Affection | Jenlisa

The Monster in the Mirror (2) ★

It was impossible to miss.

Lisa noticed the presence the moment she stepped into the apartment for the very first time. The air still slightly smelled like bleach, a hint of cleaning products that were probably used to clean up the bloody mess left behind by the previous tenant. Or well - the mess of them.

She just came to check out the area, knowing that these kinds of creatures sometimes stay loyal to their hunting grounds. The apartment was bare, only a single mirror left in the bathroom but Lisa still had no problem identifying the creature’s presence.

After she moved in, Lisa expected to be attacked within a month - at least. Maybe two. Considering the last meal the creature had, it couldn’t have been starved for another soul, so Lisa had prepared to stay for a bit. She built herself this character of a perfect victim, someone almost invisible to society. A person perfectly interchangeable for the next, someone that wouldn’t be missed by anyone. An easy target. After murdering the previous tenant and making it seem like a mugging gone wrong, Lisa’s death would have needed to be different. To not raise suspicion.

An overworked office worker - burnout? Death because of stress? It could have even been suicide and no one would probably question it. Lisa did everything the way she learned it, did everything she did so many times before - becoming the perfect victim to lure the monster out, make it feel like they have the upper hand, and then kill it.

But more and more time passed - and nothing happened. The presence never left, it was always there. It even followed Lisa out of the house, and the role that she previously didn’t put too much thought into had to become something bigger. Became her life for weeks, a few months even.

Lisa always remained passive, she never let it show that she noticed the small changes in her routines, she never flinched when she saw a shadow in the mirror, when fingerprints would vanish the moments her eyes landed on them. She let herself be watched during every moment (and she means every), always aware, always under tension - waiting, expecting the attack to come any second.

And often, when she would lie in bed and glance at the mirror she would see more than a shadow in there - a figure that shouldn't be there but she never gave herself away. The days passed, days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months and slowly, Lisa became a bit more than accustomed to those eyes on her.

They became a constant to her life, her routine. And she would never admit it to anyone out loud, not even to herself, but that heavy gaze on her ignited a heat inside of her chest that should have never been there. Maybe it happened during the first time she touched herself when she felt that pleasure run through her veins while that heated gaze never left her. She’s not sure.

But Lisa has always felt its presence.

And she felt the second - the other presence too.

As it entered she felt it, knew it was a different creature attacking her than the one that has been watching her for weeks already. They felt totally different.

Lisa has never spent so much time in the presence of something supernatural, she’s never been watched this intimately for weeks and it’s - strange to say but she got used to those eyes on her, to the glimpses of figures in the mirror. She got used to it, so used to it that she immediately knew it was someone else trying to sneak up on her.

Now, that they’re back to the original, only one creature watching her, Lisa immediately feels better in the apartment. (Which should be kind of alarming.) Her body is slowly coming down from its high, the adrenaline and heat inside of her dissipating with each deep breath she takes. She could feel the warmth of blood on her skin, the wetness clinging to her everywhere as she wipes the blade of her knife at the side of her pants.