text: (I got the idea for this from a writing prompt that said “Start a story with a sentence and then end it with the same sentence but in a completely different tone.” I also wasn’t sure if horror was exactly right, but I think so... here we are.) I knelt to the tub and slid my hand into the warmth, sighing, utterly content. I needed this. It had been such a long night at the hospital; being head of trauma had its perks, but last night was not a shining example. As I lowered my stiff, aching body into the hot bubbles, I could practically feel the stress melt off me. Legs relaxed and the little girl who swallowed a battery evaporated from my brain. My back relaxed into the lavender soak and the old woman who fell on the stairs breaking most of the bones on her left side bounded out the doors in my head. The pregnant woman who had gone into labor at her son’s band concert washed away with my hands, and the young man that had leaped from a building on a frat dare slipped out of my thoughts as I completely submerged myself. I let the bath jets kick on, creating a perpetual loop of bubbles. And hour later and I sat toweling my hair off at the foot of our bed. “Want to talk about it?” Liam asked as he ran his sturdy hands down my tense shoulders. Do I? I wondered to myself. A pause. Yes. Turning to look at him, I remembered a laundry list of reasons I love him. Deep green eyes that are always warm, how he never asks how work was because it’s never good, the way he never falters even when I’m at my worst... I could go on forever. “It was rough...” Liam nodded, solemnly. “I’ve let most of it go, but...” I trailed off, glancing behind him. He glanced back, following my gaze to the dresser mirror. “What’s wrong?” Concern seeped into his voice, hanging heavily in the air. “It’s just... been a long night.” I smiled half-heartedly. “Thought I saw something in the mirror.” I proceeded to tell Liam about the last patient I’d seen last night. He was brought in just after midnight. The kid was only 12. His father had found him in their attic covered in carvings -- pentagrams, scratches, and other markings no one recognized were etched into his exposed skin and all over his back. Dad claimed the boy had gone to bed at 9. Dad had stayed up working and was headed to sleep when he heard deep chuckling and small whimpering from the closed attic. Their house had a pull-down ladders -- no way the four-foot-nothing child had opened it on his own. But dad had a feeling and went to check his son’s room to be safe. It was good he did. When the boy got to the hospital, his temperature was problematically low and he’d gone slightly delirious with pain, probably exhausted too. He kept addressing someone in the corners of the rooms, occasionally screaming to get out, sometimes whispering to come closer. We’d stabilized him though. He was given painkillers and sleeping medicine then his wounds were stitched, dressed, and meticulously watched by the nurses. He would be fine, but he’d have the scars forever. Hospital policy in these cases is pretty clear; social services was called, police were brought in to interview the father who hadn’t even his son since they arrived, and hospital security posted a guard at the room door at all times until we heard otherwise from the authorities. It almost felt cruel. My gut told me this wasn’t child abuse, but that wasn’t my job to determine. Liam, of course, listened intently. He asked some questions, but ultimately let me get the whole story off my chest. “Is that everything?” he asked cautiously. “You still seem a little frazzled.” I pondered for a minute. Was that all? What am I not saying? Then it hit me. “The boy,” I said, “he coughed up blood all over my face.” Why hadn’t I remembered that? Liam pulled back a fraction of an inch. “It’s why we ended up sedating him.” “Are you okay?” “Of course.” I waved the questions off. “Full blood panel on both of us immediately following. I’m on mandatory 72 hour leave while samples culture, but it’s not like he had ebola.” I smiled, full and vibrant this time. “It’s a mini vacation.” “I’m sorry I’ll miss most of it then,” he laughed, pulling me to lay normally on the bed. “This meeting is what I would have at the bottom of my list of shit-I-could-do-this-weekend.” He wrapped his arms around me and I let my head hit the pillow, sleep taking me as I whispered how much I loved my husband. When I woke up, I was alone. The curtains were drawn, but some of the midday light peaked through. There was a folded piece of paper on the nightstand. Off to Chicago. I’ll call when I land at O’Hare. Dinner has been ordered and I’ll see you tomorrow night. Love, Liam I don’t know what I did to deserve that man, but I will forever be thankful for him. I got up, started coffee, took a quick wake up shower, poured coffee, and sat down in the living room. I grabbed my controller and powered everything up. Sipping my coffee, I watched the procession of startup logos -- Samsung, PS4, PS4 warnings, pentagram, PS4 startup menu -- wait. I blinked. Pentagram?? Power down everything. Wait a minute. Power up TV. Normal. Make sure input is correct. Power on PS4. Logo. Warnings. Startup menu. No pentagram. Probably just still waking up. Everything is fine. I downed my first cup of coffee and poured a second. For a few hours, I played video games and forgot all the work stress and the pentagram until a sharp knock at the door brought me back to reality. It was 6:30pm. The sunlight had all but disappeared. A second knock. I scrambled up and managed to open the front door before a third knock came. Pizza. Liam knew just what to do to cheer me up. “Tip is already included,” the delivery girl I’d seen a few times before said. She handed me three boxes - one pizza and two small long ones. “You guys enjoy.” “Just me tonight,” I said smiling. “Have a good night.” I handed her another $5. She looked confused, glancing behind me then towards her car then back to me. She smiled hesitantly but said good night and left. I raised an eyebrow. She must have expected Liam because his name was on the receipt. Closing the door, I headed back to the living room and... I backtracked to the hallway mirror. Was that someone walking behind me as I crossed in front of it just now? I walked back to the front door, then back to the living room, watching the reflection as I went. No. Must have been the shadow behind me that caught my eye. As I sat back down, I grabbed my phone. I hadn’t heard from Liam yet, but I know his company often gets flights with long layovers to save money. Liam probably checked the bag with his charger. What was I going to do with him? I chuckled. I tried calling anyway. “You’ve reached Liam. Please leave your message here and I’ll r̵etu̡r̨n҉ y̶ou̖̫͞r̘͎ ̸̹c̵a̤̥̲̹̝̫l̥̫l̹̺̫̱̱̫̺̀ a̛̪̩͘s̫͇͚̤͘ ̢̗̻̱̥͕̣s͏̟̘̻o̶͍̮̫̮͎̻̺o̸̗͓̺̖͡ń̖̹̠̥̞̣̬̝͔ ͖͇̞̠̘̯͈͢a̶̹̪̦̲̠̞s̥͙̗͇͈̖̩ ̢͚̯͢I̷̡̖̻͉͍̹̜̜̤͖ ̸̶͉͚̟͉̞̻͉͈͘c̡̖̣͍͜a̷̯͇͇͈̩̺n̢͍̖̯̳̟̯̞̲̱.̨̳͓̦͔͖̦̟̀͘ ̸̛҉̬͔͓̞̼T҉̶̗͕͕̙h͉̤̟̭̫̯a̷̶͇̰n̳̗̼̯̩̰̻͚͞k̡͎ͅs̴̥͕͎̞̻͟͝.͎̜͙̪̞̟̝” ̫̫̟ The audio got weird. Words scratched apart and jumbled, then the call disconnected. Did he power on his phone? I redialed. “You’ve reached Liam. Please leave your message here and I’ll return your call as soon as I can. Thanks.” Beep. I hung up. Definitely not on. I decided to message him on Facebook. If his laptop was connected, he’d see me on and maybe we could chat. After sending him a short thank you with a picture of my pizza, I dug in and turned on a movie. Rom-com, of course. I could use a- was that one of the symbols from the kid’s arm? Just now? On my rom-com opening credits? I put down my pizza and skipped back. Starring.... Nothing. No weird symbols. Just actors and actresses and directors. I blinked a few times, rewound one more time, then slowly went back to eating dinner. Probably time for real sleep after this. I ended up dozing after dinner. I woke up to the final swell of the orchestra as the couple said “I do” and kissed. Camera panned up to the perfect sky, and credits started to roll. On my phone, I had two notifications from Facebook Messenger. Liam: Hey you. Glad pizza is good. I’m on layover in Denver. Charger is in my suitcase and my phone died. :( I’ll call from hotel. Love you. Liam:⛧ H̷̞̞̥̬̘͉͍̘̞̥̻͐ͧ̌ͩͦ̃ͬ̀͢e͒ͦ̋ͮͩ̄͐̌̽̌́҉̵͖͉̥͈̰̭͈̥̥͖̯̣͇͕ ̵̼͚̲̻͇͓͕̘͈̙̜̱̠̦̳͎ͥ͒̒̅́̋̏͂̐̀ͫ́ͪͯ̈̅͡ͅi͕̩̮̪̝̝͎ͦ͗͛ͮ̂ͨͥͩ̄̀s̛̛̭̟͕̤͔͋̇͛̈́ͅ ̨̆ͦͩ̿̃ͨ̐̎̓̈ͭ́̅ͧ̉͋̚̚͝҉̸̪̩̹̟̙̝͍͘hͨͪ͌͛͂͗͂̂ͯ͋ͨ̇̓̇̒̆҉҉̰̫̥̪̻̲̦̙͟ͅe̎̊̊̉̈ͦ͒̂͟͠͠҉̯̬̻͇͉̹͚̱̤͇͍̗͖̠̟ͅr̵̢͓̖̠̼̘̦̞͙̹̻̬̭͎̗͙̻̲̮ͥ̎̂̈ͪͫ̀ͤ̽̄̈ͤͨ̃͒ͯ͂̀̚͡ͅē̛̦͎̗̖̠̊ͩͤ͐̆̐̑̈́͒̎̾̀͘̕ ̸̙̳̪̦̼̳̜̰̩̰̩̘̮̞͍͎̈ͬ̈́̀͗ͫͨ̕͟͢͠w̌͂̀ͬ͌̑͐̽ͮͯ̄̎̆̚҉̠̹̜̻̭̀̀i̧̾ͬ̂̊̆ͩͦͭ͆҉͏͔͙̖̖̥̙̫̀ţ̶̛̝͚̺͓̘̠̌̏͑̎ͧ̌̑͒ͦ͒ͥ̀͆͌ͫͅḩ̤̣̠͇̿ͫͩͭ̽̋͋ͭ͋͛͘͘͡ ̘͙̘̦̫̣̠̥ͤ́ͪ͆́͐͌ͩ̅͑͑ͤ̌̇̕y̡̙͍̠̝̰̪̻̫̥͎̗̹̯̟͇̥̦̓ͧ̓ͬ̓̓ͩ͗ͯ̀̚͝͞͠ͅò̶͇͎̝̟͙̗̰͖͚͙͇̱̮̟̀ͫͥ̋̿̉̊̃ͯ̑̏̕̕͟ͅų̷̩͕̬̩̳̩͇͓̘̳̻̙͎̄̃̅ͭ̐̇ͪ̀̒ͪͤ̿̅̐̈́̇͠.̈ͫ̒̓̈́́ͨ̅͊ͣ̈ͥ͏̕͜҉̢̥̟̤̙̻̰͎͚͚̞̻͉̙̫̦̭ ⛧ The second message had two pentagrams surrounding dozens of incomprehensible words and symbols. I blinked. They were still there. I took a screenshot, closed the app, and reopened the messages. The symbols and gibberish had changed to real words. Liam: ♡ Hope you enjoy your movie and alone time. ♡ Rubbing my eyes, I sighed. Time for bed. I turned everything off and headed upstairs, ignoring the chuckling and shadow that crept behind me in any mirrors I passed. As I laid down, my phone started to buzz. I sat back up. A local number was calling me. Why so late? It was almost 9pm. I silenced the ringer. If it was important, they’d leave a message. That night was restless. I kept moving and dreaming of a shadow behind me. I dreamt of living in my video game, all stealth and assassin. I dreamt of killing someone. I woke up with a start. I had a voicemail from last night. It was 3:30am. There was a message in my email from the hospital telling me the boy with the cuts had died. “Don’t laugh, it’s rude,” I told the shadow in the mirror. I listened to the voicemail as the shadow and I walked into the bathroom. “Hi, this is Lisa from Liam’s office. Liam never made it to the airport and his phone goes straight to voicemail. You’re his emergency contact, so we just wanted to check and make sure he’s alright. Thanks!” Liam’s green eyes stared up at me from the bathtub, no longer vibrant and full of life. A huge gaping wound glistened on his neck. My shadow friend nodded with approval as I set our phones on the sink counter. I knelt to the tub and slipped my hand into the warmth, sighing, utterly content.