For now I'm titling it 'Mirror'. And all that stuff about fiction and coincidence and copyright by me A.H. Sweet a.k.a. Drew Adams applies.
June 1970
The first time it happened, Audrey Whorley had just turned eight
years old. A cake, centered on a redwood picnic table, had her name
on it along with eight candles. Her friends surrounded her, all with
puffed faces, aiming their breaths toward the glowing flames.
Audrey wasn't there. Her body stood motionless staring off past the
candles, past her home, past her young life.
She was in a room. A room like Me-maw was in before the angels took
her. Me-maw wasn't in the bed. A man was, with tubes in his nose and
something in his mouth, arms bandaged, one held up in the air by
strings, like a puppet. Audrey looked hard at the man, but didn't
know his face, yet she felt like crying.
“Audrey...baby.” The voice was next to her. Her mom was staring
at her through reddened eyes. Tears ran down her face. Audrey was eye
level with the woman and her mother's hair was dull with lots of gray
in it. What happened to your hair, Mama. The
words were in her mind, but never left her lips. Instead she heard a
strange, but familiar voice.
“Oh mama, I can't stand it. I can't live without him.” The voice
was her own, she knew it, but it sounded wrong—older. The woman,
her mother, hugged her tight and whispered in her ear.
“Honey...I know. I wished I could make it go away, make it better,
but I can't. You've got to let him go.”
Mama always makes it better. Now
she felt and heard sobs break lose from her body. Not mine!
Not mine! But the sobs
continued, racking her body, nose running and she felt a torrent of
tears wash down her face. A woman, with a stethoscope around her neck
walked past them. She wasn't wearing a white smock like with Me-maw.
Her uniform was turquoise, like mama's ring.
“We've given him morphine. Once we take him off the ventilator, his
breathing will slow. It could happen fast, or it might take a little
bit.” Audrey knew this woman was a nurse. Why she was just as tall
confused her, and why did she feel so sad?
She could feel herself nod and blot her eyes with a tissue. With her
mother steadying her she approached the bed and took the man's free hand. It was warm, limp. Across the
bed stood an older boy and a girl. Audrey guessed she might be twelve. The girl looked a lot like her older cousin Shannon. They
were crying too. The girl looked at her and spoke. “Mommy”, she
managed.
Audrey heard the voice like hers answer. “It's okay sweetie. It'll
be okay.” The last word came out like a croak.
The nurse took loose the straps holding the thing attached to the
man's face and pulled. A tube was attached and to Audrey's horror had
been down the man's throat. She watched as the woman went to a
machine and flipped a switch. The man took a deep breath, opened his
eyes and looked right at her. His gray eyes, looked afraid, surprised.
Her vision blurred, but she could feel hands holding her up and moving her.
She could hear crying . The loudest, was the voice that was like
hers.
2 comments:
I want more!! It's gonna drive me crazy till I find out what happens next!! Anxiously waiting for the rest of this!!!!
Sorry about that. I think they call it a teaser.
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