Chapter 26: Tick Tick BoomBefore he could get the words out, he was on the receiving end of a right paw that sent him flying across the room, his back slamming against the wall of the store. "Come on Robert, you can't blame this on anybody but yourself. I told you to run" he said, almost playing with his prey. Tracking his every move, like a leopard about to devour his target. Only difference is this 'leopard' looked thrice the size it was supposed to, and it was previously human Robert tried nursing himself as quickly as possible, back to his feet, but as soon as he raised his head, the image vanished."You're a fucking animal man. What the fuck is going on?" he hurled, not knowing what part of the room he was going to be attacked from next. All of a sudden, the echo of a catlike purr sudden filled the halls, and before Robert could make out what exactly was happening, he got blindsided and payed for it dearly, his right leg battered by a paw swipe. "Ah fuck", he said, almost dro
Chapter 27: Dear SisterFor a couple minutes, she just sat on the couch with the living room lights on. Not really paying attention to much and in all honesty, not really caring that much about it either. She couldn’t really fathom what she felt at this point in time. But whatever it was, it looked grim and painful. Still awake in this nighttime nightmare, she decided to conform to sleep, maybe that would take the pain away. “It might not work, but there’s no pain in trying” she thought to herself adjusting the lavender pillows on the long couch. Just as she was about to close her eyes and ‘lay her hair down’ for a minute, she heard a bustling sound coming from the kitchen. At first, she wasn’t at all bothered. It could be either Raymond or Mia coming down for a midnight snack, so she didn’t give much thought to it. However, when the noise only grew louder and louder like someone was struggling with something, she decided to check It out.“Maya? Ray Ray” she said, walking out of the
Chapter 28: The Shit Can Never Be Holy, My Prince“Really Jonathan. Is that supposed to help? Supposed to make us start on a clean slate or something?”“Loo—”“That’s supposed to make up for years of absence.”“Maka—”“For years of disappointments after mourning after disappointment after hope then back to mourning? That’s your excuse for—”“Makayla” he said, raising his voice a little louder than usual, but not loud enough to wake the sleeping kids a couple rooms away. “You need to understand that it wasn’t a choice. I had to—”“You didn’t have to do shit Jonathan” she barked back, standing up in rage. The sadness and hopelessness on her face suddenly changing to unholy anger. “You didn’t have to leave me to mourn by myself when I got pregnant and lost my son the first time. You had a choice to attend me and my husband’s wedding, you didn’t show up.”“C’mon Makayla, that’s in the…”“No it’s not. No it’s not in the past. And by the way, you sure as hell could at least pay some respect
Chapter 29: ComaThe flashing fluorescents, the echoes and cries of pain and blood. The 'oh my God's' and 'Lord have mercy's'. It was all too much too handle, especially at one go. He was dangling between the ever-swinging pendulum of death and life, consciousness and lifelessness. He wasn't sure of what exactly was happening, but from time to time, he'd hear pieces, fragments of what was going on outside and revolving around his dilemma."Get him to the ER right now…*"He's losing a lot of blood, we need to operate on him right now…""Are you sure we can do this?""We have to…""He's going to be out cold for a while Miss Olivia you'll have to be more patient with us, and with him…""Robert please, open your eyes…" “I’m sorry ma’am. But I’m afraid he might never be able to—"Those sounds and fractions of conversations kept bouncing off the walls of his head. Re-occurring with every passing moment. He gradually began to feel like a spectator to his thoughts.Every single string of con
Chapter 30: Rest EasyThe jeers and cheers of nonchalance gradually became the reigning mood over the bar. Even as early as eight in the morning it was packed with people who were either moody from being on the receiving of a one-night stand, or joyous after orchestrating the one-night stand themselves. You had to be in either one of those categories. However, there seemed one man that wasn’t in the lot. At least, he didn’t look or seem like it at first glance. Tattered face cap on his head, and no drinks on his table. He just sat aloof, seemingly talking to himself, while nervously tapping the table with his hands, a ring on each of them.“Breaking news for the fourth consecutive week, the highway bandits strike once more. This time in the neighboring city of Phoenix. Leaving each of us with a single question. What city will be next? But even more important, will it be ours?” the television set said, echoing into the background. “Why are we even here Kay. I should be at home, eati
Chapter 31: Dr. Dre“Mr. Barrison, you have to understand the dilemma here. There really is nothing we could do. You suffered a severe amount of trauma to your head and spinal cord which, from the x-ray report, were the most affected points of contact. We did all we could to bring you out of the danger zone, and the fact that you’re actually conscious right now should even strengthen your resolve. But as far as it goes for your legs, there is nothing we can do about that” The doctor strung together those intelligent pieces of words he proudly called sentences, and felt like he’d done his best to explain to Robert that the situation was actually no longer in their hands. And in truth, there was nothing him or his colleagues could really do about his predicament, but as far as Robert was concerned, even though the doctor didn’t say it, all he heard was “you’ll never be able to walk again”, and to this he had no reply.“Mr. Barrison? Mr. Barrison?” he called to man lying almost lifeless
Chapter 32: The MurkiesThe dark, resonating voice sent a trickle of fear down her spine, and without thinking, she immediately got up from the floor and was about to head back to the hospital. When just as she turned, another murky figure slowly came out of the darkness. “Come on, it’s kind of rude not to answer when someone says ‘hi’ sweetheart” he said, slowly etching closer to her. Seeing that she really had no options, being cornered from both sides, she made a break for the space in the middle. Running as fast as she could to wherever her feeble legs could take her. The two dark figures met side by side, watching her run off, crossing the empty, streetlight-filled road and into a field that was virtually a cul-de-sac. “I’m not going to chase you” they both echoed in disturbingly similar fashion.Running through the field, maize crops smacking against her from every side, she maintained a steady pace. Refusing to give up nor relent until she made it out. And thankfully, she did
Chapter 33: Shotgun“Who’s ready to go to the park?” she said in a light voice, trying to get some adrenaline rushing.“Okay. Let’s Gooooooo!” the young teenager said enthusiastically. The complete opposite of the demeanor his elder sister had on. “Really mom, the park? I feel like I’m too old for that” she said, crossing her hands in front of her. “Wow. So, you’re too old for parks but just right for bed time stories?” she said, trying to get Raymond all ‘suited up’. “They’re not the same mom” she said, plopping to the couch beside her. “I don’t want to go.”"Oh. Well that's fine" she stood up, hand over her son's back. " I guess I'll just have to tell Marcus you said hi.""Marcus is coming?" She said, almost too eagerly. "I mean. 'oh, he's going to be there too?" She rephrased, trying to tone down the enthusiasm. "Of course he's coming" she smiled, softly stroking the tender hair of her son. "I invited a couple families for a kind of 'multi-date' type of thing. A few matters con