Free Sleep Peacefully by NC Marshall

the expansion is complete, I
will have him at home more often. I just need to be patient.
    As
I put the phone back into its cradle, the lamp next to it makes a quiet pop,
and the hallway is plunged into darkness.
    “Shit,”
I whisper to myself, rushing through the kitchen to find a replacement light
bulb for the one that has just blown. I rummage through numerous kitchen
drawers before I find one that will fit. Returning to the lamp, I screw in the
new bulb. There is a brief moment before the light returns, in that moment,
something in front of me catches my eye. I see my reflection in the mirror hanging
above the table where I stand. In the darkness, my eyes are shadowed, and my
face is illuminated by the moon’s sudden intense bright light shining through
the glass blocks of the front door.
    I
stare hard, studying my eerie looking appearance, but as I move closer to the
mirror, I notice that it’s not my reflection staring back at me at all. My hair
is too long and too light, my cheekbones are more prominent, my whole face
looks thinner and younger. My eyes remain unchanged. I’m looking at my sister.
    I
stare at the reflection for a few seconds before it registers. Once it does, I
stagger back, unable to look at the image staring back at me any longer. Goose
pimples rise on my arms, and an icy chill runs the full length of my spine as I
acknowledge that I’m frightened. My ankles hit the edge of the wooden
staircase. I crash down onto it, trying to duck down low enough so I can't see
directly in the large mirror anymore. I stare at the floor for a few moments
before I pull myself together. Eventually, I drag myself up and sit on the
bottom step, trying to steady myself, still not daring to look back in the
direction of the mirror in case she is still there.
    The
light is back on, the room once again bathed in a warm light. I stand from the
step, slowly moving back to face the mirror, and summon the courage to look.
It's just me staring back now. Jess has gone, but the ghostly image of the
reflection has triggered something buried deep in my mind. The dream from last
night floods back to me in abundance, and I remember every last detail.
    Jess
had called Matt and needed to speak to him, she wanted to talk, and was upset
about something, I don’t know what, I can’t figure it out. I remember the
figure up on the cliff top standing behind her. Matt had been there. He had
gone there to meet her, as she had asked him to. The reality hits me with a
horrible jolt as I consider the possibility that the night my sister died, she
hadn’t been alone at all. Her husband had been there with her.

Chapter 10
     

 
    The
feelings of anger and confusion inside me are agonising. I replay the memories
of the dream over and over in my head as I drive to the city the following
morning, each replay exactly the same as the last. Were these just meaningless
dreams concocted from my own subconscious? If they were, why did they feel so
real and why are they affecting me in this way? It now seems even more tangible
than it did in the flashbacks from last night.
    I
remember Jess’s vision in the mirror willing me to remember. I can still see
her as clear as day. It was her, she was there with me. I try to talk
myself out of believing what I saw is what actually happened, but then the
image floods back and I find it increasingly impossible to ignore.
    I
feel betrayed and upset by Matt. If this dream was showing me the actual images
of that night, then why did he lie and say he had not seen Jess on the night
she died, when apparently he had gone up to the cliffs to meet her? My head is
spinning, and I could do with not starting training at work today. I know that
I’m not going to be able to focus and give it the full attention that I should.
I have to talk to Matt. I have so many questions that I want answered, if for
nothing more than to return my own sanity. I know that for now this will have
to wait. This job is too important, I need