Mirror Man

Ruined!.

Six months on:

"Wow Connie, this place looks amazing" Danny gasped as Connie let him in through what was once, his front door, Mark trailing behind, still getting used to his 'weapons grade' prosthetic leg, John and Rachel had paid out handsomely for the very latest in prosthetic technology for their son.

They'd had tears and tantrums as Mark had struggled again and again to get along with it, learning how to balance without crutches, how to walk normally and not to adjust his stance for the leg, his hip still moved the same way, but Mark had to learn to readjust to two legs, and distribute the weight again, not one and a crutch.

But after repeat visits to the company that made the leg, to adjust the height and fit, and Danny using the skills he was learning as a physical therapist, Mark was finally well on his way with it.

"Oh wow Connie, you've worked really hard in here", Mark looked around.

The walls, instead of muted pale colours were now a harlequin mixture of bold blues, greens and reds, new curtains made by Connie herself with skills learned from one of the women at work, hung proudly at the windows that were now all fixed up properly.

Colourful throws over the old sofa, and new rugs gave it a warm and homely feel.

Connie was apparently green fingered too, if the sprawling plants of all hues, shapes and heights dotted around were anything to go by, a particularly beautiful orchid standing proudly on the kitchen worktop, a dying cheapie that Connie had picked up from work, and bought back to life.

"It's beautiful, I wish I'd bothered more with this place" Danny smiled wistfully, "I hated it, it was always so lonely and damp feeling" he murmured.

"Well I love it, it's so homely" Connie grinned back, "I always thought that big house of the Taylors was beautiful, but now I look back I can see it was just a shell, it was never a 'home'!" the woman sighed.

"This.....is my home", she looked around, rightly pleased with herself for all her hard work.

"Oh and Mark, I picked you up one of those ergonomic chairs, from that charity shop down the road, don't worry it's all clean, I thought it would be good for you with your leg", the woman blushed, "I just thought it......would be more supportive, for when you visit, I know you have trouble with your back...." she tailed off, feeling rather awful now that she saw Mark as anything but normal.

"Oh wow" Mark smiled as he took in the chair Connie had bought, furnished with bright cushions instead of the standard pale brown or blue.

"Thank you Connie, ooooh that is comfortable" he sighed as he lowered himself into it, shifting around getting comfy, laying his head back with a huff, "mmmmmm you go on home Danny, I'll stay here in this chair" he laughed as he relaxed.

"That was really nice of you Connie" Danny beamed at the woman who was changing slowly, losing the air of someone who'd been beaten down, hair growing in soft waves, pinned up at the front, brushing her now pink cheeks, a new light in her formerly evil dark eyes.

The grin on her face not one full of malice, but one full of pure happiness.

Connie Ambrose was totally different, and not only in name.

****

"Danny, Mark, come see the news, look look", Rachel excitedly pulled them through to the kitchen, where the small TV on the worktop was talking to itself on one of the news channels.

The running news updates at the bottom of the screen reeled past as Rachel pointed, "look, we got them Danny, we ruined them", she turned up the sound as pictures of Dylan Cross, the Taylors, and another older man, who, Danny figured by the look on Marks face, was Colin Mathers.