Nona

"OK, I accept your gift."

"Curse, dear," he corrected.

"OK, then, I accept your curse. Just as long as I can see."

Then the veil lifted. And in the darkness stood a man with cocoa skin, golden eyes, dressed in a light brown Armani suit, with a gold Movado watch on his wrist. The shape of his face and brow spoke of Ethiopia, his presence of royalty. Totally out of place in her dingy apartment.

"Oh, by the way...I have to stay here until you finally do see yourself. You don't mind do you?" He smiled.

"You didn't mention that! I can't have a strange man living with me! What will people think?"

"People won't see me. Only you will."

Thus had begun their living arrangement. With closed eyes she had covered her mirrors as best she could and for almost three weeks she had not tried to see herself. She barely remembered what she look like, it had been so long since her blinding. He would just sit and read whatever book or paper was around. Occasionally, he would watch TV, clucking his tongue in disgust at one of the tell-all talk shows.

Sometimes curiosity made her want to peek. But fear kept her eyes off of mirrors, of any type of reflection. Even when she traveled the buses at night, she refused to look at reflections. Peering out the windows, she kept her mind focused on those outside the bus, but sometimes the darkness bouncing off the windows wanted to show her herself and she turned her head.

It became apparent after the first few days that the man was also trying to make her see. He often did little things like brush up against the sheet that covered the mirror hanging on the living room wall.

"Whoopsee, look at what I did," he would say innocently. But she would ignore his attempts, calmly taking the sheet and without looking, placing it back over the mirror.

"You know that's a grieving custom in some cultures," he would mock as she replaced the sheet. "Something about vanity. But the thing is, vanity and self-righteousness also blind you sometimes."

Now, he sits watching her eat her tuna fish sandwich. Then he stands and stretches. His suit is fresh-looking, although it is the same one he has worn for nearly three weeks.

"I've been here way too long. You're determined to keep your gift, and since I can't force you to see, I shall take my leave."

She doesn't realize until that moment that she has grown accustomed to his company, that she has come to expect him to be there whenever she got home. Even with his finery, he had seemed to settle into a domestic ritual with her. Had seemed comfortable in the small apartment.

"You can't go...you said you have to stay until I see myself." She is pleading, but she doesn't care.

He just shrugs. "Kinda lied there. Then again, I do that often. But believe me when I say that you'll see as long as you never look at yourself again."

She wants to stall him. "Then have something to eat before you go."

He smiles, no, smirks. "Now we both know why I won't do that, don't we?"

"It's not..."

"Tell that to Fred. Oh by the way, he's the one who sent me."

Her heart feels like it has stopped beating. "Fred...?"

The man doesn't answer, but just sort of glimmers away, leaving her alone with a half-eaten tuna fish sandwich in her hand. She feels tears coming. Has she fallen for a stranger, a demon at that?

The apartment is quiet now.