Mirrors & Shadows

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝐕𝐈

յօ 𝔪𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔥𝔰 𝔭𝔯𝔦𝔬𝔯~ 𝔥𝔲𝔪𝔞𝔫𝔬𝔦𝔡 𝔪𝔬𝔰𝔮𝔲𝔦𝔱𝔬𝔢𝔰

"Murder attempt in disguise" These were the words that hadn't ceased resonating in her mind since she left the hospital as if she were still testing their meaning and weighing their veracity.

Luna entered her eerily silent apartment. Her forearm still felt sore under the bandages where the IV had been. A loud meow startled her. She jumped only to find Marie Curie rubbing against her knee.

As a precaution she had double locked the door and that evening she wouldn't roam the streets of Paris. The neighbor's tv was turned off so she wouldn't be watching tv either. Instead she sighed, sitting on her bed. Everything was so still and empty just as she had left it that morning as if nothing had changed from then til now. But things had changed for Luna since this morning.

Murder attempt in disguise. She repeated internally.

Her eyes fell on a piece of paper that was sticking out of her coat pocket across the room. Curious, she decided to go see what she had put in her coat pocket that she had forgotten. It was the draft De Revel had given her at the café. When she picked it up, a piece of torn paper fell into her palm. An elegant slanted hand had written a series of numbers. Below, it was signed 'Edmond De Revel' with a note that indicated it was his phone number. Alright, she would read his wretched draft, she decided but she wasn't getting involved in his project no matter how interesting it may be. Above all, she wished to know more about this man and possibly what he knew.
"If my suspicions are confirmed, it is best they presume that you are ignorant of the danger they pose." She remembered his words to her earlier that afternoon. Who were they?

So, she proceeded to heat a plate of plain pasta in the microwave for her diner and sat at the dining room table with De Revel's work by the side of her plate. And damn was it interesting... Like De Revel had promised, it was much easier to understand when written as well as more detailed. De Revel kindly made sure to explain every complicated term.

The worst was that he was right. Not only would her theories help him with his work, his work might even prove her theories. With a moan, she threw the draft into the trash but a couple minutes later, she was unable to abstain herself from retrieving it. Her mind was already bubbling with possibilities and ideas to complete his work. She traded her fork for a pen and abandoned her meal. Before long, the draft was crowded with annotations as she scribbled away on the back of the paper in her tight scraggly writing.

After a while though, she rubbed her temples to try to not lose her focus. She felt herself getting increasingly tired. After all, she had barely slept last night and had only just recovered from a recent overdose. The young professor took in her surroundings. She hadn't noticed the night slowly creeping in or the darkness settling in the room. Her heart began to drum in her chest. In the distance, a dog could be heard barking.

She had the intuition or you could say, the conviction that there was someone standing right outside her door. Fear made her heart beat frantically but froze every other part of her body. She waited paralyzed, her hand still holding the pen over the paper. After what seemed like an eternity, she summoned the courage to set her pen down and move slowly toward the door. When she brought her eye to the peephole, her heart was hammering faster yet. Though she didn't see who was there because her eyes suddenly snapped open. Her forehead was pressed against the dining room table. But it wasn't the usual relief she felt from being woken up after a nightmare. She was still trapped in her nightmare's obscure scenery and there was still someone out there. She could feel their presence.

She decided the best thing to do was to certainly not turn the lights on and anyway they wouldn't be able to come into the apartment. All they could do was watch her. Therefore, she curled up in her bed under the covers. Beads of sweat ran down her forehead as she waited in silence. For the first time, she longed to hear the concierge's voice break the unbearable silence, to prove that she wasn't alone. Her terror grew. Damn it. She couldn't resist turning on the lights. However, removing the darkness didn't remove the intense eery feeling that was etched into every corner of the place. She stood next to the door, barely daring to breathe. But finally she decided to face whoever was out there, this course of action surely would be better than endless apprehension. The door clicked twice when she unlocked it. She pulled the handle forward and... gasped.