Broken Mirror

At dawn, Darryl was already down. Drawing an imaginary gun in the head couldn’t have been the right way to start off the day. Gone amid thousand thoughts, he believed his nightmare was the sole reason the sun hadn’t risen yet. Feeling his muscles contracted just like in the dream, Darryl growled then wondered whether he was not trapped in a dream loop. Touching his coronal suture and feeling nothing, Darryl pumped up his chest before releasing a sigh of relief. “It was a nightmare just a nightmare” He repeated the same words in and out of his mind a dozen times. And it’s over. He, furthermore, leaned on his pillow, handled his phone with two hands then typed “I am affirmation mornings” on Youtube. Before he selected the third video displaying on the suggested videos, a weird noise had brought his attention to his surroundings while Darryl’s heart rate began to double its speed. Could it be someone breaking into his house? Why would someone be stupid to steal in somebody else’s house in the morning? Darryl remained scared, confused, and thoughtful for less than twenty seconds then looked around, as the volume of that intriguing sound was stagnant. His first reaction was staring at the mini-fridge, next to his bedside, keeping its constant buzz sound. Next, he glanced at the noiseless vent above the short hallway leading to the bathroom, then felt a familiar breath blowing over his forearm. Delilah, his fiancé, was sniffing at the leftovers of love Darryl gave to her a few months ago.

Darryl pursed up his lips. He stared at Delilah’s scattered hair rushing on the blanket and regretted sleeping in the same bed with her.

Pressing play on the video, he closed his eyes to begin his one-hour morning meditation. Unfortunately, an unpredictable kick aborted his peaceful meditation at the twelfth minute.

Darryl grumbled as the orange sun warmly welcomed the angels and demons of his life. His daughter cried out for help while his desperate moves to wake up Delilah didn’t succeed at all. He wished she could be awake right now and take care of their daughter. However, he jumped out of his bed and left his phone at the bedside. Darryl headed to Mila’s room, turned her door handle, and his daughter stopped her cries yet didn’t cease to scream. Darryl strolled in Mila’s room while absorbing the dust on the floor within the bottom of his feet and murmuring his morning rituals in his lowest voice. “Here we go again. How could she even ignore the fact she’s a mom and we both are responsible for Mila’s life?”He shushed Mila while smiling and carried her out of her cot. « You must be… » Darryl blinked from an eye as he couldn’t handle the smell of his daughter’s poop. « too satisfied from what you ate last night my baby. Blood of Nebuchadnezzar! What did you guys eat anyway? » « bababa… » Mila cooed. Darryl had made a fool of himself before he realized his daughter couldn’t understand any word he had just said. Though they were only two in the room, Darryl seemed mortified as if someone else was standing behind him laughing in silence at his shame. He knew there was no one there, but he still felt odd to keep talking to Mila who hadn’t grown a tooth yet. Carrying his daughter like a handbag, Darryl opened Mila’s closet and took some clean pampers and wipes while his baby kept making some happy noise. As he looked at the clock hanged above the bathroom door, he happily sighed for the long break he would spend before work though he was not joyful at all when he glanced at his three-month fat tummy. Once in the bathroom, he stared at the mirror. Darryl looked at his reflection with disdain and the guilt of not working out. Yet, as soon as Mila sneezed and smiled he forgave himself. He turned on the warm water, cleaned Mila’s nose, rinsed her, heard a ringtone, and guessed it could only be his alarm he hadn’t shut down. If the ringtone burdens her, she will turn it down. Darryl shrugged then kept cleaning his daughter and smirked as he pulled up Mila and made some mugged faces to keep his daughter jovial. Lifting Mila’s left foot to clean it up, his daughter giggled while he noticed some heavy and angry footsteps coming on his way.

« Who’s that slut? » Delilah showed a blank phone screen.

« Good morning Delilah. How are you? That’s how civilized people start their day. »

« I don’t care about your manners. Darryl, who’s that hoe? »

Darryl sighed as he turned off the water before wiping out Mila’s body. Seeing Delilah awake with a frowned face wasn’t a first but with a mood to bust him out certainly was something he wanted to avoid at any cost. Darryl cringed as he wondered who could’ve called or texted him at such time. Why would it be today the day Delilah found out anything odd from his habits? Wasn’t it too much burden in a day?

« Look. I don’t know why you’re getting mad, and I don’t have time to listen to you portraying me like a hoe. »

« Don’t act like you don’t know and see what I’m talking about. »

« I only see the whole me or your « hoe » through the phone screen since that’s how you qualifying me. »

Darryl crookedly smiled while his fiancé desperately turned the phone and saw the lock screen not cooperating with her.

« Unlock your phone and let’s talk about that Yasmina »

Darryl snatched his phone off Delilah’s hands and said.

« This discussion just started and I end it now. If you have anything else to say, tell Mila and she’ll report to me. Since you have nothing to say. »

Darryl left the diapers by the mirror, put Mila’s on Delilah’s hands, and kissed her. « I’m out darling. Make sure your mom doesn’t take an overdose of jealousy.» Mila cried as her dad left the room with some angry gazes. Darryl unlocked his phone and found out Yasmina left him a message. “Should I come today?” Those four words shrank Darryl’s heart to the point he remembered what happened two weeks ago. He pocketed his phone and ran back to the bathroom and took care of Mila while glaring at Delilah. “Get your filthy hands off my daughter.”