I rush upstairs and jump on my brother’s bed. “Jasper! Wake up! Wake up Jasper-” My sentence is cut off as I realize he’s not in bed. His sheets are folded as if he woke up earlier.
“Mom? Dad? Jasp?” I call out poking my head in the different rooms as I walk down the hall, looking for a note, a sign, as to where they are.
I suddenly realize I'm not walking as my feet continue hitting the floor. My eyes aren’t open. I’m dreaming.
I yell, “No, no, no, no, please not again, please no!” I peek out a window and see the ground is cracked skin. The sky is no longer red, but black and endless, not a single cloud in sight.
“Mom!” I scream out helplessly wishing I could hide in someone’s embrace. “Dad!” I sit on the couch holding myself tight as tears threaten to fall from my eyes. “Jasper...” I whimper slightly, “Help.” My voice is soft and trails off.
I hear the awful song from earlier as doors open and close. “Pained by life, and left alone, the little bird flew no more.”
“I want to go home,” I mutter into my sleeves as I hug my knees.
“Honey, you're home,” a woman’s voice croaks lifting my chin, my eyes meeting hollowed out eyes surrounded by pale wrinkly skin, clawed fingers gripping my throat now. “And you won’t leave us again.”
I shove the woman away screaming in terror and panic as I get up off the couch running to my room. The woman walks slowly, patiently up the stairs. I can hear her footsteps approach the door to my room. I’ve locked myself in.
“Come out dear, I won’t hurt you,” the chilling voice speaks out as she starts singing again. "Don’t worry birdie, no need to cry, we just reached the end of life.”
I hide in my closet hugging a pillow, trying not to make a sound. The door clicks as she opens it. Her footsteps walk into the room.
“Now, where did you hide?”
I don’t reply, I don’t breathe. I stay still watching through a crack in the door as her back is to me. I shuffle back, away from the door. She turns around so suddenly, her eyes meeting mine.
“There you are.” She comes shuffling up to the door as I burst out and shove her back, her clawed hands scratching my arm as she tries to hold me back. I pull away, feeling warm blood run down my arm. Bursting into the bathroom down the hall, I lock the door and back away.
That’s when I notice something peculiar in the mirror… It’s me, but it’s not me. The person is smiling at me, with nothing around them, just in a pitch dark nothingness. “No,” I whisper. Gripping the counter to make sure I’m not lost in the void I shut my eyes tight.
When I opened my eyes, I see light around me, I’m on the couch, and the time reads 7:00 am. I sit up and pinch myself to make sure this is real. The pain feels so real. I hear someone in the kitchen washing dishes.
“Mom?” I call out and hear her reply.
“Yes sweetie?” The water faucet is turned off and she makes an appearance from around the corner of the dining room. A bright smile on her face, she wears a red and white checkered dress, her hair up in a bun. I get up and run to her, springing my arms wide to hug her..
“Mom, I had such a bad dream! I couldn’t wake up although I knew I was asleep,” I tell her, hiding my face in her side, still trembling from the horrible nightmare.
“Dear, who’s to say you’ve woken up?” I look up at her, confused, and note that her lips have a deep cut from ear to ear in a permanent smile.
“This is what you wanted right?” She asked while facing down towards me. “You’ll give anything to stay asleep?”
7