4

Purple sacs of skin hung beneath his eyes like velvety, layered valences.  Looking at himself made his strained eyes tired, and the collecting tears stung as they sat on his raw skin.  He rubbed them so he could keep looking.  Skin flaked from his pale, parched lips, only broken by a dark purple crack down the center.  He couldn’t feel anything.  Well, he felt orange, but that didn’t make any sense.  He noticed the unkempt stubble on his face and neck.  He smiled a crackling, hideous grin�"he needed to shave.  He picked up his razor and started the first dry slice across his cheek.  It peeled away the skin like the peeling on a carrot.  The wound was bright white for a moment before the blood came to the surface.  Then it poured.  He tapped the razor against the sink, splattering small drops of blood on the white porcelain, and then started again on the other side.