The Daylight Mirror

Skating back to back behind the bar I enthusiastically ring the ten minute before closing time bell. Within, that said ten minutes that last of the local drunk men and woman swayed their way out of the door with some slurred laughing. Now the bar is officially closed the bouncers on the front door pop their heads inside wave and say goodbye for the night. Eagerly skating over to the door, I yanked both of them shut, glide the metal bar across both doors and slump against them in an exhausted manner.

Maybelle, made her way out of the staff room as she put her coat on her shoulders in a very sloth type fashion. Standing at the height of six foot Maybelle is the closest person I have to a co-business partner, a weird best friend and a full time bar maid. Having the bar not in the greatest part of town it can be hard to get some staff working here for more than six weeks at a time. With her by my side stuck like glue the bar has been able to stay open from the very beginning.

“Hey girl do you need some help cleaning before I take my leave for the night?” My best friend Maybelle said.

“I will be alright Maybelle with the rest of the cleaning. I wiped down the majority of the table`s a short while ago before the bar closed for the night.” I answered.

“Are you definitely sure one hundred percent? I do not want to find an ungodly surprise like last time. That was bad to get out of the floor and cost us a heck load of money on top of it.”

“I am positive Maybelle. You have been locking up and cleaning this place all week; now let me do the honours and do it for a change. Go and get some sleep please so don’t forget to say hello to your boyfriend for me.”

Leaving the conversation at that, I waved Maybelle goodbye before turning my attention to another job that needed doing. Waving goodbye back she disappeared through the staffroom to the backdoor. Now left in peace I skate over to my iPod plugged into the speakers and switched over the song to The Greatest Showmen Album. Turning myself into autopilot allowed the album to whisk me away as I continued to clean up the bar. Even so, shortly after I started an ear splitting petrified scream filtered through the open windows.

Dropping the rag and cleaning spray, I skated as fast as I could to the front and heaved back the metal bar. Pulling on the door a female body fell through to the floor in a heap with a machete stuck in her chest. Fresh blood oozed out of the wound and seeped through the cracks in the wood flooring. Her face is now unrecognisable from the slash wounds that are going every which way. All of her clothes are now ripped in countless different places showing off the many layers of blood wounds.

With the amount of blood that is rapidly pouring out this young girls body I think by the looks of things she may have died from general blood loss. Quickly getting over the initial shock of it all I knelt down to take a closer look at the young girls body. The bruises on her hands show a sign of a struggle while the indication of no shoes straight away is a red flag that the girl has previously been running away from someone or something.

Taking a long deep shaky breath fast pumping adrenaline is working its way around by body as my knees are growing weaker by the second. From what is left of the young girls appearance something shiny like glitter inside some of the wounds draws my attention to it the most. Some loud heavy duty footsteps made me jump back away from the girl’s dead body. In a hurry and also in fright I stumbled back and soon landed on my arse making a total fool of myself on the floor.

Searching through the open door of the bar I saw on the opposite side of the road under a poorly lit street lamp stands a hooded figure covered head to toe in black. In each hand is two more razor sharp weapons glistening under the light of the lamp post. A soft low gasp left my lips as I stared at the hooded figure longer than I should really have down. Like a bat out of hell, I quickly got up to my feet and skated my way to the staff room in the back. Leaving the girl’s dead body behind I in less than no time locked the door behind me. Clearly not thinking straight, I fumble my way through my bag to get to my phone. Hanging on to my phone in my shaking hands for utter dear life, I hunt effortlessly through the contacts of my phone. Able to find the one that I am looking for I dial it the best that my shaking hands would allow me too.

“Hello.” A male voice said.

“Kendall it’s me I need your help with something.” I replied.

“Vivian what’s the matter? I don’t have a lot of time for one of your silly late night calls about that damn bar of yours.”

“Some young girl is now lying dead on the floor of my bar while there is someone standing across the road head to toe in black. I think that person may want to kill me too after seeing them kill the girl in the first place. Will you believe that or do you think it is one of my silly late night calls?”

“What I believe and what I do not believe is none of your business Vivian. Either way, I am sure it is just all apart of your imagination Vivian but I am getting off duty in a few minutes and when it is up I will head over to you that there is no dead body and someone is not out to kill you.”

He ended the conversation there and in the tone of his voice, I knew that he was going to take his sweet time to make his way over to me. Lost in through a rattling at the door spooked me enough to jump a few feet in the air. My hands shake at my side, sweat beaded down my face, and my blood ran cold. Whoever is outside in the bar area is scraping a sharp knife of some sorts up against the wall.

Large footsteps thundered along the wood flooring evenly and slowly taking their perfect sweet time in the general direction of the staff room. Their breathing is laboured and heavy almost like they are in some deep pain. Dropping my phone into the bottom of my bag I took off my roller skates to put on my running shoes. I just needed to be safe if I make a quick decision to make a fast run for it out the back entrance.

Slowly I make my way over to the door and put my war against it listening for the footsteps and the hard labouring breath. They continued to walk around for another few minutes or so before they grew louder and then all of a sudden stopped. In the distance voices chatted together that sounded strangely familiar if I strain my hearing enough. My heart beat rand in my ears as the clatter of the door jiggles again. A familiar voice scared me to death while made my heart jump for joy.

“Vivian please open the door I need your help here.” A male voice pleaded.

Speechless, I jerked open the door only to find one of my family members leaning against the door was covered in crimson red blood. My mouth dropped open as I stood in front of my brother dumbfounded and more confused than anything. His appearance has not changed one bit since the last time I saw him two years ago. Dom has a chiselled face with high cheekbones and a sharp looking jaw that could scratch you if you ran your finger along it. Eyes the colour of lush green grass, his coal coloured hair sits just above his shoulders that easily gets into his eyes a lot of the time.

“Dom... is that really you?” I whispered.

“I know I deeply miss you too Vivian but these wounds aren’t going to stitches themselves up. So stop hanging your mouth wide open and get moving out of the way for me to sit down somewhere before I pass out from blood loss.”

When autopilot kicked in I rushed around the staff room getting towels and hot water out of the little bathroom connected off to the side. Dom chuckled at me as he made his way over to the row of benches in front of the lockers and sat down in a large amount of pain. Collecting some spare outdated alcohol from the storeroom I neatly placed everything beside Dom on the bench. Rolling my sleeves up to my elbows, I sorted through the first aid kit in my locker. Finding what I needed fairly quickly I slipped a needle into my pocket and proceeded to carefully ripe at Don`s shirt see the extent of his wounds.

A small amount of blood from the wounds and the shirt dripped down on his black ripped jeans in which did not bother me in the slightest. Four equal distance slashes diagonally sit on Dom`s chest bleeding more heavily than I expected them to be. Shaking my head, old memories old cleaning his wounds resurface to the top. I spent a lot of time cleaning up any of the wounds that Dom would get and they weren`t always as bad as they seemed. He was always too lazy to do some of the minor ones himself so he rather appointed me to the medic. Cleaning his wounds with antiseptic wipes and a towel dipped in hot water I am able to see the extent of Dom`s wounds.

“Luckily your wounds aren’t as deep as I originally thought there were. But they are deep enough to still need some stitches to keep closed while they are healing.” I said.

While I said this Don held a grim look on his face as he drank away the spare bottle of alcohol. His knuckles are turning white as he gripped the neck of the bottle just a little bit too hard. Wiping my hands on a clean towel, I laid a hand over his on the bottleneck. Our eyes net for a brief second sending a chill down my spine.

“Stop beating yourself up about it. Whatever happened out there happened for a reason and it was out of your hands and control. Now I am going to stitch these wound up and after that we are going to pretty much wing it from there.” I said.

After that short one-sided conversation, we settled in the comfortable silence that laid thick throughout the room settling like small particles of dust. With the needle from my pocket and some medical thread, I began to attempt stitching Dom up. Grunts and groans filled the air as the longer I spent putting a needle through Dom`s skin the more he didn’t like it and wanted me to stop altogether and let him bleed out to death. Ignoring his silent plea`s to stop I carried on anyway and put a smile on my face while doing it. The last stitch done and I am able to wash away the rest of the dried blood with the last clean towel and lukewarm water. Out of the first aid kit I took out the roll of bandages and wrapped it around Don`s chest sealing it with some duct tape.

Losing my train of thought, I scooped up all the bloody towels and dumped them in the trash bin in the alleyway outside the backdoor. Locking the door behind me, I slipped into the bathroom and bent over the bath attempting to wash off any blood that made its way onto my skin. It proved to be a difficult task but I am able to do it and drenching my work polo top in the process. Grateful that I stuck to the colour black I whipped the towel off the handrail and walked out drying me hands and arms. Back in the staff room, Dom is attempting himself to get up off the bench. The server amount of pain he is in slowed him down.

“Sit back down Dom before you rip your stitches and I spend another half an hour redoing them.” I barked at him.

Doing as I say he parked his arse back into the bench with a loud thump and a groan.

“I’m sorry Vivian.” He finally said.

“For what you haven’t done anything wrong I have spent longer on your brothers trying to stitch his wounds up to keep him from dying.” I said.

“No I`m sorry for leaving you here these last two years. I honestly tried to fight to stay here but being outvoted I did not have much say in the said matter. I fought with Dimitri to make him change his mind and outweigh the votes. Regardless, there was not much of a gap to be able to change his mind once the vote had been made final."

“Hey you don’t need to apologise for anything Dom. Whatever made you leave was for something important and we don’t need to discuss it now.”

“Hey Vivian where are you hiding? I need you to come out here now as the two of us have a lot to talk about.” Kendall`s voice rang out.

Cursing under my breath, I put my finger to my lips signalling for Dom to stay put on the bench and also to stay quiet. For the first time tonight, I seized the ring hanging around the base of my neck and silently muttering a quick prayer. A murderous look flashed across Dom`s face when I turned to look towards him. Frantically shaking my head, I mouthed the words ‘stay here Dom’. Going to speak I clamp my hand over Dom`s mouth to get him not to say anything while Kendall is nearby. Shaking my head once as a no I took my hand off his mouth and made my way to the bar. Crossing my index and middle fingers together it takes a lot of hope wishing that Dom understands not to come out until I tell him to.

Taking a quick breather, I wrench the door open and head to take a step through the door. Having said that, Dom stopped me by staggering to him feet in pain which for the most part caught my attention. In his left hand is a small dagger that is he is waving me over with. I allowed the door to swing shut and stride towards Dom. He puts the small dagger in the base of my balm before shooing me back to the door. The small gesture lifted my spirit and lifted up my confidence a lot more knowing that he has given me some protection towards Kendall.

Sliding the knife into my boot, I strut out of the staff room with my head held high to show off my new found confidence. Down the other end of the bar, Kendall stood there in his uniform for the supernatural police. His chestnut brown hair is nicely gelled back across his head under his police officer hat. Kendall`s diamond shaped face outlined his almond shaped baby blue eyes.

“I`m here Kendall and you took your sweet time getting here didn’t you? Which I am not surprised by one bit considering I was telling the truth as you can see and the killer will have gotten away into the night.” I said.

“Well he needs to go through me and I can distribute him the correct cases Vivian for the best of his ability. You should know this by now all after you have dealt with us before regarding this bar and the local drunks.” A new male voice interrupted the start of the conversation.