A Demon Mimics

A sinking feeling shuddered into her heart when she recognized the empty eyes across the room. A pair of eyes that contained no soul behind them. No morals. Meredith Jordin did not believe in coincidences and the sinking feeling deepened as her desire to confront this person grew. Grew like a poisonous ivy wrapping around her mind. She suffocated her cigarette into the crystal ashtray on the end of the bar and walked toward the empty nothingness, watching the pair of eyes grow larger with each step forward.

When the room to step was no more, she found herself staring into the bony structure of her nightmare. The nightmare that haunted her dreams each sleep since she was a child. The relentless face that judged each new action she created and snuffed out all joy that fizzled up into her making. Meredith Jordin opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when the nightmarish face did as well. No, she thought to herself, I will not be silenced, not this time. She parted her lips, ready to confront once again, but the face did the same. Meredith could not believe the audacity of the person who had caused so much suffering in her life. What was left for her to say? To do? It was Meredith’s turn now. She fought down the rage building up inside of her and forced out two words.

“Never again.”

Only to find out that the person spoke the same two words. Meredith’s face reddened. She curled her right fist and drew her arm back. With one fluid movement forward, her shoulder lurched to connect her fist with the woman’s retched face. First came an ear-splitting noise that echoed off the dark wooden beams of the sultry bar room. Then came the pain. Meredith retracted her fist and cradled it into her chest. Her arm seized with insurmountable agony. As her left arm wrapped tightly around her wounded fist, wetness gushed down the opening of her white blouse, warm and thick, and turned cold once it touched her bare skin. She opened her grasp to find the origin of warmth. Deep wounds slashed across her wrists, which emptied out the vibrant color of death. Meredith pulled at a fragment lodged in one of the wounds. A piece that travelled the length of her forearm. The fragment shifted and bounced light off its reflective surface. With a blurred gaze, she brought her arm up to her face. And found the pair of empty eyes staring back at her. Meredith fell to her knees and then to the floor. Shattered pieces of mirror surrounded her draining body. And with one last effort before her life turned black, Meredith spoke:

“Never again.”