Ring of Mushrooms

17

You and Lilia spoke quietly. Your voices kept low and hushed as you walked away from Silver's room. He was warm, too warm. The boy suffered from cold sweats. His face was red and he was slowly starting to refuse to eat. He was only getting worse.

Lilia left at night more than usual, you were left taking care of Silver more and more. You couldn't blame him. He always returned with medication, tonics and herbs, and bitter remedies. You were trying to treat his symptoms struggling to figure out what was wrong and how to take care of him.

Lilia kisses you. His hands squeezed yours as he slipped out the door. Part of you hated him for leaving now when Silver was slowly getting worse. You couldn't blame him, you never would. Yet sitting next to the small bed and the even smaller fragile boy, made you want to scream. His sweat coated and soaked his nightclothes.

Being left in the house, with only Silver left you with boundless free time. Too much free time, left with your thoughts and fears running on and on in circles. So you wrote. You spent nights awake under candlelight writing manuscript after another. You filled the books quickly. You were glued to the chair next to his bed, everyday you'd do chores, then return. You continued to care for him, with no complaints, hovering to make sure he became better, you understood why parents grew so stressed now.

A small pile stacked in the corner of silver's room. A few pages pasted to the walls, scattered across the floor. It was reminiscent of Lilia's collection of stuff decorating his room. You had your corner of notes, your corner of stories. You'd sit in this nook for hours as you watched Silver like a mother bear.

As the night grew dark and a storm crashed its way through the forest you let the candle light flicker and burn itself out. A small stream of smoke danced above Silver's crib. The window was foggy and covered in too many raindrops to count. A flash just a few yards from the window. A brief moment illuminated the forest, you could see every tree and branch.

And a reflection of that flash blinded you.

It was a thin reflection, you knew instantly what it was as you saw the shadow. Moving through the trees , soaked with rain and cold. You kissed Silver with a shaky breath, pressing your lips against his hot forehead. You slipped away from him, out of the room.

You left it ajar slightly. You were shaking slightly as you walked through the shadow-coated home. You dragged your fingers across the wall. It was smooth, you could feel light bumps of paint, a stroke of a brush crossing over itself to get an even cover. A few divots and cracks where something had bumped the wall and left a dent. You grabbed the first solid heavy thing you could and hoisted it up.

You could faintly see the shadows. Snaking their way around your home. You could almost picture the shadows as crows circling overhead waiting for you to give in so they could feast. You pressed yourself to the wall. Your back pressing against it, waiting.

The door handle jiggled. You knew it wasn't locked, it was just finicky, it needed a firm grip with a slightly upwards pull. You had figured out what was wrong with it the second time you tried to open it by yourself. It was an embarrassing moment then but avoiding that one chore had now helped keep you safe. You could hear the annoying grumble, could hear the frustration dripping from their maw, salivating at the idea of taking out their anger on anything nearby.

Then there was a bang, one of something hitting the door. A second a few moments later the door struck the wall. You tighten your grip. You weren't quite sure what your weapon of opportunity was. It wasn't cold to the touch, it had no real noticeable difference in temperature, but it was wooden and solid. You could have lifted it sure but you wondered if you would be able to swing it like a weapon if your body wasn't overrun with adrenaline.

Muddy footsteps. Goops and globs stuck to the floor and peeled away as they stepped forwards. You could hear the rain and the thunder louder than before. You could see them grow closer as the storm flashed and screamed with abandon. You stepped forward rapidly, lifting the object, swinging forwards with all of the force you could muster. You heard a crack and a scream. You felt the thing and invader collide. You swung again, he was dazed and shocked, scampering back into a table as you hit him again and he fell to the ground with one of Lilia's side tables covered in personal treasures.

He laid there gasping, gawking like a fish as his nose bled and his eyes were already starting to bruise. He rested in the pool of glass, porcelain, rain, and tracked-in mud. You don't wait to check on him, don't stop to stare and whisper apologies to Lilia who has yet to return home. You swing again at the second intruder by now your surprise has worn off, he braces catching the makeshift bat. He tries to tug it away but you hit him again. He reached back tossing something off of the table at you hitting the wall just behind you, but the glass shattered and ricocheted back onto your shoulder blades.

You hit and you swing, you try to scare them away, chase them out. Yet quickly enough they pull it from your hands and you throw pictures off the walls and dump them over furniture to slow them down as you scramble to collect your son first. Fleeing down the hall, barging into the sick boy's room, and then freezing as pain engulfs you. You still scatter forwards leaning over the boy's bed, covering his body with yours keeping him as far away from their eyes as possible. They pull you back by the shoulder.

You fall like the glass vase against the floor, blood seeping from you as you hold silver to your chest. You try to scream but you sob and choke as they push your head to the side and pull your hair from your ears. You don't miss their panicked gasps and frantic bargaining but it doesn't feel like it matters anymore, so you choose not to listen. You hold your son close. This is so nice, you may be a little cold but Silver is so warm and sweet you've been given the greatest som so you only want to focus on him right now, that's what you want.