Vanessa looked at the clock for what felt like the hundredth time already. Her thoughts of the date last night kept her occupied until she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. But a couple hours later, Vanessa woke up to the reminder that today she had absolutely nothing to do.

She was just thankful that she was able to get some sleep without a terrifying nightmare. It was rare these days when she would lie down and not wake up with crippling fear. She allowed herself to rest in bed for a few more hours after she had awoken, but once her eyes started feeling heavy again, she made herself get up and make some coffee.

The water spit into the mug below, sending an annoying noise through the apartment. Vanessa made a mental note to clean her Keurig before it got too dirty. Maybe that was something she could do today? Vanessa grabbed the mug, removed the k-cup and discarded it. She took a seat in the blue chair. She watched the other windows, searching for any sign of life in the other apartments.

It didn't take long for Vanessa to settle in, just enough to doze off. As soon as she shut her eyes, the images started in her head.

"Vanessa?" She heard her name in the distance. The voice sounded familiar, almost like she'd just heard it. She tried to focus, to pick out why it seemed so comforting to her.

"Vanessa, I'm over here." The voice drifted through the air in a masculine dance. Vanessa felt herself leaning into the sound, enjoying the noise. Her feet slid across the floor as she closed the distance between the voice and her.

"Who's there?" Vanessa shouted, her voice sounding much harsher than the one that beckoned her.

"It's me Vanessa. Why don't you come and find me?" She shook her head, trying to decipher who 'me' could be. Vanessa felt light and airy, the material of her dress flowing around her ankles. She noted the burn marks on the hem and told herself to stay away from any flames to avoid further damage.

"I'm coming!" Vanessa shouted out.

CRASH!

Vanessa shot up in the chair. She must have dozed off. She shook her head and looked around the room for the sign of the noise. Peering out her window to the busy street below, she noticed two cars that had collided. Vanessa rolled her eyes. This was why she didn't drive. The intersection right outside of her apartment building was one of the worst.

She watched the people get out of their cars, hearing their voices shout at each other for their incompetence. Vanessa paid no mind to the situation and settled on making herself some lunch. She wasn't sure how long she had dozed off for, but eleven felt late enough to eat something other than cereal.

Vanessa chuckled to herself as she gathered what she would need for cereal anyways, and set it all down on the counter. She took a seat on the barstool and mindlessly scrolled through her phone while she ate some cheerios.

"Oh, look at that. Another wedding." Vanessa grumbled to herself, feeling much further behind in life than the rest of her friends. The silence in the apartment felt rather uncomfortable, leaving Vanessa wondering why she hadn't gotten a dog or a cat yet. Then at least she could listen to their paws pad on the floor instead of the deafening silence that usually followed a nightmare.

Once Vanessa's belly was full, she settled back into the blue chair in the center of the living room and opened up a book. She'd tried reading this one not too long ago, but the words seemed to make her brain tired, especially after a long day at work. But the nagging feeling of an unfinished book pulled her back.

Vanessa read for about an hour, before her eyes were too heavy to stay open anymore and once again she dozed off.

"Vanessa, you disappeared. Now why would you do such a thing?" The voice drifted through the air again, wrapping around Vanessa like a rope on a calf.

"What do you mean, I didn't go anywhere?" Vanessa stumbled, searching the room around her for the voice. Her feet felt weak against the carpet. She dug her toes into the material and waited for a response.

"You left me here all alone. Wondering where my sweet Vanessa went. It felt like a thousand years have passed since I last heard your voice." Vanessa shot around and looked down the hallway. No one was there.

She took a few steps, following where the voice was coming from. It sounded like it was sobbing softly, trying to hide its tears from her. Vanessa felt horrible, helpless, and like she needed to do something to help whoever was speaking.

Once Vanessa was in the hallway, the noises got louder, and she could hear the sniffling now.

"Where are you? I want to help. I'm sorry for leaving!" Vanessa shouted, unsure why she said what she had, but knowing deep down in her gut that she felt she needed to help. With every step, she got closer to her bedroom. She ran her fingers along the wall, marking a trail for her return if she needed it.

"You're getting closer my dear." Though the voice wasn't any louder, Vanessa could feel it in her bones. She knew she was getting closer.

Vanessa's hand glides against the doorknob to the bathroom. A small jolt of electricity caught her attention. She paused, took a step back, and entered the bathroom..

"Yes, that's the right direction. Come on now." The voice coaxed.

Vanessa felt herself being pulled, but all she wanted to do was lie down and relax. She wouldn't be able to until she knew the voice was okay, though.

Vanessa took a few more steps and soon found the world around her getting colder, her body enjoying the sensation as tingles ran along her skin.

"Why don't you just lay down and have a little rest, my dear?" The voice whispered, and Vanessa felt as if it was pushing it further into the cold. Her breath hitched in her throat, nearly causing her to stop breathing, until she inhaled something.

Vanessa lunged out of the tub, coughing and spitting until she felt she'd gotten all the water out of her lungs. She jumped up, inspecting her now soaked pajamas. "What the hell is going on here?"

Stepping out of the tub, she wrapped the towel around her body, shivering at the cool air. Vanessa shook her head and brushed the water out of her face the best she could.

"What the hell was I thinking?" Vanessa nearly shouted at herself as she looked in the mirror. Her leftover mascara was now running down her face, soaked with water and hidden behind the tendrils of hair stuck to her skin.

"What time is it?" Vanessa asked. Mentally noting how weird she was for talking to herself.

Vanessa left the bathroom after she drained the tub, finally releasing all the water that it's held for almost a week now. She found her phone on the coffee table next to the little blue chair she remembered sitting in. She gathered her things and noticed the book on the floor. Vanessa shook her head as the realization of her dream had come back to her. She must have fallen asleep again.

She checked her phone to find a few text messages. Two of them were spam and one of them was from Talon, checking to see if she was feeling better today.

"Well, that depends on who you ask." Vanessa muttered to herself, a slight smile formed at the corner of her lips. She quickly responded before taking a seat on the couch on the other side of the living room. She flipped on the tv, letting the random voices fill the room while she played on her phone.

A few episodes later, Vanessa found herself drifting off again.

"Oh, you stupid girl, you left again! Where do you keep going?" The voice rang through the air once more, much more aggressively this time. It still felt so familiar to Vanessa. Her feet took her back to the bathroom, where the sound had been coming from in the first place.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm not even sure where this is currently?" Vanessa muttered, annoyed at the choice of words.

"Come, follow me!" The voice was harsh and short, but Vanessa followed suit and listened to every syllable. She placed her hands on the bathroom counter, staring into the mirror. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, leaving her shoulders bare except for the thin straps of her blue dress.

A bony black hand slithered around her neck, fiddling with the strap. Vanessa froze, watching intently as the fingers danced along her skin.

"Go into the mirror." The voice whispered. Hot breath blew across her skin and it sent shivers down her spine.

"The mirror?" Vanessa questioned. She searched her reflection for any sign that she could make it through. That's when she saw him. Standing behind her, hands morphing into those of a demon.

"Talon!" Vanessa shouted, turning around to find no one standing behind her. The voice, the face, everything looked so familiar and she knew it must have been him. Vanessa felt a throbbing in her head, so bad that she turned back around and started drinking water from the sink.

"I'm not this 'Talon' you speak of. Who is that?"

Vanessa heard the voice move through the room, but while her head was in the sink, she couldn't see a single thing. Part of her wanted to stay this way forever, to avoid making eye contact with the face of the boy she had gone on a date with last night. Vanessa shook her head, hoping that all of this would go away.

"When I ask a question, you need to answer me!" Suddenly, a hand slammed down on the counter next to Vanessa. She nearly jumped across the room from the noise making her feel even more on edge. She didn't think he could do that. "If you don't start listening to me, I'm going to kill this Talon you so speak of." The hand slipped away, falling off the edge of the counter. Finally, feeling enough confidence to see the creature once more, Vanessa lifted her head and brought her attention back to the mirror.

"You need to go into the mirror." The creature's voice was steady. He stood behind her, a few feet away, with his arms folded over his chest, watching her every move.

"How does one go into the mirror?" Vanessa asked. She hoped asking would buy her some more time before she had to do anything.

"You place your hand on it like this..." The creature slithered over, hands changing once again to black spindly things. He pressed them gently against the glass and once he added pressure, the mirror shifted, molding into his hand. The creature grabbed her hand with his free one, yanking it to the mirror.

"Now do as you are told!" The voice rang out again, and heat filled the room. Vanessa was shaking in her skin, hoping to not frustrate the beast any further. She pressed her hand against the glass, feeling it pull her deeper into the mirror.

"Yes, just like that, slow and steady, and into the mirror you go." The creature clicked his tongue, observing her as her arm disappeared. But Vanessa was terrified, because on the other side of the mirror was both the coldest room and the hottest temperature she'd ever felt in her life. What was on the other side of the mirror?

As if the creature noticed her hesitancy, he grabbed her arm once more, pushing her further into the magic glass.

"No! NO!" Vanessa screamed at the top of her lungs, begging for him to stop.

In Vanessa's panic, she couldn't help but look into the mirror. Instead of seeing her reflection this time. She saw her body, lying motionless on the couch, sleeping peacefully.

Was she dead?

Was that her future?

Everything inside Vanessa's body begged to get back to that moment. It felt safer than anything here. But as she willed herself there, her body was pressed the rest of the way into the mirror, before everything went black around her.

Vanessa's body jolted, waking her up from her dream. She looked around the living room, seeing the haze outside, casting the lightest shade of blue across her walls. Vanessa grabbed her phone and checked the time.

She had slept through the night.