ALL THAT WAS LEFT BEHIND

Discovering a Loss

The floor opened up and devoured us, trapping us in a pit of darkness with her beside me.

            I shook her, but her head only lifelessly wobbled back and forth. My throat felt hot and scratchy, as if I have been screaming. But maybe I was.

            I closed my eyes, and then opened them again to see through the dark. There was nothing to see but the dingy, greyish bathroom floor.

            She fell off of my lap, and my vision blacks out. I shrieked for somebody to help her, but I couldn’t hear my own voice. All I could feel was fire, all around us. I hit my head on the ground, and the fire was gone.

“No! Stay back!” the distant voice called.

            Another one, even more distant shouts out, but it wasn’t understandable. More noises erupted in the distance, far from my mind’s comprehension.

            “Oh my. Oh heavens, no!” the first one whispered, now closer.

            There were then arms, wrapping around my body, lifting me awkwardly into the air.

            “Take her,” it said, but I didn’t understand what that meant. Was I supposed to do something? What about mom?

            I felt another person leaning towards me, wrapping arms around me, and then rearranged so that I was cradled in his arms.

            I heard more frenzied snippets of the conversation, but none of it was registered in my brain. They were only but mere sounds that occupied the air, muddled my comprehension.

            “Bring her home now,” the first one ordered. It was female, and sounded anxious.

            “What’s happening? Is she okay?” said the one whom was carrying me. I could feel the deep vibrations of his voice.

            “Just get out of here!” the female one screamed.

            Whoa. Hang on a second, where’s my say in this? I don’t even know what just happened!

            I felt dizzy, as if the person was dropping me, but I was falling ever so slowly. I just wanted to fall, at least hit the firm ground. And maybe I did just that. But I couldn’t remember anything else as the voices and frantic movements faded.

I could feel a heavy weight upon my body. I jerked up and scrambled around to see what was trapping me.

            There was a large grey quilt over me; it and the familiarity of the environment surrounding me eventually had me understand.

            This was a house I’ve been in many times, it belonged to Sherry and Terrance, so how could I have forgotten?

            Nobody was in the house; I could sense its emptiness. The wall in front of me, which was usually white, was now greyish. The whole room, including the normally soothing brown carpet, was grey and extremely dull.

            I unwrapped myself from the quilt, exposing myself to the cold. I wanted to curl back under just them, but I needed answers. I needed to understand something in the isolated familiar house.

            I found myself wandering to the front door. I heard the tiny shuffling of my feet against the hardwood flooring as it echoed through the house. I curiously came upon the front door, silently watching it in hesitation. Eventually, I grasped the metal door knob and opened it.