I stand up, and rewind the tape. Pressing play, I don't take my eyes off the screen.

There she is again. Her voice is calm, relieved. I don't comprehend the words. Her expression changes, looking sickened. She glances up, and for a moment, her eyes connect with mine. They scorch me, hollowing my insides and turning them black.

Gasping, I pause the screen. I force myself to stare into those eyes, letting my hands snap into fists, clenching them so hard the skin cracks. I'm glad. She felt a hundred times this, before...the words won't register. And I might have prevented this. I deserve this and all the pain those piercing eyes may inflict on me.

I allow the tape to play on. She makes as if to run, clumsy feet tripping over the other in panic. He strikes her, but I can't look away. She doesn't make a sound as her head hits the mirror, sending it into an endless spider web. She lifts herself up, impossibly slow. I want to scream at her to speed up, to run. But it is the same as before. He breaks her, shattering her leg like a child with an old porcelain doll. The noise comes. It penetrates me, seeping into my skin and attacking my lungs so that I suffocate. It fills the room, and all I can think of is that haunting, agonizing sound. I am overflowing with it, drowning in the horror of it. I don't move. This is my punishment, listening to her scream.

She calls out to me and my name has never sounded so terrifying. I am paralyzed, powerless, hopeless. She stops and looks at me once more, a trickle of water seeping from one of her eyes. It pools on the floor, glistening and tinted red.

And then it is only those eyes. Reflected a million times in the broken mirror. Unmistakably lifeless.