Reflection (Flash fiction)

When she walked into his apartment, he immediately handed her a wet cloth.

"What do you want me to do with this?" She asked, looking at the wet cloth in his hand, drops of water falling onto the thick grey carpet.

"I'm not trying to insult you in the slightest, but I'd be more comfortable if you'd wash that shit off your face" he said, looking her straight in the eyes.  His tone was conversational, the same as when he started talking to her at the bar, before they had arrived back.

"Shit off my face?" she asked instinctively, without wondering what had gotten on her face until after the words left her lips.

"The make-up.  I need you to wash it off.  Please."

She found him very attractive.  Attractive enough that if he had asked to put out cigarettes on her skin (somewhere normally out of sight, that is) she probably would have done so if it meant getting fucked by this guy.

So, she grabbed the washcloth and walked towards the room he was pointing at.  The room was lit by some kind of black-lighting, which made all the makeup on her face glow unnaturally.  Once it all came off there was no other light.

He came up behind her and she saw his glowing teeth sink into the space her shoulder inhabited.

Her head slowly leaned towards his as he nibbled and kissed the flesh between her shoulder and neck.  Her eyes closed and she bit her lower lip softly.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her backwards out of the bathroom.  She followed the pull, steadily stepping back at the pace he was pulling.  The slow pull was driving her crazy, and every moment was a struggle not to turn around and rip his shirt off, the buttons ricocheting against the walls .

Finally he let go of her waist and slid towards her front.  The room she was in was dark, but when he placed his hand under her neck right above her breasts, she fell back without resisting onto the bed she didn't know was there.

"Just a moment" he whispered, leaning down, his warm breath in her ear giving her goosebumps.

She pulled her shirt off, closing her eyes as she pulled the shirt over her face.  Before she could open them again her eye lids turned a bright pink which caused her to shut her eyes as tight as she could.

"This is how I like to make love" he said, somewhere in front of her.

"Please, those lights are blinding me"

"Don't worry beautiful, your eyes will adjust soon.  It will take longer for you to adjust to reality, however."

"This is really killing the mood for me D-"

She slowly unclenched her eyes.

"And your mood will likely be gone when you truly see for the first time."

Her eyelids fluttered between barely open and shut as she attempted to minimize the pain of the bright light.

"When you see every scar, every blemish, every imperfection I've ever had, you will see my body as it truly is.  And I will see yours as well.  You will see history"

She opened her eye enough to actually see something.  The bright light kept her from detail, still only perceiving a dark human shape in a sea of blinding white.

"For the first time, you will make love while both parties are truly nude, open.  The subterfuge destroyed, the illusion of modern life and beauty shattered"

She lifted her eye lids without feeling pain and saw him standing there nude in front of her, at the foot of the bed.

He was perfect, still, she thought when she saw him in the room.  There had to be at least ten bulbs in the room, sweat was pouring down his bare chest, down the ridges his muscles created.

"Now you see me as I truly am, and you are not repulsed. Now look up."

She did.  When she looked up she met her own eyes on the ceiling.  Aside from the eyes she could barely recognize herself from how she looked when she left her apartment for the night.  Instead, the girl staring back at her was the girl spending hours in the bathroom covering up blemishes, acne, the chicken pox scars she thought she'd never see again.

"You've never looked more beautiful" he said before turning around and leaving the room.

The desire she had before had evaporated when she saw herself, the self she had hidden her whole life.

She couldn't look away.