Pieces

Morris In The Cellar

When they got home, Wiesel locked Morris in the cellar immediately, then went to talk with Oscar. Morris knew why he was down there. It was a punishment for talking to Henry.

He hated the cellar.

He heard footsteps and yelling in the house above him. Loud footsteps. He felt uncomfortable. He felt his skin crawl, a stinging sensation, almost. His chest felt tight. He closed his eyes and covered his ears. He heard his heart pounding. He wished he could stop time, just be alone in silence for a little bit. He knew the footsteps and his pounding heart weren't as loud as they seemed to be, and he tried reminding himself, but it didn't work. He heard the house settle. He pressed his hands into his ears more. He was tired. He wanted to sleep - to turn everything off. He felt like the room was spinning, closing in... He wanted to get up and pound on the door to be let out, but couldn't move. He was panicking - shaking, hyperventilating...

The footsteps and yelling stopped. He still hadn't calmed down, but there was a noticeable difference. He started trying to control his breathing. He remembered his mom teaching him how to do that, and remembered it helping for this situation a lot. He was able to relax after a few minutes. He laid on the floor and fell asleep.

When he woke up, he was still in the cellar. He sat up and looked around. There wasn't too much to see. There was dust and cobwebs. Morris didn't like that. It made his throat tickle. Wiesel kept his beer down there. Morris didn't like that either. He remembered how Wiesel acted when he drank it and how scary he could be. Morris felt his stomach drop just looking at it. Now he really wanted out. He turned away from it.

He coughed. He hated the feeling in his throat. He wanted water, but there wasn't any. He looked back at the bottles. One of the bottles had been opened, and was resealable. He opened it and took a small sip. He immediately put the bottle back down and started coughing again. It was gross and didn't help much. He had a bit more, but stopped as soon as he started feeling weird. He went to the other side of the room and laid down.

Morris hated Wiesel. He wanted to go back to his mother. She tried to understand and did whatever she could to help. She would never lock him up. He thought about running away almost every day and trying to find her. That was all he wanted. If he couldn't be back with her, he'd rather die than stay with Wiesel.

Finally, the door opened. It was Oscar. "Wiesel says go to your room."

Morris went upstairs and into his room. He got in bed and wrapped himself in his favorite blanket. Everything was okay for about twenty minutes.

"Morris!" Wiesel yelled, running into the bedroom.

Morris immediately sat up. He hated yelling. It was scary. Was he in trouble? Why? What if he got hit again?

Wiesel's tone changed. "Mo, sweetie... Did you drink anything in the cellar?"

Morris couldn't lie, but he knew he'd be in trouble. He decided to tell the truth. "My throat was scratchy from the dust. Wanted to fix it."

"You know that's bad." Morris was surprised Wiesel wasn't yelling. "Are you drunk?"

He shook his head. "No." He did feel a bit weird, but he didn't think he was drunk. He was a bit tipsy, but not drunk.

"Open your mouth. Let me smell your breath." Morris did as he was told. "I smell beer. You are." He grabbed Morris's arm. "You are so stupid! You're supposed to know that's bad, and you're not supposed to do bad things! Don't you know right from wrong? No, you don't. Stupid kid." He threw Morris to the ground and left.

Morris knew it was bad. He didn't want to do it, he had to. He wanted water, but that wasn't an option. But was Wiesel right? Was Morris a stupid kid that didn't know right from wrong?

Wiesel came back up with an empty bottle. He stuck it in Morris's face. "Here's how I knew. This empty bottle." Morris didn't think he finished the bottle, but Wiesel's breath didn't smell, so he didn't drink it... Wiesel threw the bottle to the ground. It shattered, and Morris covered his ears and closed his eyes. Wiesel grabbed a piece of glass and cut Morris with it. Morris screamed, and Wiesel ran out of the room.

A few minutes later, Oscar came in. "Mo, are you okay? Wiesel said you cut yourself... It looks pretty bad... Why?"

"Don't know," Morris replied. He wanted to explain that he didn't cut himself, Wiesel cut him. But he was stuck. He couldn't say anything else.

Oscar had brought a first aid kit with him. He started cleaning Morris's cuts. "It's alright... Don't worry, don't be upset...please... You're gonna be okay... Everything's gonna be okay..."