Escape From Reality

The Visit

The air seemed to vibrate as we waited. I tapped my fingers anxiously, staring at the door before it suddenly opened to a middle aged man, whose bored expression did a complete turn before landing on the sight of the two kids standing in front of him.

"Jacob?" He asked in a confused tone before his eyes slowly landed on me, sucking in a loud breath as he did so. I self consciously tucked my hair behind my ear as he wordlessly examined me, frozen to the ground.

Jacob completely ignored his dad's bewildered state however and roughly pushed past him to get into the apartment, dragging me in with him by the hand. I took in the cluttered sight of Jacob's dad's living room as he turned around to face his motionless dad who had turned back to look at us.

"Jacob you shouldn't be here." He looked towards me ," I didn't know it was her you were...."

He trailed off, not continuing that sentence. Although we could all guess what he meant to say.

"You need to go home Jacob. Forget this ever happened "

"No." Jacob protested as he squeezed my hand."We want answers. Now."

As it turns out barging into someone's house and demanding for answers straight away can really put a person on the spot, so that's how we ended up sitting in the living room in complete silence, sipping away on ribena packets while I pulled my mother's journal out of my backpack to let Jacob's dad flip through it as a compromise. Jacob fidgeted in his spot, the long silence killing him, desperate for answers, while I, equally desperate, simply watched Jacob's dad's eyes grow wetter with each page he turned. About a quarter way into the book he simply sighed and placed the journal on the coffee table, stood up and excused himself while mumbling something about needing the toilet.

"This wait is killing me."Jacob groaned before he aggressively slurped the air out of the packet, waving his hands about.

"I know, but we can't exactly rush your dad." I was wringing my hands together, almost half afraid of the answers we were going to find. What exactly happened with him and my mother? I was curious but yet at the same time the thought of knowing what happened to my mother terrified me. Knowing that it might have to do with the dreams me and Jacob have been currently having.

Jacob's dad soon came back with blood rimmed eyes and plopped onto the couch.

"Dad I know this must be difficult for you but me and Chloe need answers."

"Kids, let me give you a word of advice. Just forget that you two know each other and go back to your separate lives. It's better for everyone"

"No."I spoke up for the first time, surprising both Jacob and his dad,"Our lives are too intertwined at this point, it is literally impossible for us to go back to how it was."

"You have to try." He begged us ,"You have no idea how much danger this dreaming can bring you. Please just go home and try."

"How dangerous is it? What do you mean? Is it because of the dreams that Chloe's mother died?" The moment the question came out of Jacob's mouth, both me and Anthony tensed up. I watched as Jacob's dad's face grimaced, clearly in extreme conflict.

"Jacob, it is time for you to go home. I'm calling your mother"

"No!" Jacob shouted and grabbed his dad by the hands," Don't you dare call mum."

"Jacob enough, I had clearly made a mistake by entertaining you here,"

"Dad!"

Suddenly afraid of the possibility that we might leave without answers, I opened my mouth to let out the torrent of thoughts bombarding me out.

"Please, I need to know what happened to my mum. I also have been seeing these monsters in my dreams-" Jacob's dad suddenly stopped dead in his struggle of trying to get his son to let go of his hands, turning towards me once again.

"Monsters? Oh no. This was worse than I thought."

"What do you mean?" I breathed, hardly daring to know the answer.

"This isn't good."Jacob dad mumbled,a bead of sweat falling down his forehead,"This is really bad."

"Dad?"

"The monsters- they were-they were the ones who killed-who killed Samatha."

Everything seemed to slow down.

"What?" Shivers were coursing down my spine as I tried to process what Jacob's dad just said. The monsters I was seeing were the ones responsible for destroying my mother's life?

"Yes. And if you are not careful, it could take away yours too."

Despite looking like he would rather do anything but this, Jacob's dad steeled himself, waited for us to sit down on the couch, and then with a huge breath, he shakily began to tell his story.