It had been six months since Eleyne had fled from her abusive marriage. Things were difficult for her at first, finding a job, finding a place to live. Surviving had become difficult. The nights were especially difficult, with her having horrific nightmares about her 11 year marriage, and all the abuses suffered within.
She went to her support group once a week, but never actually spoke up, beyond introducing herself at the start. She was afraid of how the others would see her if she recounted the various abuses and humiliations she had suffered at the hands of her husband.
None of her friends in her old life had known what a monster he was. How cruel he was behind locked doors. They never saw the bruises, heard her begging him to stop, they never saw her bleeding on the floor. They thought he was the perfect husband, that they were the ultimate couple to look up to.
She still flinched whenever a man came too close to her. She couldn't stand her reflection in the mirror. Instead of looking at her reflection, she just looked at whatever she was focusing on, if she was styling her hair, for example, she would only focus on her hair, if she was applying a little lipstick, she would only look at her lips. Suffice it to say, she thought herself ugly, she wasn't fat, or skinny, but simply somewhere in between. Shoulder length mousy brown hair, with bright blue eyes and lightly tanned skin, a few freckles scattered over her (in her mind, too big) nose and cheeks, lips that appeared slightly too full for her face.
Realizing she was going to be late for work, she hurried, grabbing her bag and cellphone, locking the door to her new apartment. Hurrying in to the lobby of the small hotel she worked in as a chambermaid she almost ran to the staff locker room, to change into her uniform. Having done so, she went to collect the trolley with cleaning supplies. She was supposed to be paired with another girl, whose name escaped her at the moment, but the girl had called in sick several times and was in danger of losing her job.
She proceeded to start cleaning rooms as she always had. Her employer understood her need to rest after cleaning a few rooms, years of her husband kicking and punching her kidneys and back had caused severe damage, and she was lucky if by the end of the day she was not peeing blood or hunched over with back pains.
Several hours later she decided to check out the local pawn shop during her lunch hour for any furniture or amenities she may need for her apartment. She spotted a strange, very dusty painting at the back of the shop, but dismissed it as it looked expensive and she did not have any money to spare on such luxuries. She found several things she needed, a chair and desk, a used radio that was still in good working condition, and a worn looking sofa. She could not afford a television yet, but didn't mind as much. Soon, she thought. Soon.
Her mind kept drifting to the painting as she filled in her address on the delivery notice, then her eye fell on her rings, the wedding and engagement set she had forgotten she was wearing. She proposed to the owner of the store to trade her wedding set for the painting at the back of the shop. He asked her if he should deliver the painting with the rest of the things, but she said "No, I will take it home myself now."
"Alright", said the owner, making note of the delivery cost and the time to deliver to her apartment.
She went to take the painting, noticing the back was wrapped with strange paper, it was much larger than she had anticipated but she carried it home nonetheless.
She simply placed the painting in her bedroom, against the wall across from her bed. Deciding there will be more than enough time to admire it after work, she locked her apartment up again and went back to work.
Upon returning home, with her simple take-out dinner in hand, she entered the apartment, kicking her shoes off. She went to fix herself a cup of tea, while waiting for the water to boil, a knock at the door startled her, she went to answer, only to find the delivery men of the pawn shop with her furniture, they placed the furniture where she instructed them to, and left after she gave them each a $5 tip.
She went to look at the painting for a bit, the area the painting showed had a greenish tint to it, beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. What disconcerted her the most, what that there appeared to be twin moons in the painting, instead of the single moon earth had. She felt very nervous after staring at the painting for a little while. Hearing the whistle on her tea-pot she left her room, and the painting behind, for now.
After drinking her tea, she had a nice hot shower, changing into comfortable pajamas, she ate her dinner slowly while re-reading one of her favorite novels. After a while she decided to go to bed, after setting the alarm on her phone, she lied down and tried to go to sleep, only to startle awake about an hour later, confused she looked around her room. "Why is it so bright?" Thinking she was still half asleep, she turned over and pulled her comforter over her head to block out the light she was sure she was imagining.
The next morning, not having much time, she had some breakfast, washed her dishes quickly before taking a shower and heading to work again.
That night, after having read some more after dinner, while listening to the radio, she thought she heard scratching noises come from the painting. Thinking she was simply over-tired, she ignored it and went to bed several hours later, only to be woken up by the same light as the night before, now only brighter. To her shock she realized it was coming from INSIDE the painting. She examined the painting all over, but could find nothing out of the ordinary other than the bright light emanating from seemingly nowhere.
She went back to sleep, again with her comforter over her head.
The next day was Saturday, and as it was her day off, she spent the morning cleaning her apartment and doing her laundry in the laundromat closest to her building. When she came home, she put away the clothes, not feeling hungry after her busy morning, she decided to take nice long nap. When she woke up, it was dark already, her stomach was growling loudly by this point, so she cooked herself a simple dinner, washed the dishes and settled down to read her book.
Several chapters later, she decided to go to sleep, what else to do on your weekend off, after all?
Just before climbing into bed, she peered at the painting, noticing something was different about it, staring at it for a while, she realized that she could see the top of a large framed mirror, off the center to the right now, as if the point of view of the artist had changed. On a whim, she threw one of her spare sheets over the painting, to cover up the light, if it should show up again tonight. Not thinking about this any longer, she simply went to sleep.
The following morning she woke up, curious again about the painting, she took down the sheet, and was intrigued to find that she could see even more of the mirror now. It seemed strange to her, very large, with an identical wolf on either side, howling as if to the moon.
She had the whole Sunday to herself, and decided to spend it outside, she walked around for a while, doing some window shopping, watching people enjoy their Sunday, the day seemed to be so peaceful and calm. Until she stepped around a corner, and saw the last person she ever wanted to see again. Her husband.
She turned on her heel and ran in the opposite direction, heart beating faster than she had ever noticed before. Only checking behind her to make sure he was not following her, she ran all the way to her apartment. "How did he find me? How did he get so close?" she panicked.
Locking and bolting her door, she sat against it, crying, thinking she will have to move, and find a new job, a new place, about everything she lost. She had no family to turn to, she was an orphan, and he knew it, he took advantage of it. Telling her several times that if it wasn't for him she'd have been dead years ago.
Tears streaming down her face, she eventually cried herself to sleep, sitting against the door all the while. She started awake several hours later, her body feeling the effects of sleeping upright, on the floor, against the hard door for so long.
She took a shower, once again breaking down in fear that he would force her back into her old life, crying on the floor of the shower, after a while, pulling herself together, changing into sweat pants and a t-shirt and getting into bed. Several hours later she woke up, light streaming into her room once more.
Squaring her shoulders she went to stare straight at the painting, shocked as she could hear forest creatures and animals. Lifting her hand to try and touch the mirror, shocked when her hand went right through. Stooping slightly, she put on her big girl panties and walked INTO the painting.