Affection | Jenlisa

The Monster in the Mirror (3) ★

In the consistent alternation of one second, a shrill sound rotates with a second of silence.

Lisa's eyes open and the first thing she sees is her blank ceiling. Blindly, she reaches to the side and turns off her alarm clock. Silence settles back around her. A peaceful silence. Silence, so quiet, that it's almost suspicious.

Suddenly, wide awake and alert, Lisa up in her bed, looking around. Her bedroom door is still closed, nothing is out of place apart from the broken mirror opposite of her. Through the shattered pieces, Lisa's reflection is staring back at her. It's strange waking up without Jennie's eyes on her and for a moment, Lisa was scared the other just disappeared - for a moment, she had forgotten how she isolated herself in her bedroom last night.

It seems like Jennie listened and left her alone to cool off.

Lisa feels - good would be a lie but definitely better than yesterday. So much better that she might even consider apologizing to Jennie for yesterday's outburst. After all, it wasn't Jennie's fault that she was so on edge - directly, at least. Apart from constantly trying to interact with her, teasing - flirting? - Jennie hasn't done anything bad to Lisa. Yet. And after all the time they spend in each other's presence already, Lisa is as good as convinced that she doesn't plan to.

Lisa unlocks her bedroom door, intending to enter the bathroom first but as soon as she steps out of the room she feels - strange. Well, it's not really her but the apartment. It feels... empty. Something twists tightly, uncomfortably in the pit of her stomach.

"Jennie?" Lisa calls out tentatively, carefully opening the bathroom door. She looks at her own reflection in the mirror - nothing more. Just her. No shadow, no silhouette, no eyes she feels on her even when the mirror might appear empty. It's just her own reflection. There is nothing else behind the glass.

And by now, her heart is beating somewhere in her throat, a cold feeling enveloping her. Something unsettling, anxiety brimming under her skin as she knocks against the empty glass. "Jennie?" She calls out louder, almost a bit frantically, "Stop playing around and come out. I'm sorry for yesterday, okay? Come on."

But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how loud she's calling out or how often she does it - her voice keeps echoing in an empty apartment.

And it stays empty.

For the first time since Lisa came here, the apartment is actually empty. For the first time, she's truly alone.

Oh, no. Lisa sits down on her couch and there's blood rushing in her ears so loudly that it's deafening, her heart hammering inside of her chest. It's too loud, is it supposed to be this loud? What if she's having a heart attack, right now? This can't be normal. It's not. It can't be.

Anxiety makes her skin crawl and no matter how much air Lisa forces into her lungs, she can't seem to be getting enough. And her clothes are too tight on her, the collar of her shirt almost suffocating her, the fabric is rubbing against her skin all wrong, and Lisa's vision blurs while she keeps picking and picking at the stupid skin around her fingernails until some blood is drawn. She doesn't even feel the sting.

It's too much.

What's she going to do now?

Jennie's gone. She went away. She left her alone. Just like Lisa told her to do - only that she never thought the other would listen. That she would leave entirely.

Oh, no... what will she do? If Jennie is gone then that means she left her. She said she never would. Jennie said she'd only get rid of her if she killed her. And now she's gone? Just like that? That couldn't be. How could she just - leave? Doesn't she know what kind of situation she put Lisa in?