IDHUN MEMORIES // FANTASY

Jack

It was already night-time, one night at the end of May. And a 13 year-old boy was cycling back home from school, he lived in a small farm next to the woods. 

His name was Jack. It was nearly two years since he lived in that farm with his parents, at the outside of Silkeborg, a small Danish village. Every afternoon after school finished, if the weather was nice, he would go on his bike, just like he was doing now. He liked exercising and after all, cycling next to the woods made him relaxed and more carefree. 

But, for some reason that day was different. He had been the whole day with this annoying feeling  that had to do with his parents. He couldn't tell what it was, and he couldn't control himself. He called his parents during lunch break, just to make sure everything  was okay. Even though he had done that, just before the bell rang announcing the end of the day, the feeling came back. This time stronger than before. With no apparent reason he felt that his family was in danger. And he knew it was dumb, he knew that he did not have a rational explanation for this feeling. But, he couldn't control it. He had to get home as quick as possible and make sure that everything was truly okay.

When he finally arrived, his heart was about to explode because of the effort he put in getting there as fast as possible. He left his bike next to the shed, without worrying about putting it inside the shed. He ran to the entrance.

Suddenly he stopped. His heart beating fast.

Joker, his dog didn't come to welcome him, like he usually did everyday. You couldn't hear his barks anywhere either. *He must be in the woods* Jack thought to himself trying to calm down.

He couldn't hold himself anymore. He ran straight into the house. Finding the door open. But something stopped him... everything looked normal. The lights were on in the living room. He could hear the murmur of the TV. But there was a weird aura around him.

Shaking he went into the living room. His dad was seated on the sofa, in front of the TV his back facing Jack. Jack could see his father's head popping out from the sofa, resting on the backrest.

"Dad..."

There was no answer. On the TV they played a stupid series of people mimicking famous people. Jack held on to the idea that it was normal that his dad was not responding. He must have fallen asleep with that program. 

He went around the sofa, and after a second of hesitation he decided to look at his dad. Face to face.

He was still, pale and his eyes  were wide open staring somewhere where he could not see. There was no sing of blood or any kind of violence on his body. 

But Jack knew he was dead.

He then felt the weight of the situation on him. For an instant time seemed to stop, and his heart along with it. Suddenly everything around him started spinning and moving way too fast for him. He moved next to his dad and started shaking him, trying to get any kind of reaction from him. In the inside he knew it was useless but he did not want to believe it.

"Dad!Dad! please dad, wake up..."

His voice cracked, he was horrified. Suddenly he thought that maybe it wasn't too late, he could call an ambulance and maybe.... He ran to the phone and tried to call. But there was no signal. Jack turned off the phone violently, throwing it to the floor. He whipped off his tears with his jumper, turned around and started running upstairs.

"Mum!" he shouted "Mum, come down quickly! Bring your phone!"

He tripped and fell, hitting his knees. But that didn't stop him. He got up and continued running.

"MUM!"

All of a sudden he went quiet. Because there was someone at the end of the corridor. And that was not his mum. He stopped, confused. Then both of them took a glance at each other. It was a huge man, hazel eyes and delicate features. But his expression was tough and kind of mocking. He was dressed in something that looked like a tunic, it was so long that it covered his feet. His hair was brunette and spiky.

"Who...who are you?"Jack murmured, confused and still with watery eyes.

Something caught his attention. On top of the carpet there was an inert bulge. When Jack recognised it he felt that his legs were shaking, he had to hold onto the wall so that he didn't fall backwards. It was his mum. She was lying on the floor, pale, and with her eyes wide open staring at him. Jack felt that his blood froze inside him. No... that wasn't happening...

But there was no doubt. There was no life inside his mother's gaze

"Mummm!!" he shouted.

He started running towards her, not giving a shit [oh yes I did] about the brunette guy. Everything was so sudden. The man shouted some words in a weird ancient language. Which Jack did not understand. But they somehow sounded weirdly familiar to him. Then something hit the boy on his chest, leaving him breathless, it threw him backwards. Jack was thrown against the wall, he shacked his head, stunned and breathing hard. He had no idea whatsoever  about what had hit him that strongly. The guy in the tunic was fairly far away from him even though that something had pushed him against the wall.

But he did not stop to think about it. That hit brought him back to reality. He realised that  probably that guy was the murderer of his parents. There was this side of him, which was always asleep and it only awoke in precise occasions, however Jack knew pretty well that it hid anger, fury, hurt and revenge.

On the other hand he knew that the most prudent option was to turn around and start running, escape and then report it to the police...