fever dream #2

FEVER DREAM #2

MAMA

“Be good. Don’t let this moment define who you are. These men, they are filled with untamed rage. They have been blinded by their traumas, child. Don’t let them be your ‘mama’.” The woman said as she slowly drew her last breath. she realized that this was the end of the road for her and she started sobbing quietly. “I’m sorry, honey. I’m sorry you’ll have to live in this cruel world alone. Mama will always be there for you. Always.” She slowly extended her hand towards her precious little one. The colour from the child’s face had been drained. A child’s face is supposed to radiate with joy and happiness but the look on his face outlined a story driven by a great deal of pain. Ending up like this was something he couldn’t possibly fathom after running away from his abusive father. The child sat there, emotionless as his mother cried her way to heaven. He was too young and fragile to understand the concept of death but he could feel his connection with his mother dwindling, that warmth in his heart fading away. A moment of tranquillity prevailed which allowed the boy to hear his mother’s heart stop as her eyes seemingly rolled to the back of her skull and a single tear escaped the chamber of the deceased’s heart. “M-Mama?” the boy said with a stutter. The shock was too much for him to handle and he started wailing at the top of his lungs. “Was it fair to subject a child to such torture? Was it fair to let a woman carved out of purity to die devoid of even a peaceful farewell?” these questions revolved in his head just like the revolver being loaded downstairs. “Come out, kiddo. I’ve got a very jocund company waiting to meet you.” The spritely voice of his merciless father only enraged him even more, but he knew that letting his anger out would only serve as an obstacle to his goal: survival. His thoughts were interrupted by the cold footsteps of his father’s “friends”. He was transfixed for a good minute, trying desperately to come up with an idea. He scanned the room hastily and found a crack in the wall. He quickly shuffled himself in being the skinny lad that he was and waited, peaking through the crack to scout the room. The door flung open and 3 men walked in. They started scavenging through the room when one of them noticed the mother’s dead body. He smirked and kneeled down to make sure she was actually dead. He then screamed for his friend, ”Ayo, Fred! Good news!” the boy waited patiently for them to leave up and until the point his father walked in. He stormed in complaining about the ridiculous amount of saw dust infesting the place but his face brightened up eventually. “Ah, Miranda. How thoughtful of you. Dying on my birthday? Aw, you shouldn’t have!” he chuckled and ordered his men to carry the body, “You’ll never leave me now, honeybunches. Never.” His friends cheered on as one of them left the room with the body throwing her around like a ragdoll. Fred turned to the rest of his friends and said cheerily, “Mission accomplished am I right, boys?” the rest of them fell silent “At least this knocked some sense into you all.” He sighed and stooped over the table, “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU, IDIOTS LOOKING AT HUH? FIND THE BOY NOW!” he screamed while furiously banging the table. All of them scurried out of the room followed by an enraged Fred. The boy drew a cold breath of relief. What seemed like a fool-proof plan started crumbling in a second as the weakest corner of the house couldn’t take the boy’s weight any longer. With a loud crash the floor cracked open and the boy starting falling! The ride came to an abrupt end as the boy fell on his stomach and shrieked in pain. It was obvious that everyone took note of it. It was only a matter of time till someone found him struggling to even get up to his feet and mercy was not something he expected at all from these people. He heard his father’s voice yet again, commanding one of his men to go scout the mess. “Me? Alone?” “Aw. Is the grown-ass man scared that a 5 year old will rip him to shreds? GO ALREADY, YOU BUFFOON! DON’T LET HIM GET AWAY!” the boy heard these words loud and clear. At least now he knew what to expect but he feared that he may not be able to pose a challenge. The man started to beat on the door, mumbling incoherently. The boy quickly tip-toed to grab one of the sharp pieces of the wood that was used to make the decrepit floor. The man rushed in, he just wanted to go home. He was distracted which presented the boy with the opening of a lifetime. He prepared himself and as the adrenaline started taking control, he rushed towards the man’s back! He jumped to match his height and stabbed him with the wooden stick on the back of his neck. The boy got down, his breath started the shaking. The man didn’t even flinch! He turned around to face the boy. He weakly said, “Bastard.” As blood started spurting out of his mouth and he collapsed, accepting his death. The boy slowly crawled away from the body as the man’s blood started to soak his clothes. He drew deep breaths in order to calm himself but failed, how could he live with the blood of another man on his hands? He rested his head on the wall, he felt as if he was going to pass out. “What the hell is taking him so long?” “Maybe he’s lost, you know? Uncharted territory.” “YOU GUYS ARE THIRT- NEVER MIND! What do you want me to do? Give grown men an admonishment? ‘The house wont sing ywou luwwabies swo dwont bwe scwared owk?’” the voices jolted the boy awake. He quickly grabbed the gun and tried to aim at the door but it was too heavy for his frail little arms. He found this to be useless and started to run towards the door in hopes of outrunning them. He rushed out of the door directly into his father’s arms! Fred grunted but his strong physique allowed him to grab hold of the boy. “GOTCHA! DADDY’S HOME!” he lifted the boy to his face and said “Don’t worry, boy. You wont die like that whore. You’ll face a death even worse ’cause trust me kid I am going to crucify you on the hood of my car! I am going to wear your spine like a FUCKING MEDAL!” the boy struggled to escape his father’s grasp, he was whimpering in defeat and he started to wiggle in hopes of getting free. Seeing no escape, he decided to come to terms with his fate, after one last try. He folded his leg, gathered all the power in his tiny body and kicked Fred where it hurts as hard as he could! Fred cried out in pain an dropped down to his knees! This accomplishment however, was trivial in the boy’s eyes as he started to make a run for it! But how far could his tiny feet possibly take him? He knew running away would never be a solution, the devil’s spawn would hunt him even if he had to travel to the darkest corners of the world! Hid thoughts were interrupted by a gunshot, the bullet flew right past his ear and made a gaping hole in the concrete. “Come back here, scum!” Fred yelled as the kid rushed upstairs. He locked himself in a room right before Fred and one of his men crawled up the stairs. Fred looked at his man and said, “I am out of ammo.” “Me too, man. And this door is too thick to break open.” Bullets flew out of the room grazing Fred’s shoulder! “WHEN DID HE GET THA-“ Fred screamed before he saw his partner’s pockets empty. He stared at him with a disappointed look on his face and said, “You know, I never really liked you.” “Huh?” the statement caught him off-guard but it was too late. Fred had already shown his sinister smile, there was no escape for the man from there. Fred held the man by his hair and said “Say hello to Miranda for me, you imbecile.” “Don’t do this, man. We’re supposed to be friends!” “Hmmmm. Is that so?” Fred pretended to think for a second and whispered, “Nah.” As he blew open the door, thrusting his friend through it and using him as a human shield! Bullets flew past him as he kept rushing in, few of them being on point! Fred stopped for a second and threw his friend towards the source which caused him to fly out of the window and plummet to his unfortunate demise. Fred looked around trying to find the root of all his problems but was instead surprised by a piece of the door frame being smacked against his face resulting in him falling unconscious. He woke up with a ringing in his ears and blood dripping from his forehead. He couldn’t understand what had happened, the world around him had lost its vibrant colours. Everything seemed hazier than a polaroid, seconds after the photo had been taken. He stumbled towards the window in the hunt for some fresh air when he saw him. The boy. Keying his car and attempting to slash out the tires. In a moment, all the disabilities faded away as his rage helped in fuelling the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He let out a monstrous roar as he leaped through the window! He landed painfully but this was no time to back out. He knew what he had to do and he knew that rest is a luxury for truly determined people. He bolted towards the car without even wasting a single breath! The boy could feel the panic brewing inside of him upon laying eyes on the 6 feet 7 hunk dashing towards him! The terrified child absconded into the darkness of the forest behind the isolated house and rushed towards a dimly lit barn house. Fred quickly realized that underestimating the boy led to all this mess, “I am gonna rain hell upon this boy and he wouldn’t even know what on God’s green earth hut him!” Fred whispered to himself as he crawled into his car. The engine roared, the tired screeched as Fred rammed in full-speed into the woods! The trees shook under the sheer power of the engine as he crashed through the unsuspecting bushes and the flowering young saps. He floored the accelerator whilst laughing to himself like a maniac, imagining his own child’s blood covering the windshield! The psychopath saw the barn house in a distance and his thirst for vengeance started to take over. As dear mama said, vengeance blinded men of his calibre. At the last possible second he noticed something odd about the front door, as if it was moving! He still didn’t lift his feet off the accelerator and decided to turn on the headlights and he saw it. The capabilities of his child. The last of his men had been crucified in front of the door with a handkerchief wrapped around his mouth! Panic settled in as the car went flying through the door taking apart his comrade limb by limb. The car crashed head on into a haystack and turned on itself! Calmness settled in as no one left the car. It seemed as if the world had come to a stand-still. However, breaking the picture -perfect atmosphere, Fred kicked open his door and crawled out nearly bleeding to death. he coughed vigorously before spreading his arms and resting on his back. His eyes rolled onto his partner’s gun and in a split second, he grabbed the gun and started aiming it at everything. “COME OUT ALREADY!” he screamed but only the echo of his own voice replied. He looked around the mess and chuckled, “You know kid, this just attests my theory. YOU AND ME ARE SIMILAR TO EACH OTHER CONTRARY TO YOUR BULLSHIT LIKING! You are my son indeed and trust me you are destined for great things-“ Fred would’ve enjoyed mocking his son further if only a rope hadn’t drooped around his neck. He couldn’t register it quickly enough but suddenly, he started experiencing a strong pull, lifting him up into the air! He struggled, he kicked thin air but he just couldn’t break himself free no matter how hard he tried. Eventually, he got hold of his gun again and shot straight through the rope causing him to fall to the ground. His old age didn’t take anything away from his reflexes as he instantly grabbed hold of the rest of the rope and started pulling it down as hard as he possibly could. “You. Cant. Escape. Me. Boy.” He struggled to speak but he always found his words to be his greatest weapon. He pulled the rope with everything he had and he could feel the weight unloading from the other end. “COME TO PAPA!” he extended his arms but much to his surprise, was visited by metallic rods heading straight for him! “Uh-oh.” He said to himself as he was wrapped up by dust. The boy peeked to see what he had done. He climbed down to stand beside his father, with a rod going straight through his mouth, blood dripping from his eyes and nose, as lifeless as a body could possibly be. He rested and took a relaxing breath, something he was craving for dearly and he slowly closed his eyes, wearing this victory like a badge as the distant sirens started serving as lullabies.

“He is a very…..uh…..peculiar case you know?” “We deal with weirdos all the time, Stan. What’s your point?” the man was handed a folder and advised, “Just get this off of our hands as fast as possible aight? It’s a bloody mess.” “How bad can it really be?” “See for yourself, hotshot.” The man smirked and opened the folder, he was sure that his buddy was overexaggerating the case at hand but upon opening the folder he realized the severity of the case. He convulsed and gagged at the pictures presented to him. “Yeah I know. Good luck in there.” Stan said, he patted the man’s back encouragingly and left. “Gareth. Gareth. Gareth. Maybe you should’ve listened to your mother and just taken up a 9-5 job.” The man spoke to himself as he prepared himself for the interrogation. He rushed into the room and met the eyes of the culprit. Somehow, he could feel a childish innocence in his eyes. “Trevor Steinfield. You’ve wrapped your head in a particularly nasty scenario.” The man was unresponsive. Gareth growled and threw a few pictures at the man. “Please enlighten me regarding these.” The man held up the picture and said, shocked to the core, “Bad man.” “Wow, look! At least we’re both on the same page! Bad man indeed. Question is why?” the man stared back innocently which irritated Gareth, “Don’t act like that. Don’t you dare act like that. You know what the hell you did!” he snatched the photo out of his hand and pointed it out to him. “THIS PORTRAYS YOU IN THE WOOD SURROUNDED BY 4 DEAD CHILDREN! CHILDREN! AND OH LOOK! YOU’RE PAINTING YOURSELF WITH THEIR BLOOD!” The man just stared blankly in response to these allegations. Gareth covered his face and replied rather calmly, “Look, if you don’t justify this they wont be able to deem you insane right? That’s straight execution right ther-“ Gareth noticed that his companion had trailed off. He was glaring at the window that led to the hallway with a smile on his face. “You ok, bud?” he inquired and suddenly, the lights started flickering. “Damn power company.” He thought to himself but that thought changed quickly and drastically. At the corner of his eye, he saw something dark and gooey oozing out of the walls. “What the-“ he got up, bewildered and took a few steps to examine the substance. As soon as he touched it, he realized what is was: blood! He scrambled across the floor and looked out the window and was greeted by the “person” Trevor was smiling at. A women dressed in white, her skin peeling off and her hair drooped down. Her head turned upside down examining Gareth. Gareth started screaming at the CCTV, “HELP! HELP ME PLEASE!” But it was of no use. He faced the window again and saw the children too. The victims of the massacre conducted by Trevor. Trevor, on the other hand, was thoroughly amused by this, like a child trapped in an adult’s body. Gareth started hugging the wall and screaming at the top of his lungs as Trevor said, in his sweet and childish tone, “Mama loves a lot of things. But there’s only one thing she doesn’t like……” The lights stopped flickering and the blood disappeared which caused Gareth to start panting. “Was it all a dream?” he thought to himself but then Trevor finished his words, “…..people who ask too many questions.” Gareth turned around with horror in his eyes to see the children inside the room. He covered his mouth in shock and then the children brought their fingers to their lips and said in the sweetest tone possible, “shhhhhhh.” The woman leaped through the window towards Gareth as he started screaming, spraying blood across Trevor’s drained face, resembling that of his Mama.