INSTANT REPLAY | REDDIE

- 14 | INSTANT REPLAY

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When Eddie's mother came to pick him up, he was cautious. Part of him wondered if she would cry or scream, but she didn't, to his surprise. She just did the paperwork, raving about how happy she was to have him coming home. He knew there was a catch, but he couldn't think of what. Nothing out her in a better mood than fixing Eddie's 'problems', which meant there had to be something that she thought she was fixing as she ushered him through the front door and closed it immediately behind him. He glanced around in slight alarm at the sight of the house.

It was a disaster. There was trash everywhere. Empty wine bottles, beer cans (though Sonia preferred other alternatives, beer was the cheapest), hollow glass bottles of vodka with nothing left inside of them. That was just the beginning. Wrappers and plates and dirty clothes flooded the ground. The trash was overflowing. There was hardly even a pathway to the stairs. Eddie began to think that perhaps his mother was the one that needed the dependence therapy, after all. He had only been gone for a few weeks, and already the house was a dump. He thought she might have even been a little tipsy when she picked him up, seeing as she was much calmer than expected.

He had been so busy taking in the sight that he hardly noticed what she was doing behind him. He turned around to see her latching a padlock onto the door, the key nowhere in sight. His face lost all color, and his mouth fell opened as he searched for words. She turned around with a triumphant grin, her beefy hands getting as far around her waist to settle on her hips as they could.

"Um... What are you doing?" He asked in a small voice. Her smile changed from triumphant to sickeningly sweet within seconds and she moved towards him. He took a step back, but his foot hit one of the piles of garbage and he nearly fell backwards,c arching his balance at the last second.

"I'm protecting you, Eddie Bear. I've spoken with the school, we're going to have all your work delivered here that you missed so nobody has to bring it to you. We can order out every night, and maybe even go out on the weekends." She finally reached him, pulling his body towards hers into a deadly embrace. He felt the breath leave his lungs, and held it for as long as he could, despite the rising panic. His phone suddenly felt like a lead weight in his pocket.

"Don't worry, Eddie Bear, I've ordered you new prescriptions for your medication, too. Your inhaler is waiting for you up in your room!" He could hear the underlying celebration in her voice, and his stomach dropped. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself before he reverted to the inhaler waiting on his bedside table. "You've got some late schoolwork up there as well, so you'd better hand over the phone and get to work, young man." Eddie stared straight through her as his phone was fished out of his pocket and he was rushed upstairs.

"Have fun, darling!" Sonia called, leaving the door opened just in case as she left him alone with a little plastic contraption and a pile of papers on his desk. He glanced at his clock and hesitated. It was almost noon. He could use the excuse that he was hungry. He opened his computer, opening the Instagram webpage. A red screen flashed up onto his browser, and he was dismayed to find that the website had been blocked under a parental lock. He tried the same on the rest of his social media, face growing paler with every click.

He glanced at his inhaler, and shook his head firmly. He had broken that habit. His vision swam as he struggled to breath, trying to keep himself quieter than the roaring television down in the living room. The walls seemed to be closing in, and he reached out, clutching the aspirator tightly in his hands. He stood up on shaking legs and threw it as hard as he could at the wall. It made a dull thunk, not even loud enough for him to hear over the immense ringing in his ears. Eddie took one step towards his bed and his knees buckled, sending him down into the covers as black enveloped his vision.