. My vision was starting to come back. Bright, white lights were all I could see.

“Don’t rush her Josh. Let her wake up on her own.” soft words flowed through my head, soothing the pain of bright lights. I tried turning my head to see where the voices were coming from, but a pounding feeling went throughout my whole head.

“I want to know if she is ok.” the husky voice spoke again.

“The doctors just told us, she’s doing fine and she should wake up soon.”

“Can’t they wake her up now so I can talk to her?”

“I want to make sure she doing fine just as much as you do too Josh. She is my daughter who has cuts on her chest and I don’t know why. Give her time, that’s all we can do right now.”

“Yes, Mrs. Bellerose.”

******

Lottie jumped on my bed holding her stuffed teddy bear and squealed with excitement, “You can go home know sis!!”

“LOTTIE!!” my mum yelled, “Don’t jump up on her bed. She is still injured. She needs to-”

“She has a name,” I said sarcastically at my mum. “I’m fine okay. I’m going home for a reason, I’m all better.”

“I know, but I don’t want anything happening.” my mother gave Lottie the stop-now-or-you-get-it look and Lottie jumped off the bed with no hesitation. She walked slowly over to the chair in the room and sat down without a word.

“Now let’s get you in the car and go home, okay.” my mother said with a smile.

“I’m going back to my apartment.” I sort of shouted out

“And who said you are going back there?” my mother snapped at me.

“I did. I have work I have to get back too. All my stuff is in my apartment.”

“We will go and get your stuff you need and take it to the house.”

“Mum,” I tried to make my voice as soft as it can be. “My work stuff in not something you can just take from one place to another. It's all pinned on the wall. I have to go to my apartment, and the house is like 45 minutes from my work but my apartment is only 5 to 10 minutes. I'm going back to my apartment. I left home for a reason.”

I had stated my point and there is no way of her making not go back to my apartment. She got closer to the hospital bed I had stood up from and had locked eyes with her. I knew I was in for a big one, but what I said was true. I left home for a reason.

“Levettie Antoinette Bellerose.” She glared at me. “I know why you left home and I wish to not talk about it, especially in front of your sister. And don’t you ‘like’ in the way. Didn’t you hear the sarcasm in my voice? It was a complete joke.”

“Not really,” Lottie barged in. “It sounded more like a comeback then a joke…” Her voice got quieter as she continued. A small smile quickly appeared on her face, trying to make it as though she didn’t say anything.

“Thank you Lottie for the little add on,” my mum snapped at her. “Levettie, I’ll drop you off. Then I’ll take Lottie home and get her into bed, with no bedtime story.”

“But I didn’t mean it!” Lottie yelled after my mum as she walking down the hall to the doctors.

******

A Bright light glared at the side of my eye. My phone was lighting up from my mother calling me. Placing my book on my bed, I picked up the phone and answered the call.

“Hello mother”, I pushed out.

“You sound bad,” was the first thing that came out of her mouth. “I think you should go see a doctor. I can come get you if-” I cut her off.

“Mum,” I haven’t called her that since in a long time. “I’m fine. I don’t need to go to the doctors. I haven’t said anything at all today.”

“You haven’t talked at all today?” she questioned me.

“Not really, there’s no one to talk to. I live alone remember.”

“I don’t think you should live alone. I don’t want that to happen again and you being alone.”

“It’s not going to happen again and can we not talk about it please?” I asked her not to talk about it with me because it brings back what happened.

“OK fine. But I’m coming over tomorrow afternoon. And you don’t get any say in this.”

“OK OK,” I could feel my eyelids getting heavier and heavier as I spoke. “Mum, I’m really tired, I’m going to sleep. See you tomorrow.”

“Good night love. Sleep well.”

******

The knocking was back and this time it didn’t stop. I lay in my bed staring at the mirror waiting for something to happen. Anything, I mean something that would show any sign of what was going on. All that was there was little bumps coming up in the mirror whenever the knocking was there.

After minutes of knocking, fingers started to come out of the mirror revealing a small, skinny hand and wrist. The hand turned in the air, making little fast moments every now and then. Slowly, the boney arm started to come out to reveal scars all up and down the scrawny arm. The skin was deathlike. No sign of life through the arm. It just hung there, like it was waiting for something.

I threw my covers off me and jumped out of bed and walked slowly, watching each of my steps making sure I wouldn’t hurt myself again. The arm had stopped moving when I got to the mirror.

Where I’m going to have it go:

I'm going to cut it to where she back at her apartment and then the same thing happens but this time the “thing” will come out of the mirror.

I think I'm going to end it with her in a house of insane people and she's writing about this and what she feels like and maybe end with her seeing the figure in the mirror in her room again.

July 06, 2021 06:14

You must sign up or log in to submit a comment.

0 comments

RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. 100% free.