Risky Woohoo

7 | Underground

1957, April
—————
I looked over to William, my whole body trembling. He looked lost, empty, but confused most of all. The kitchen light dimmed, darkness fell upon us.

Jim was not to be heard anymore. Silence flowed through the house. April Fools. It had to be. Dead? What'd he mean, dead? Was mum dead? All dead and gone-

The word tumbled inside my head like a tornado, not being able to get out. Was that what he told Paul upstairs? Paul... Not another. I couldn't imagine being in his shoes. Losing his own mother, than hearing another woman in his life was gone.

And Jim! Poor, poor Jim. The love of his life: gone. And not even half a year later... How would he make it through?

Thoughts kept flowing through my head. I couldn't consume what he had told me. Was this a dream? A bad, no good, terrible dream? I certainly hoped so, but that hope faltered quickly when I pinched myself and could still feel the lingering pain.

I slowly raised myself from my seat. I took a last quick glance at William who was in his own little world of brooding before turning to make my way upstairs.

There were more flights than normal, like a stairway to heaven. Maybe mum was up there. I would turn the corner and there she was, cheerfully exclaiming April Fools!. But I reached the top at last and hesitated to walk into my bedroom.

Paul was in there, but I heard nothing as I put my ear to the door. I folded my hand over the door knob and slowly twisted it open. The door creaked open, agonisingly slow. A beam of light washed onto my body as I fully stepped into the room. I shut the door behind me before I could return to the darkness.

A little ball of flesh and tears sat by the bed, outlined by the afternoon sun settling down in the west. I carefully crept over to him. He was so fragile, like an egg. If I tried too hard all of him would crack, if I were to careful, it wasn't to any use.

I slowly lowered myself beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Ann." He whispered shakily. Unconsciously, a trembling hand went through his hair, stroking it reassuringly. "I'm so sorry." He whimpered silently. I gulped. I wanted to tell him, it wasn't his fault, it wasn't anyone's fault. It just happened, and now I had to live without a mother. We were motherless both. Well, only one of us was an orphan.

"Paul-" Whatever else I was supposed to say ultimately got caught in my throat, and I noticed how much I had been crying. My collar was wet and my nostrils couldn't quite hold it together. I felt a hand graze across my back and settle at my waist. It drew me closer and my own arm snaked it's way around his neck. We pulled each other closer until we were one big ball of sorrow, preparing to roll down a path of uncertainty and- life.

—————
Chapters will probably get much shorter from now on, makes it easier for me to get ideas out of my head or write at all.