Chapter 7:Antumbra
Jessica
My alarm's piercing mechanical ring pulled me from my sleep with a startle. I sat up in bed, hitting the alarm clock to silence the intruder into my dreams and sleep. I could feel my husband, Thomas, roll slightly muttering 'Jessica' before likely falling right back asleep. I never understood how he could just sleep through my alarms, but he always seemed to manage.
I sat for a moment on the edge of the bed looking at the body of my husband framed by the low morning light coming in through the bedroom windows. His chest rhythmically rose and fell in soft and shallow breaths of sleep. Looking at him lying there I once again felt the ache in my chest and stomach. That sad and sick feeling, but I pushed it aside as I have done so many times before and pushed myself out of bed.
I closed the door separating our bedroom from the bathroom, I closed my eyes before flicking the light switch turning the lights on. The bright lights still stung but quickly faded. Wrapping my blonde hair in a tight bun, I looked at myself in the mirror. Sluggishly making my way to the shower opening the glass door and twisting the knob starting the shower and warming it.
Within a few seconds, the temperature was perfect and my pajamas quickly found their way to the ground. The warm water running down my back slowly turned my skin a light pink from the heat as I stood in the flow of water. Taking a few seconds in the warmth to wake up and fight off the desire to head back to bed.
Turning towards the showerhead I allowed the water to warm and flow across my chest. Reaching for a bottle that sat on a recessed shelf behind the stone wall that the shower head was affixed to. Squirting some of the body wash into my free hand, I returned the bottle to its place. Turning away from the water again I began to lather and work the product across my body.
As my hands worked the soap across my breasts I again felt the lustful urge that had been felt last night but had gone unfulfilled. My husband had been tired again after work and had turned me down again promising that tomorrow would be a better day. I had lost track of how many tomorrows there had been so far. Each promise of tomorrow had left me satisfying my desires by myself less and less.
I again found myself with the arousal but no desire to embrace it or feed it. Instead, I sprayed some shaving cream into my hands and spread it along my legs and armpits. Grabbing the razor I propped my leg up and began to shave my legs with my butt still in the warm stream of water. Once I was done shaving I cupped some of the water and carefully splashed it across my face avoiding getting my hair wet as much as possible.
I rubbed a charcoal skin cleansing product on my face and let the product sit on my skin for a few seconds before rinsing it off carefully. Now fully awake the shower was turned off and I reached outside of the shower and grabbed my towel that was hanging there. I wrapped myself in it and began to rub it across my body drying myself.
The mirror was fogged up from all of the steam my shower had generated, per the usual. Standing in front of the mirror now I grabbed my toothbrush and wet it. As I was applying the toothpaste, I saw motion out of the corner of my eye. No, it wasn't motion; the mirror had rippled as if someone had tossed a pebble into some water.
I let out a small yelp and quickly jumped back from the mirror and what my early morning brain thought was danger. Realizing that I was not in any danger I tried to calm the beating heart that was trying to escape my body. The mirror was still intact; there was simply a circle of the mirror where the condensation must have gathered enough to run down. The circle was around seven inches in diameter and was the only spot on the mirror that was now clear of the condensation.
That was really weird, I thought as I picked up the tube of toothpaste from the ground where I had dropped it. Brushing my teeth had been uneventful otherwise. Wiping the mirror with a towel sitting on the sink cleared a big enough spot to use to apply makeup.
I checked my makeup one final time before heading to the walk-in closet. I grabbed a bra from a drawer followed by a matching pair of panties, in case I actually got lucky tonight, and lastly some black pantyhose. I dropped those items onto a small shelf in the bathroom before returning to the closet to pick a white blouse, pencil skirt, and matching blazer.
I slid my panties on and then put on my bra. Sitting on the toilet I began rolling the pantyhose up my legs, enjoying the soft feeling of my freshly shaved legs. Next came the blouse followed by putting on the pencil skirt and tucking the blouse in. I threw the blazer on and checked my makeup one final time before heading out. I glanced at the circular spot that had been clear of condensation but the mirror looked normal and all the condensation had dissipated by now.
I turned off the lights in the bathroom and headed back into the bedroom, where I grabbed my phone off of the nightstand. I made my way to the door and stopped in the threshold looking back at my sleeping husband. That feeling was back; in truth, I think it was always there but I could ignore it some of the time. I turned back and walked to his side of the bed. I leaned over and kissed him on his forehead while he slept, whispering that I loved him, then exited the bedroom closing the door behind me.
I pulled a gallon of milk, a small plastic container, and some cream cheese from the fridge. I set the items on the island and took a bagel from the bag on the counter and dropped the halves into the toaster. I crossed the kitchen and turned on my coffee machine. My husband would always tease me about my version of coffee and how it couldn't truly be called coffee. He had always liked black coffee with nothing in it, but I could never stomach it.