Chapter One
2.
Standing up, Tess caught a glimpse of her hands. A thin trail of sick scampered across the back of her right hand, left there from when she had wiped her mouth. Her lips curved back in distaste. ‘Eww,’ she said, holding her hand as far from her body as she could. Now she had noticed it, she could feel it on her skin: warmish, and a touch sticky.
Holding it away from her as though it were diseased, she walked to the washbasin. Sarah paused by the exit, and looked down at Tess’ hand. ‘Um, you’re washing that, right?’
‘Well, I’m hardly going to just leave it there, am I?’ Twisting the rusty taps with her free left hand, Tess ran her hands under the spray of water. As she cleaned, rubbing the muck from her hand, her gaze slid to the small mirror nailed to the wall in front of her.
Tess’ skin was fair, boarding pale, with a few freckles dotting her cheeks. She had never really liked the freckles, and for a while had smothered her skin in makeup to hide them. Now days she couldn’t be bothered to put in the time and effort required, and just left them. She remembered a little while ago, whilst rather drunk, her and Sarah had named each of them for a joke.
Framing her rather narrow face, her hair was long, thick and brown. For the party, she had taken care to style it, and twist it into something that was, actually, not half bad. But most days she usually couldn’t be bothered to put the time into it, and just sort of cleaned it, combed it, and then left it.
Sarah’s face slid into the reflection beside Tess’. ‘Admiring yourself again, Tess?’
‘I wish I had something worth admiring.’
‘Oh, shut up.’ Sarah shook her head, and opened the door. The music increased in volume as it flooded in. ‘You’re lovely and you know it.’
‘Whatever.’ Tess twisted the taps back again, and turned to follow Sarah. Just on the fringe of eyesight, that blurry point where seemingly anything can happen, she caught another glimpse of her reflection. And, it seemed to Tess, it had changed:
Pallid, scabbed skin. Messy, long, rank, black hair. Pale lips; dark red irises; scarred nose.
Her heart thumped once, extra hard, and she turned back to look again. But her reflection looked the same as usual, and her familiar face stared back at her. She began to smile, and then laughed. ‘I’m jumping at shadows,’ she murmured, amused at her own behaviour. Everyone knew not to take what you saw in the corner of your eye seriously.
‘Tess, you okay?’ Sarah had re-entered the toilets. ‘If you’re still feeling ill, maybe we should go outside. Fresh air will do you go.’
Turning from the mirror, Tess said, ‘I’m fine. Really.’ She waved a hand dismissively. ‘But, how about we go outside anyway? It’s boiling in here.’ The cool night air would be a welcome break from the humidity inside, which had built up from the many dancing bodies within the hall.
‘Yeah, sure,’ Sarah said.
(Shorter than the last part, but part three - probably - will be the longest in Chapter One...
So yeah, the fantasy aspects are starting to come into play, but it's not really until the begining of Chapter Two that you'll see them in the full swing.
So - opinions, everyone?)
] and not just disappear altogether.
But it was nice, and I wonder what was up with the reflection that wasn't hers..
