Moonlit Man (bxb)

Chapter 5 - Nightmare in a Damaged Brain

It was happening again.

The sweat, the stinging sensation and feeling of dread took hold. He curled up like a hedgehog while his breathing grew ragged. He was now back there, walking down the rickety stairs. The same hallway, the same floors, the same blue blanket and the same kitchen. A warm sensation slithers down his leg.

Suddenly, he heard a turbulent crash in front of him – followed by a bellowing grunt from his father and a high-pitched shriek from his mother. He witnessed the table, now flung over on its side, creating a barrier between him and his parents, both struggling with each other on the floor. The ceiling light was swaying back and forth like a pendulum, casting sporadic shadows on everything in the room. Shattered pieces of glass was dispersed across the wooden floor, like remnants of shrapnel and debris in a bomb site. The young boy could see the end of her bare, olive legs laying behind the table which acted as a wall, hiding the rest of her body. The flat, brown leather loafers his mother wore nearly every day were visible on her feet, but one was missing, revealing her red-colored toenails.

Her legs were now frantically scraping the floorboards for grip while the top of his father's balding head occasionally peered out from behind the table. Muffled cries, whelps and short puffs of breath were spat as she struggled for air. His father was fixated on the floor, grunting. His face grimaced in rage as he used both of his thick arms to pin something down behind the table, but Sam could not make out what. The same, red-colored fingernails attempted to grab and claw at his father's stone-cold face, but to no avail. Sam remained in the same position and had not moved an inch. He was frozen in place, weighed down as if an anchor was chained to his feet, and then dropped into an infinite black hole beneath him.

After what felt like an eternity, her legs gradually stopped jolting and jerking. They were now limp, messily laid out on the wooden floor – unresponsive. His father stood up slowly from behind the table and looked down at Sam with no expression at all.

"See boy, this is what happens when–" Sam looked up to meet his father's stony eyes when his raspy voice abruptly came to a stop. 

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Three deafening blows erupted from behind Sam. He noticed three small holes pierced into the center of his father's chest before he tumbled back onto the ground, behind the table.

"Are you okay son?" A clean-shaven man, dressed in a black shirt with an emblem on his shoulder, slowly kneeled down and was now eye-level with Sam. He had a wired device attached to his shoulder and wore a black cap that read:

Granbury Police Dept. Texas

He gently placed his hand on Sam's trembling shoulder and looked at him with worried eyes. Another officer slipped into the remaining wreck and kneeled down behind the table. The blaring sounds of police sirens, ambulances, guard dogs and the various voices of other officers was now ringing in his little ears.

Moments later, Sam found himself in the back of an ambulance, being checked over. He was approached by the same man from the kitchen who stooped down in front of him and said,

"Hey buddy, my name is officer Dean. I know this is all a shock for you, so I just want you to listen. I want you to know that it will be alright ... you will get through this, son." He gently removed his cap, revealing light brown hair which was splintered with stray strands of grey. His lips were drawn tightly, and his long eyebrows lowered and pulled in closer together. "You are going to meet a lot of people -- like welfare officers, counsellors and people from Child Protective Services. Your life will be very different now and that may feel scary or lonely at times, but I want you to remember that no matter what, you can call me whenever."

He handed Sam a small card. After taking it, he studied it and glanced back at the man with his tear-glazed, honey-brown eyes. Sam jumped up and embraced him as tight as he could while burying his mini chin into the man's guarding shoulder. The officer closed his eyes while tightening the grip around Sam's fragile frame. His lips pursed and tightened in an effort to hold back tears. They stayed like that for a few moments, and he wanted nothing more than to shield that little boy from any further pain in this cruel, cruel world.