Wicked Things by Yolanda Olson
Bates
I was slightly hunchedover as I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror.
The sound of the steady taps as my fingers drummed along the cool ceramic sink, was all the company I needed.
I told my buddies that I’d meet them at Sailor’s later tonight, but so far, I had spent the entire time trying to give myself reasons to get out of it.
There was nothing for me outside the walls of my home; not that there ever had been, and I’d stopped looking a long time ago.
Call it instinct, but I knew I would never be able to find someone that would be able to handle the side of me I’d hid so carefully beneath the crafted mask of humanity that I wore day in and day out.
I’d always thought of myself as a regular man, but sometimes, my curious desires took over, and I indulged in them.
After I tried and failed so many times to change that side of me one day, I decided that trying to change who I was would have only been doing myself a disservice.
Letting out a breath, I turned my eyes away from my reflection, ran a hand back through my hair, and opened the small mirrored door.
I knew that if I didn’t end up meeting them then they’d come looking for me, and I wasn’t in the mood to entertain guests today.
As I closed the mirrored door, I set my razor on the edge of the sink, then turned and fished around in my linen cabinet for a canister of shaving cream.
Once I looked into my reflection’s eyes again, I sighed and smacked everything to the floor.
Tonight I was going to have to pretend to be someone I wasn’t.
Again.
