The day she disappeared

Chapter Three.

The blue eyes in the mirror widened and she stared directly at him. His hand was shaking where it rested on the mirror, trying to take a deep breath he swallowed refusing to turn around and face her.

"You...you can see me?" She asked, her voice a hoarse whisper.

She took a step forward and he closed his eyes, bracing his arms against his sink head hanging. It wasn't real, she wasn't real, he repeated the mantra in his head a few times.

When he looked in the mirror she was still there, closer now her eyes wild and desperate.

"Please...I know you can see me."

"You're not real," He said through clenched teeth.

"I...I don't know what's going on."

Her lower lip trembled and her eyes filled with tears, he had hallucinations once before but they never cried before.

He took a deep breath and then turned and walked passed her careful not to look at her, she followed him down the hall.

"Please...Mister, please."

He tried to tune out the sound of her voice, her soft sobs and her feet crossing the floor. He couldn't help glancing back at her once and taking in her appearance.

Long, stringy blonde hair hanging to her waist with tangles, long pale legs, and black shorts. A grey tank top that looked a little too big, anywhere her bones could poke against her skin they did. Her cheeks sunken in, her collarbone clearly visible and every joint dipped in.

"You're not real," He said again.

"I...I am real." 

He shook his head, feeding into his delusion was not advisable. All those nightmares he used to have, the visions, the delusions, were supposed to have stayed in Chicago.

He paced to his kitchen digging in his fridge for a solid minute before remembering he hadn't bought any booze since he moved here, what he wouldn't give for a beer.

Turning he walked back into the bathroom, the girl or vision or whatever she was following him insistently. He pulled his orange prescription bottle from his overnight bag and stared at the label.

He thought he was past this, thought he didn't need courage in the form of a tiny blue pill but he was wrong. Before he could talk himself out of it he untwisted the lid and popped one of the pills.

It stuck to his throat and made him feel sick, the bitter-tasting powder coating his dry tongue. He closed his eyes counting backward from ten so sure she would be gone when he finished.

He opened his eyes turned around and she was still standing in the bathroom doorway.

"This...this is my home, I...I don't know how I got here." 

She looked real enough that he almost believed she was, she wasn't see through and she clearly was in distress.

"My name is Shaylee..."

He winced instantly, he knew she looked familiar but the shell of a human being looked nothing like the happy, bright girl who lived in this apartment.

"Please, Mister..."She started toward him.

He couldn't help backing away from her, bumping into the sink behind him. She was a few steps away when she froze, her hands flying to her neck. Her eyes widened and her hands tightened around her own throat, a wheeze escaping her parted lips.

He stared at her, seeing her obvious distress but almost too afraid to move.

She dropped to her knees with a small thud on the floor, her eyes tearing up and a choked noise escaping her.

He couldn't take it and moved forward not sure how he could but wanting to help her. A second before he could reach her she let out a scream that echoed off the walls of the small bathroom and then just as quickly as she appeared she was gone. 

He backed away too fast his socks slipping on the tile floor, he fell backward his head hitting the side of the porcelain tub. He felt the pain radiate from the back of his skull, his vision blurred and his ears began to ring a high pitched painful noise. Then everything went black and he succumbed to unconsciousness.

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His head was pounding when he finally forced his eyes open, blinking against the light. His vision was blurred at first then slowly came into focus, he was laying on his cold tile floor in his bathroom. Sitting up made him dizzy and he had to close his eyes for a minute to fight back a wave of nausea, one hand going to the back of his head. There was no blood but a goose egg was definitely forming. 

He used the sink to leverage his large frame off the floor, splashing cold water on his face and taking a long drink. He avoided looking in the mirror, half afraid he would see blue eyes staring back at him.

He opened the medicine cabinet and retrieved a bottle of over the counter painkillers, tossing a few back without counting them.

He closed the mirror relieved he was still alone in the bathroom, whatever happened last night was over and Shaylee was gone.

Taking a deep breath he moved into the living room, collapsing on the too tiny couch and let his aching head fall back against the cushions, his eyes falling closed.

His body had just started to relax when the voice jolted him back to reality.

"Help me! Please! Mister!" 

He opened his eyes and there at his feet stood Shaylee, her face was bruised, her lip busted, her hair looked wet and her clothes did as well a harsh red mark was around her neck.

"s**t," He mumbled.

"Please, I don't know what's going on."

"No, you're not real." He said honestly.

"I am, I am real. Please...I don't know what's going on."

"No, you're not. You're just my head playing tricks on me again," He insisted.

"No, no, I'm not."

He stood and walked quickly back to the bathroom, she followed at his heels insisting still that she was real. He opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed the orange prescription bottles that he hadn't touched in weeks. 

Screwing off the lid he downed two pills and then turned to lean against the sink, staring at the tiny slip of a girl in front of him.

"Once these pills kick in you won't even be here," He promised.

"I'm real! my name is Shaylee, this used to be my apartment I don't know what's going on or where I am when I'm not here. I don't know what happened to me, I don't know what day it is, I don't know who you are!" She insisted.

"You're not real, I've done this before, trust me." He argued.

"I'm real."

He shook his head and glanced at his watch, the pills should be working which means she should be gone and she wasn't.

"Please...I just want to know what happened to me."

He pushed past her and walked back into the living room, grabbing the small handheld phone and dialing the number to his doctor back home.

"Please, Mister listen to me just give me time."

"Hello? Is Doctor Sandell in?" He asked the receptionist.

"No, he's not can I take a message?"

"Tell him to call Pete, okay? I have to talk to him. It's an emergency."

"I will."

He hung up tossing the phone aside and trying to take a deep breath, she was still standing there watching him.

"Okay, okay listen, listen. Under that couch cushion right there there's a ring. It's a gold band and a tiny black onyx, my name is inscribed on the band. My mom bought it for me when I turned eighteen. It fell there and I didn't get it back."

She pointed to the couch cushion, her voice rising, clearly growing near hysterical and more desperate.

He glanced at the couch a large part of him wanted her to be real, her being real meant he wasn't losing his mind, it meant he wasn't falling down that rabbit hole again.

Another part of him knew he was being crazy already, no way was she real and he obviously was relapsing. 

"Look, please...just look!" She begged, tears building in her blue eyes.

Taking a deep breath he turned towards the couch, he was vaguely aware that his hands were shaking as he reached behind the cushions, feeling for a ring.

He searched under the cushions reaching his hand in as far as he could and coming up with nothing, she had to be his imagination. A part of him was truly disappointed when he turned back to her.

"There's nothing there." He said more to himself than the imaginary girl.

"No, no there is. There is." She insisted.

"There isn't," He said.

She wasn't real, a part of him had known that but he hated the harsh reality that he once again was losing his fragile grip on reality.

She started to sob and he turned away, going to the kitchen. He was pouring himself a glass of water and ignoring the sobs behind him when they turned into a blood-chilling scream.

His glass fell from his hand shattering on the floor spilling his water and soaking his socks and when he turned the girl was gone. 

He stood in place for a few long minutes, listening for any sign she was still there and when he heard nothing turned his attention to cleaning up the glass, he was just finishing the cleaning when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Pete? this is Doctor Sandell, is everything okay?" The older man's voice was concerned.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry Doc, I shouldn't have called."

"Nonsense, that's what I'm here for, now tell me what happened?"

"I...I saw a girl. She was in my apartment but...the pills must be working she's gone now. I just got a little spooked."

"You're on a long road to recovery, Peter. You won't get better overnight, the change in a town while good for you is certainly going to set you back some. I'm not at all surprised you're struggling."

"This girl, she's been missing a long time and I visited her mom the other day. I think I just let it get to me."

"That's normal that was such a large part of your life but you're not that man anymore Pete."

"Yeah, I know. I just...I don't know I panicked I guess."

"Completely normal, I'm glad you called."

"It's probably just the stress from the move, I'm fine."

"Are you still keeping in touch with your sponsor from AA?" 

"Yes, we e-mail and text."

"Good, what about Natalie?" The doctor asked.

"No...I've been letting her alone just like the judge said."

"Good."

"Thanks for calling me back Doc, I appreciate it."

"Anytime, call me anytime."

He hung up and collapsed onto the same couch she had insisted a ring was lost in, something squirmed in the back of his mind. A part of him not ready to believe he was slipping again.

With a heavy sigh, he shoved his hand behind the cushions once again feeling around. Part of him not expecting to find a thing the other part of him hoping he did. After a few long seconds and just before he gave up his fingers slid across something small and cold.

He froze, his body going tense and his breath halted. He slowly pulled out a tiny black onyx ring.