Forever

The Mirror

     Hazel's eyes sprung open to the screeching of her alarm. She groped blindly in the dark to turn it off before it woke her father up, tangled in her mess of blankets. Once she managed to shut it off, she laid back, rubbing her hands over her face. The remnants of the nightmare still clung to her subconscious, beads of sweat coating her forehead. Hair stuck to her cheeks in a stringy, tangled mess. The actual image faded the harder she fought to hold on, to make sense of it. Yet the fear still captured her heart which beat wildly in her chest.

     There was something familiar about it, something real. A face, or a voice. Her throat ached as if she'd been screaming, which she desperately hoped was not the case. Dealing with her hungover father after narrowly making it home in time was not high on her list right now. She needed to be the ghost. Invisible.

     She groaned, throwing the covers back as the cool air hit her skin, causing her to shiver. She stumbled her way into the bathroom, flipping the switch and starting her shower. She loved the moments before her actual shower. The way the steam rose and coated everything. A fog surrounding her, like a dream. The sound of the water falling in the background. It was one of her few peaceful moments in life, one of the few times she felt safe. She could almost imagine herself somewhere else entirely.

     She sighed, stepping in and quickly washing away the last of her dream. Watching as the bubbles ran down her body and died at the drain. They were beautiful and iridescent, sticking together through the steam. She grinned despite her mood, it would make a lovely painting.

     Turning the water off, she wrapped a towel around herself. The humid air in the room clung to her skin as she stared at the fog coating the mirror. Her heart raced the longer she stared, confusion taking place in her heart. No one had been in her room, she was sure if it. Always kept her door locked whenever she was home. So it didn't make sense. The words written in the fog on her mirror refused to register in her mind as real. They couldn't be. Yet there they were, right before her squinting eyes.

     Prepare yourself Hazel

     She began choking on her panic, running out of the bathroom and to her door. With trembling hands she checked the lock, twice, before confirming it's state. Thoughts jumbling together she also checked the latch on her window, which hadn't budged in ages. The only ways into her room.

     She ran back into the bathroom, but the message was already fading to nothing as the steam cleared. Hanging just out of her reach once more like the dream. But that didn't calm her frantic mind. Racing to make sense of what she'd just seen.

     Prepare herself for what? Who had been in her room? What if they came back?

     A pounding on her bedroom door snapped her out of her thoughts, immediately changing her fears to something much more present. 

     "Coming!" She yelled, wrapping the towel tighter around her body and running back to the door.

     She took a breath and unlocked it, opening it a crack to the rough face of her father, a bottle of beer already dangling out of his hand. "Where the hell were you last night?"

     She swallowed the bile down in her throat. "I-I missed the bus. I had to run."

     "You were with a boy weren't you?" He completely ignored her, shoving his way into her room. He stumbled a bit as she backed up, gripping the towel. She kept her eyes downcast as he eyed her room, throwing back her blankets and glaring at the mattress. He began mumbling to himself, kneeling to look under the bed as his beer poured out onto her carpet. The liquid formed a pool before he pulled himself back up, using the bed to help him stand. Seeming unsatisfied he stormed into her bathroom as her heart skipped a beat, wondering if any of the message remained. Wondering if he'd even be sober enough to read it if it was. Yet again, after a few things being knocked around, he came charging back out.