Silent

Chapter 4

Loren's POV

Mrs. Curtis had to settle the dispute between the boys. They ended up having to share the chocolate which made them all angrier cause they had smaller portions. I just had vanilla. I didn't have a lot though. I still didn't have a very big appetite. 

I didn't actually feel like doing much today. I felt empty. A piece of me was just gone. I wasn't me anymore. I don't even know how to describe it. It was horrible. 

Mrs. Curtis got me a doll for my birthday, and don't get me wrong, I was grateful. But I just wanted to go back to bed. I know she's trying her best. But I just feel like nothing can cheer me up. 

We went to the diner downtown for dinner after I wouldn't eat lunch. Then we went back and ate cake. It was pretty good. It certainly wasn't how I expected today to go, but then again, what six year old would expect their birthday to be spent with your friends family while your moms funeral is being planned and your dad is nowhere to be found. 

I felt bad I was being so difficult after she was trying so hard to make sure I was ok and I was adjusting to everything alright. She called my dad once but he didn't pick up. I guess I could have predicted that. There was one point in the day where I was able to let out a laugh. Sodapop was carrying his cake over to the couch and he fell and it got all over his face. He didn't find it funny cause his cake was everywhere but he got another piece after licking it off his face. 

But I guess it could have been worse. At least I had a family like my own to celebrate with. I mean, the Curtis' were like the family I wanted. They seemed so perfect. Two amazing parents with three perfect boys. They're the ideal family that everyone wanted to be like. 

I don't even remember a time where dad wasn't being so weird or mama wasn't sick. Will I grow up and not remember what mama was like? Am I gonna forget what she looked like? Or the way she sounded? 

All I had left of her was her stuff. After we got home last night, I took all the stuff we took from the garbage can and put it in a box. I wanted to look at some of it but I couldn't bare to. I put it in the back of my closet. Maybe one day I'll get the courage to look at all of it. But right now, I just couldn't. 

As all these thoughts drifted through my head, all of a sudden, I was somewhere else. I wasn't in the Curtis' living room anymore. 

I was in a hospital. 

I looked around. I wasn't just in the hospital... I was in the room where mama died. Mama was laying on the bed. 

"Mama?" I asked. 

"Turn... Around..." She said groggily. 

"What?" I asked. 

"Turn... Around..." She repeated. 

"Mama, you're scaring me." I said turning around. There was nothing there. "I miss you." I said going up to her. 

She was holding the oxygen thing to her mouth still and she was pointing to the black corner behind me. I didn't see anything. I tried to give her a hug and she started whithering away. "TURN AROUND!" She yelled one last time before her entire body was whithered away. 

"MAMA!" I screamed. I sat on the bed where her body once laid and I looked in the black corner where she was pointing. 

Nothing. 

The room slowly got darker and I was huddled in a ball on the bed still. Then, two bright lights started shining out of the corner of the room. They looked like eyes that were staring at me. I started yelling and screaming for someone to help me. The hospital room door slammed shut. I screamed even louder. 

Then, from the dark corner, a car came and hit the bed. I turned and faced away and buried my head in the pillow. I heard a lot of loud noises and they all just stopped. I turned around and a blonde girl, who was probably 16, was standing over me. 

Except she was covered in blood. 

"Get out of that house..." She mumbled. Her head was gashed opened and she had cuts and blood was pouring down her. "Run..." She said. "Run, run, RUN!" She yelled. 

She shook me and I fell off the bed. I got up and she just stared at me no matter where I moved. I ran to the door and her head was backwards. I yelled and screamed and then someone else appeared out of the dark corner. The girl was still staring at me with her head facing ways it shouldn't be facing. 

"Dad?" I asked. 

He had blood dripping down his face but it was not as bad as the girl standing at the edge of the bed. "I did that. I did that. I did that." He repeated. 

"Did what!? Dad! Dad!" I yelled. I tried to open the door again but it was still locked. "DAD!" I screamed. 

He didn't do anything. He was numb. "GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!" He yelled in my face. 

I screamed and I was back in the Curtis' living room. It was a nightmare... 

I huddled in a ball and started sobbing. 

"Loren!" Mrs. Curtis yelled coming up to me. Mr. Curtis came over and kneeled in front of me with her. "It's ok. It was just a dream. It's ok. I'm right here." She continued. 

"I need to get out! The house! Get out! He told me to get out!" I rambled. 

"What was that?" Mrs. Curtis asked. 

I managed to get some of my thoughts together and I calmed down. "Can we go for a drive?" I asked. 

"Yeah. How about we all go. Is that ok?" I nodded. "Alright. Let's go for a drive, everyone."