Silence. One word. Says it all. Or does it? The deafening screams of the nighttime crawl against her skin like nails on a chalkboard in the middle of a classroom on a hot summer day. She has never heard anything louder than the carefully orchestrated sound of pure and absolute…silence. What a horrifying sound to wake up to. The night terrors had haunted Michelle ever since that night. A night of horror, or as John had said to her earlier that day, “Its going to be a night to remember”. Oh what a memory she had. Every minute detail down to the very second it all happened. Those images never went away. It was just as horrifying now, 10 years after the fact. And it replayed over and over..
10 years ago life was perfect for Michelle, as embraced the new title as Mrs. Natur. Finally, after all those years of struggling with boyfriend after boyfriend leaving her. She has finally settled down with the one who could handle her depressive waves. Because he too, also experienced the same. They understood each other, and they both knew when those moments came, to give each other space. Not that they didn’t want to wrap their arms around one another and tell them everything would be ok, they just knew it wouldn’t work. Their whole life they had been told the same thing over and over. “Everything will be ok”, and both of them hated hearing that. So they gave each other space. To self isolate until the waves went away on their own.
One evening, John had run into the very woman that hurt him the most in his past while he was out grocery shopping. Its not easy to just ‘let the past go’, when you see constant reminders throughout your everyday life. He was over her. He had clearly moved on, as most people would say. But that didn’t mean the mental trauma had moved on. The feeling of being left for someone else, hurt much worse than your typical breakup. Actions speak louder than words, and being left for someone else hurt deeper than anything. It meant you obviously weren’t good enough for the one you gave your all to.
Michelle noticed something was up the moment John came out. She wanted so desperately to reach out and talk to him, but she knew he would clam up and stay inside of his shell. Hidden behind the mask he put on even around the ones he loved most. Self isolation is self healing for some.
John worked his way upstairs after taking off his coat and setting his briefcase down just inside the front door. He didn’t bother removing his shoes, he just worked his way up the stairs and out of her sight.
As he walked into his bedroom, he immediately proceeded towards the bathroom located on the east side of the master bedroom, once inside he closed the door.
Reliving the past and replaying the feeling he had felt the moment she left was horrifying. He figured she had moved out of the city and that he would never have to worry about seeing her again, but was he wrong.
He placed his hands on the marble counter top and lowered his head. He couldn’t bear to see himself in the mirror. He couldn’t bear to see the worthless person that would be staring back at him. “Hey John…” He heard coming from somewhere near him. Confused, he lifted his head up. John would have heard if Michelle had come upstairs. But the voice he heard wasn’t hers. It sounded so familiar, but he couldn’t pinpoint who it was as he looked around. Searching for someone. Who was in his house? He opened the bathroom door expected someone to be on the other side, but there was noone there. “Hey John…” He heard it again..only this time he heard it from behind him.
As he turned around to find the source of voice, he then immediately noticed it as he looked at the mirror. It was his own reflection. This was impossible. There was no way his reflection was speaking to him. So he stared intently at the man looking back at it. Nothing. “I’m losing my mind.” He said as he began shaking his head in disbelief. “No youre not.” He heard echo back, bouncing off the walls that enclosed this small bathroom. John looked at the mirror once more, and inched closer and closer until he was just inches from the mirror. He placed his hand on the glass, feeling around almost as if to see if it was broken somewhere and someone was talking through it from the other side.
As he was feeling around, he heard movement on the stairs. Michelle must be coming up to check on him, or to investigate who he was talking to. Because the voice wasn’t whispering. It was loud. As he slid his hand across the last part of the glass he hadn’t touched yet, he heard Michelle walk into the bedroom. “Is everything ok babe?” She said as she looked around for him and then saw he was in the bathroom and began to head that way.
The moment she reached the doorway, she heard the voice too. But this time it was scary, and what she saw was traumatizing to say the least. Just before her eyes, John was touching the mirror when out of nowhere a voice yelled out, almost in a demonic voice. “Yes, John, its me. Your past reflection. Welcome back. Now, get over here.”
Just like that, the reflection seemed to reach out through the glass mirror and grab John and pull him in. Like a vacuuming black hole. “No!” Michelle cried out, as John disappeared into what the voice called “The Past”. Everything grew eerily quiet. Michelle fell to the ground in disbelief. The fear alone prevented tears from flowing. She couldn’t understand what just happened. It was like she was witnessing a live action nightmare in 1080 HD. She was so confused, in disbelief, in shock.
Would it happen to her? Why John though? Life has moved on. Things are so much better now. She finally pieced together what was truly going on. It was only a matter of time before it came to get her. It wouldn’t be long before she too, would get pulled back into “The Past.”