My friends mock me for constantly checking my reflection.

But they don’t know about the woman who gave me a hickey two nights ago. That my skin prickles in the sun, or that I cut myself while I was flossing this morning.

They don’t see that my reflection is fading.

Phil W. Bayles has lived in Paris and London, where he’s written everything from movie reviews to mattress adverts. These days he lives in Derbyshire with his wife, his daughter and his cat. His words have been published at 50 Word Stories and Twisted Ink.