The Raincoat

The Raincoat Part 4

Henry threw down his clock with all his might and watched its glass shatter into a million pieces. He slumped down on his bed and put his head in his hands. The late sun shone onto the glass pieces making them sparkle. All Henry wanted to do was disappear. He peeked from his fingers and saw all of the parts lying on the ground. Then he began to laugh. It was a small laugh at first, and then it grew in size. His laugh drowned out any other sound in the house. It continued to rise until the voices came back. He covered his head with his hands and could feel his brain throbbing with the pain. The voices, the voices arguing and fighting with each other. Both competing for more power than the other. Both wanting to control him.

"Get out!" He shouted but the voices kept getting louder and louder. Until he realized, it was coming from the coat. But only Henry could hear the voices because the coat was now apart of him.

"Grab it, grab it, grab it."  The voices whispered frantically his ear. Urging him on. Henry's hand reached involuntarily towards the knife that sat on his table. A small smile crept over his face. Yet, another voice now entered his head. This one was different than the others. This was his sanity.

"Don't do it! Don't listen to them! This is not who you are." His sanity yelled over the other voices. He could no longer hear the other ones words. All was quiet. Henry crumpled to the ground, breathing heavily as if he just ran a long ways. 

He looked towards his wall to a picture hanging up. It was his adoption papers. The fancy writing curving and looping on the page. Next to that, was a picture of him just about five years old holding a crying baby girl, Katelyn. Henry looked down and realized that some glass had got in his hands. He went to the bathroom and began washing off all the blood. He looked in the mirror and saw his dirty unbrushed  hair clinging to his forehead in wet clumps. He had deep bags under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in days. He punched the mirror, cracking the glass, and threw himself upon his bed. Katelyn was the only thing that mattered to him, and now she was gone. He picked at a loose thread hanging off his quilt. He felt empty now. Nothing mattered anymore. Maybe he should listen to the voices. He didn't care. He heard his parents footsteps creaking on the wood as they walked quietly upstairs into their bedroom. He sighed, "all I need now is sleep..." He slowly closed his eyes and fell fast asleep, still wearing the raincoat.

----

Henry sat under a birch tree  by the pond. He had a bag of bread and was lazily tossing crumbs  at the ducks and watching them gobble it up. The ducks would quack at each other and fight over their newly found food. His knife sat in his left pocket. At the other side of the pond, he watched a mother and daughter having a picnic. They were laughing and politely eating their food. They had small cucumber sandwiches with tea and fancy deserts and strawberries dipped in chocolate. They were all having a good time. The sunlight glared off the pond, making the water dance with many different colors. A man down the way was showing his son how to hold a fishing pole. They were smiling at each other and soon the little boy's eyes went wide and the man was helping his son reel in a fish. After it was caught, they cast the line far out into the pond, shattering the glassy completion of the water. 

Henry heard the voices all the time, but now they never caused him pain. Instead, he listened to them. He liked what they said. A small smile crept over face until he was grinning from ear to ear. Then, he began to laugh.