It’s the same as always, beauty spot by my lip, arching eyebrows, fine lines from laughter and frowns. Hair pulled up lazily in a clip, curls tumbling, parting zig-zagging, fuzzed and fluffed and messy.  My eyes peep under drooping lids, sleep in the corner as I travel from the dream world to reality.

But today there’s something different. Pink cheeks, natural blush lining the cheekbones and highlighting the deep, dark green of my eyes.  My eyes! They sparkle with a permanent smile. Pupils wide, iris a swirling mass of highlighted green, shining like a forest after a storm.

Will anyone else see? Will they be able to tell? Is it just me who can detect the contented glow as it spreads to my lips, pulled up in a satisfied smirk.

To me, it’s all written there. Pride, pain, pleasure. I look into me, examining and remembering the reflection in that other mirror, the one propped up in front of the spanking bench.

To be fair, I didn’t look at myself much then. I was more concerned with the man behind me and what he was wielding but when I did look into my own eyes, they were full of anticipating arousal and fear. My face pulled tight in a grimace of pain or pouting an O of an ouch.

Now I can see it all, there in my face, my plain, everyday face.

A secret smile, telling of my masochistic delight.

© Victoria Blisse