He woke up late. When he opened his eyes that sensation of uneasiness came to him again. For over a week it had invaded every thought, every single moment of normality without respite. He was fed up with that pointless feeling. He decided to put it out of his mind and get out of bed. But his right leg had gone numb and he could not avoid falling down in a totally ridiculous way. “The day could not have started better”, thought Mike stretching his limb.

After the incident, he put on his slippers reluctantly and shambled towards the bathroom. Mike looked at himself in the mirror. His eyelids were swollen and his green eyes almost imperceptible. His mouth was a sad line surrounded by a thick grizzled beard. He touched it in a nostalgic way. He had had a beard since he was seventeen. At the beginning he had let it grow only to impress women, it caused him an inexplicable sensation of self-confidence and maturity. Later, it simply became part of his face, just like the nose or the eyes. But now he realized it made him look old and serious.

Never before had he felt the absolute need for a change. But at that very moment he was anxious to see how he would look without all that hair on his face. He was determined to do it, he would shave his beard off. Visibly impatient, as if he were doing something forbidden, Mike looked for a safety razor in one of the cupboards. He finally found one. It was in fact one of those pink disposable razors his wife used to shave her legs, but he did not mind, that would do.

At first, when the ritual finished, he felt relieved. But for a second it was like if he were staring at another person, almost at a stranger. He did not recognize himself anymore but he smiled thinking that would be something temporary. Excited by his new look Mike went to the kitchen, where his wife was reading a magazine.

“Good morning honey!” said Mike expectant.

“Good afternoon is more appropriate, darling”, retorted Caroline without taking her eyes off the magazine.

Mike paced up and down nervously, trying to attract her attention.

“What do you think of my new look?” asked he impatiently pointing at his face.

Caroline glanced at him and she immediately stood open-mouthed. She was looking on him in amazement, her hazel eyes wide open as if she had seen a ghost.

“Oh my God!” said Caroline visibly surprised, “what the hell have you done?”

“Don't you like it? I think it makes me younger!”

“Hmmm, I don't know…you look odd”, murmured Caroline avoiding to look him in the eye.

“It's just a matter of getting used to it, don't you think?" said Mike hesitantly, waiting for a final approval.

At that moment, someone rang the bell insistently. Caroline nodded her head while looking at her husband with affection. Then, she went to open the door.

“Hi mum! What a surprise! Please, come in."

“Who's there Carol?” asked Mike loudly from the kitchen.

“It’s my mother, darling”, answered she stressing all her words.

“Perfect, I was precisely longing to see her…” muttered Mike ironically.

Caroline and her mother went to the kitchen. Mike could hear his mother-in-law’s unpleasant steps. He could imagine her in her dark long cotton dress with her unbearable arrogant attitude.

Mike’s strained relation with Rosemary, his mother-in-law, had started the same day Caroline and he began going out together and had remained unchanged until that moment. Rosemary had never liked Mike because, according to her, he was too carefree and dreamy and with his job as a social worker he could never give her daughter what she deserved. And now that Mike had lost his job, the relation with his mother-in-law was even worse. She would never waste the opportunity of torturing him with her biting remarks about his supposed uselessness as a breadwinner. He hated her deeply and wished she were out of their lives.

When Rosemary entered the room Mike could not avoid a gesture of scorn. Caroline, behind her mother, looked at him begging tolerance.

“Good morning Michael”, said Rosemary with superiority.

“Hello”, muttered Mike.

“Well mum, what are you doing here?” asked Caroline trying to break the tense situation.

“Oh dear, I always think I don’t spend enough time with my family and I’ve decided to have tea with you today”, answered Rosemary with pretended innocence. Mike looked daggers at her. Caroline shrugged her shoulders. During the tea, Rosemary fixed her eyes on her son-in-law's face, she had noticed the change. He thought she was about to say something wounding about the absence of the beard, but inexplicably she kept her mouth shut and held her cup of tea tightly.

At half past five Rosemary left the house. In fact, it had been a rather strange visit: she had been a little disagreeable with him, but she did not seem to have enjoyed her sarcasm as usual. That wasting of potential on her part was inconceivable. But more suspicious was the shadow of melancholy Mike had seen on her face. Caroline had also noticed it.

“Mike, did you see that expression on her face?” asked a puzzled Caroline.

“Yes, at times she seemed to be lost in thought. I don’t know, perhaps she is reconsidering her attitude towards her favourite son-in-law…” said Mike sarcastically.

“That would be a miracle!” replied she ironically.

Mike decided to spend the whole evening reading a book. He lay down on the leather sofa with a thick Gothic novel and began to read it avidly. When he had almost finished the third chapter drowsiness began to invade him. He was progressively plunged into darkness. Suddenly, he found himself running desperately towards a nearby country house. Something was pursuing him tirelessly. He could feel the intensity of panic, his legs and his strength being gobbled by the muddy ground. He had to reach the house, he had to escape from that thing. But as he ran his lungs were becoming smaller and smaller, he could hardly breathe and, as desperation took hold of him, his legs started to shrink, becoming shorter and shorter until they turned into two almost imperceptible protuberances.

When he was about to faint he closed his eyes. When he opened them again he was sat on an old wooden chair, surrounded by a sinister half-light. His wrists were tied. He tried to move his legs, but his efforts were in vain, they had disappeared. Suddenly, a creepy figure emerged from the absolute darkness holding a sharp object. His body began to tremble uncontrollably as a distorted voice muttered diabolically: “Michael, Michael! Don't you know it yet? Don't you feel it yet?”. He instantly felt the coldness of the blade penetrating his stomach, his pupils reflecting a tenebrous yet familiar image.

Mike woke up terrified, dripping with sweat. His stomach was burning and he was feeling nauseous and weak. He immediately realized that something was wrong and looked for Carol desperately. He finally found her laying down on the bed, looking ghastly and exhausted.

“Honey, I am not feeling well, I think there is something wrong with my stomach…” said Carol.

He had just started to explain to her that he was feeling the same way when the telephone rang. Mike felt the inexplicable urge to answer that call and picked up the phone anxiously. Within seconds, Carol could see his face changing from uneasiness to terror. He held the phone tightly, trying to suffocate the message that had been just disclosed to him, unable to accept what he was being told. After a few minutes Carol could not bear the silence:

“What happened, who is that? For God’s sake Mike, please say something!".

“It was the police, your mother… they have found her on the street, she is…dead.”

They stared at each other, unable to react, until she started sobbing. And suddenly, everything came back to him, everything made sense now: the strange visit, Rosemary insisting on making the tea herself, her hurried goodbye and later his terrifying yet vivid nightmare. They had been poisoned.

Text: E.G.