Folie à Duex

Chapter 9

It was three in the morning when I was woken to noise coming from downstairs. I quickly, yet quietly got to my feet, threw on a pair of sweats, and retrieved the firearm from inside the headboard compartment. I slowly made my way out of the bedroom and towards the staircase; I waited at the top and peered down to see if I could see a shadow, light, or anything that would reveal my intruder and/or their location. Once it became clear that I wasn't going to be able to see anything, I quietly crept down the stairs, as I reached the bottom the light turned on in my kitchen. I leaped into the doorway ready to fire, but instantly froze in place.

"Is that my gun, Corvus?"

"Mom?"

The woman standing before me was a spitting image of my mother, or at least what I remember her looking like the last time I saw her.

"You're dead."

"Am I? I wasn't sure after not being able to feel or hear my heartbeat."

"I truly am going insane."

"You were born insane, Corvus."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You are my son after all, not to mention I wasn't exactly on my best behavior when I was pregnant with you."

"Speak plainly please, mother."

"I was doing drugs when I was pregnant with you."

"Now I know I'm imagining this; my mother did not do drugs."

"Who told you that, your damn father? Hmm... Corvus, you have no idea; I used to mix pills and potions just to feel something in the mornings. It's a miracle I made it as far as I did, let alone you being born with nothing wrong."

"Other than the fact that I have another person living inside my head and I'm supposedly talking to my dead mother."

"I guess the Darkness, as you so called it, is genetic then. That's a neat name for it by the way, I never had a name for it so I'll just use that."

"What do you know about Darkness Mom?"

"I know it's the energy that draws you and that wonderful woman upstairs together. I know she has named your Darkness Haven, I named mine Jackie, and I know you named hers Scarlett."

"You've been listening in, this entire time..."

"Which means I also know about the drugs, the wild sex, the disgusting waste of space she's had to deal with for so many years, and what she wants you to do to help her."

I slowly lowered my head, "I've disappointed you, haven't I?"

"You have. You disappoint me for not embracing the dark gift that we share and for not becoming the true you for the woman you love."

"What?"

"Corvus and Haven...you two have always been. Haven has always lied dormant within you and it was death that awakened him; I knew from the moment you were born, from the moment you opened your eyes, I could see my gift had passed on to you."

"I think you mean curse mother..."

"No, I meant gift. I always saw this side of us as a beautiful blessed gift. Your father, on the other hand, did not. And don't worry we won't talk about your father any more than that; I know you don't want to."

"You're right, I don't."

"Well as I was saying, this gift is what bought me my greatest happiness and, in my afterlife, might I add."

I glanced up at my mom and smiled softly knowing she was referring to me, "How did it bring about happiness?"

"Because I don't reject her and try to act like she doesn't exist. I keep her in check and she helps keep me in check, I fed her daily and maintain happiness between my two selves."