The Only Card

Chapter 3 : Sparrow

  "Love isn't soft, like those poets say. ..."

death
/deTH/
noun
the action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of the life of a person or organism.

—

Flushed. Tempted by my own deranged mind that I am dreaming. Am I dreaming? Time is moving slow right now, time only moves slow when I'm busy. Am I busy? Perhaps my body is playing a cruel trick on me. Maybe I'm the jester who toys with my own life, my very own prison made by myself.

"What are you doing down there boy?"A voice is hard as I am shaken out of my twin sized bed. Opening my eyes I immediately shut them as I grimaced at the brightness that was coming from the window. "The light is the last thing you are scared of boy! Now tell me why I found you laid out in the middle of the street." My grandpa says, as he pushes his hands into his jean pockets. I take this chance to fully get a good glance at. Grey hair covers his forehead, faint scars under his chin from fishing he once told me. He's still in his pajamas, it must still be early.

"I-well uhm" I say looking for an answer, why was I out there? Rubbing the crust out of my eye as I proceed to sit up in my bed which ruffles my covers at the sudden movement. Looking% back up I see pa staring at me waiting for me to continue. "I was at the bar across the street actually." I say, as pa moves his lip up in a unbelieveable manner .

Laughing erupts the air as pa seemed to find my response somewhat amusing. "There are no bars in this part of town, boy."

"I was there last night"

"You were somewhere alright" he says while walking to my closet and rummaging through it.

"I'm serious! Ask Sparrow he was there too, well it's not like he noticed me"

Stunned by my sudden outburst pa looks at me with wide eyes, "He uhm, passed away last night boy."

"No he didn't, I was there with him, ask the people at the bar."

"There is no bar!" pa says as he throws a pair of light washed black jeans and black turtle neck on my bed."Put this on, we're gonna be late, we have to visit the morgue to confirm the body." pa says finally before walking away to his restrictive room.

Pulling the covers off my bed, I struggle to clothe myself as I am still under the spell of slumber. Cold fingers grasp my neck tightly, I must be coming down with a cold. Before heading out the room I notice a glass on my bedside table, the same glass I had from the bar last night- the bloody mary.

—

A cold brutal testament of this parlor, a morgue is just a fancy word for 'the house of the dead'. It's never a calming place to be, its molded metal doors that hang against the wall stare at me, as my reflection crosses my eyes.

The floor is tiled up with yellow stains which I assume used to be white, the air is icy as I walk through the room. Rows of smaller plated metal are splattered across the walls, as I walk further in the room the smell of heavy disinfectant burns my nostrils.

"This way, uhm Mr?" The elderly man with a white linen coat says to me.

It was then I was brought out of my trance. "It's just Elsie."A faint murmur travels out of my mouth. Following the elderly man, he stops in the middle of the room in which he stops at a metal cot looking table.

He began to remove the sheet off of the table, which displayed a body. The air gets sucked in the metal cage. A body, no- somebody dead which is obvious, but it can't be Sparrow, because I saw him last night.

Coughing, the man looks at me and motions his arm to signal for me to come closer, "Come on, I have another appointment soon. The dead don't bite..hard." Jerking my head back, I walked slowly towards the table where the body is displayed.

I was always told when you die you go peacefully, nothing about his face was peaceful. His entire face was distorted, mouth caved in, and eyes were sunken. Eyes- his dark moody irises were replaced by a hard thick white shell. This man was not at peace.

"DNA samples came back, and you're a 99.9% match. Is there something specific we can use to confirm his identity?"

"Sparrow-my father," I went back to correct myself in front of this stranger, "..we have a family birthmark, near our hip." I say in a rush to get out of here, and to never come back.

Acknowledging what I said the doctor or whomever he is decides to remove the thin cloth from around the dead guys sides. Clicking his tongue against his teeth while turning to me, "My condolences..." He starts, I soon tune out the rest of his pathetic excuse of an explanation about Sparrows death.

He has become what he always was, a dead man. Just like the rest of the men in my family, perhaps I should accept my fate now, cave into my miserable future or else I'll end up just like Sparrow.

Making my way out the room, the elderly man calls after me as I proceed to leave the building. Digging my hand deep inside my wide pocket I pick up my phone, and dial grandpa. He got called into work early so I went to see the body alone, knowing we don't have any other living family. "It's him." I say fastly hanging up without waiting for an answer.

Walking through the parking lot I noticed the sky had turned a darker hue, another storm might be coming. A black 2006 Chevrolet comes into view, I need to get the hell out of here. Starting the engine I see the glass from last night peeking from under the backseat, reaching back I swoop the newfound object in my frosty hands. How did this get in here? Shit pa must've put it here. I'm interrupted by a retching ringtone, glaring up at my phone. The caller id reads 'Mr.Garcia'.

"HELLO! WHERE ARE YOU! EVERYONE ELSE IS HERE!" a raging tone fills the air against my ear. My hair flares up as the voice gets louder and the wind gets stronger.

"Who is everyone?"

1049 words
Hey everybody! I've been writing a bunch of chapters, but I forgot to publish them.
.Lol.

Anyways... here's an idea of how I think Elsie looks like ; )

Still not sure yet....gonna create my own drawing of him, but this is what I sorta imagine. Ofc though, you can imagine anyone:anything as Elsie.

Thanks for reading! Like and comment