Broken Mirror (Three)

Broken Mirror

He let his eyes scan the street beyond for a few more moments and then turned away from the window, he let his head drift towards the door of his bedroom before he crossed the room to his bedroom door.

He could still see no light from around the edges of the door and without thinking he reached up and pressed his hand to the light switch next to the frame of the door, his fingers pushed on the button and the switch engaged, but the room remained covered in darkness.

He shook his head in frustration as he opened the door from his room, he let his head turn back to the chest of drawers beside his bed but did not stop from walking through the now-open door.

The hallway beyond was shrouded in darkness as he had suspected and a customary flick of a light switch failed to yield any greater success in bringing illumination to his apartment.

A sudden twinge could be felt in his bladder and now his body no longer relaxed told him that he needed to make a pit stop in the bathroom, the activity of moving around the final part of the puzzle it needed.

He walked along the length of the passageway and stopped near the edge of it and pushed open the door to his bathroom, he did not even stop to test the light switch this time, he figured that he had put enough effort into pushing insanity and would leave it as a lost cause.

A few moments later he was running his hands under the lukewarm flow of water from the tap and working the soap into the flesh on his hands until he was satisfied and turned the tap off and turned to grab a towel from a metal rack and began to dry his hands.

With a shrug of his shoulders, he turned from the sink and moved back to the hallway beyond and began to walk down the stairs to the lower level of his apartment, the estate agent who had sold him the place he recalled had gone on and on about two-level apartments being quite uncommon.

He did not understand why that thought came to mind as he put his foot on the first step and began to make his way down the stairs with caution not entirely sure of what he could end up stepping on in the darkness

His journey was uneventful he thought to himself as he stepped down from the bottom step and moved towards the front door of the building, he was located on the top of the building, him and two other tenants that he would not have been able to name if his life had depended on.

He reached the front door and reached out to start to move the series of locks and bolts that kept it secure, his attention suddenly drawn from the door as he caught sight of his reflection beside where he stood.
He turned with a start and looked into the mirror that hung there, the centre of it splintered and missing pieces of glass and spider-like web cracks stretching out from the centre of it and leaving the intricate web of broken and lined glass that remained.

He paused for a moment to take in his reflection, he could see the darkness under his eyes, the lack of sleep taking the physical toll that it had, his skin looking pale and his eyes seemed to be almost withdrawn from where he looked at them.

The cracks in the glass gave his reflection an odd look to it and he placed his hands beside either side of the mirror and felt the wall against his palms as he seemed to be locked in what would have been a staring contest if it had been with someone else and not himself.

He tilted his head and watched his reflection respond to the action and neither wanted to break the contest that had begun, he could feel his fingers slip from the wall as he began to ball them into fists and he saw his lips begin to form into a snarl in the mirror.