Revive

Chapter 8

He turns the rusty knob leading to the place I think my mother is. He pushes it open reveling a bedroom that is decorated in the moonlight. A large crack splits down its center. I step inside.

As he closes the door, I see the bed. Rusty gold frames the bed. A messy white sheet blankets the weak mattress. That is not what makes me freeze. My mother sits perfectly on the bed.

She is completely white and seems even more fragile than glass. Her skin appears to be porcelain against the shining white folds of her simple dress. Her hair lays perfectly on her square shoulders. Her lips are the only part with living color. They are a light red like a sunset.

"M...Mother?" I whisper in the air. Her head whips towards me. She stands, but keeps a blank face. Is this real? Is she real? What is she? After three years, she has returned?

"Margret," her voice cooes. A small smile curls from her lips. Her gray eyes look into mine. "I've missed you. I love you. I'm sorry. Cara wasn't happy to see me. I hope you are. Are the boys okay?" She asks. My body goes ridged. I begin to shake. My lips quiver.

"Don't lose yourself, Margret," Mother says. I hold back.

"I missed you too, mom. I am happy to see you. The boys are doing fine," I reply blankly.

"Be truthful, Margret," Mother says. I am happy to see her and the boys are fine. Are they not? Am I not happy to see her? I feel neutral. Blank.

"I am, Mother," I reply with a smile. "Why are you so white?" She frowns. Sadness pools in her eyes. Don't loose yourself either I think.

"I am dead. Was. I have been revived," she says. Her eyes slid to the man. I don't know what to think. Frozen, once again.

"But...but," I say with the thought lingering in my head.

"I am the Reviver. It's my life to revive the dead ones again," The man says. My lips try to form a question, but they stop. My mother died?

"How?" Is all I ask.

"Like this," he says and picks a dead leaf off the cracked, wooden floor. He presses it against his leaf tattoo. Green flutters through it, creating a healthy leaf. Did that just happen? How was that possible? My brain doesn't comprehend it.

"How come Mother doesn't appear like she is when she's alive?" I ask.

"She only asked to be brought back temporarily to see you and your sister. It is a horrifying and painful proces," he says.

"How did you die?" I whisper to my mother. She just shakes her head. Why can't she come back fully? We could be a family again! Wait, where is Father?

"Where is dad?" I ask. Mother perks up.

"I don't know, but he's alive. I haven't seen him in the afterlife," she says. I puff out air. At least there is still hope for one parent.

"It's time," Mother says. Her lips have gotten paler. The Reviver nods and takes my arm.

"You don't want to see this," he says and pulls me onto the landing and closes the door. We run down the steps and through the door. A piercing scream swishes through the air.

As we stand outside, I see a white orb glow and float up into the sky and watch it fade along with the screams. My mother is gone.