A Smile To Remember

The mirror showed a reflection that wasn't my own.

It hadn’t been mine since we were married. Truth is, everything about me was different now. He made sure of it.

I was no longer the happy go lucky girl with the magical smile. I could no longer light up the room or make friends with strangers. I had become a stain he had to deal with.

He made sure no one would ever question where I was or when I disappeared. He saw to it that no one even remembered my name.

*

The smell of bleach lingers in the ice that imprisons my body, and every night, more of me disappears.

What he had yet to discover, or admit, is what I am now prepared to teach him. He may have broken my body, but he could never control or break my spirit.

What surprises I have waiting for him, as he disposes the last of my flesh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was just before midnight when David pulled into the garage. He was sneaking back from the secret location, chosen just for me.

As he got out of his car - a look of satisfaction flooded his face.

In my anger, I unintentionally knocked an old mirror off of the wall, it shattered into pieces, as it hit the floor. I smiled, seeing the fear and shock in his eyes. He looked around, like he thought someone was there, and then placed the mirror out back.

Making his way back into the house, he opened a beer, lit up a cigarette and sat in my chair, smirking. "How is that for final, Susan? I tried to warn you that I would not tolerate your disobedience. There is a consequence for every betrayal, now, you know yours." He mumbled, taking my picture out of his wallet, and burning it into an ashtray. He put his feet up on the table my father made for us as a wedding gift and proceeded to put his cigarette out on it.

The next day he loaded all of my belongings into a trailer and before noon, any traces of me, were gone.

We had moved into this secluded neighborhood 9 months earlier, shortly after the unexpected deaths of my parents. He liked the idea that we were relatively recluse. and with the money my parents left us, practically celebrities.

He fabricated bank statements showing that I had withdrawn a good portion of the money my parents left, and used the trailer he disposed of me in, as the means of my escape. He had been building a story that I had met another man and packed my things and simply left.

He played his part as the heartbroken husband, loves latest victim. When asked how he was managing, he said, "I just want her to be happy." And to his delighted expectation, everyone believed him.

Several months passed and he began to relax. So, I decided it was finally my turn.

I started small at first, not really certain what I would be able to do. There aren't really any self-help books on first time hauntings.

So, I moved things on him, first the keys to the car, and then the remotes. At night I would set off the car and smoke alarms. He would come out to candles burning or the water running in the sinks. I would linger over the bed at night, causing him to feel restless. Things that made him doubt his sanity, but not enough that he would leave.

After several days of him not sleeping, I returned the broken mirror, from the night he disposed of me, to its place just outside of the bathroom door.

I wish I had a picture of his face the first time he saw it.

As he stepped closer, to remove the mirror from the wall, mumbling under his breath about how he was going to kill whoever was messing with him. I said, smiling in the mirror at him, "I don't think it's possible to do that twice, is it?" I smiled, the biggest smile I could muster, the sight of me was more than he could handle.

As he screamed my name, he fell into a heap on the floor. I watched emotionless as the life drained out of his eyes.

By the time anyone realized something was wrong, he had been decaying in a heap on the floor, under that beautiful old mirror for weeks. Died of a heart attack they determined, due to the heightened bouts of paranoia he had been suffering with, since I left.

For the first time, in a long time, that mirror finally showed a reflection that was actually my own. And it said:

"Hi, Susan, welcome home."