Reflection

Forgotten air in the brown guest bedroom.

Shuffle my way past the bed to the bathroom.

Hushed voices in the distance behind me.

The man from the movie’s approaching the doorway;

Calm, gentle, silver stubble.

Walking towards the bathroom,

He smiles that he knows and it’s fine.

As I lock the door, he pulls a teenager into the bedroom.

Stumbling, bumping behind closed doors.

Don’t move.

Silence.

Don’t breathe.

Listen carefully.

Body slams against the door, thumps to the floor.

They know I’m on the other side.

Nothing to hide.

Panting. Struggling. Heaving.

Belts opening.

Body banging against the door.

I can’t get out.

They can’t get in.

Angry voice of his father.

Confused silence of his son.

I drop to the ground.

Press the side of my face to the smooth, laminate floor.

Three-inch gap under the hollow door.

The smell of sweat.

A knee on his neck.

Face pressed to the floor.

We’re eyeball to eyeball;

Two eyes on the same face

Paralyzed in space

As the world keeps turning

Upside down.

Asymmetrical terror trapped on canvas.

Guernica.

Features melt under pressure.

Everybody knows.

What’s happening?

Now!

But nobody bats an eye.

Words unspoken.

Gaze unbroken.

Suddenly.

His hand shoots under the door.

Arm reaching.

Face and fingers pleading.

We stare silently.

Where’s the key.

As I reach out to grab it,

I see that it’s me.

 

 

by K.S.Cornell