Beyond the Mirror

I could feel the heat of the spotlight shining on me as I stepped toward the middle of the stage. I could feel my heart beating fast in my chest, my hands shaking from nerves as I reached out and wrapped my nimble fingers around the microphone. I closed my eyes and took a long, deep breath, lowering my head, telling myself it will be okay, I will get through this. When I lifted my head again, I forced myself to open my eyes and look around. In the darkness I could see silhouettes of the crowd and I could feel their eyes on me, waiting in anticipation. I glanced behind me and gave a quick little nod to let the band know I was ready, then as I turned back toward the audience the band began to play, the intro to my song drifting through the silence. I took one last deep breath and opened my mouth to start singing….

Beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep.

I awoke to the sound of my alarm blaring on the table beside my bed. Without opening my eyes, I reached over toward the sound, patting the table in a few places until my palm slapped down on my phone. My vision blurry, I opened my eyes a crack and flipped the phone over, tapping the snooze button on the alarm as I did. My outstretched arm then made its way back to the warmth of underneath my blanket and I clamped my eyes shut again.

Five minutes later the blaring noise started again and I repeated the process, hitting the snooze button once again, this time not even bothering to open my eyes. I groaned and pulled the blankets up over my head, it was Monday morning, the first day of school for the week, which also happened to be one of the days I dreaded the most. I was usually fairly happy with going to school, despite the early morning starts, but Mondays were always a struggle, not only because I was recovering from two days off, but because I knew I had a full day of lessons I really would rather not be attending, double maths in the morning, followed by HASS and Tourism, then after lunch I had P.E.

Beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep.

My alarm sounded again and I reached up and snoozed it once more, then started wiping the sleep from the corner of my eyes. I knew if I didn’t get up and start getting ready, I was going to miss the bus for school. As tempting as it was to use that as an excuse and just stay in bed all day, I knew it wouldn’t work. I had already been late three times in the last two weeks and the school had called my father. He was not happy at all. Even though I was his ‘little princess’ (as he had so often referred to me as) he was still super strict, especially when it came to school.

The alarm sounded again and I sighed, pulled the blanket off my head and grabbed my phone, silencing it once and for all. I could feel the chill of the early morning South Australian September air hitting me as I removed my blanket. I placed the phone back on my bedside table and wiped more sleep from my eyes, slowly sat up and swung my legs off the edge of the bed.

I shivered and as I slowly stood from the bed, I could feel the goosebumps forming on my arms. I gave them a quick rub to try warm myself up a little, then started gathering my things to ready myself for the day at school.

The silence in my house had a specific flavour. It tasted like cold toast and felt like the hum of a refrigerator that was far too large for just two people who rarely shared a meal. My older brother Aaron had left almost four years ago leaving me alone with my father, a man who viewed his office cubicle as a more sacred space than our living room, a ghost who occasionally sent a text message when he got to his office in the morning.

I picked up my phone and stared at the screen.

“Late night. Pasta in the freezer. Don’t forget to lock the back door. – Dad.”

That was the extent of our relationship lately. I was seventeen, a senior in high school, and currently the undisputed queen of a three-bedroom kingdom where the only other resident was my reflection in the hallway mirror. And honestly, some days, I wasn’t even sure I liked her. I placed my phone back on the bedside table with a heavy sigh.

I picked up my robe from where it had been discarded the night before on the floor next to my bed and wrapped it around myself, hoping it would take away some of the chill. I walked around my room, picking up several items of clothing as I moved, giving them a quick sniff and checking for any stains that may have appeared from when I had been wearing them the day before. Usually, I would check the laundry for a fresh unform, but seeing as I was already running late, I didn’t have time.

“That’ll do.” I shrugged and pulled the items of clothing into a bundle in my arms as I headed for my bedroom door.

As I moved down the hall I stopped by the linen closet to grab out a fresh towel, then headed toward the bathroom. I yawned and used one of my hands to carefully rub even more sleep from my eyes, it only seemed to make my vision blur even more, so I blinked several times and then I reached out for the handle and opened the door. It wasn’t shut tight like it always was and there was a hint of steam flowing through the crack of the doorway, smelling of sandalwood and a hint of soap that I didn’t recognise. I froze. My dad was at work and I was alone in the house; my heart hammered in my chest. Maybe it was a burglar? A very hygienic burglar who decided to start his crime spree with a morning shower? I closed my eyes, and pushed on the door.

As the door swung open, I slowly opened my eyes and looked up. My vision still slightly blurry from the residue of sleep I had to blink a couple more times before I could fully focus on what was in front of me. I found myself feeling confused and was not entirely sure if what I was seeing was actually real or if I was still in a daze from sleep. I blinked a couple more times, holding my eyes closed for a few seconds thinking what I was seeing would go away however when I opened my eyes again the image was still right there in front of me.

I found my eyes slowly trailing from the floor in front of me, drifting upwards I could see two bare feet standing on the mat in front of the shower. I had no idea who the feet belonged to because whoever it was had their back towards me. I found my eyes drifting upward and that’s when I noticed the body in front of my belonged to a male, wrapped only in a towel. I let my eyes wander up further, his back was shimmering from the water droplets sliding down to the dimple of his spine. I let my eyes wander even further, taking in the sight of the perfectly sculpted muscles along his arms that were straining as he reached down into the bath tub.

I had no idea who the body in front of my belonged to and to be honest I probably should have been more freaked out, considering the only other person who lived in my house was my father and that body definitely did NOT belong to him, but I couldn’t help but stare. It was like I was still dreaming. He was beautiful. I watched as he slowly rose to a standing position and I let out a little gasp as I took in the sight of the extremely toned muscles along his back and shoulders. The gasp seemed to be loud enough to grab the attention of the figure in front of me and he started to turn suddenly,

Time seemed to move in slow motion for me as he spun around with such force his feet slipped out from underneath him and he lost his balance, toppling over toward me. I didn’t have time to think, or even move out of the way before I was lying flat on my back, half inside the bathroom and half in the hallway. As I landed my head hit the wooden floorboards with a rather forceful thump and the clothes I had been clinging onto flew through the air and scattered around me.

“Holy shit! What the hell?” A deep and surly voice rang out from the sturdy body that was now lying flat on top of me. I looked up and I came face to face with a pair of dazzling green eyes, framed by thick, dark lashes. His face was ruggedly handsome with a sharp jawline and a scar just above his left eyebrow. He was breathtakingly beautiful. The kind of guy that belonged on a movie poster, not on my hallway floor.

“Ouch, my head!” I tried to reach up my arm to soothe the pain that was now throbbing through my head but found they were stuck. As I tried to move, I became suddenly aware of the rock-hard abs that were blocking the movement of my arms.

“Hey, get off me” I wriggled slightly to try and free myself, but only succeeded in trapping myself further, my arms now unable to move at all.

“Haven’t you ever heard of a thing called knocking?” the male voice asked in an irritated tone.

“Usually, I don’t have to knock when I’m entering my own bathroom.” I wriggled more, trying once again to free myself but it was no use. I was pinned and there was no way I was going anywhere until whoever it was invading my space removed themselves from their position on top of me. “Now would you kindly get off me please!” I cried and I tried moving to free myself once more, this time I managed to slip my hand down but I was still no closer to being free.

“You need to quit wriggling around so much.” He almost screamed at me. He then proceeded to move his arms to his side and slowly began pushing himself up. As soon as there was a gap, I immediately moved my arms up, lifted my body slightly and tried to shuffle myself away from whoever it was.

“Who the hell breaks into someone’s house and uses their bathroom?” I screamed. As I shuffled backwards, I lost my footing and fell completely flat on the ground again, causing him to once again fall flat on top of me, almost knocking the wind out of me, and my head hit the floor once again. I could already feel a massive headache coming on, and having some mysterious stranger in my house when I was home alone was definitely not helping the situation, no matter how hot I thought he looked.

“I didn’t break in.” He stated in an irritated tone. “I was invited.”

“What do you mean invited? By who? Because it sure as hell wasn’t me.” I snapped back at him as he finally managed to push himself off me and stand up.

“Last I checked you weren’t the only one that lived in this house Ham!” He shot at me. His eyes narrowed and his mouth began to form an all too familiar smirk, one that had haunted my nightmares for so long.

That’s when the recognition hit me like a physical blow. I knew exactly who the body belonged to, my older brother’s best friend Andrew Egglington. My mood immediately went from bad to worse.