Future Infinite--Lilith Winters | |
Works-in-Progress Gaming Links Home | This time, it had to be 1115 words, use the phrase, "The reflection of the mirror stared back at her" and the words: sheriff, road, hate, singing, and lamp.
The reflection of the mirror stared back at her. She stared at it, trying, willing it to go back to the way it was before, the way it was supposed to look. She stared into the mirror, trying to tell herself that she couldn�t actually be seeing what was in front of her. But she was, and she knew it. She mentally reviewed her options. There was crying, but that was some sort of giving up in defeat. Whatever she was going to do, she only had an hour until her roommate came back. And then�well, she was going to have to figure out some kind of plan for what was going to happen then. The road stretched invitingly next to the window, and she contemplated taking it. It would be easy enough, perhaps even easier than crying. It was just right there�and she could just start walking, see where she would end up. That was what Mia would do�Mia believed in running away from problems, in moving quickly so that nothing could catch up with you. Wait. What if this meant that she was turning into Mia? Was that even possible? She didn�t see why not. She�d already managed to somehow pick up a third eye, as well as several other psychic abilities. But that didn�t mean that she was going to turn into Mia. After all, there was a really easy way to make sure that that didn�t happen. She turned away from the window, and back to the mirror. She wasn�t going to run away. And she wasn�t going to cry. There had to be something she could do. Now that the eye was closed, it just looked like a scar. True, it was in the exact middle of her forehead, and that was kind of a strange place to have a scar. Okay, that was a really strange place to have a scar, but she wasn�t sure what else she could do about it. She leaned forward, touching her forehead to the mirror. It was cool, and felt good against her forehead. Her forehead didn�t feel normal anymore. It really did feel like there was something squishy in the middle of her forehead, something that felt exactly like an eye. Which was hardly surprising, considering that it was an eye. Thankfully, at least, her third eye didn�t seem to come with eyelashes, so that when it was closed, it only looked like some strange kind of scar. She pulled back from the mirror a little, and considered it again. She bent down towards the sink, and opened the cupboard. There it was: her make-up bag. �I hate make-up,� she moaned as she pulled it out. She pulled out foundation, spilling cosmetics on the floor. Carefully, gently, she started applying it to her forehead. At first she thought that it might be doing some good, but then she realized that even if the color kind of changed, the skin still looked odd there, and she didn�t think make-up could change that. She leaned forward again, and slowly tried opening her extra eye. She squealed, and then blinked hard. She�d messed up, and gotten some of the cream in her eye! She grabbed a wash cloth and got it wet and slowly started gently wiping the make-up away. All right, that was a bad idea, she told herself. We�re going to have to try something else. What was Plan B? She smacked herself in the forehead before realizing why that was a bad idea, and squealed again. Good thing she was alone right now, and things would get very bad very fast. She tried opening the eye again, and this time it didn�t hurt. She couldn�t make any sense out of her reflection, and she didn�t know why. Maybe because observing herself changed what she saw? That was always possible, and didn�t sound that out there. But that assumed�she knew nothing about what was going on. Unlike the rest of the powers they�d gotten, there was nothing about having a third eye in any of the source material, because that was something that Jason had made up himself. She could hate him for that, except that she knew it really wasn�t his fault. None of them had known, could have known that this was going to happen, and so�well, they would do what they had to do. Think, Kathryn. There was no Plan B before, but you have to come up with one now. Then she wondered if she really did. Suppose no one noticed that something was weird about her forehead? No. That was wrong. She knew�Mia knew, and so Kathryn had learned, that you should never create a plan that depended on someone acting like an idiot. And of course, eventually someone would notice that something was wrong, and then she would have to explain. So she needed a way to hide it. Maybe she could like it look like a fashion statement? Mia had started wearing hats when she�d gotten her scar�especially when she�d had it for a month and it hadn�t healed. Oh. That should have been a clue. Kathryn sighed. She didn�t own any hats, but that was obviously going to have to change, because there was nothing else that she could do. You�ve done nothing wrong, she tried telling herself, but it didn�t work. They�d send a sheriff after her for being a mutant, if nothing else. The human race does not respond well to difference, and she already knew that all too well. But it wasn�t like she could just go singing and ignore that this was going on. She sighed again, and started searching the cabinet under the bathroom sink. Finally, she found a thick headband, and tried putting it on. If she wore it kind of stupidly low, it would cover up the oddities in her forehead. She�d look like an idiot, but at least she�d look like a normal idiot. That was probably the best that she could hope for right now, all things considered. She turned off the lights in the bathroom, and went out and sat by the window. She needed to do some serious thinking. They all needed to do some serious thinking, and they needed to meet soon. But until then�she would do something. She would figure out something. This had to have happened for a reason, right? She couldn�t have been cursed just because, could she? But as she looked out on the gray winter day, she had the terrible feeling that there really was no benevolence in the universe. �Hey silly,� Michelle�s voice called out. �What are you doing sitting in the dark? Turn on a lamp, at least.� �Thank you,� Kathryn said, and smiled, all while thinking to herself, Please don�t ask about the headband. Please don�t ask about the headband. |