He couldn’t remember her name. It was a thing he tried to recall as he watched her sleep, just to see if he could. It started with a ‘O’, he thought. And as he ran through the list of possible names, he started to play with a strand of her hair delicately, thinking it might jog his memory. Olivia, perhaps?


    Then, with an odd sense of pride in not knowing who was next to him, he pushed himself up and started to gather his belongings. It was too early for what’s-her-name to be stirred. He felt confirmed of that by the sound of her falling breathing, a deep sleeping sound. She’d have to face the hard truth in the late morning, when the pale sunlight would wake her up.


    Collecting some things around the sink, he glanced past an ovular mirror to grab his watch. Though while reaching for it, something intuitively struck him as false, a kind of something he had not yet taken into account when confronted with his own image; and his reach failed to complete its course.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Taking in his own appearance then, he realized that he had not done so for quite some time. And while he was well into the afternoon of life, there was very little to show that that was the case. For his skin was still buoyant and firm, carrying a smoothness that defied the soon arrival of a sag or crease. He also had a full head of hair – thick, black and without a strand of grey. But this wasn’t at all what was on his mind as he looked over himself. His attention was rather on the small corner of his mouth. For it was there that something had clearly changed; and not something that showed him to be older or less distinguished.


    He leaned forward and inspected it from multiple angles. No, he confirmed, it was just something that simply showed him to be cruel.


    Then a flicker of hyper familiarity. It was off in the distance, long away in the future. He stepped back in bemusement at the premonition. He knew what he saw was a vision, a subtle foresight of what’s to come.


    The man stepped forward again, receiving the image of himself as one surrendered to the fates.


    “Then that is my end…And my son…he is the key that will get me there.”