2:43 AM
Silver City, New Mexico
October 13th, 2002
•••
TW/CW:
Mentions/Implications of Smoking
Implied thoughts of Matricide
Subtle Implications of Neglect
•••
“What were you dreaming about this time?”
Those were the first words out of my adoptive mother’s mouth the moment I entered the kitchen. She leaned against the counter with a cigarette in hand and an ashtray beside her left elbow, her back turned to me.
I took a deep breath and exhaled through my nostrils, managing to hold back a growl that threatened to grow into something bigger. “The tiger.” I answered rather vaguely, hands behind my back.
“You and that stupid tiger story.” She barked in sheer annoyance, snorting before taking a hit of her cigarette. “I told you that such s—t is fake. It’s a fairytale you’re making up just to get attention. And I’m not falling for it like your parents did..”
’Least they gave more than two s—ts about me before they both f—ked my entire life over with their gambling-obsessed bulls—t.’ I thought, subtly swallowing down my contempt for the woman who was made to replace what I had gotten rid of all those years ago. ‘If you weren’t a wealthy lawyer who saves the a—es of the falsely convicted, then you’d be choking on more than smoke right now..’
Silence surrounded the growing tension between us. I stood behind her and watched her rub the butt of her cigarette against the ashtray to put it our before standing upright. And despite my ever-growing desire to pin her down right where she stood, my body decided to ignore my intrusive thoughts.
“Go back to bed.” She snarled towards me without even bothering to look me in the eyes as her head turned towards my direction. “Now.”
I bit my tongue to hold back vulgarity as I turned around and walked away. I eventually entered my room and slightly slammed the door shut behind me, locking it out of sheer habit while my hands gripped the doorknob tightly.
“She’s such a piece of s—t.” I mumbled to myself, my words full of barely suppressed rage. “Should’ve killed her right then and there when I had the chance. Best to just get it over with ri-“
My sentence was suddenly interrupted by a sound. The sound of a growling cat. I froze in place and slowly opened the door after unlocking it, finding myself looking down a dark and long hallway instead of the typical wall that had a turn to a hallway towards the right. The growling grew louder within my ears as I involuntarily began to shiver.
“Hello..?” I asked aloud, essentially forcing myself to speak despite the amount of fear that was threatening to choke me into silence. As I glanced around, I eventually caught eye of something that made me freeze up even more. And without giving me a second to even breathe..it spoke..
“ωεℓ૮σɱε ƭσ ɱყ ɦσɱε. ωɦყ ∂σɳ’ƭ ყσµ ૮σɱε เɳ?”