Up here

Helpless

He's walking through the school with his mom. The hallways are filled with people holding plastic cups containing orange and brown carbonated drinks. Fanta and Coke, he thinks to himself. Or Pepsi, I don't really know what the difference between the two is.

His mom turns the corner and enters the cafeteria with him. "Wow, this school is ginormous," she remarks, quickly glancing at the rows and rows of tables lined with people on either side.

"But not big enough to fit all the people that go here," he responds mindlessly.

His mother stops at a booth hosted by an old man in a costume that resembled a popcorn vendor from a circus. He eyed the old man's booth and saw a stack of empty plastic cups. Before he could talk his mom out of paying the old man for the booth's game, his mom turned around excitedly and showed him the prizes she'd won.

"Look, two new cups!" his mom waved the plastic cups in front of his face.

He noticed that one of the cups had remnants of the orange carbonated drink everyone seemed to have but he responded, "They're lovely cups, Mom."

He then follows his mom out to the field- No- not field- the show pools? He didn't quite grasp what he was seeing.

There were about 5 rectangular mini pools that were raised above the ground enough that it needed three steps to it. The water in the pools seemed to be dyed with something, for the color looked emerald, shining wherever a small wave was forming due to the wind. There were mini stone gargoyles decorated on all corners of the raised pools. Decorative pools in the back of the school. Oh, we're in the back right now, his brain starts to make the connections.

His mom walks towards a pool. "They're so pretty," she says staring at the pool's waves as if in a trance.

"We have to get to the front of the school," he turns around to point the direction but when he turns back, he realizes his mom wasn't paying attention to him.

Her face was turned away and he could only see the hair on the back of her head as she begins to climb the three steps.

"Mom, you can't do that," he tries to warn, but his mother continues on and steps onto the final ledge. He tries to catch up with her, but by the time he reaches the pool, his mother steps into the water. She immediately goes down till the water is at her chest, deeper than what the pool seemed capable of.

"Mom!" he screams out of alarm and fear. His mother still continues to walk forward, clearly entranced by something he cannot see. The next step she takes causes her to go even deeper into the pool, covering her face in water and leaving only her forehead above. She then shot her hands up to join her forehead in the air and began to flail them as if she's just realized what was happening.

He starts to panic as many dark thoughts fly around in his mind. "No-No, everything's going to be fine," he says to himself, but as he looks towards his drowning mother, he feels a pang of worry and nervousness that says things won't be fine.

He steps onto the final ledge and the waves seem to get stronger. Unnaturally strong. These waves belong in the ocean, he thinks, not here.

He wants to jump in and save his mom, but what if he gets sucked to the bottom of the pool? What if there is no bottom? He doesn't even know how deep this thing is, and it definitely doesn't seem like an ordinary pool. He tries shouting for help but no one's nearby, they're all in the cafeteria, clueless of what's going on outside.

He feels helpless against the water. Wants to save his mother, but is unable to because of his fears. "I don't want to lose you, Mom," he says sobbing into his hands.

He tries to step into the water as he watches his mother's flailing arms slow down, but his feet won't move. His brain refuses to move his own legs. "No-no," he cries out. His feet are glued to the ledge yet his heart aches for him to join his mother in the monstrous pool.

He experiences true helplessness as he watches his mother get consumed by the cold emerald water.

***
He gasps as he shoots up in bed. Bed? He releases his breath slowly. It was a dream, he tries to calm his racing heart.

He turns over his phone to check the time. 1:17, I should get back to sleep, he decides and puts his phone back on the desk near his bed.

He lays back down and closes his eyes, concentrating on falling asleep but all he can think about is the dream. Will I actually do that? If Mom was in danger, will I not help her because of my fears? He begins to question himself. But the question that sticks the longest was this: Will my fear of losing her overcome all my other fears? He hopes he never has to find out.