A Home of Mothers

Rush

The tiles rush towards me and then I close my eyes and groan, quick action from my arms keeping my head barely inches from the floor. I breath heavy, eyes wide and sweat on my brow. A droplet falls.

...Creaaaak. It's from outside the room, and as I frown, blinking slowly and cocking my head, the trouble begins as the stench rallies up and my strength begins to sap.

The water starts at a trickle, then a rush, and then I'm surrounded by the bubbling liquid, roaring in each of the tubs and spraying in the shower. My arms collapse beneath me, and as my head hits the tile I'm taking in slow, labored breaths. My hair is cascaded around my face, my clothes dampening in the rising steam. But, most of all, I can smell the noxious odor, seeping under the doors, through the twilight of the moon's glow that drafts into the room, and towards me. My fists clench, covered in mist.

They're trying to kill me, I realize as the world swims, it's that... smell. Like rotten eggs...

"...Father?" I whisper, barely choking it out, "Father?!" The second time is louder, just loud enough, and as I cough roughly I hear footsteps running away. The odor slowly distills, fading into the air of the room and coming no more, and weakly, I push to my knees. Nausea overtakes me. Please... Stumbling over to the door, body lead and wobbling, I collapse against it. I knock, knock, but then fall back. It's no use.

Slowly, almost calmly, I stare up at the window on the door's top. My eyes blink, the basket falling from my hand. Only darkness. But then there he is- my father, mic at his cheek, holding baby Anna in his arm and greatly concerned. He says something into the microphone, catches sight of me, then his eyes go wide and he starts to shout, but I can't hear past the ringing in my ears. I fall backwards, laying on the floor and sighing in relief. He's here to save me. But then I hear a thump, and willing myself up once more, I grab the handle to pull myself to see. He's been knocked to the floor, and he struggles for a moment, then goes still. The baby is gone.

I'm doomed, I think, wheezing in gas and light-headed.

Not yet, a voice whispers, and my vision blurs with tears as the window to the moonlight unlatches.

And so I survive, with the evening's wind dispersing the stench only to hear the BANG below me as something hard slams into the floor below. The plaster beneath it cracks. I stare down, wide-eyed and hazy, to see the tiles separate, laughing suddenly emanating below. The party. That's where I am. Through the crack in the floor, past the insulation and piping, I see another metal tankard fling up, and I try to back away as it hits again.

BANG. The tiling cracks, the floor shuddering, the window slams shut, and as the tankard falls below I fall through the floor.

Surrounded by a cloud of plaster's dust, I land far down onto the lap of a man.

He laughs in delight, and I push away, but in my weakness I can't and he keeps me in place. I struggle, but then something catches my eye.

The chandelier, ever so slowly, rising as a knot ravels up in the chain.

"No," I whisper, "No!" then mustering my strength and breathing in the smell of the hazy, chatter-filled room, I kick the man hard and he howls in pain. I'm pushed off the chair and I collapse to the floor, slowly crawling into the crowd, and as soon as I can, waver to my feet.

And I run.

"Hey!" I hear, pushing someone aside and hearing glass shatter, then "watch out!" as I slam into a man with a platter of food. It showers over me and as he cries out in rage I barrel him aside, stumbling under a kissing couple and pushing even more out of the way. I hear a grumble as I elbow someone, an umph as my shoulder slams into someone's chest, and jarred and buzzing, I pull it out of the way. I think I've dislocated it, but I finally reach the back door, rushing through the abandoned kitchen, and fling open the door to the cold of night. I look back once into the light and warmth, the rising chandelier, and as it suddenly falls off of its restraints I run with all of my energy into the darkness. Feet away from the house, shrouded in the blue-black past the back deck's lights, I hear screams as it crashes into the crowd.