Julia shot up from her bed, awaking from a restless slumber in a cold sweat. It took her a couple seconds to realize where she was. She looked about the bedroom, her bedroom. "Home…" she thought. Why doesn't it feel like it? Jin had told her to forget; she was trying to forget. But the nightmares wouldn't let her. Nearly a month after the tournament, and Julia was still being haunted by it.

She rose from her bed, walking over to a large mirror resting on top of her bureau in her room, from her digital clock it was only 8:00. She must have dozed off an hour prior, right after dinner, but it felt to her as if it had been an eternity. She felt the side of her arm, still sore, a bandage wrapped around and open wound on her arm, the wound that she had received from fighting the ogre.

They had done all they could to take care of it, after a couple weeks of no progress on the healing they had taken Julia to a doctor. The doctor could find nothing wrong with Julia, her wound wasn't infected or anything, and the stitches were holding it in place. There was nothing that could be done for her. Julia had also been taken her to an old lady in the village that was known for healing skills. But they left abruptly after the lady had said something to her mother in a native tongue that Julia did not understand quite well.

It was as if it was never going to heal. Nothing was. The mental and physical wounds of the tournament clung to her, and after more than a month Julia didn't know if she could take it any more. She looked into the mirror, with pleading eyes at her disheveled reflection.

"Why can't I forget you Jin? What do I have to do to be rid of this forever?"

You can't be rid of him, not until you finish business.

Voices…Julia reached into her drawer. It had a gold and silver twisted handle, though she was unsure what metals it was made of. She pulled it out and raised the razor sharp edge of the dagger to her throat. Shaking, she stood facing the mirror.

"I won't let you do this to me!" she screamed, "I will die before I let you torment me any further!" As Julia pressed the blade against her skin, she felt an incredible pain, a burning and freezing sensation all at once, rippling through her body from the point at which the blade had come into contact with her skin. Julia shrieked and dropped the dagger at once. Terrified, Julia looked into her reflection, only to see it smirking back at her with its arms crossed.

Not yet girl, I am far from done with you…

Screaming Julia rushed the mirror pounding it with her fists, sending shards of it about. After her fit of rage Julia collapsed, onto a pile of blood and broken mirror pieces strewn about the floor.

"Julia, honey, wake up." Julia opened her eyes, squinting from the brightness that infiltrated her room. She looked up to see the kind gaze of her mother, smiling down upon her. Michelle had come into Julia's bedroom to see her sprawled upon the floor in front of her dresser, she kneeled down and gently coaxed her daughter off the floor, sitting up.

"Are you okay baby?" said Michelle with a concerned frown. Julia looked around the room, then stood up, swaying a little from dizziness. Julia leaned against the dresser for support and looked into a full mirror. Her arms, were clear, and with the exception of the wound she presumed to still be under her bandage, she was cut free. She looked on the floor, no blood…

"I'm fine mother," she said smiling to her mother. Michelle smiled back, thinking that this was the first time she had seen her daughter smile in while.

"Well in the future, I think you might find it more comfortable to fall asleep on your bed." Michelle said jokingly.

"Actually for the first time in a long time, I think I slept pretty well." Replied Julia.

"Maybe all you needed was a firmer mattress." Said Michelle. They both laughed lightly.

"You look like you could use some pancakes and bacon for breakfast, how about we go down to the kitchen and whip something up?" said Michelle.

"Sure ma," replied Julia, "you go down and I'll follow you in just a sec." Julia smiled at her mom reassuringly, as Michelle left the room. Julia turned her head sharply towards the mirror. No evil reflection smirking at her. She touched it, smooth, uncracked, as if nothing had even happened.

"Could last night really have been a dream?" it seemed so real, so intense. Sure her other nightmares had been pretty realistic, but they had always had some element in them that made them seem surreal. Well your reflection talking to you is pretty unreal, but Julia was still convinced that there was something more to this. She dropped to the floor, no mirror fragments on the ground, but is that…the dagger? Julia stood up, examining the knife. She couldn't help but hold it carefully, as to not touch the blade of it. Julia reached a finger out to touch the flat side of the blade, but recoiled her finger before she did. Julia shuddered.

"This is stupid," she thought, setting the knife down on the dresser.

"Nothing happened last night, I'm just freaking out like usual." Julia rested her hand on the bandage of her injured arm and sighed. She looked back into the mirror,

"Just a dream, no, a nightmare." She thought, "When will it end?" Julia squeezed her injured arm slightly. She looked at the dulled white wrap covering the majority of her upper arm, and a gash some six inches long. She slowly began to unwrap the gauze from around her arm. Where an bloodied unhealed wound should have been was…nothing. Clear skin, no cut, no scar, for over a month she had this open wound, but it disappeared in one night! Looking back into the mirror, Julia was terrified to see that her reflection didn't look half as disturbed by all this as she knew she was.

It will end soon enough..