The Mirror

Abraham St.

The Stephens brown wooden house

Wednesday morning, February 14, 2011 Valentines day…….

Jason is a writer in the making and he works at a literature publishing company. He is 5’9, wears glasses to magnify his blue eyes and he has short golden hair. He works from 7:30 in the morning to 5:00 in the afternoon. He was fortunate to be able to work at this expanding company because his best friend, Mike, put in a good word for him. Unfortunately, Jason did not get the chance to thank him because Mike’s number one rule is not to disrupt his vacation. Jason thought about having a guys night out once Mike got back from his trip to thank him for the job. Lily is a stay at home accountant. She’s 5’5, curvy and has breasts the size of oranges. Her hazel eyes with her long red hair made her irresistible to Jason. Her hours are from 8-4. She was satisfied with working from home because it was convenient and easy.

Jason woke up at his usual time, 6:30, to get ready for work and his wife was about to get up, but Jason said, “Not today my love, I’ll fix myself something.” He gave her a long, soothing kiss on the lips. “Are you sure, you know how cranky you get when you’re hungry.” He chuckled, “yes, but I got it, baby.” “Okaaaaaay,” she said and she laid back down. Lily always made sure he had breakfast and coffee before he left for work or he couldn't function properly. Today was the Stephens, Lily and Jason’s fifth anniversary this year. Jason had special plans for his lovely wife after their workday. Once Mr. Stephens fixed his morning coffee, he finished his PB&J sandwich, and headed out the door. It was 7:00 when he got into his 2010 red Honda Civic and drove his usual 30 minutes to work.

Meanwhile, Lily opened the blinds to see if her husband left for work and she saw a black 2011 Honda Accord parked across the street from her house. She had a sly smirk on her face and once she heard the doorbell rang she bit her bottom lip and ran to the door to open it. Once she opened it she quickly let her guest in and checked to see if she had any snoopy neighbors, then closed the door. She turned around to gaze at the male she invited in; he had on dark sweatpants to match his dark jacket; he was 5’9 with dark black and silky hair. When the light hit his eyes they were a golden brown. “It’s about time you came back, I was getting bored with him.” “Well show me how much you missed me, miss red head,” he said as he licked and bit his bottom lip simultaneously. He took off his jacket and left it on the floor to show his tight and muscular body.

As he wrapped Lily in his arms and started to kiss her neck and chest, she looked at the clock and saw that it was 7:30; at first she panicked, but she remembered that she scheduled to have this day off. She paused the handsome male to tell him, “we only have until 4:30, that’s when he gets home.” “I know, afterall I am the one that made that schedule for the company.” “You think you’re so smart, huh?” They both smiled and started kissing each other. They spent 8 hours having relations all over the house: in the living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and lastly the shower. For the remainder of their time together, they spent talking about how to keep their affair a secret until it was time to let Jason know. Lily escorted the hooded man to the door, but she made sure no one was outside to see this strange man leaving the Stephens’ house.

The hooded man drove off exactly at 4:00, in case Jason decided to show up earlier than expected. Lily was in the shower when Jason pulled up in his driveway, he ran into the house and shouted, “Baby, I’m home!” “I just finished in the shower, hun. How was your day?” Jason ran upstairs filled with excitement for the dinner reservations he made for them. “I actually had a good day; Mike emailed the company saying he is still on vacation and he is allowing everyone to write a novel about anything. He will pick which book will get published! Isn’t that amazing!? I already started on my novel!” “That is great, baby! I’m so proud of you.” As she was getting dressed she was having flashbacks about her time with her male friend. “Enough about my day baby, happy anniversary! (kisses her on the lips)” “Aww you remembered; happy anniversary, babyyyyy!” Jason and Lily went to their “first date” restaurant and when they arrived home they had a late night of drinking and pleasure.

The next morning, at 7:30 Lily started shaking Jason for him to wake up; he was running late for work. He hopped into the shower and hopped right back out. His wife asked, “Do you want me to fix up your coffee?” “No, babe, I got it,” he said tiredly. “Are you sure?” “Yes, I got it, sweetie.” His wife laid back down while her husband rushed to get ready. He ran downstairs and out the door yelling, “See you later, honey!” “Bye, have a nice day!” His laptop and shoes were in his hand when he got into his car; he managed to get all the way to the gate of the company he worked at when he realized that he had forgotten his Work ID Pass. “SHIT!” He made a U-turn to go back to his house, but the traffic stalled him.

In the meantime, Lily looked outside to see if her husband had left then she saw that same black Honda Accord parked across the street from her house as before. The same routine happened as before: the doorbell rang; she went flying down the stairs to answer it and she invited the man in and checked for any snoopers. Kissing and smiling at one another, they walked straight upstairs and into the bedroom to waste not a single second of sexual pleasure.

After 30 minutes were spent sitting in traffic, Jason got a call from his job asking him where he was and he explained that he left his ID pass at home and he was just going back to get it. Once Jason pulled up in his driveway, he took out his key to unlock the door, but realized that it was already unlocked; “I must have been really in a rush, I forgot to lock the door,” he thought as he was walking inside the house. As soon as he saw his ID on the countertop in the kitchen, he grabbed it and headed for the door, but he heard some giggling that sounded like his wife and extra voices that sounded unfamiliar. He went inside the closet downstairs to grab an aluminum bat, in case it was a burglar; the closer he got to the bedroom, the more he realized that it was his wife giggling and the other voice sounded like Mike’s. As he stood quietly outside the cracked-open door he saw a red-haired woman on top of another person: “Oh my goodness, Lily?” he whispered. When the positions changed, Jason saw the face of the black-haired male and covered his mouth in shock, realizing that his wife was cheating on him with his boss and so-called friend, Mike! Jason’s face went entirely blank; he walked downstairs to put the bat away and he went inside the bathroom to look in the mirror. He gazed into the mirror with a stale face like his mind was in another dimension for a while then he removed his glasses and minutes later his whole demeanor changed; his personality did a 360-degree change.

Jason finally made it to work; he didn’t speak to anyone while he sat at his desk with his laptop and started typing from where he left off in his novel. For 8 hours straight, all he did was type and read each chapter over; when it was time to wrap it up and go home, Jason was still there typing; it was like he was zoned out again and his fingers had a mind of their own. It was around 1:00 in the morning when he finished his entire novel. When he looked at his phone he saw zero missed calls from his wife and he expected that. Jason packed up his belongings and started on his drive home; while driving home, Jason was looking in the rearview mirror and talking to himself:

“I don’t want to do it! I can’t!

You have to! She betrayed you! THEY betrayed you!

But she’s my wife!

NO, she WAS your wife! Not anymore!

(Jason started to cry)

Jason, listen to me, why don’t you rest for a bit and we’ll talk about this in the morning? Ok?

Ok, I am a bit tired.”

Jason looked one last time in the rearview mirror and said, “Goodbye, Jason.”

Jason drove into his driveway and quietly walked into his house; he didn’t hear any giggling this time, so he assumed Lily was asleep. He stripped down to bare skin, put on some gloves, and took the aluminum bat upstairs to the bedroom. He saw Lily sleeping comfortably; “this is going to hurt you more than me,” he whispered. Once he was standing over her, Lily opened her eyes and before she could get one word out, he slammed the metal bat down on her face 5 times before she died then hit her face 25 more times. By the time he was done playing baseball with her face, blood was on every inch of his body, gloves, bedroom, and bed; “I’m not so wonderful now, am I?”

While Jason still had on his gloves, he wrapped Lily’s bloodied and battered body in plastic wrap and put her in a black, plastic trash bag. He took off his gloves, threw them into another trash bag, and took a fast shower to get all the blood off him. He put on another pair of gloves; he stripped the bed of all the pillowcases, sheets, and blankets, burned them, and dumped the ashes into the same black plastic trash bag he put the gloves in. He then turned out all his lights in the house and looked out the window to see if there was anyone outside who would see what he was doing. Jason was pacing back and forth, trying to figure out how to dispose of the evidence. Finally, the madman drove to the back of Mike’s house and snuck into his backyard with the faceless body and the trash bag. He put on another pair of gloves and started to dig with the shovel he found in the backyard. He buried the body deep into the ground and dumped the ashes on top of the body. Once he was finished, he patted the dirt where he buried the body. He broke the shovel across his knee in two pieces and hopped the backyard fence to throw the gloves and the shovel down a sewer and ran back to his car; once he settled down in his car he said, “It'll soon be the end for you, boss.”

The next morning Jason got ready for work and he arrived early. He sat at his laptop putting the finishing touches on his novel before work started. When everyone came to work, he saw the traitor, Mike. “Good morning, people! I have returned from my vacation and today you all will continue writing your novel, so I can decide which one gets published. That is all for today, thank you.” Jason finished his final touches around 10:30 in the morning; he printed off a hard copy of his novel, walked into Mike’s office, and placed it on his desk.

“Oh! Jason, how are you man!? How’s the wife?”

Jason had a sad look in his eyes and started to cry.

“Missing actually.”

“Wait, what? Missing? I was just….. Uh….. I mean when?”

“I came home last night and she wasn’t there and she left her phone. I don’t know where she could have gone.”

“Well, I hope she comes home soon. If you need anything, Jason, anything, please let me know! Man, if I was married, Jason, I would lose my mind if she was missing!

Mike looked down at the novel. “Is this your novel? The Mirror? Sounds like a thriller."

“Yes. You should read it, you may find it somewhat familiar,” Jason smirked a little and Mike made an uncomfortable smile back at him.

“Listen, Jason, go home. You’re on paid leave from now until your wife comes back home. Ok?”

“Thanks, boss, you really know how to make a person happy.”

“What are friends for?” As Jason walked out of Mike’s office, he whispered under his breath, “Just wait, you'll see what a good friend I am real soon, Mike."