A large, loud white pickup truck pulled up in front of the house. Mike has always had large trucks, which often came in handy. I walked out to the curb to greet him.
“Hey Mike, how's it going?”
“Not too bad Cal.” His deep voice replied. “On that money grind, is your mother ready yet?”
“Yeah, she'll be right down in a second. Hey could you do me a huge favor Mike?” I asked hoping he wouldn't think I am a crazy hyper-sensitive momma's boy.
“Of course lil' man what's going on?”
“Can you just keep an eye on her today, I just have a bad feeling. I know you always have her back, but I just can not shake this horrible feeling in my gut.” I pleaded to my moms career long corrections partner, and family friend.
“Callum, you know I love you both more than I do myself. You have my word, I got your back and hers.” He extended his brick-like fist out the window. I reciprocated the gesture, thanking him with a fist bump. The anxious pain in my stomach still had no plans of subsiding, and I felt every rumble like a bowel-shaking earthquake.
“See you later kiddo,” My mom said as she quickly slid past me and opened the passenger side door of Mike's truck. “I'll be back later, and tonight dinner is on me!” she joked with a wink. I threw my hand in the air as they pulled away, bidding them farewell, only for now I hoped. The big white truck pulled away from the curb and down the street. I kept my eye on it until it made the left-hand turn at the end of the block. I needed to shake this feeling.
The next few hours was spent scrolling through the internet. The stress of all of this was beginning to overflow. After what seemed like a full pack of cigarettes, and twenty trips to the front porch I began researching meditation techniques. Monks always seemed to be calm and composed. Breathe in one, two, three, four. Breathe out four, three, two, one. Nope that one is complete horseshit. After scrolling for another half hour I finally found one that looked promising. I folded a blanket on the floor almost like a mat and sat down on it cross-legged. I raised my elbows to 90 degrees and formed a diamond with my hands, all five fingers touching their counterpart on the opposing hand. I focused my thoughts on one subject, my mother, and began to measure my breathing. I closed my eyes and drifted off, the tick of the clock helping me focus.
Tick, one, tock, two, tick, three, tock, four.
There I was, hovering above the jail, spectating my mother. She was in the jail yard, must've been recreation time. I observed the same dark foggy situation as my dream though. It was as if I was watching the world through a tinted pair of foggy sunglasses. I saw Mike on the other end of the yard watching the inmates closely. Numerous inmates crowded the center of the yard, something was real fishy about this. Then something happened that made my heart fall to my stomach. I saw an inmate, with fire in his eyes. He was far larger then Mike, with tattoos on his pale face. He was ambushing my mother. She couldn't even let out a scream before he tackled her. The large group of inmates were blocking Mike's view of my mother as she was viciously beaten. He ruthlessly attacking my mothers face as she screamed for help.
“MIKE!!!!! OH GOD HELP ME!” Her voice curdled as she choked on her own blood. Mike quickly jumped into action racing across the yard.
“MJ!” he yelled reaching for his firearm. “Officer down, I repeat officer down in the yard. Immediate back up requested.” he spoke over the radio attached to his chest. Mike fought his way through rioting prisoners. I quickly glided towards my mother, but phased through the inmate on top of her. Why couldn't I physically interact with them? Then I saw and heard probably the worst thing anyone could've imagined. The inmate reached for my mothers firearm after beating her near unconscious.
“Mike,” My mother yelled weakly through her bloodied lips. “Hes got my gun!” she cried out in fear. The inmate was on top of her, he had her own gun pointed at her face.”
BANG!... BANG! BANG! Three gunshots rang out across the yard. The entire place fell silent. The only sound was the crows as they quickly fled from the top of the fence. Inmates hit the ground face down with hands behind their heads and feet crossed, they knew the drill. There stood Mike, gun drawn and smoking. Just feet away there was my mother sobbing uncontrollably, blood spattered on her face. Thunder rumbled and rain began to pour across the yard. My vision had been proven true. Laying in the blood next to my injured mother, was the aggression-driven inmate. He had two holes in his back and was bleeding out fast, gun in hand. As multiple officers entered the yard the black fog began to thicken. It was just like the end of my dream last night, soon I was surrounded in pitch black fog.
The house phone rang loudly. I opened my eyes and my ass hit the blanket beneath me. Was I floating in real life too now? This was no time to figure that one out, somethings wrong. I quickly reached for the phone.
“Field's resid-” I was quickly cut off by a panicked female voice.
“Callum this is Deputy Warden Alyssa Hall, there has been an incident in the jail yard. Your mom is being rushed to Conner Medical Center at the moment. Shes responsive but in rough shape, I'm so sorry.” her voice wavered, D.W Hall was always a strong supporter of my mom and cared deeply for her.
“Oh my god,” I could barely contain my sobbing. “ Where's Mike?”
“ C.O Holmes is en route to the hospital with your mom in the ambulance. He was the one who got the guy, Callum.” I smiled through my tears, good old reliable Mike. “We have a patrol car on the way to pick you up.” She always had our backs, when dad passed away she provided us with everything we needed. Including a police escort during the funeral.
“Thank you Deputy Warden.” Those were the last words I could get out of my lips before hanging up. I immediately fell to my knees. I just watched my mother get violently assaulted in what felt like a dream-like state. It actually happened though, and I saw it! Obviously something about me was different, and it was consistently developing. Why was I unable to help my mother? Can I only interact with myself? Can I see the future, past and the present? I couldn't stop myself from these lingering questions. Just then I heard sirens coming down our block. My ride was here, I quickly ran out of the house locking the door behind me.
YOU ARE READING
Untapped
Teen FictionCallum is just a small town boy, with some big time stuff going on. Little by little he's developing new quirks and trying to cope with his ever changing tragic life.
