Sunday, November 19, 1989

Homecoming

A bright moon lit up the room as he stared out his bedroom window. Not unlike the light Dr. Merkus shone in his face while he was at North Cathedral Mental Institution. Just after the death of his mother, he had been released and was still under watch by that doctor.

He glanced at his watch. 12:22. He couldn’t fall asleep. The stay at the institution has haunted him for many months since his release.

The wooden chair he sat in grew extremely uncomfortable, so he moved toward his bed. The sheets seemed to be smiling at him, the way the wrinkles and creases were positioned. He carefully pushed back the covers and climbed into bed.

He was almost comforted by the warm sheets and was close to falling asleep when a tree branch hit his window with a loud crash. He jumped up and glanced at the window. A tree branch had broken the window latch and the two halves of the window were swung wide against the wall.

He got out of bed and quickly hopped towards the window, picking up the branch along the way and pitching it out the window. He closed the window and jumped back into bed, looking again at his watch.

1:00. His usual time to fall asleep. He tried to fall back asleep, expecting to do so in a minute or two. But then a ringing entered his ears. It seemed to ring 37 times, although it actually rang only 13 times. Wait. 13 times? No. This is another mind thing.

The old grandfather clock in the hallway outside his door ended its ghastly tune. He covered his ears and tried to fall asleep again.

~

Robert! Robert!

His head flew up. He eyed the room frantically in search of the body connected to the voice.

Robbie! ‘Member me, Robbie?

“Where are you?” He drew the sheets up into his face, still eying the room.

I’m in you. I am you.

“This is unreal. I’m dreaming. Leave me alone.” His voice shook with fear. His eyes stopped at the window, the same one the branch hit. He turned pale. His vision blurred and he started sweating profusely. He turned his whole body toward the image.

The image in the moon.

It was a monster, with small razor teeth that seemed to have been slightly dulled by cutting. Its eyes were nightmares, combined to form everything it sees.

“You’re in my head. I don’t believe in you!” he said, cowering in fear, as a dog to its abusive master.

Right, buddy bot. I am in your head. And you better believe in me, for I’m you’re very existence, your reason for living.

“No. Leave me alone!” He yelled the words, gritting his teeth.

The face disappeared.

This is just another hallucination, he thought and went to bed. After about ten minutes, he grew hungry and decided to go down to the kitchen and fix himself a sandwich.

He walked to the door and opened it. Thinking that the hallway floor would be in front of him, he stepped out. But there was no floor. His foot fell forward and the rest of his body with it.

He was falling. His hands were flying about over his head, he reached out as if to grab something, but nothing was there. He finally hit what seemed to be cold glass. His head never stopped spinning. Then everything went black...

~

When he awakened, he found himself sitting in front of an old grandfather clock. Exactly like the one in his hallway. He looked around. No one was near, but voices filled his ears, all calling his name.

The place he was in was filled with floating multicolour bubbles and grey and black clouds. When he first noticed the clouds, he thought of summer storms from his past. What fun dancing in the rain...

His mind drifted with the clouds.

He was brought out of his trance by a burning smell drifting near his nose. He looked all around and stopped at the clock. A small flame was burning beside the number 12. It then disappeared. He noticed it burned a ‘thirteen’; the big hand pointed at the 12 and the small toward the thirteen.

As he wiped sweat off his forehead, he noticed that his watch read 13:00:00. The date read 00/00/00.

No, this is madness, he thought.

Exactly, he heard a voice behind him say. He spun around and stepped backwards in one quick, smooth motion.

“No, I don’t believe in you!” he shrieked, staring at the same face that haunted him in his bedroom. But this time the face was connected to a body. Muscular, but slender at the same time, and about a head over a man. Tan, leathery skin was stretched over its bony frame. Its hands were clenched in fists, concealing long, sharp fingernails.

“Yes you do Robbie boy. You might as well just admit it. It would make things a lot easier for the both of us.” It spoke without moving its lips.

“Leave me alone!” He started to run in the opposite way, but just in front of him loomed the same horrible creature. He stopped dead.

“I’ll never leave you.” it’s cold, shrieking voice pounded inside Rob’s skull. It held out a slender, bony hand. “Why don’t you take my hand. I’ll lead you out of here.”

Without saying a thing he turned to run. He didn’t know how long he was running; time seemed to be swallowed to be swallowed by this plane. But soon he encountered a door. He quickly opened it and stepped through.

The room was very familiar. Sort of like the bedroom he had as a kid. He felt warm there. Ilke being cradled in a mother’s arms. He saw a bed near the door.

Sleep.

Suddenly he had the urge to climb into that nice, warm bed and sleep. Sleep his thoughts and cares away. Which he did.

Sleep.

~

“Damn kid. I should never have had you.”

He awoke staring into the face of a woman. Woman? “Mother!” He was about to hug her when she slapped his face.

“You made him leave you little bastard!” She slapped him again and again, until his cheek reddened and his nose started to bleed.

“Mom. No. Please!” He dodged her left hand only to be hit by her right. That final hit knocked him onto the floor. Tears ran down and burned the buts on his cheeks.

“Stop crying!” She picked up a small glass figurine that his father had given to him on his first birthday and threw it at him. It bounced off his shoulder and smashed on the wall. “If you don’t stop crying...” She broke into tears and collapsed onto the floor.

Robert stared at her through teared and bloody eyes, then towards the shatterd figurine. Both were broken.

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

~

“Daddy! You’re home!”

“Bob. Where you a bad boy while I was gone?”

“No. I was good, Dad. Honest!”

“Kidding. I’m kidding. I missed you!”

~

“Bob! I’m home! Melissa, are you here?”

White.

“Is anybody here – Oh! Melissa.”

White.

“Where’s Rob?”

“He’s in his room. He’s been there the past few days.”

White.