BASKET CASE | mike wheeler

ii. nightmares

"I don't know." Terry left the mixing bowl on the counter, hunkering down next to her son and pressing her palm to his cheek tenderly only to gasp and draw it back slightly, "I - he feels... he's scared? Terrified-"

"What, is he having fucking heart palpitations or something? I'll call a doctor-"

"No!"

"... No? No?! Ter, he could die-"

"I won't let them take him from me again!"

"Oh, for fuck's s - nobody is after your fucking toddler!"

Jacob let out a sharp cry suddenly, fat tears beginning to roll down his flushed cheeks as he shook out his arm and wailed, drawing the two out of their argument.

"Your arm - does it hurt, darling?" Terry cooed, kneading the soft flesh of his shoulder, pulling her hand back when he began to cry harder the moment she pressed against his bicep, "I don't know what's wrong, Cubby, I don't know how to help, I-"

Caleb, can you-

Jacob began to take deep, quivering breaths as he sobbed, reaching out his other hand for the doll that had fallen to the floor, causing his aunt to scramble for it, cringing slightly at the sound of his miserable shrieks. He settled once the rag doll was placed in his arm but continued to whimper and cry, holding it close to his chest and snuggling into the worn fabric, "D - duh-"

"Jane."

Jacob whined again, looking to his mother with pleading eyes, "Hur-tuh, Mama. Dane hur-tuh."

Terry brought a hand to her mouth, tears in her own eyes, as she stepped away from him and turned her head the other way, feeling bile rise in her throat, "Wh - who's hurting Jane, s - sweetheart?"

"Doc-tuh." Jacob grumbled, clutching the doll tight as the pain finally began to recede from the side of his arm where the bad man in the white coat had pricked his sister with the large needle. He remembered the way his vision had blurred as he glanced around that white room, how cold it was, felt the needle puncture his skin and draw the blood from it without warning before his vision cleared and he was back in his kitchen, and he began to cry once more.

"This place will be good for you, Caleb - it's got really good reviews, and they're gonna keep you in the children's ward this time, maybe you could even make a new friend!" Melissa beamed, eyeliner smudged beneath her eyes and a noticeable shake in her hands as she turned the wheel of the car, glancing up at the boy in the rearview with his head hung low, "I - I'm sorry, hon, but I just want you to be okay. You hurt yourself really bad this time."

"Pennsylvania's so far away," Caleb sighed, slouching in his seat and pulling at the leather bracelet on his wrist, "they'll forget me, Mom."

"Now, why on earth would you ever think that?" Melissa tutted, frowning at him through the rearview, "They're your best friends, hon, they won't forget you - and you've gone further than Pennsylvania before! You were in California for ages, and they still remembered you when you got back, so don't go working yourself up over nothing, alright? You'll be just fine, I have a good feeling about this place."

"That's what you said all the other times."

"Well, I think that if you wish for something hard enough, eventually it will come true - especially if you wish upon a star." Melissa smiled, glancing back at the ten year old and chuckling softly as he rolled his eyes.