Colorful reflection

by Mr Ponymaniac

Chapter 3 - Smoke and mirrors part II

Saturday 7.1

Last night had been fun. Mark couldn't remember the last time he had as much fun. Mark and Dave had toured nearly every bar and club in their town. All the while they were catching up on the six months they were apart. Mark had told Dave how his life had been getting worse and worse every day, while Dave talked about how awesome his cousin had been and how much fun they had. At the end of his story, Dave realised that talking about how much fun he had wasn't the best thing for a deeply depressed Mark. Mark wasn't bothered at all, he was just happy to see his best friend again.

The morning after a big night out was never fun for Mark. This morning was no exception. Mark awoke lying on his stomach, still fully dressed in the clothes he had worn the previous night. Mark’s brain activity started to return slowly, matched by the growing sense of pain he felt. The pain was unbearable. More-or-less his whole body was affected by aches and pains, but none worse than his head. The taste of alcohol and vomit burned down his throat, his mouth as dry as the desert, and his long brown hair was greasy and messy. He slowly began to open his eyes and immediately regretted it as the sun shone brightly through the window. He quickly shut his heavy eyelids again as he slowly tried to get up. It felt like his whole world was spinning. Mark suddenly felt a desire to go back to sleep and let the hangover fade away, but his bladder did not desire anything of the sort. His bladder forced him to continue the struggle of getting out of bed.

After what felt like an eternity had passed, Mark found himself sitting on the edge of the bed. He slowly started to massage his temples in hope that it would ease the headache. He slowly started to regain bits and pieces of memories from the previous night. He found himself connecting different odds and ends in an effort to get a full picture of what happened. After several minutes he declared this to be an impossible task, and instead walked into the bathroom, and decided to take a shower. Oh right, he thought. No shampoo, soap, food, or anything at all. He let out a heavy sigh as he flushed the toilet. On his way out he stopped in front of a mirror and ran his hand over his chin i should probably shave… maybe later.

Mark slowly made a move for the living room with heavy steps. Faint noises and a glimmer light could be heard and seen respectively from the living room. Mark opened the door to the living room to find Dave sitting comfortably on his couch watching TV.

“Morning, buddy. How are you feeling?” Dave decreased the TV volume and turned to face Mark.

“Like shit,” Mark replied dryly.

“Well, you did drink a lot. Drink some water and have a good breakfast, and I'm sure you'll live,” Dave suggested.

“One problem. I have no food in the fridge. I haven't had any food in the fridge for a couple of days now.”

“In that case then...” Dave reached down to search for something in the pockets of his grey jeans. “We'll order something.” he pulled his phone out and presented it happily.

“Fine by me. You have something on your mind?”

“Well for you, I'd recommend something extremely greasy and unhealthy. How 'bout some pizza?”

---

Another greasy slice of pepperoni pizza found it's way into Mark's mouth as he sat watching TV with Dave.

“Hey, Mark. If you can't get a job, you could always try further education,” suggested Dave.

“I had thought of that, but it would take up too much time, cost too much money, and it still wouldn't guarantee that I'll get a job.” Mark downed bits of pizza with a sip of his soda.

“Yeah, I get your point,” Dave replied. “looks like you really are at a dead end.”

“I'm pretty much burned out by this whole situation. I'm tired of thinking my head off, which leads me to drinking and playing games. This will probably happen until I get kicked out, then I guess I'll just die on the streets.” Mark smirked a little.

“You're welcome to stay with me if you get kicked out.”

“Mom and Emily have made the same offer, but thanks anyway.”

“Hey no problemo, man.”

Mark and Dave's talk was suddenly interrupted by the sound of Mark's phone ringing. Mark dug into his pocket, retrieved his phone, and saw that Emily was calling.

“Morning,” Mark said, with a mouth full of pizza.

“How bad a hangover do you have?” Emily's lack of amusement was clear in her voice.

“Not too bad now. I don't feel like throwing up anymore, but the headache is still pretty bad.”

“That's nice. I'm just calling to let you know I'm coming down to get the mirror after work. I'll be there about three o'clock. Is that okay with you?”

“Yeah, I'll get the mirror ready for you. See you later. Bye.”

Mark ended the call and put his phone on the table. He noticed that Dave had finished his share of the pizza and was preparing to leave.

“I think I should leave. I didn't get to spend a lot of time at home yesterday. I'll call you so we can hang out sometime. How does tomorrow sound?”

“Sure. It's not like I have anything else to do.”

“I'll call you sometime in the afternoon.”

“Sounds good. Let's not go drinking again though. My liver and wallet can't afford it.”

“Agreed.”

---

Mark threw the empty pizza boxes in the corner of the kitchen, and decided to change his clothes, even if he couldn't have a shower. Mark unzipped his pants and threw them his bed, followed by his shirt and his hoodie. He was just about to change his underpants when his phone started to ring.

“Mom!?” Mark was genuinely surprised. A call off his mom was not on the list of things he was expecting. It wasn't that it was an unpleasant surprise per se, Mark just didn't want to worry his mom with his problems. Last time he talked to his parents was Christmas, when he went to visit them with Emily. Mark tried not to worry them. The results of his efforts, however, were poor thanks to Emily.

“Morning, Mark. How are you doing?” Concern laced the voice of Mark's mother.

“Worse than normal, because, in addition to my usual problems, I have quite terrible hangover. How 'bout you?”

Mark's mother ignored the question, instead facing another issue. “Oh, Mark. If you need money, you know we can...”

Mark already knew how this conversation would go, and he didn't like it. “Don't finish. I've heard this same speech a million times, and I'm going to say the same thing to you that I've said to Dave and Emily; I can't take any more of your money.” Irritation made itself known in Mark's voice.

“It's no trouble, Mark. Really, we can afford it.”

Mark knew this was a losing battle. He had to quickly change his strategy. He had to lie. An idea started to form in his head. “I know, it's not that I think you can't afford it, I just don't feel comfortable taking money from you. Besides, Dave said he might know where I can find a job.” Mark crossed his fingers and hoped upon hope that his mom would buy his quick lie.

“Really? I thought you were one hundred percent sure that there aren't any jobs available.”

“Well.....Dave might have found one. He said he might be able to use his connections to get me a job.” Mark started to get nervous as his lies became more and more obvious with each one he told.

“What connections? What kind of job is this anyway?”

“I can't tell you. It's...it's a secret. I'll tell you if I get it, okay?”

“Mark, wait...”

“Well, anyway, it's been nice talking to you, but I got things to do, so I gotta go, okay? Bye.” Mark quickly ended the call and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I don't think she brought that,” Mark said to himself.

---

After the conversation with his mom, Mark returned to the living room, now fully clothed with kinda-fresh-and-almost-clean clothes. White shirt with small brown spots here and there, a dark red hoodie that was a size too big, and plain blue jeans. He decided to prepare the mirror to be picked up by Emily. All he needed to do was to move it closer to the front door, so it would be easier to lift into the car.

“OH SHIT!” Mark noticed a large shoe print in the middle of the mirror. That, however, wasn't what cause Mark's freak-out. The mirror now sported a large crack where the shoe print was, indicating that Mark or Dave must have kicked it last night, but it wasn't like Mark could remember anything.

Mark dropped down onto his knees to get a better look. “Shitshitshit! Emily isn't going to like this.” Mark ran his hand over the crack. “Must have been a hell of a kick to get something this thick to crack.”

Mark stood up and ran his hand through his greasy brown hair, feeling panic get the better of him.

“Repairing this will probably cost a shit load of money.” Mark threw himself on his couch and just stared at the mirror. “Like you haven't caused enough trouble already,” he said to the mirror sarcastically. “I should just smash you with a sledgehammer and throw you away.”

Some time passes like this. Mark just lay there, did nothing, and thought about nothing. Just staring at his reflection in the cracked mirror. Suddenly, something caught his eye.

“What in the name of...” Mark noticed a small dot in the middle of the mirror. He was sure it wasn't there a minute ago. He slowly stood and took a step closer to the mirror. What seemed to be a small black dot a minute ago, was now a fist-sized ball of purple smoke.

Mark squinted his eyes slightly. “Is...is that thing getting bigger?”

Soon, the whole mirror was hidden. Instead, a large screen of dark purple smoke was visible within the mirrors still-visible frame.

Mark finally snapped out of his trance when the purple smoke started to ooze out from the mirror. “WHA...WHAT THE FU...” The large smoke-screen burst out of the mirror with the force of a speeding truck, smashing the mirror into small pieces with a loud crash, and covering Mark before he could finish his sentence.

Even though it lasted only a few seconds, it felt to Mark like hours had passed inside the ball of smoke. First, it felt like his whole body was lightly tingling. All too soon, the tingling sensation was replaced with complete and utter pain. It felt to Mark like his whole body was on fire. Mark felt as if his entire body was changing. It felt like every bone and muscle in his body was transforming and changing place. It was the worst in his limbs, as he could feel his hands and feet become lumps of solid mass. The pain soon became unbearable, forcing Mark's eyes to close as he started to slip out of consciousness. When the body of smoke finally let off Mark, he collapsed onto the floor, now fully unconscious on top of the small shards of thick glass. Only small patches of cobalt blue and blue-grey fur struck out. The large body of smoke hit Mark's couch with a *FOMPH*, before slowly vanishing. The house fell silent for several moments before grunts of pain started echoing in the room.

Author's Note:

New chapter and only week later than i planned. Next chapter will be much longer than two last chapters so it will take some time.

Comments

[Sir Top Hat]

More please! It's... Beautiful.