Dream Catch Me (Student/Teacher)

Dream Catch Me - Chapter Twenty Six

It took a couple of minutes before Joe had composed himself, and worked up the courage to tell me his life story. So by the time he started to speak I was hanging on to every single word, anticipating the next.

"I was born here, born and bred in this town. I went to the local primary school, then the high school you go to now. I was living a reasonably normal childhood, but I didn't have any siblings. I begged and begged my parents to have another child. I don't know if they caved in or it happened by accident but in the next year my Mother was pregnant. It was a reasonably normal pregnancy really, everything happened when it was supposed to. But when it was time for my brother or sister to be born something went wrong." Joe's face was instantly washed over with what I saw as guilt and sadness.

"To understand this story, you have to know how much my parents loved each other. They lived out of each other's back pocket and wouldn't be seen separated for less than a day. It was pure love, and something I look for even now. For that one person who I can love like my parents loved each other. Anyway, when my sibling was born I didn't want to go into the room. I wanted it to be a surprise so I stayed outside. I waited longer than I should've and when the doors finally opened, I was expecting my Father to emerge to announce the birth, but instead out came a nurse."

I could imagine Joe right now, sitting impatiently as a young child waiting. Waiting for one of the best moments of his life.

"She told me that my Mother had a complication and had passed away. I sat there shocked, yet still didn't know anything about my brother or sister. I don't think it hit me just yet, the thought that I would grow up without a mother. Being only 7 years old, I couldn't quite comprehend the meaning. But when my Father emerged from the same doors that my Mother had entered hours before, I saw his ashen face full of the most undeniable sadness. I remember the tears just falling silently as he came up to me. 'Joey, your mother and sister have died.' and sat down next to me. It took me a few minutes before I could really understand and by then I was hysterical, everything for a 7 year old boy had just gone within a few measly hours."

I sat there facing Joe, watching his animated face as he told the story. I could see that now, even almost 15 years after it happened Joe still remembers this day like it was yesterday. He got up to refill his glass, only half full this time and sat back down next to me. If I wasn't caught up in the story I may have realised Joe sat closer to me than before as his arm touched mine and his thigh bumped against mine.

"The next few days were horrible," he continued. "A blur of relatives and cooked meals being delivered from various neighbours. But the one thing I remember was the pain my father was in. He had lost his life partner, his soul mate. He couldn't function and didn't want to get out of bed to carry on with his life. He struggled with looking after me and I found myself becoming very independent over the week before Nan arrived. She came just in time, we had almost run out of food and other supplies, but her arrival ultimately lead to another event that I remember clearly even now."

Joe put his head in his hands and rubbed them down his face, as if trying to bring himself to tell me what happened. "You don't have to go on," I assured him. He scowled slightly, but said, "No Jane, I want to go on. I feel as if you may understand somehow, I'm not sure just yet how that may be. But I feel like I need to share this with you." I nodded, confused at what he had just said but accepted it anyway.

"I was ordered by my Nan to walk home from school one day as she had an appointment in a couple of towns over and would be out for the whole day. She had left instructions with my Father but doubted he would remember them. I got home and walked in through the back door like Nan had told me and went up to my room. But as I passed my parents room, a sight I never want to see again appeared in front of me. My Father was slumped over against the end of his bed he shared with my Mother, blood pooled around him on the hardwood floor. He had taken the sharpest kitchen knife and slit his wrists. He lay there his eyes wide open looking lifeless yet content."