Nocturne of Nightmares: A Retelling

Chapter Thirteen

THE SCENE CHANGED BEFORE US; as one mirage dispersed into the ground, another materialised in the living room. Sitting on the sofa, the two boys were now happily looking through a sketchbook together. Young Thoma and Young Ray.

"That's amazing, big bro!"

"You think so? Do you think Mom will like it?"

"Of course!"

It was not long before the figure of a woman in a dark grey suit came into view. There was a piece of paper in her hands, crumpled by the force she was clutching it with.

"Mom!" Young Thoma ran excitedly towards his mother, waving the sketchbook in his hands. "Mom, I drew you for art class today, and my teacher gave me an award for it. Look!" The boy proudly showed his mother the artwork, but the woman passed him, going straight for his younger brother. "M-Mom?"

Thoma held onto his sketchbook tightly. Poor Thoma...

"Ray." The woman looked down at the boy, her one eye hidden behind a blonde fringe while the other, sharp and ruthless, was aimed right at him. All at once, the blood drained from the younger boy's face, his pallor ghostly white. He looks so scared... I turned my head to look at Ray and Thoma, who were dripping with dread. Did they know what was going to happen next? Both of them had gone pale gawking at the apparitions. "Come here, Ray."

"I-I'm sorry!" Ray shrunk into a corner, shielding himself, as if something bad was coming for him. I remembered him locked up in the room, crying.

"What did I tell you about being sorry?"

The mother threw the paper she was holding. It fell to the ground without a sound, but by the horrified expression on the younger boy's face, the weight it carried was a heavy burden. The paper showed a number of red marks. It happened to be a report card, bleeding unfavourable grades. Is that why she's angry? Because of her son's poor grades?

"If you have the time to be sorry, you have the time to do better!" She reached for young Ray, and the boy struggled in her hold.

"No, Mom, please! No owies! Please..!" he cried. "I'll study! I'll study hard. I promise!"

I felt my heart cracking to pieces as I watched the tears stream down the little boy's face. How could this happen?

SMACK!

Young Ray fell to the floor from a harsh slap to the face. "You insolent child!"

"Mom, stop!" The older brother threw away his sketchbook, and then grabbed onto his mother's hips. He did his best to pull her away, but what could a mere child do? Young Ray continued to cry as he took his mother's beatings, and young Thoma lamented his helplessness.

What kind of mother would do such a thing? Unable to hold onto anything that might have given me strength, I gripped onto my clothes. This is so sickening. I can't take this! If it hurts this much for me, how much more for Ray and Thoma? How can they stand to watch this? I hate not being able to do anything... I decided to scream.

"That's enough!" I shouted my frustrations, the corners of my eyes growing hot. "You're hurting him!" But a force pulled me back.

"Get a hold of yourself, Ziya." When I looked back, Subaru's intense gaze was on me.

"Do you expect me to just stand here and do nothing?" I turned to Subaru. Where did he even come from?

The reality of it was that I had no power over what was happening in front of us, but I wanted him to know that if I could have stopped it, I would have. Slowly, Subaru shook his head from side to side, his red eye shimmered sorrowfully, and I suddenly felt like an insolent child. He wasn't holding me back because he lacked empathy - I was sure he would have done something if he could. Instead, it was like he was trying to save me from myself, and remind me once again that while we were in the nightmare world, we had to keep our shit together. These were our childhoods; there was nothing we could do to change them.