She woke up in the morning with the remnants of last night's conversation still ringing in her head. Or were they from dreams that were left unreconciled? She took a deep breath with her eyes still closed.
She asked herself what day was it and she didn't reply immediately.
She was looking at travel ads before going to bed. She thought about going to Egypt on her own. She tried to remember if she dreamt about Egypt in her sleep. She couldn't recall before the alarm went off again.
With the alarm going off, it could not be a weekend. She sighed and sat up. A pillow fell off the other side of the bed.
She scratched her head and quickly wished she would not have bad hair today. Her nails were long again. If she washed her face enough times, she would have to trim her nails. Her stomach made a weird sound. She supposed she was hungry.
She felt an ache in her right thigh and another one in her left ankle.
There was a lump growing out near her spine at her back. She's been putting off going to the doctor's about it, because she could not remember if she always had a thing growing there since she was little. She was lazy and it did not bother her enough. It was smaller than her thumb. That was how she would describe it to the doctor. A lump that was smaller than her thumb. She was proud of herself for thinking of that in the morning. She contorted her arm to feel for the lump. It was in between her shoulder blades. Perhaps it was more like a bump. A lump like a bump that was smaller than her thumb. That would be stretching it a little. She stretched the skin on the bump, and thought it was too early in the morning to be playing with words.
She took off her clothes and switched on the shower. She liked the feeling of the water over her skin. She soaped herself. She felt a small sharp pain. It was the first time the lump on her back hurt. She rinsed the area more carefully and wondered if there was an open wound. She did not feel any just now, but it had hurt like soap over an open wound.
She decided that she would at least look at it in the mirror before she worry. She couldn't get a good look.
She strutted naked across the room to get her compact powder. There was a mirror in there she could use. So she held up the mirror from her used compact close to the lump to reflect it in the bathroom mirror. Her hands were wet. It was awkward. The powder was dampened.
There was a lump growing on her back. On the lump, the thin fold of skin made a horizontal slit across it. It did not look like a wound and she gently pushed the skin fold apart with two fingers and it hurt. So, she used her forefinger and her thumb to pull down the lower side of the slit to be clear. She was shocked at what she saw.
There was an eye beneath it.
She dropped her arms and contorted posture. She exchanged a confirmatory, reassuring glance with herself in the mirror. Then she mumbled, “what the fuck” and recomposed herself again to take a better look.
She had an eye growing out of her back, and it looked blood shot. She thought for a while and know she could not see what the third eye saw, and could not remember reading about anything like this. Except for those foetus in foetu people who are born with a conjoined twin inside themselves. They had a face or arms or legs sticking out of their body. It was beside the point. She only had an eye. Other than this morning, the growth did not bother her. Does it warrant going to the doctor now?
With genuine gladness, she announced to herself, “okay. This makes enough reason to not go to work today.” She needs the day off to carefully consider her follow up actions.
She dried off the rest of her body and put on her home clothes. She did not put on a bra.
She sent a message to her boss to apply for a day off work because she had an eye from her back. She'd better leave out the details. What was she supposed to do at work today? Then she laughed a bit to herself for remembering that she had to prepare for a some unimportant presentation tomorrow.
She had read in the newspaper that a woman reported discovering an eye in a cupboard. Stranger things had been reported in newspapers nowadays. She could not recall what was reported in the article.
She poured milk from the fridge into a glass. There was not enough to make a glass full. She ran out at one-third glass. Hating it when that happens, she thought to make some iced coffee.
If she could see with the eye on her back, would she only see the inside of her clothing? What good is that for?
She reached behind to feel it again. She wondered if she wished to find it gone, and it was just an elaborate hallucination that she cannot explain. But it was still there. She realised that the shocking manner of the truth hasn't really sunk in yet.
After some lack of deliberation, she decided to go back to sleep and decide what to do when she wakes up again. She had a whole day to decide. That is, if she can go to sleep, with the coffee and all. She ought to just lie down. Perhaps, she would lie down on her side.
When she closed the eyes on her face, she felt the eye on her back blink.
(sneak)
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