She nervously surveyed the room, looking for confirmation of her strange feeling, expecting to find a stranger perched in a corner or lurking in a dark shadow cast by a piece of furniture. Her eyes stopped and focused on a mismatched piece of furniture, an old antique dressing table with a huge mirror above. It seemed out of place, everything else was brand new.
"Where did you get the dresser from?" asked Melissa, thinking that it might be a family heirloom.
"It was already here, just couldn't bring myself to turning it out."
Melissa smiled, the piece of furniture was ready for the dump, she would see to it later. The old dresser was past restoration. The wooden top was badly scratched and marked and had a split running its entire length, a drawer was missing, as was one of its carved claw feet that had been temporarily replaced with a clay house brick to stabilise the unit. The lacklustre mirror that rested atop the dresser had started to spot with age, its silver backing peeling and scratched. For the life of her she couldn't understand Sam's reluctance to relegate this piece of furniture to the scrap heap. Tomorrow while Sam was out she would organize to get it taken away.
Sam came to her, he wrapped his muscular arms around her waist, their lips met, gently at first. They moved with slow deliberate strokes, meekly caressing each other, slowly exploring.
The feeling was still there, she felt uncomfortable, prying eyes staring. Melissa broke away from their loving embrace, walked over to the window and drew the curtains shut. She returned to Sam, a plethora of goose bumps marched across her skin as she brushed passed the decrepit dresser.
Back in Sam's arms they continued with their passionate exploration of each other�s bodies. Hot tongues probing deep into wanton mouths, bare flesh moving against bare flesh, uncontrollably their passion grew into a fiery melding of two bodies.
But the watched feeling didn't dissipate. Melissa laid sweaty and naked on the bed, her face radiated with a post coupling glow. The air was thick with the musty scent of sex.
Eyes, they were watching, she couldn't understand why she was experiencing this strange feeling. Tired and exhausted, she switched off the light and crawled under the blankets. Quickly she descended into the dark realm of dreams.
After a couple of hours of fitful sleep she awoke in a cold sweat, her usually radiant red hair hung in sodden ropes, the bed sheets which she had been entangled in were drenched. Sam lay next to her, snoring. She switched on the bedside lamp, a dull yellow glow quickly chased away the shadows. She sat there momentarily trying to gather her thoughts, details of her dream eluded her. She decided on a shower.
Melissa walked towards the en-suite bathroom, she stopped in front of the old dresser, somehow she had a dire feeling that the dresser was a prominent player in the dream that she couldn't recall. She chuckled to herself, "you're pathetic girl, its only a piece of furniture."
Melissa thumbed the light switch, instantaneously the small bathroom was filled with pure white light from the overhead fluorescent tube. She reached into the shower cabinet and fiddled with the faucets until the water was a comfortable mix. She stepped in. The tiny water droplets drummed away her tension, each little droplet was a tiny hand massaging her weary skin.
Refreshed, she turned the water off and reached for a soft fresh towel. Feeling a lot better she returned to the bedroom. Sam still lay there, snoring. The dresser stole her attention, she stood staring at the battered piece of furniture, tension crept back into her neck and shoulders, her muscles becoming rigid.
The bedside lamp threw an eerie sulphurous yellow glow over the mirror. Melissa looked into the flawed reflective surface, the mirror looked back, reflecting her own image. The image began to swirl as if being sucked down a sink and then it was gone altogether. A deep dark blackness was left, a void. Melissa rubbed her eyes, thinking that it was a play of light, she reached out and touched the mirror, nothing. Dead air. There was an emptiness where the mirror once stood. She took a step back, a new image started to form in its depths.
Confused, mesmerized, Melissa stared at the forming image. It materialized, a middle aged overweight man wearing a stained white singlet and a dark pair of flannel track pants. His arms and hands were coated in red, his face splattered with dark blotches, next to him lay the decapitated body of a woman. Split from abdomen to neck, a tangle of red viscera protruding and sprawling out of the slit.
Melissa screamed, a guttural ear piercing shrill.
Sam sat up, "What's happening?" His eyes taking a few seconds to adjust to the light. He saw Melissa standing in front of the dresser, a look of intense terror on her face.
"What�s wrong, honey?"
She didn't answer, her whole body was trembling violently, tears rolled down her cheeks and cascaded onto her shoulders and breast.
"It's only a nightmare." reassured Sam, "Come back to bed."
The image was gone, the mirror reflected only her own frazzled, tear dampened face. She returned to bed, maybe it was only a nightmare after all.
The next morning Sam left for town early, he had some chores to run before they could head off on their honeymoon. Melissa also rose early and had breakfast with him, they discussed the dresser. She wanted to dump it, but Sam argued that it added character to the room and that he wanted to restore the piece when he had some spare time. They talked about last night and agreed that the nightmare was probably caused by the stress of getting married. Melissa watched as Sam drove out of the driveway.
Nightmare! It was more than a nightmare. Melissa was not happy with Sam's reaction to the dresser, she wanted it out of the house or at least out of the bedroom.
She tentatively entered the bedroom, memories of the gruesome image came flooding back to her, swamped all of her thoughts.
I'm going to drag it into the spare bedroom, it can stay in there until Sam is ready to restore it. That way I won't have to look at it.
Melissa stared at the mirror, examined her heavy eyes which where ringed with black, she had drastically aged overnight. The mirror darkened and her image vanished, it was quickly replaced by the middle aged balding guy, this time though he was dressed in a tattered and stained football jersey. He held the lifeless body of a young naked girl in his arms, blood dripped from the corner of her swollen and battered mouth.
Melissa refrained from screaming, it�s all in my head, she told herself. She stepped away from the mirror, averted her gaze towards the wooden cupboard at its base. Gripped hold of the wood and with an almighty heave she began to drag the piece of furniture from the room.
With a sloppy sucking sound the mirror popped away from the wall, Melissa looked behind the unit and was shocked at what she discovered. The wall behind the unit appeared to be bleeding, red rivulets of blood seeped from the wall and pooled on the floor.
Melissa screamed and launched her fist at the mirror, it shattered into a thousand shards. Just as an ordinary mirror would have. Maybe it was an ordinary mirror after all, could I be insane? She looked at the wall, no blood only some dust and a few cobwebs.