The violent gusts of winter wind blare into my ears. Crunching snow engulfs my feet as I try to escape my fallen family. I'm running. The tree I once swore to climb towers over me, its branches remind me intimidating like my mother's arms. The same arms that slapped me away. The same arms that once wrapped their warmth around me now only wrapping around me like a vice.
She looked like royalty in her dress.
I fall to my knees, snow up to my hips.
My heart races.
Snow falls faster. I relentlessly fidget with my hair and fingers.
Dad's roar. I've never heard him talk like that before.
"Save me." I plead. "Jory, Dad, God… please, someone… just… save me."
She would never usually let me see her like that. Why now?
How could I let this happen to my family? Everything was perfect. Mum and Dad…
They used to love me.
My vision blurs as the white terrain I now lay in begins to spin. The snowy plain completely consuming my body as I bathe in it.
Mum's screech: it hurt my ears.
I didn't like it.
If only I had known what would follow…
I place my hand over my heart, it's too fast, I'm panicking.
"I can't breathe."
Thunder roars. I wake up; face numb, clothes soaked, snow still clinging to me. "Where…am I?" I ask myself as I scan the moonlit forest I find myself in. I slowly stand, piled up snow falling off of my body as I do.
At once, the memories rush back into my head: the wedding, 'Velmera,' the argument, my mother's condition.
It's suffocating.
I sigh, my head rocking back as I silently stare at the moon, I scratch the back of my head. "Come on Aven." I force a grin, "It's time to go home."
I begin making my way back to my house, "It was just a slip up." I tell myself, "Life wouldn't do that to me. God wouldn't do that to me." I exit the forest and begin scaling the hill my house resides upon, the cool breeze attempting to calm my nerves as I speak, "Mum taught me a simple apology fixes anything, as long as you mean it." I clench my fist with a determined smile, staring down the door to enter, "Let's do this Aven. Once you make up with her, we'll go find Dad then everything will be back to normal."
I take a deep breath, then I enter.
"Mum! Mum!" I call out excitedly, "I've gotta tell you something." Our house is small: only three rooms, so she should hear me. Why isn't she responding? The speed of the wind begins to pick up again. I search the living room first, "Mum?" I look around. Frantically peering under the table and behind the chairs. "Mum, it's important." The rumbling of thunder surrounds our house. I make my way into Mum and Dad's bedroom, "Oh sorry, I didn't realise you were asleep." I whisper as I tip toe toward the bed, "Mum, wake up, I need to apologise." I tell her as I lift the blanket off of… nobody?
The bed's empty. I sit on the edge of the bed, holding my head in my hands, feeling my pulse begin to pick up in speed. "Mum, I don't feel very well… Where's my mother?!" I violently shriek, the sound of thunder now resembling cannon fire.
I exit the bedroom.
"Please don't be in this room." I whisper to myself as I approach Dad's locked room. "If you're in here he was right. If you're in here, you've betrayed the family. Dad made it clear: under zero circumstances can we ever enter this room." I stop dead. The door's open.
My eyes widen.
I attempt to take a deep breath.
I fail.
My breathing picks up.
I hear crying.
She's inside.
I peer around the corner to see her in the same pathetic state I left her in. "Mum?" I ask the slumped over figure. No reply. No movement.
The figure doesn't respond.
"What are you reading?"
I freeze.
"I thought you burned the book? And why are you in Dad's room?" The figure turns to face me, then, softly, "It's me… son."
My father tells me.