A Warning From Beyond

The mirror showed a reflection that wasn't my own. In the glass of my bedroom full-length mirror was a grown woman. One who was wearing a gas station uniform like my own that was stained with blood. Her mouth had some dribbling down it as well. And her big blue eyes were trained on me as I stared at her.

Then she opened her mouth to speak and I took a step back.

Took another as I reached behind myself to grab my throw blanket. Soon as my fingertips touched it, I yanked it off of my bed then I tossed it over the mirror. Covering it and making the woman disappear from my sight. Which was something that I was deeply grateful for. Before this I couldn't look at myself thanks to my dysphoria. Now, I can't because...maybe I was just seeing things. After all, I haven't been sleeping well thanks to my work schedule. Maybe she wasn't real and I was just imagining she was thanks to being exhausted. There's no way that woman could honestly have been real. Just absolutely no way in Hell.

But...but what if she was? Then what does that-NO. I will not entertain my sleep deprived brain anymore. Not with those kinds of nasty thoughts. There's no damn ghost in that stupid mirror. All there is, is my ugly mirror and nothing but my own reflection.

No dead woman with a slit throat. Just me in my work clothes. And all I'll see is that I haven't slept well in a while. Nothing more and nothing less. Only me is all I will be seeing in this mirror. That's what I keep telling myself as I near the mirror. Grabbing the throw blanket that I just threw over it. Carefully pulling it off of it as I stare. My guts twisting inside me as I slowly pull it off. An irrational part of me afraid that I will see that dead woman once more. But as soon as I removed the blanket, I sigh with relief. The only thing that's reflecting in this stupid thing is myself.

With my hair a mess and huge bags under my eyes.

I straightened my uniform out of habit as I stared at myself. Then adjust my chest binder. Taking a deep breath to calm myself as I laugh a little. All this proved is that I need way more sleep then what I'm getting. And that I have a more vivid imagination then I thought. Quickly I fix my hair into something more presentable as I head out of my room. Nothing was wrong in that mirror. The only thing that I needed was to get more sleep. Something that I can catch up on during my next three days off.

Right now, I gotta do my twelve hours at the gas station.

Which is really going to suck so much ass on four hours of sleep. But, thank everything in existence, I get free coffee. Something that'll make this whole terrible shift so much better.

At least that's what I tell myself as I get my shoes on. Then I slip on my jacket a second later.

Grabbing my lanyard that has my keys on it a second later. This was going to be an extremely long day. I just had this really uneasy feeling about it. One that I don't think I'm easily going to shake. Well, I'm going to try my best to do so. And I'm really lucky that I live so close by the gas station. It's only around a five minute walk from my house. And it'll make dealing with today so much easier. No matter how bad this shift is probably going to be going.

At least I don't have far to walk.

Walking out of the house, I lock it behind myself. I'm not taking any chances with my house today. I've been hearing about some break-ins recently. And I ain't going to be next. Sure, I don't have a lot in there. But some folks get killed for a Hell of a lot less. I tried to not think of it as I start my walk to work. Thinking of the break-ins isn't going to help me in the slightest. Or lighten my mood all that much either.

And I don't want anyone thinking that I'm mad at them.

As our customers get real pissy when I ain't smiling. And if I seem to be even the tiniest bit upset. Cuz to a majority of them, we ain't people. And by 'we' I mean cashiers. Especially these past few months. As the weather's been really terrible. Lot of folks haven't been able to get outside like they wanted to. Or do much of what they wanted to. I'm probably gonna have to deal with folks grumpier than me today because of the recent snow fall. And that's really saying a lot considering how dead tired I'm feeling.

Anyway as soon as I walk in, Gretchen, my co-worker is giving me a really dirty look. I can already tell that today is gonna be a bad one. She proves me right by snapping,"Clock in, Tanner. I wanna go home."

"Good to see you too, Gretch.",I mutter. Very softly under my breath. That way she can't hear me and yell at me. As I'm pretty sure if she did she'd yell at me until her face turns blue. Instead I just do as I'm demanded of. Walking into the backroom and clocking in. Setting my jacket on the hook that was nearby and slipping on my lanyard on. Soon as I come out from the back, Gretchen sprints out from behind the counter. Nearly slamming her shoulder into me as I pass her to the counter. Something she's never done. Gretchen is never this aggressive with me. Ever. I ask,"The Hell is your problem, Gretchen?"

"Fuck off, Tan. Next time you leave this store a mess, I won't be cleaning it up.",she hisses. I hadn't. I know that I had cleaned this place from top to bottom. The Hell is she even talking about? Before I can ask, she's storming out of the office then out of the door. Not once looking back at me as she did so. Jesus, how bad was that so called mess?

I don't linger on it as I start my shift and duties.

At least five hours later, I've been trying to take out the trash. Each time that I've tried, this weird guy comes in for something small. Three different times. This dude isn't drunk, he doesn't seem high, and he's dressed pretty nicely. Wearing a clean t-shirt with something funny written on it. That it was something about duct tape and stupidity. I like this dude's shirt, I do. He seems to be pretty nice, too. But I'd really appreciate him leaving the freaking store for longer than thirty seconds. It would make taking the trash out so much easier.

A second goes by and he hasn't come back in. Then at least five minutes or so, still no guy.

This is my chance to finally take the freaking trash out. It may not have been stinking but I need it gone. I hurriedly take the bagged trash out from the nearby garbage can to the back door. And I brought them over one by one as fast as I can. Worried that the guy would be coming back at any moment. Soon as I got the bags near the door, I unlocked it and tossed the bags outside for the briefest moment. Then I sprint with each bag to the dumpster. Soon as I dumped the last bag into it, there was a cold blade on my neck. Then a hand was grabbing my hair tight enough to make me yelp.

Next thing I knew, the man from earlier was whispering,"You scream or make any form of noise, I will slit your throat."

"All I want is the money in the register, I don't want to hurt you.",he added. My stomach twisted almost violently as I was dragged back inside. Forced behind the counter and right up to the register. Putting the blade away, he watched as I got the till open. I popped it open while pressing the button under the counter as sneakily as possible. Praying to anyone that the police would come soon after this. Or at least could find this horrible bastard afterward.

I also just couldn't do nothing before they showed up. No, I was going to put up a fight before they showed up. Keep my own skin safe, too.

Quickly I grabbed a nearby bottle of this expensive wine a customer couldn't afford. And I hadn't had the chance to put back. Without any hesitation, I slammed it over his head as hard as I could. The bottle immediately smashed into little pieces and stunned the bastard. At least I think that's why he isn't moving at the moment. Anyway, I leap over the counter as quick as I could. Then I bolted for the bathroom in the back. Determined to lock myself inside to call the police.

Making sure they were actually coming to the store. And to keep this horrible bastard away from me. I don't want to die in the damn store over sixty bucks. Nor do I want Gretchen or some kid finding me with my throat slit.

Soon as I got myself into the bathroom, I tried to lock the door behind myself. Unfortunately, the guy seemed to snap out of it and was right behind me. He threw open the door as he yelled at me. I don't know what he was saying, he was too loud for me to understand. My eyes went wide as I saw the state of his face. Blood was running down from his scalp. There were shards of glass stuck in his forehead and in his cheek.

I think there's some in his scalp, too.

Only one of his eyes was open as the other wasn't in good shape. And the only open one was glaring straight at me. Before I could attempt antying, he lunged at me. Shoving me against the wall before wrapping an arm around me. Pinning my arms to my sides as he pressed the knife to my throat. So harshly that a tiny bead of blood ran down my neck. Tears flowing down my cheeks as I think,'This is it. I'm dying in the bathroom at work!'

'Please let it be quick!',I prayed. Then I shut my eyes to avoid seeing the spray of blood. Then I heard a noise I wasn't expecting at all. A man's scream from right next to me. I opened my eyes to see the woman from my bedroom mirror staring right at me. Instead of me being in this guy's arms, she was in his arms instead. Her throat bleeding heavily as she stared at the both of us. Grinning from ear to ear as she bled even heavier then before. Seemingly laughing as she stared at the guy holding me.

The man dropped the knife and shoved me into the sink. I heard the knife hit the floor with a big clang. Next thing I knew the bathroom door was slamming open. I also heard sirens coming from the front of the store. They were here already, sooner than I ever anticipated them to be. A shaky grin came to my face as I started walking out of the bathroom. Then out of the store to see the creepy knife guy getting arrested. Spoke to the cops about what had happened as well. Turns out he had hit a nearby gas station last year. Doing the same thing he was about to do with me.

Unlike me, the poor woman that worked at that place hadn't been as lucky. He killed her and dumped her body in the dumpster out back.

He was also the one that had made the mess that Gretchen had seen. As he had been living in the back of the store for a few months. The guy decided to steal money from the register before leaving town. And he tried to tell them about the girl in the mirror. None of them believed him of course and I got a bandage on my neck wound. Gretchen's going to be taking my shifts for a week. She says she felt bad about thinking that I did it. I don't mind. As long as that guy's behind bars and that woman is at peace, I think I'm going to be alright.