"Mom, mom, I'm fine. Honest." I said to her as she rushed to help me as I walked into the small living room. Well, dragged is probably the right term. Apparently walking does not involve clutching your bandaged torso while rolling vertically on the wall, which is unfortunately what I was doing. “Don’t panic.” I added with a sigh as I plopped unto the worn couch, the springs digging into my back which probably wasn’t a good thing but I decided to bear with it. I could feel my mother’s eyes boring holes into my back, waiting to see if I needed any help. After a few minutes of awkward staring she left me alone, like a vulture deciding it was a waste of time waiting for an animal that wasn’t going to die anytime soon actually die.
Harsh, I know.
My siblings rushed to me with tear streaked faces as soon as our mom left the room; it was probably quite a shock for them to see me like that. I sat up so they wouldn’t have to lean over me, making myself feel worse. My eyes instantly fell on Leah, she was still crying, her hands were halfway up signaling that she wanted a hug from me; but I can’t, the blood was beginning to seep through my bandages.
“Stop crying, Leah. I’m fine.” I smiled at her, tugging at her pigtails.
“But you looked like you were dying.” She murmured as she sat next to me. “Didn’t he, Luke?” She asked as she looked up to the little boy with the huge glasses that took up half his face.
“Yeah, what happened to you, Kyle?” He asked me worry pasted on his nerdy face. I reached out to ruffle his dark hair as he instinctively ducked but failed.
“You really want to know?” I asked them feigning mock seriousness. Leah being the youngest at only six years old nodded vigorously, but Luke being eleven just sighed and played along.
“It’s supposed to be a secret, but I’ll tell you guys anyway. I can trust you to not tell anyone, right?” I said, hugging Leah to my side even though it hurt. She nodded again; the excitement was making her jump up and down. They did not need to know that I myself had no idea what was happening. They’re just kids anyway. Luke just sat on the floor pretending to pay attention. He already knew I was not going to tell them the truth.
“The truth is that, I was attacked by this vicious baby dragon, he had a very long tail for just a small creature but he also had these gigantic teeth and claws!” I told Leah, her eyes shining with awe and her mouth half open. “What did you do?” She asked eager to know more.
“Well, I took out my trusted paintbrush and poked him in the eye! And then with my magic powers I also painted a portal on the bathroom wall, that’s why you guys found me there. I tricked the little dude into going into the portal but then he slashed at me with his tail and claws that’s how I got all these cuts, you see, and then he just vanished.” I said, clapping my hands together, making Leah jump.
“’Poof!’ Just like that?” She said mimicking my gestures. I nodded.
“Wow…” She just murmured her eyes suddenly far away, probably imagining how it happened and I just smiled.
“But remember, paintbrushes are supposed to be only used for painting…” I said as I tugged at her pigtails again.
“But you-“ she said as she scrunched up her forehead.
“Unless you have to poke a dragon in the eye of course!” I said as I gathered her little body into a hug wincing as I did and she just giggled.
A loud thud made our eyes go wide and made our bickering stop. Luke stood up looking tensed.
“Hey mom! You okay there?” I called out.
“Uhh. Yes, honey. Just. I’m just packing our stuff.” She sounded breathless.
Packing? What?
“Where are we going?” Luke rushed to mom’s room, his eyebrows knitted together. As he reached the door, mom burst out with a huge bag in tow. “We need to leave. Get as far away as possible.”
I remember this scene; I remember how she and dad got into a fight so huge she wanted to get away. My thoughts went haywire. “Mom, if you’re fighting with dad again, I can talk to him you know… That bastard.”
“What? Why would you think-? Ugh. Never mind, Luke, Leah go pack your things please. Take only what you need. You too, Kyle.” If it’s not about dad, then there’s me and what just happened tonight. She’s panicking over me, I just know it.
“But what about school?” Leah piped in, but rushed into her room all the same.
“Don’t worry about that now. Just… hurry.” She sighed.
I rushed into my room and grabbed the first things that I laid my hands on, which was not much considering I was also clutching my chest with my other hand. This is just crazy and stepping on paint pots and brushes for the second time this night is not helping at all… I grabbed a duffel bag and just scrambled my whole room. When I packed all the things that deemed important plus color pencils, a sketchpad and my iPod, I dashed out of the room only to find my mom still getting things in order.
She’s panicking alright.
She’s running from room to room now. Getting essentials and digging into our grocery jar for extra cash, muttering things the whole way. “We have to confuse them… Not going to be easy… We have to-“
“Confuse who?” I said, gasping for air.
My mom rushed to me right away again, a horrifyingly accurate deja vu of ten minutes earlier. “Oh, honey. It’s nothing, uhh, let me help you with that.” She said as she reached for my bag, but I swatted her hands away. “I don’t need your help. Don’t baby me. ” I murmured. She looked me in the eye before rushing to help Leah with her things now.
“Call your dad, tell him to meet us downstairs in 5 minutes.” She ordered Luke, tossing the phone to him as soon as he let go of his bag. Luke and I both raised our eyebrows. Dad won’t be able to come here right away. He lives on the other side of New York for Pete’s sake, not unless he’s in our apartment building at the moment which is pretty unlikely, but Luke got him on the phone anyway. Ugh. This is getting way out of hand.
“Mom, stop for a moment.” I called out to her. She dropped her keys, like I just electrocuted her and stood still, in fact we all stood still. Leah was looking up at us completely confused. “Breathe.” Was all I said, hoping it will calm her down. Her eyes were still wide, but she took a deep breath anyway.
“Now tell us, mom. What’s going on? If it’s about what happened tonight, I’m alright. So, please stop freaking out. You’re acting like I’m going crazy, but I’m not. At least, I hope I’m not. But all I know is that I don’t know what’s going on and I didn’t do it to myself. I’m not suicidal last time I checked.” My words went out in a rush, and soon enough I was breathless, I slid down to the floor in pain as my sides started to flare up. I looked up at her, her face seemed to flare up too. She looked kind of angry.
“Is that what you think is going on? That you’re going crazy?” She giggled. Okay. This is phase two of mom’s panic mode. I’m dead.
“No, I just said –“ I uttered but she cut me off.
“Mom! Kyle said it was a baby dragon-“ Leah squeaked out but was silenced by my mom’s stare. I sighed.
“Oh, but that’s what you’re thinking right?” Her eyes turned back to me. “It’s there in the back of your mind. I know it.” She murmured still looking at me with eyes ablaze. My eyes landed on Luke and Leah again, they were clearly confused.
Indeed, I think that I am going crazy but just because I think it doesn’t mean that it’s happening.
“Well what am I supposed to think when I keep on having weird dreams and an annoying voice in my head keeps talking to me, huh? If I’m not going crazy then I might as well be!” I retaliated and I swear I just heard someone bite back a laugh inside my head. My sides tingled with every breath that I took. I didn’t break a rib but it feels like I had when I saw the pained look on my mother’s face. I have never shouted at her like that before. What’s going on with me?
“You’ve… You’ve been hearing voices? Weird dreams?” She asked me, the fire in her eyes died down, they were now replaced with a weird bottomless depth.
Luke and Leah were still staring at us, their mouths agape. Luke seemed to tense all over again, he seemed to be catching up with whatever we were talking about. Hell, even I don’t know.
“Well, yeah. I mean, I know it sounds crazy, and I’m not going crazy, but-“
“How long has this been going on?” Her voice seemed to have been detached from her mind.
I scrunched up my forehead, trying to ignore the pain that I was feeling and thought back to when I first had that dream. My nape started to prickle as my hairs stand on end. “Uh. The voice just tonight, but the dreams… Ten months? Uh, probably a little over a year, mom.”
Her eyes widened again with shock and it screamed of fear, pain and defeat.
“It’s too late then, they’re here.”
As if on cue, a loud hissing noise came from our door. “What’s that?” Leah stood up, her curiosity driving her little self to open it. Everything seemed to be on slow motion, I tried to stand up from my spot on the floor but I wasn’t quick enough.
“No, honey! Don’t open the-“ My mom tried to grab the hood on Leah’s coat. It was possible considering we were in our tiny living room, but for the first time since we moved here…
The living room wasn’t little enough.