A Lonely boy with a dangerous friend

-2-

The high pitched ring of the phone echoed through the empty house. The house was in the middle of being moved out of, it's wasn't as bright as it once was. Olley's small hands wrapped around the phone putting it to his ear and with his soft young voice said, "hello?"

"Hi honey where's mama" Olley recognized the sweet voice on the other end of the phone, it was his grandmother, he called her Nene, a nickname he chose for her when he was a baby. Olley could tell something was upsetting her, as her voice crack. Olley called out for his mother to grab the phone, her black leather heels clicking on the wooden stairs and she quickly walked to grab the phone from Olley's hands and shooed him away.

"Hello?" his mother's voice was soft and caring perfect voice for a mother, "Hey Nicky," Nene's voice started to choke as the tears came back to her eyes "I have some bad news darling" Nicky was shocked hearing her mother upset, her mother wasn't big on showing her feelings, sometimes Nicky thought her mother forgot how too.

"Well go ahead spit it out" Nicky jokes "Oliver's dead sweetie he killed himself"
Nicky's heart sank into her stomach, those words in that order, she never thought she would hear, how would she tell Olley, his father the man that once stood in his bedroom doorway to wait till Olley had gone to sleep or the man who used to heal every wound with a soft kiss is now dead. She knew this would happen after Oliver lost the house and everything he loved in the divorce agreement that only happened a month ago it only took him that long to fall apart.

Nick wanted to drop the phone so she could run up the stairs to where Olley sits in his empty room and tightly hug him till she could say to herself 'this is real', the house now seemed cold and hollow like she was standing under a street lamp, the only world she can see it the three feet of cement that the light shone onto "That can't be true"

Nicky's eyes filled with warm tears that slipped down her face, her sobs she tried to hide by covering her face with her sleeves and cried into her hand. "Im sorry sweetheart, but you know he wasn't ok in the head, it's not your fault it's just his head got to him"

She couldn't do it, Nicky slammed the phone down and ran up the stairs the tears glassed over her eyes as she grabbed Olleys small arm pulling him out of the room and back down the stairs, she grabbed his toy story bag with an image of woody and buzz lightyear on the front of it.

With Olley sat in the back seat of the car and his mother driving frantically down the road with the sun setting in the distance as her mind won't stop flying from question to question that she wants to be answered why, how and where, her fear and anger mixing into one as the day bleeds tonight and the only light she has is the soft glow of her headlights that splits through the dark. Nicky can see her sons worried looks in the mirror his innocent hazelnut eyes something Nicky loved but now hated about her son, the same eyes her now dead ex-husbands had and ended up sharing with his son, a blessing Nicky thought but she now saw them as curse ones that would haunt her forever her sadness turned to anger as she cursed at Oliver for leaving her and most importantly her son, now 8 years old would grow up without his father.

Her gaze flicked from her son's worried eyes to the dark street as the tall forest trees enclosed around them like a sea that was there to squeeze the oxygen from her lungs.
The tears seemed to sting and choke her anyway so maybe the sea wasn't needed, Oliver's cabin was now the grave he chose to die in but why, why now, why leave your son with no father with no memory of his father's face or maybe that's why he chose now because Oliver knew his son would hopefully end up forgetting him and living with no weight holding him down, Nicky tried to shake off the thoughts of her sons now damaged future as her lips that had been sealed for the longest time opened and tried to force out some kind of word without the pain in her throat catching her midway.

"Hey, Olley sweetie mommy has something to tell you about your father" Olley whos been silent though out the drive stayed quite to worried or scared to speak, it was worry Olley knew something was wrong he always knew when his mother was putting on a smile just for him or when his mother's tone was more soft and scratchy than normal, it was his gift. "Dad passed away yesterday that's why mommy's so upset, I know you might not fully understand it but you did nothing wrong ok, this was your father's choice" Olleys mother's voice went quiet as the tears started to flood once more.

Olley knew more about death than his mother let him or his father would tell him. He could always tell when someone was dead but could never tell who or where someone had passed on, he was told by his imaginary friend, a friend olleys had by his side since he was 3 years old and could understand a lot of what his friend would tell him, he told his mother about the mysteries friend but of course, his mother shrugged it off with every strange thing that kid said that would have worried most parents.

Olley stayed silent not to let up to his mother about his hidden gift but he knew his father was dead he knew the black cat his father spoke about was left alone in the small cabin his father bought after the divorce, the cabin that is now cut off to the public.