A sharp sudden pain awoke Grace out of the dead of sleep with an airless gasp. Her throat was burning with an unfamiliar fiery pain, as if someone had clawed straight through her skin and gripped onto her vocal cords, slowly tightening and cutting off her air.
After a few agonizing seconds of blinding pain, she stumbled out of bed and towards the bathroom holding her throbbing throat. The pressure along her windpipe was immense, reducing her breaths to weak gasps. Grace staggered into the closed bathroom door with a thud, grasping at the door handle. Finally she got a hold on it and with a turn she shoved the door open, barely catching herself on the frame of it.
Grace flicked on the bathroom light, coughing into her hand trying to make the lumpy feeling go away. She looked in the mirror, finding her own pale reflection staring back at her. Messy hair framed her narrow face and her eyes had dark circles under them from being woken so strangely.
She looked as she felt, exhausted to the core. Her eyes darted to the bathroom clock, which told her it was barely past midnight.
The pain had dulled to a weak pulsing as she felt along her throat where the once searing sensations had wrung her violently back into the land of the waking. She found a lump along the front of her neck making her perk up. She pressed along it, but other than a mild discomfort, it wasn't that noticeable.
It wasn't like it was the first time Grace had felt her lymph nodes be swollen, but she couldn't remember them being in that spot. The eerie thought of a tumor crept its way into her head. She dismissed the thought with a shake of her head and sighed. In fact, she felt rather silly at the panic she'd felt just mere moments before. But somehow, the unease didn't dissipate.
Grace touched her throat again as she looked in the mirror. Her image within it flickered and she startled.
Did her reflection just blink?
Grace leaned closer to the mirror again, but the reflection just mimicked her. She shrugged and wrote it off as just being tired. Now she really felt silly thinking her reflection could deviate from her own actions. With a sigh she turned off the light, and headed back to bed, falling asleep within seconds of her head landing upon her pillow.
________
By morning the strange nightly event was all but forgotten by Grace and she went about getting herself ready for work. She went through her morning routine of applying makeup, trying to mask her tired appearance, but it did little good as the dark circles under her eyes betrayed her efforts.
After getting dressed and having consumed her breakfast she went through her morning checklist before she'd leave through the front door.
Keys? Check.
Lunch? Check.
Purse? Check again.
The morning drive was uneventful, and Grace managed to get to work as always. She got settled at her desk with a cup of disgusting office coffee topped off with 4 tiny servings of cream to try and make it consumable.
The work was mind numbing at best, but not difficult, at least not usually. Grace had to reread the document before her twice before she even could start to comprehend what it said.
"You look tired," Janette piped up looking over the wall that separated her and Grace's cubicles.
"Not everyone can get a full night of sleep, Janette," Grace sighed in response. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with her nosy coworker.
"Well yeah, but you look exhausted," Janette continued making Grace fight not to roll her eyes. Today was one of those days she really hated being cubicle neighbors with a morning person. Janette was nice enough, but Grace hadn't even gotten through half of her first cup of coffee so far. And after last night, she really didn't have the patience to deal with Miss Perky.
"I'm fine, really," Grace grumbled trying to continue working to signal the end of the conversation. Janette shrugged and finally sat down to work herself.
The day went on normally until the same sudden sharp pain same as the previous night flared up in her throat, making Grace audibly gag. She coughed heavily trying to clear her throat and held the stinging spot.
"Everything okay Grace?" Janette asked, poking her head over the cubicle wall again. Grace tried to answer, but simply coughed more and finally shook her head.
"Ah… n-no…" she admitted in a hoarse voice making her coworker frown.
"You sound terrible…" Janette pointed out concerned. Grace this time did roll her eyes and stood up.
"I-I'm going to ask for the rest of the day off…" Grace replied holding her throat. The lump was back, and it felt bigger. She grimaced from the pain and got up keeping her hand on her throat. She dragged herself to her boss and knocked on his door before entering.
"Hey Greg, I don't feel so well, would it be possible for me to get the rest of the day off?" she asked her voice strained. She got woozy as she felt her throat close up on her.
"What's going on Grace?" Greg asked with a frown as she glanced behind him seeing her reflection in the window. Her reflection stared right back at her in the same manner.
Were her eyes really that bright?
Greg said something as Grace kept staring at the window, but she didn't hear anything other than a strange growing hum.
"W-What?" she pressed out in a soft strained breath.
"I said, do you want me to call an ambulance? You don't look well…" Greg repeated himself getting up to go over to Grace. She didn't react to him and jolted when her reflection flickered as the hum grew louder in her ears drowning out anything else her boss was trying to tell her.
Did her reflection just smile at her?
Before Grace could give it much more thought, the pain in her throat became a sharp sting and her world went black.