James stood against the wall and listened to his family talk. He listened to the stories, the jokes, the memories; all of it with a smile and a gleam in his eyes. As he listened, he envisioned it all playing out in front of him like some fantastical play made from his mind. He stared at his family and could feel the love that was in the room. It was a peaceful love. A love that only a family could understand.
The doctor came back into the room and saw that the father was up and talking.
"Mr. Maxwell, it's nice to see you awake and well. Do you remember what happened?" The doctor asked. Richard nodded.
"I had a stroke...while I was eating my burger." Richard said. The doctor nodded.
"Alright, now you are free to leave but you are to be very careful. Don't do much exciting things. Just do the usual. It might be a bit of a let down but at your age, you can never be too careful." The doctor said. Richard nodded as did everyone else. The doctor then tried to do the grin again and left the room. James turned to his father.
"Alright, let's get you out of here." He said and everyone chipped in to help get Richard home and safe.
~
The four of them made it to the house safely and successfully. The mother opened the door and the four of them made it into the house. After being up for a little bit, the mother and Richard went to bed. James and Michelle were left alone in the living room.
"So, how are things with Steve?" James asked his sister. She smiled and nodded as she answered.
"They're good." She said and James nodded. Then she added on. "Though they could be better." James looked at her in interest.
"Well, what does that mean?" James asked her. She blushed and shook her head.
"Well, Steve has been a little...egh...lately. Just not himself. Not aggressive but just....y'know...different." Michelle said. James nodded in understanding.
"At least he's not aggressive. Domestic abuse is a slippery slope for me...as it is for pretty much everyone...I think." James said. Michelle nodded.
"So, what about Eileen? I remember hearing that she struggled with depression or something of the sort." Michelle asked. James slightly nodded and replied to her comment.
"Suicidal tendencies. She gets the urge to kill herself but doesn't want to but each temptation got harder for her to resist. In fact, I was scared for our life together when I saw her slitting her wrists in the bathroom. Violently going at it. That image still haunts my mind. I can't escape it. Even though I know she's okay right now, my mind goes back to that day and it is the true pinnacle of Hell. But she's getting help via support groups and seeing professionals in the field. That kind of stuff." James said. Tears were vivid in his eyes and he let them fall from his face. Michelle nodded with sincerity.
"Is she still experiencing those urges, or?" Michelle asked. James shook his head.
"Actually, she hasn't. She's been on these pills and medicine that's been...well...keeping her from killing herself." James said. Michelle lightly grinned and nodded.
"Well, that's good." She said and James nodded.
"It is." He said and the two were suddenly transported into a world of silence. The only sounds came from outside the house and within the two of them. It felt necessary at first, but as the silence remained in the room, it felt more awkward and the two decided to separate for the night. They said their good night's and separated from one another: with Michelle going to her room...and James into his own.
~
Michelle went to sleep and dreamed a dream that she would end up forgetting the moment she woke up. James on the other hand, dreamed something so visceral and strange to him that he would wake up in a sweating frenzy, unsure of whether or not he was still asleep or wide awake.
In the dream, James was in a room with several doors. Each door housing a room James was only familiar with in the dream. He opened one door and in it he saw a black horse with a collar that read FEAR. He saw some macabre gremlin like being whipping the horse with a cat o nine tails. Blood and innards fell to the floor with a slop. James felt disgusted and appalled by this sight that he immediately shut the door.
He went to the next door and opened it. This time, he saw his father, his mother's and Eileen. Michelle was nowhere to be seen. James saw his father lying on the ground wheezing for air. James' mother was ripping her husband's body apart and weeping uncontrollably. She was tainting her fleshly face with the insides of her husband as she did this. Her face was as red as the devil.
Jes heard Eileen call out his name and he looked at her. She was in her wedding dress and was holding a fetus that had been torn from her womb. For in the womb's place was a gaping hole of bloody proportions. James felt his stomach shrivel up with repulsion. The fetus was still attached to its imbilical cord which fused so perfectly into her intestines. She was smiling and repeating the quotes on those two index cards: More To Come and Soon To Return.
James quickly shut the door and paused at the next one. He could feel it in his bones, that this door would be his last one. Even though there were thousands upon thousands of doors in this room he was in, this door would be the last one he, James Maxwell, would venture into this dream cycle.
He opened the door, at first very carefully, but then opened it with full adamant ability and found himself engulfed in an ocean of blood that reminded him of that one scene in The Shining.
The pressure of the 'blood ocean' was enough to jolt him awake and sit up in his bed. His body was tense, sweat beaded off of him, and his breath came out in loud frightened huffs.
"What is...what am....what?" James asked himself in between huffs. "What the fuck?" He dropped onto his bed and tried to gather himself back together. After all, the dream would remain in his mind for the rest of that day.
The moment he got up and go for a morning jog, he stopped in the hallway and could hear his sister talking on the phone to someone she seemed to be getting frustrated with. James thought at first that he should intervene but decided not to as it would only cause more stress and frustration. He ended up walking outside and started jogging.
He jogged for what seemed an hour, maybe a little over. But when he got back into the house, his day had finally begun.
YOU ARE READING
The Things That Will Be
Fiksi Remaja"If there's no struggle, there's no progress." - Frederick Douglass When a young couple expect a newborn, they are unaware of what the future holds when one of them slips into a coma and the baby becomes a sti...
