Short Story - Reflection

          She stared at herself in the bathroom mirror chanting the words, “Just a little bit longer.” The mirror had a big crack in it, which distorted the face that stared back at her. She was grateful for that. The years hadn’t been good to her 27-year-old structure. Her eyes were blood shot red from lack of sleep and had big black circles beneath them. Her almond brown skin lacked the healthy beautiful glow, and her hair was a tangled mess. She combed her fingers through it in an attempt to make it look a little better. She smiled at herself and instantly closed her mouth again. The tooth was still gone. The front bottom one. Her smile used to be so beautiful especially after her mom spent over 4100 dollars for braces. She looked at her eyes through the cracks of the mirror. Who was that person that stared back at her?

        She turned from the mirror to her bedroom, slash living room, slash dining room, slash kitchen. The entire apartment complex had the same floor plan as her apartment because it used to be a motel complex. The brown shaggy carpet was filled with dirt, grime, cigarette ashes, and anything else that would cling to it. The walls were stained with dirt, old blood from her many nose bleeds, and cigarette smoke. Dirty clothes lay in the corner next to a lamp with a lampshade that had an inch of dust on it.

She scratched her head as she climbed into her hide-a-bed, covering only her legs with the blanket. She wore a man’s tank top and boxers. She had no plans to go anywhere so why dress up. She was 5’8” and weighed 117 pounds. She knew she was a little bit too skinny, but she couldn’t keep weight on her if she tried.

          “Just a little bit longer,” she stated again to herself as she rocked a little in the bed. She grabbed the remote sitting next to her and turned on the television. A static noise filled the room before the picture adjusted itself for view of the local news. She flipped through the channels before she deemed a show viewable and laid her back against the rest. It didn’t matter what was on television because she wasn’t paying attention. She turned to the ticking clock on the wall. 9:03 AM. She turned off the television and got out of the bed to head to the bathroom where she leaned against the porcelain bathroom sink and stared at herself in the mirror. “Just a little bit longer,” she repeated.

          This time it wasn’t quiet. This time she heard the ticking of the clock. Each second seemed to be as loud as the last. “STOP IT,” she yelled, but still the clock continued to tick. She grabbed a hammer that lay on top of the window ledge and with fury raced towards the clock on the wall. In one motion she knocked it from the nail on the wall and smashed the batteries out of it. There. It was silent and she was satisfied. She dropped the hammer a couple of inches from the broken clock and got back in the hide-a-bed. Once again she grabbed the remote and turned on the television. After a minute of not really paying attention to what was on the screen, she turned to the place on the wall where the clock used to hang and at that moment she realized what she had done. A smack echoed the room as both of her hands hit her face in a simultaneous motion. She scrambled out of the bed not caring where the blankets went, grabbing the batteries and placing them back in the damaged clock. She flipped it over waiting for the second hand to regain motion but it didn’t. She gave the clock a little shake and waited for movement but there was none. “Come on,” she pleaded as she shook the clock a little harder this time. “Come on, baby, work please.” She was losing her patience. “Work!” she said as she hurled the clock across the room shattering it against the wall. “Great!” she yelled and groaned.

          She got up in a huff as she made her way to the bathroom mirror. Anxiety began to grow along with her frustration with waiting. She was sick of waiting. “How am I going to know how much longer now?” She huffed and fussed at the mirror. She banged her fist against it causing a piece to fall into the sink. She grabbed the piece and left the bathroom, tossing the broken mirror piece on the table. She got in the bed, leaving the television on as she got under the covers and closed her eyes. Maybe when I wake up it’ll be better, she thought.

          She forced herself to keep her eyes closed. She wanted to go to sleep. She didn’t want to do anything else at this moment but sleep. Many thoughts ran through her head keeping her from finding the tranquility of sleep. Just a little bit longer. Just a little bit longer, she constantly repeated in her head. Finally she was successful. She was asleep. She was calm. She was peaceful.

          She felt a nudge on her shoulder but she remained asleep and then she was violently shaken awake. “Get yo butt up, you know you ain’t sleep,” said a man. She groaned a little before her eyes adjusted to the figure in front of her. “What took you so long?” she said.

“I had to wait just like you had to wait,” he said. “Here.”

          He handed her a rolled up dollar bill that was tightly wrapped by clear tape. Without a second thought she got out of bed and walked over to her patiently awaited reward. She bowed her head inhaling deeply as the white particles made their way up the makeshift shaft and into her nose. She tilted her head back feeling the burning sensation that she had been yearning for. When she looked back down she noticed that the white particles were sitting on the broken piece of glass. She looked at herself as much as possible and like the many times before, she wasn’t happy with what stared back. Oh God, please help me she prayed.

Desire

Lisa peered out the living room window across the street as a moving truck pulled into the driveway. “Honey, some people are moving in across the street,” she yelled to the office where her husband Darius was working on the project that he’d been working on for several weeks now. In the urge of desperation and the need to get up and walk away, he pulled out his chair from his desk and walked towards her. It was either going to be him or this project, but it just couldn’t be him. He met Lisa in the living room where he found her still looking out the window with a bag of cookies in one hand and her other hand settled in the bag as if subtly saying, do not touch these cookies or else. Darius smiled as he stood behind her to get a view of what she was viewing.

“Oh so we’re getting new neighbors,” he confirmed.

“Yep. It’s about time. That house has been vacant for three years.”

“It hasn’t been that bad. When we needed extra parking space for family get-togethers, people were able to park over there without complaint. Where are they going to park, now?”

“Oh stop,” she said playfully hitting his shoulder. She placed the cookie bag on the end table that sat next to the window and backed into the arms of her husband. Oh how I love this man, she thought.

He instinctively wrapped his arms around his wife until they rested on her five month old baby bump. “I can’t wait until this little guy is here.”

“Yeah, he is going to be so spoiled” she said as she turned around and wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck.

“Yeah. I just can’t wait till he can play catch.”

Lisa smiled before giving him a kiss then walking towards the kitchen with her bag of cookies.

Darius remained standing at the window, placing his hands in his pocket as the movers unloaded the truck with some odd things. Darius wrinkled up his nose and then walked away from the window feeling odd that he was still starring without Lisa watching with him.

“Do you think we should do something for them?” Darius said meeting Lisa in the kitchen.

“For who?”

“The neighbors.”

“Something like what?”

“I don’t know,” he said shrugging his shoulders. “I just remember when we moved to this neighborhood, we had people coming around for days giving us welcome to your new home gifts.”

“Well, yea. I guess we can do something,” she said giving in not really wanting to do too much. “We could re-wrap one of those gifts that were giving to us.”

“We could, or we can be genuinely nice and give them something they would like or something they will need.”

Lisa smiled. That was why she loved him. He was always thinking of others whether he knew them or not. “Well I guess. Whatever you want to do, honey, is fine with me.”

“Just you?”

“Fine with me and the little boy inside me that is going to come out looking just as handsome as his father.” She leaned in and gave him a kiss and another.

“Love you.”

“Love you more.”

“Okay, honey. I have to get back to work. This dang project is going to kill me.”

“You’ll be fine and if you need a break you know where to find me,” she winked.

Natural Fool

“This is why you don’t marry someone just because they have a few strokes that make your toes curl,” Janel said as she sat across from Melody scooping vanilla ice cream into her mouth.

“For your information, I didn’t know how good his sex was until after we were married, but I know what you mean,” Melody replied. She starred at her ice cream, not eating it, just placing it on her spoon and then tilting her spoon to watch the dessert slide down the metal and clump back into the dish. “And honestly J, I’m not in the mood for I told you so’s. The annulment just became final today. This is supposed to be my annulment party!”

“This is a sad party. We’re at a college diner, eating ice cream.”

Melody shook her head. “How do you celebrate a desolvement of a marriage? Especially mine? I’m only doing it because a lady at work said I should. She said it’ll make me feel better.”

“Do you feel better?”

“Girl, no! I don’t. I’m pissed. I don’t understand how someone can be so conniving; so vindictive. You don’t play with someone’s heart like that!”

Janel shook her head but she remained quiet. She knew Melody needed this venting session, even though she’d already heard these words before.

“You know the fool tried to get half of everything I own?”

“After four in a half months of marriage?”

“Yes, and was dead pressed toward it.”

“I thought you had him sign a pre-nuptial thingy.”

“No,” Melody sighed. “He talked me out of it saying that I should trust him and that he loved me not my money.”

“He didn’t get anything did he?”

“Not much, thank God. The judge dismissed that request but then he tried to say that I should pay spousal support.”

“What!” Janel’s voice raised an entire octave.

“Yeah, I know. I picked a good one. Luckily, the judge dismissed that too. I’m glad she was a woman because a man probably would’ve granted these ridiculous requests.”

“Hmph,” Janel said unsure if she should make a comment.

“He did get me though.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have to pay for the annulment, his court and lawyer fees, and his moving expenses."

“What! You’re kidding.”

Melody shook her head. Emotionless. Eyes glued to her now soupy ice cream.

“The judge really said that?”

Melody nodded.

“But he's the one who requested the annulment, behind your back.” Janel objected

“I was nothing to him. I should’ve known too,” she chuckled and shook her head in disbelief. “First of all, it was Friday when I met him so he musta just got paid or something because he was flashy. Had on more jewelry than me. I was headed to the bank downtown and it’s crazy because I know when I pulled up to the parking meter the car behind me was already there. Do you know what this man did?”

“What?”

“He pretended as if he was paying the meter for that car. It was a black Mercedes. I’ll never forget it because I instantly thought that is a nice car.”

“How do you know he pretended?”

“Because when we were together I never once seen that car and after we were married he told me that he sold it, and then asked to borrow mine all the time. If that really was your car and the only car you had, why in the world would you sell it? Seriously though? And I almost bought him a car."

“Dang girl.”

“And, if you have such a great job how come you never go to it or you have the day off but I never really see any money from this wonderful job and you can’t give me a company name because of some lame excuse I know you made up.”

“So Girl, why did you marry him?”

Melody shrugged. “I was in love. I seriously looked past the lies and dumbness because he had the potential to be more.”

“You can’t fall in love with potential.”

“I know. I know,” Melody buried her face in her hands and let out an audible sigh. “I am sucha fool,” she said removing her hands from her face and going back to playing in her ice cream. The two sat quiet for a while. Janel starred at her empty bowl unsure of anything to say. She wanted to comfort Melody but she didn’t know how and she didn't want to upset her more.
“I was nothing but a meal ticket to him,” Melody finally said dropping her spoon and sitting back in her seat crossing her arms over her chest.

Her frustration had mounted to its peak. How could she let this happen? To her? She knew it happened to other women but never would it happen to her, at least it wasn’t supposed to. She was smarter than this. She’d actually been taken advantage of at this age. An age when peer pressure, dorm room dares, and midnight creeps were behind her. She was an adult.

Janel studied Melody. Lines were forged across her forehead and her eyebrows were down. Her eyes were blank and her complete body language was tired. Beaten down. She’d given up.

“What was he to you?” Janel said breaking the silence.

“What do you mean?”

“If you were just his meal ticket then what was he to you?”

Melody was taken aback. She’d never really thought about it. What was he to me? The question swirled around in her head as if it were being mixed in a blender. The more she thought about it she slowly began to smile.

When she was lonely he would provide company. When she wanted someone to talk to he would be there to listen. When she needed a shoulder he would offer. When she was exhausted he’d let her rest. When she needed a laugh he would tell a joke. When she needed something very minor he was always there. Her answer was simple and the very reason why she was so blind.

She perked up and looked Janel in her eyes. “He was my court jester,” Melody said erupting into laughter.

Janel laughed too. “Girl you are crazy!” she said through chuckles. “Straight crazy.”