The Evolution - The Visitor (revised)
"I said get back here!"
"Don't put your hands on me, David!"
"Don't you fucking walk out on me like this! I am the man of this house, dammit! I make the money, I pay the bills, and I make it so you're able to afford running around town like this! The hell do you think you'd be without me? You're nothing and you'll never fuckin' be nothin'!"
The sound of a fist striking a wall echoed into the boy's room, the sound of his parent's arguing keeping him from falling asleep. It was a familiar story, but still one he had yet to grow accustomed to. Jakob rolled over in his bed, and curled up into a ball facing the wall while pulling his blanket up over his head.
"Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep." The boy whispered this to himself every night. It had started to become a ritual, performed every time the clock struck ten.
"I want to go out David! I can't be with you right now, not when you're like...
this."
"Like what Crista? Like what? A little bit drunk? Is it that big of a deal for you?"
The sound of the door creaking open and then being slammed shut came repeatedly four or five times.
"Dammit, I said you're not going anywhere!"
A sharp smacking of skin against skin came with a scream of agony and a thud. Two more thuds followed with screams in tow, one with a more hollow sound like something hitting the door and then another heavier one like a body falling against the floor. Slowly the screams died down and were replaced by the soft cries of a defeated woman.
"Baby, I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean it. Here, let's just go to bed for tonight. We're both just tired, we can talk about this all in the morning."
Then there was silence. Jakob pressed his eyes closed as hard as he could as the shuffling of feet echoed down the hall towards his room. The door creaked, a few short sniffles and some shaky breathing came from above him as the mother placed her hand on his head and sat on the edge of his bed.
"Maybe... maybe some day..."
The woman's lips pressed against his head and then the door creaked back shut. The wood frame of his parent's bed began to creak, echoing through the suddenly silent house. The soft moaning of his mother, primitive grunts of his father and the wood threatening to splinter under the movement of all their combined weight. The sounds would escalate through the next several hours and would at times keep the boy awake if he did not fall asleep soon enough. Their room was adjacent to his, and the head of their bed rested against the wall between their rooms. As the night would progress, the sounds of his parents and the bed would increase to a traumatizing volume, usually leaving Jakob too scared to even sneak out to the restroom.
This night however, the boy was lucky and fell asleep not long after his mother kissed the top of his head. For the past several months, whenever he did manage to fall asleep he would wind up in the same dream. It was a strange dream, a sort of recurring nightmare even though it didn't necessarily frighten him. Had he not figured out its secret some time back, he might not have even believed that he was dreaming but instead having a peaceful sleep free of the horrors of the real world.
In this dream the boy was placed into complete darkness, an endless and empty void. His body was stuck to something, restrained, unable to move and unable to speak. In the beginning, he was alone staring at nothing and hearing nothing in the entire world. His eyes were open, and every so often something would crack in the far off depths of the darkness. At times, a voice would whisper something that Jakob couldn't quite catch, and at other times the boy would feel the warm air of someone, or something's breath on the back of his neck.
These things of course would only take place at the end of his dreams. However, try as he might, they would never come right when he entered this strange, dark world. Usually, around the time that Jakob would be on the verge of waking up, he would begin to hear the whispers and see the shadows forming into something else in the far off darkness. Pushing himself, struggling to keep his real eyes closed but his dream ones open would let him experience things he otherwise should have missed out on. Such is the only reason he even knew that he was actually dreaming; the boy had spent the past months training himself to stay aware in this area but still lay sleeping in his bed.
The first time he'd heard the cracking noise it had startled him awake. He'd stayed asleep longer accidentally, not having ever forced himself to sleep longer before but instead fearing that he might waste away the precious daylight. That first time... the vast emptiness, the never ending silence was broken by the sound of some unknown object snapping. Ever since, he'd been dreaming longer, experiencing and understanding more of what this dark void was. The whispers grew clearer every time, and he'd almost been able to figure out what was being said once or twice before until the voice distanced itself again.
Tonight was different. His father had been especially violent, but it hadn't taken him too long to fall asleep. This meant Jakob would be able to sleep longer without fear of missing anything to happen in the day. His mother liked to go out for walks the day after conflicts like that, but she would also stay in bed a little longer and shrug off the day's cleaning duties.
The telltale cracking sound started in, slowly, ominously, growing louder with the passing minute. Warm breezes rushed past the child, and then stopped and hovered around his throat. An unrecognizable whisper tickled the inside of his ear, and then after a few more minutes it came again.
"Maybe some day... why not today?"
Jakob's eyes shot open and a chill ran through his entire body. The back of his neck was still warm from where the thing in the dark had been breathing. The sun had yet to rise outside, but he was stuck frozen in bed thinking about what had just happened. He'd never been able to understand the voices, but to have it whispered so directly into his ear the first time he was able to understand it?
"M-m-mom?" The child whispered under his breath, his whole body shaking.
The sound of the woman's snoring in the next room offered a sort of comfort, even if the boy couldn't get up and go to her. Jakob's eyes scanned across his room, searching for anything with the time on it but finding nothing. He lay there in bed, staring up at the ceiling above him. His mind trailed off into inactivity as the darkness began to creep back in from the corners of his eyes. Within the hour, he had fallen asleep again.
"Why did you leave?"
The boy's heart rate instantly shot up. As soon as he'd fallen back to sleep, the voice was upon him.
"Did you not wish for me to come? Do you not wish for me to help? You are the one who called to me, are you not? You are the one who dreams, are you not? My child, you are allowed to speak. Fear me not, young one."
Jakob's jaw dropped slowly, feeling that he was no longer restrained in any way. His arms and legs moved freely, and his eyes began to adjust to the darkness for the first time.
"Child, do you know who I am?"
"You are... the one who makes those snapping sounds?"
"Hmm hmm. Yes, I am he. But what I am first, is a friend. I come to children like you who call out for help, those who dream of this world around us. I move through the dark, going to each of your homes and calling for those who first beckoned me. If they can hear my reply, then they are the blessed few who truly wish to be helped. But if they don't hear me... well... they're left and forgotten. I am after all, a very busy man."
"Then... do you have a name?"
"I believe I did once, but now I'm just called the Visitor. I visit the homes of troubled children like yourself and do my best to help fix things for them. All I want is for my children to be happy, and without pain or sorrow in their lives."
Jakob was silent. His head drooped and he stared at his hands as he shook slightly. "And when you help these children what do you do? What do they give you for helping them, mister?"
"What do I do? Well, I fix things. It's strange to say, but merely by being around the problems in their lives their troubles are slowly but surely stopped and erased completely. As for what I take in return, I only ask for their smiles. The smiles of the young and happy are what give me the strength to continue on every night."
"Then... what do I have to do for you to help me now? I want Mommy and Daddy and me to be happy again. I don't want them to fight. I want to go on vacations and go out to eat and play games together and smile and laugh and-"
"Here now, one step at a time my child. I will promise to help you as best as I can. But for right now, I need for you to take my hand and awake from this dream."
Jakob reached out into the darkness and was greeted by something solid. Grabbing firmly on to it, the boy opened his eyes and saw that the sun had already risen. His mother coughed from the other side of the wall and the sound of his father's truck roaring to a start came from outside. The boy squeezed on the hand of the creature he had brought back from the dream with him. Jakob turned his head, seeing that the creature was kneeling on the ground next to his bed.
"You have accepted my offer... then, within the next two days I shall erase your troubles completely."
The thing which he had brought over with him... didn't seem to have a proper form. There was a mass of darkness which the boy guessed to be his body. A set of red beady eyes floated about the black void of which was its body. A black, tattered cloak covered him, casting a shadow over the opening where his face should be. There didn't seem to be any legs, and the 'hand' which Jakob had been holding on to was only part of the visitor's cloak.
"Shall we go meet your parents then? I would love to be introduced before I begin to work."
"Okay, mister. My daddy should be at work, but mommy will be around somewhere."
As if on a cue, the door to the boy's room opened. The woman looked inside at her child and smiled half-heartedly, her eyes were sunken in and surrounded with bags. "Do you want to go on a walk with Mommy today?" The woman sniffled a couple of times and licked her bruised and swollen lips.
Jakob looked over at the man he had brought back with him and then at his mother. "Have you met my friend?"
"Your... friend?" The woman looked around the room, confused and then shook her head. His mother's voice was filled with impatience, obviously not in the mood to play with any imaginary friends. However she hid it as best she could, sighing quietly and rubbing her cheek with the palm of her hand. "Oh, no. I don't believe we've been introduced. What is your friend's name sweetie?"
The boy looked over to the man and then back at his mother. "His name is the Visitor he says."
"Oh, the Visitor. Well, he sounds quite nice doesn't he? Nice to meet you Mr. Visitor." The woman nodded to the corner of the room opposite from where the boy and the visitor were. "Now, would you like to go on a walk with Mommy, sweetheart?"
Jakob looked between the two one more time and then nodded his head at his mother. "Visitor you stay here and wait for daddy. I'm going to go on a walk with Mommy."
"Carry on child. I'll be waiting here when you return."
The young boy ran out the room, pulling his door closed behind him as his mother made her way to the entryway. Jakob ran out the entrance and flung himself into the passenger's seat of the car, quickly fastening his seat belt before averting his attention to the window where his room was. The curtains covering the inside of the glass pane were pulled back, allowing anyone who might be passing by to see in or out. Standing in the frame of his room was the visitor, the cloak pressed up against the window in the shape of a hand waving goodbye to the boy as his mother locked the house up behind her.
As the woman entered the vehicle and began to turn the key, the curtains of Jakob's room were slowly pulled shut. The boy simply smiled as he wondered what this visitor of his would do for him. How could he make his life better? How could he change everything for the better? The visitor had said that he'd done this many times before, perhaps Jakob should simply let it go and see what happened?
Crista looked over at her son worriedly. When they had began to leave, her son had seemed happy. The smile stretched across his face was indication enough of that. But as they grew further away from their home, his smile faded and a distant look grew on his face as his eyes glazed over.
"Jakob?" She prodded the boy gently and with a soft, low voice, hoping to grab his attention without upsetting or angering him. Although, when he didn't answer she dug her finger slightly deeper into his side and repeated his name a little louder. "Jakob." Still though, the boy remained silent. Starting to become upset with him, Crista dug her finger even deeper into his side until she could feel his bone with the tip of her finger. "Jakob!" She shouted this time, angry and intent on having him listen to what she had to say.
The boy shot up in his seat due to the pain, not only in his side but in his ear from the shouting. He began to rub his side where his mother had stuck her finger. "Jeez! I'm sorry, Mommy! You didn't have to go and do that though. That really hurt."
"Well," She began, "you weren't answering me. I thought you were trying to ignore me or somethin'." Crista shifted back into a comfortable position in her seat, having had to lean over both armrests in order to reach the boy. She forced all of the air out of her lungs with a heavy breath as she readied herself to speak in a more serious tone. "How has school been?"
Jakob exhaled. This is always how it started. It's really what he hated most out of everything. The shaking of the house at night, their fights, the yelling, screaming and cussing; all of it had started to become part of a routine and didn't actually bother him all that much anymore. It was more that he'd been complaining to himself about it for so long that it just felt wrong to give up and admit defeat, to admit that it really didn't cause him to be upset as much. Now days, it was these talks that occurred before the walks that he and his mother would take the mornings after. They always started out so blandly, always the same with these meaningless questions. She knew how school was. If it had been good, he would talk about it immediately after he got home. If it had been bad, the teacher would call - or in some particularly bad situations, the principal. The only reason she asked is so she could get it out of the way and start talking about herself.
"It's been fine."
"Just fine? What about your friends? Done anything fun lately? Anything new happen? Anyone die?" She laughed uneasily after the last one. She knew it wasn't exactly a funny thing to say, but her parents had said it to her as she grew up and it just seemed like something natural to say even if it did make her uncomfortable.
"Everything's just fine. Nothing really new. Same old same old. You know. We talk after school almost every day. How much longer until we're to the park?"
"There's still about ten or so minutes." She paused for a few seconds, little grumblings and mumbles escaping from between her lips as she fought with her tongue and mind to form the words that she wanted to say. "Do you... do you like living with your father... and me?" She bit her tongue.
Jakob swallowed a lump in his throat. He knew this question was coming as again, just like with almost everything else he's come to expect this as part of the whole routine. Yet, every time it came up it still put him on edge. His answers varied too, likely confusing his mother and her decisions on what to do going forward. Jakob knew he was just as much a part of the problem as she and his father's drinking. He couldn't even give one straight, consistent answer to a simple question.
"I... I guess. I mean. I don't know. Sometimes it's not great, but I still love him and I love all the fun things that we do together when everything is okay... I like spending time with both of you. I like living in the house that we do. I like board games and watching football every Sunday or going out to a movie if we don't like the teams."
His mother pursed her lips, and he watched from the corner of his eye as her grip on the steering wheel tightened. He had inferred that she had fought with the idea of leaving his father multiple times. Every time they went out like this and he said that he enjoyed being with them both she would hold her tongue and clench the wheel tighter. And every time that he said he didn't so much care for his father - usually said after he and his father would have a petty disagreement and he was particularly upset with the man - tears would well up in her eyes and she'd lick her lips before diverting her gaze out the window.
Every time that he would answer, they would sit in silence until they reached their destination. It gave his mother time to compose herself, and even if Jakob had a thought to follow up with, he knew that it would be better just to remain silent and give her time to think to herself. However, today felt different. For some reason, he felt that if he didn't let her know what he was still thinking before they arrived then the damage might be irreparable.
"But," he began quietly, trying not to frighten his mother who had also grown slightly accustomed to this routine, "I think that... I think that you should think about yourself first. Whether or not you're... well... don't let me... crap. Just give me a second." The boy took several deep breaths as he tried to calm himself. His mother kept her eyes trained on the road, but her palms were beginning to sweat. She knew what he was trying to say, but if she stopped him now it wouldn't be the same as it would if he finished the thought himself. "You should put your own happiness first. I think that you've been too unhappy for too long and well... I don't think you should be unhappy any longer. I want to help in whatever way I can too... and that's why... that's why I started talking to the Visitor."
Crista shook her head, taken back by his mention of the visitor. "Your imaginary friend?"
Jakob nodded. "Yes, but he's not imaginary. I met him in a dream and he said that he could help us, that he would make things better in just two days."
Crista scoffed. "Buddy, if that were possible we'd probably have never started taking these morning walks. We'd both still be in bed right now, sleeping away the day like you're supposed to on a weekend."
"But... the Visitor is real. I know he is. I felt him. I heard him and I saw him. There's no way that he's fake."
"Jakob! Dammit. You're too old to be having imaginary friends. Grow up a little bit! I thought we were having a serious conversation here and then you just, ugh." The woman shook her head violently and turned to stare out the window.
"I'm sorry... I just..."
His mother didn't reply. The turn for the park came up and instead of taking it, Crista threw a U-turn and began to head back home in what was most likely the most uncomfortable thirty minutes of Jakob's young life. The entire ride back was held in silence, and a feeling of oppression hung in the air. The boy knew that if he spoke another word before they arrived back at the house that his mother would pull the car over to the side of the road and proceed to spank him. She didn't know any better. The Visitor was real, she just didn't want to believe it and it only upset her to think that her son would try to play with her emotions in such a way.
Crista pulled the car into the driveway and flung the door open while pulling the key from the ignition in one swift motion. "But the visitor is real," she whispered under her breath mockingly. "Unbelievable." She turned her neck so that she could see Jakob from the corner of her eye, still fastened into his seat while she had one leg dangling out of the car door. She furled her nose and shook her head at the child before exiting the car. The door slammed shut as the woman flung her weight against it. Her hands raked through her hair as she stared up at the sky, trying her best to suppress a scream.
Jakob dared not to open the door or even undo the seat belt until his mother had gone inside. Somehow, in some way he had infuriated her far worse than ever before. When he was four he had run out into traffic outside their old apartment and for hours after she screamed at and beat his behind. When he was six he had packed up a small backpack and 'ran away' to his grandmother's house which was right down the street from their condo at the time. After his grandma called his mother and she picked him up, she held on to him so tightly that he felt he was suffocating within her breasts. Every few seconds she would rake his back with her nails, just to make sure that he was actually still there with her and not just some dream conjured up from some intense wishful thinking.
But nothing compared to the vibe he was getting from her now. She was genuinely angry this time. She wasn't scared for his life. She wasn't just upset that he had forgotten to mow the lawn or feed the goldfish or anything else like that. Whatever it was that he had done had pushed her over the edge. Normally these trips would feature a nice walk around this time. They'd go on unmarked trails through the trees, venturing deep into the wilderness. But yet they'd always started at the same spot, and she would always clench the same tree, pulling a small piece of bark from it and dropping it to the ground below. After that moment, everything was different. She was calmer. Quieter. She smiled every so often and would encourage Jakob to try and race her to various trees throughout the paths.
There was something about that tree. Something that allowed her to simply forgive and forget all of the wrongs done against her. Without it, it seemed that all that she had bottled up within herself was flowing over now. Jakob simply sat in his seat, twiddling his thumbs as the minutes passed. Eventually his mother turned her head over to the front door and began to walk away towards it. Her hands laid flat at her sides. As she moved, they refused to. She stood stiff as a board, hoping to veil the fact that she was still on the verge of snapping at any given moment.
After Crista went through the front door, Jakob continued to wait; five minutes, then ten and twenty. After thirty minutes had passed, Jakob finally unbuckled his restraint and pushed open the car door. As he exited, he noticed that the curtains over his window had been flung open again. The boy quietly made his way into the house, twisting the knob on the door so that when it shut it wouldn?t make a sound. He tip-toed his way down the hallway to where his room was, but when he entered he saw that his mother was there waiting, already seated on his bed with her hands crossed in her lap.
?Where is he then??
?Where is? who??
?Your visitor. The one who is, supposedly going to fix everything wrong with all this over night??
?I?? Jakob looked around his room, frantically searching for the being who would save his life not only in the next few days but in this very moment as well. But there was nobody but his mother and himself. She had already trashed the room searching for this imaginary man, knowing full well that she wouldn?t find him. A sinister smile formed on her lips as he remained silent.
?So then, he truly doesn?t exist, does he? You were just lying to me, weren?t you? Real life isn?t all fun and games Jakob. The things that we believe, that we wish and pray for are not always what comes to be. Oh no, those are the things that hardly ever do come true. What life is truly filled with is disappointment, upset and rage. All of those things which you pray against, that you wish would simply disappear as they hover of you in your own bed at night! These are the things that make up our world! And you best damn well get used to it! Your father?s a piece of shit and a drunk, I?m the whole fucking train's wreckage and you?re our son, so don't even get your hopes up that you'll amount to anything better than what you've come from.?
"I'm sorry..." Tears began to form in the corners of Jakob's eyes as he cursed himself and the Visitor both. So much time and effort had gone into building a routine on the parts of his mother and himself. But he ruined it, threw it away all because of some being which he couldn't explain who appeared in the middle of the night and whispered honeyed words to him as he still lay half dreaming. Maybe the whole exchange had been a dream and he'd only really woken up when his mother entered his room? He'd probably just given up everything for no good reason.
"Is that really all you have to say? You're 'sorry'? You know what? Fuck that. That's bullshit Jakob. Complete and utter bullshit. I'm going to have to have a talk with your father tonight about your behavior today. Of course, we won't tell him about our secret walk 'n talks. Wouldn't want him getting upset at the both of us now would we?"
With that final threat, his mother was gone. Rising quickly from his bed and storming out of his room, slamming the door shut behind her. Jakob sat there for several minutes. The room seemed even more lonely now than ever before. Everything that had made the room his; all of his posters, his clothes, toys, games and music were pulled from their places and strewn across the room. His dresser was emptied and dumped on the floor, the closet ransacked and every little place where he thought he could safely hide those things which his father had said he should have outgrown were intentionally pulled into plain sight and left there in the center of the room for all to see. It didn't occur to him at first but as it all began to sink in, Jakob realized that he was now crying.
"Ooh ooh, poor poor child. What have you gone and done now? You know you shouldn't upset your parents like that. 'Tis what you brought me here for, is it not? Would you truly rather wage this war on your own?"
"Where... where were you? She looked everywhere. I looked everywhere. She tore apart my room and screamed at me like never before... I was, I was afraid. She could have hurt me, and where would you have been to stop her?"
"Child, my child. The fault of that is your own, is it not? I told you that I would take care of this on my own within the next two days, yet you ignored me and took it upon yourself to let your mother in on our little secret. Though you thought you might've been doing some good by bringing her to realize and understand what it is that's about to go on in this home of yours, all you've done is made this job of mine harder. See, had I shown her my true form and let her know that I am indeed real what do you think she'd say? Would she throw her hands to the sky, praising the God Almighty that her woes are finally over? Or would she scream out in fear over the being from another dimension who hovers over her only son even now in the dark loneliness of his own bedroom?"
"I... I don't... but you are here to help, aren't you?"
"Of course I am my boy. I am here to make all of your problems vanish. By this time tomorrow, they'll all be gone. Your troubles will cease to be. But only if your parents aren't made aware of my existence. If they were to know that I was real indeed, they would fight against me. See, it's all well and good for the children to know that the magic was done by my hands, but if an adult were to know that they weren't the ones fixing their own problems then don't you think they'd be upset? That they'd try and do it on their own, to force a compromise from their own crumbling lives? It's a matter of dignity, of pride. Once I finish here, both you and they will never remember that you even uttered my name. If one was to learn that someone imparted their own will to create their perceived happiness, they would only grow to hate it that much more. Adults are entirely too stubborn and annoying, hence why I only do business with their younger, more understanding offspring."
The sound of a car pulling into the driveway caused the visitor to raise up a little higher. Once more the cloth of its cloak pressed outwards towards the boy, beckoning him to take hold.
"Now my child, what say you we go meet your father?"
----------------------------------
The rest of the night went relatively well. There was no fight, no yelling or screaming and the night was silent. Dinner had nearly been a disaster however. Jakob's mother had spilled the beans so to speak about the boy's new imaginary friend and how her entire day had been wasted by his incessant ramblings about the thing. Of course, that was a lie. What time she could have spent cleaning she had instead spent rampaging throughout the house hoping to see a violent reaction from her husband against someone other than herself for a change. Jakob had truly angered her, and all the years of pent of aggression towards her lover had began to break free and coil around her son. That man had forced her to give birth to the boy, and thinking about all that David had done now and what the boy might do to some other woman in the future only caused her to grow even angrier.
David was in no mood however. A long day at the lumber mill, and the death of a close coworker that very day from an accident at that workplace had left him without the energy to even pick up a bottle for dinner. His fists remained unclenched all throughout his wife's nagging and expectant pushing and pulling of his nerves. Dinner ended at eight, and when it did the man made his way for bed. Unwilling to even take off his shoes or coat, he simply fell into bed and slept.
Crista glared at her son as she cleared the dinner table. Jakob stared at his hands which were clasped together in his lap.
"M-may I be excused?" His voice was just above a whisper. He knew any little thing might set her off now. She was even more upset now that his father had all but ignored them both during dinner. Whereas normally a few minutes of her talking would begin to turn his fists into a clench, there was nary a tremble or shake.
Crista quickly cocked her head towards the hallway. "Do what you will."
Jakob rose slowly, pushing his chair in to the table and washing his plate off before shuffling to his room at the end of the hall.
"Rough night, huh kiddo?"
The Visitor walked out from the shadows of his parents' bedroom and leaned up against the wall of the hallway.
"I don't really know... Dad was quiet the whole time which doesn't usually happen... and Mom's still angry about what happened earlier. I don't... I don't know if she'll ever forgive me really." The corners of the boy's mouth began to twitch as his eyes teared. "She's never yelled at me like that and I... I just... I don't know what to do."
The boy threw himself onto his bed, clutching his pillow as tightly as he could before screaming into the bunched up foam. The falling tears dampened the pillow, causing it to grow hard around his face. He pulled away from the pillow as the cloak of the visitor brushed against the back of his head. Snot and drool trailed from the pillow as he pulled up, his eyes glistening as he looked into the shadowy face of the man.
"There, there. No need to cry my child. Come tomorrow, you'll forget this all ever happened. I promise. You'll never have to cry another day in your life, I guarantee it."
"B-but you said it w- would take t-t-two days to make it a-all bet-ter."
"Ah, yes. Well, about that. I went ahead and got a head start on the whole thing. I do believe that by this time tomorrow, you'll agree with me that things are the way they should be."
"I-If you say so... I think... I think I just need to sleep now. My eyes are so heavy and I don't really want mom to come in here and see me like this."
"Yes, I do believe it'll be quiet tonight. No problems getting to sleep this time I hope."
Once more the cloth rubbed against the back of Jakob's head, and then across his cheek. The boy's eyes began to close slowly as he heard the footsteps echoing down the hall. His mother was coming. Whatever it was for didn't matter though. Before she ever reached the room, Jakob had already fallen to sleep.
Though the day had gone quite differently than those before, he still found himself in the same dream. The darkness surrounded him still, and he remained stuck to some object. It seemed that even though he had met the Visitor the night prior, it hadn't changed the way that this dream would begin... or so he thought. But that idea was quickly dispelled as he felt the breathing on his neck not five seconds later.
Hundreds of little whispers entered his ears and echoed throughout his mind. Each sounded as if it came from a mouse; small, weak and inaudible. And even though he couldn't hear them all, he could have sworn that he could make out just one word which each voice shared. 'Run.'
Off in the distance, tiny lights began to shine. The longer that he looked though, the less they seemed to be lights. They seemed to reflect the light more than they seemed to give it off. Something out there was shining brightly, though he couldn't yet see it. All these different little things began to shine in the darkness around him, all such far ways off. It seemed that whatever light shone out there would never reach him. But as the moments passed and more of these little reflectors appeared, the more that he began to hear another sound.
Crunch. Snap. Crack. Over and over, these sounds of something breaking grew closer. Jakob grew frightened, not knowing what else could be out there if the Visitor was already with him. He wished desperately for his eyes to open but they refused. Suddenly the sounds ceased and so too did the warmth and the voices coming from behind him.
"The things that we believe, that we wish and pray for are not always what comes to be. Oh no, those are the things that hardly ever do come true. What life is truly filled with is disappointment, upset and rage. All of those things which you pray against, that you wish would simply disappear as they hover over you in your own bed at night!"
Jakob shot forward, nearly flying out of his bed as he awoke. His eyes were wide as they scanned around the room.
"M-mom?"
There was no reply. Jakob stood and walked to his bedroom door, opening it slowly so as to keep it from creaking. He peeked around the corner into his parents' bedroom. Seeing that they were both asleep, he made his way down the hall and into the kitchen where the nearest clock was hung.
2:17 AM
The digital display shone in the darkness like a star in the night sky. A small rectangle in the abyss, illuminating a small patch on the table where a tiny solitary bone was laid. Jakob picked the bone up and looked it over, unsure of where it had come from. Lifting it up in the light, he wondered why his mother would have placed it there. They hadn't eaten anything with bones lately, could she have really gone this far just to threaten him? The boy held the bone up against his middle finger, noting that it was nearly the same size as the first segment.
Crunch. Snap. Crack. The sounds from his dream began again, only this time much closer to where he was. He felt the warm breath on the back of his neck and turned slowly to face whatever it was behind him.
There stood his father, still in his work uniform and his hand elbow deep in a trash bag. He was grasping for something, but the boy couldn't figure out what. Just as he moved to get a better look, the man tore his hand free from the bag. David threw his head backwards causing his neck to make an audible snapping sound. The tissue around his mouth tore instantly in the process, revealing a dark abyss filled with hundreds of tiny, knife-like teeth as he launched a handful of tiny bones into his mouth which had split open at the jaw.
Jakob shot forward from his bed, nearly falling from it as he did so. Morning light shone through the small opening in the curtains as he held back his vomit. The boy rushed to the bathroom and began to hurl over the open toilet. Some of the bones that his father had been eating in that dream... they still had skin on them... human skin. The thought of it sickened him, even knowing that it was just a dream.
"There, there my boy. Dreams cannot hurt you unless you allow them to."
The cloak rubbed against the back of his head as the Visitor comforted him. Crunch. Snap. Crack. The sounds came from behind him once more and the boy felt even more acid force its way up and into the toilet. After it all had ended, he was nearly too frightened to turn and face the thing behind him. Curiosity got the better of him though. Jakob turned to face the visitor, seeing that he had in his hand a small pouch with tiny bones in it.
"W-what are those?" The boy swallowed hard, hoping that the visitor wouldn't recognize the fear in his voice.
"Oh these? No worries. They're simply chicken's bones. The marrow is especially delicious, have you ever tried it? If you cook them just right, when you snap the bones in half you can suck the marrow straight out of them."
The Visitor made a display of it all. Taking one of the biggest bones that he could find, he snapped it with the cloak and then lifted his arm up before dropping the bone into his mouth. With a grotesque slurping and sucking sound, followed by that haunting crunch. The visitor patted the boy on the head and then motioned the bag towards him.
"No no, I'm quite alright." The bones were nearly the same size as the ones in his dream, which made him all the more queasy at the thought of putting one in his mouth.
"Suit yourself. I suppose it is an acquired taste. Anyways, I've finished my work early. All of your problems have now ceased to exist, as was promised. Would you like to go now, my child? I believe they should be waiting for you as we speak if all has gone well."
Jakob shook his head nervously, unsure of what was to come. Last night's dream was the first he'd had in several months that wasn't simply that dark place and the visitor slowly making his approach. But whatever happened after... if it was any kind of sign...
The visitor ushered the young boy into the living room. The tv was blaring some commercial about a new cleaning product and his parents sat comfortably on the three-seated sofa. Whenever they'd gather together for family time like this, his mother would sit on the left, his father on the right and he'd take the middle seat. However, now his mother and father sat together taking up the right and the middle seat. As he maneuvered around the sofa, he noticed that his mother was laying with her head on his father's chest and was spread across both the middle and left cushion where he was supposed to sit. Their eyes followed him as he made his way to the open seat. He couldn't recall the last time that his parents had laid together so comfortably in the open like that.
"Well, well, well what have we here?" His mother smiled wide, showing all of her teeth as she leaned up from her laying position. "Finally decided to come out of your room did you? Finally got rid over that silly cold?"
"But he..." Jakob began before cutting himself off. What was the use anyways? Neither of his parents believed him about this visitor character. "Wait." Jakob scrunched his eyebrows and looked over at his mother. "Cold? What cold?"
"Oh dear, I knew it was bad but I never thought it could have been this severe. You were shut up in your room for two whole days hunny. You slept like a sack of bricks, never going to the bathroom, eating, drinking or even opening your eyes! My god, me and your father were so frightened we even called in the doctor to check on you. Of course, he said everything was fine and that we should simply let you rest. Apparently, it was some kind of stress induced fatigue."
"But what about... what about the visitor? What about the fight we got into last night? What about-"
His father shifted in his seat. "Fight? What's all this talk about fighting? I thought we raised you better than that Jakob. You should know that that's not allowed in this house. Why would you even joke about that?"
Jakob looked at his father, taken back by the words he had just uttered. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
"Language!" Both parents shouted out in unison.
"My bad. But still, are you kidding me? You and mom fight like, almost every single day. You can't tell me that fighting isn't allowed in this house when you do it all the time."
"Hun, what are you even talking about? Me and your father have never been in a fight. Truth be told, there's really nothing to fight about. Me and your father are as happy together as any couple could ever hope to be. I see no reason for us to ever fight."
"But what about our 'walk 'n talks'? What about that old tree on the secluded path? You know? The one that you always peel a piece of bark from before we start walking?"
His mother looked at him, bewildered. "What are you talking about Jakob? Are you sure you're feeling all better now? Where are you getting all of these strange ideas from?"
"What do you mean?" Jakob's mind was racing. Either his mother really didn't want his father to know about what they did while he was at work, or everything that he had ever known had fallen apart over the course of a night. Had the visitor really done so much while he had slept? Could anyone, or anything really have such a power in the first place?
"Hun?" His mother placed her hands on his cheeks, turning his face to the left and right as she looked him over. "Are you sure you're alright?"
Jakob hesitated, and then looked down into his lap. "Yeah. I'm fine." A small smile began to form on his face.
"That's good. Your father and I have been so exhausted from work this past week. Since it's the end of the school year all we've had is finals and mountains of paperwork. David's trying so hard but... everyone needs a break every now and then. And my English students, my god! It's as if they haven't paid attention all semester!"
"You're... both teachers?"
"No, of course not hun. Your father's the principal don't you remember?"
"The principal, huh? Sounds awful nice."
"It's a job." His father chuckled lightly as he turned the channel on the t.v. to a football game that was about to start. "There's some good kids there, sure, but there's too much violence in the rest of them. It's not anything like the old days. What do you say we play a game while we wait for the game? I went ahead and pulled some out. We've got Monopoly, Life, Uno, Phase 10 and well, just go pick something out."
Jakob nodded, still unsure of what change had taken place. The memories of the visitor slowly began to fade from his mind as he shuffled through the various games that had been laid out on the floor. The smile stretched further across the boy's face as the seconds passed, and tears began to fall from his face as he picked up Life.
"It's been a while since we've played that," his Mother stated, sitting up from the sofa and taking a seat on the floor next to her son. "I think I'll be yellow."
Jakob's Father took a seat on the other side of him, grabbing the purple car and setting it on the board. "Well, let's hope it doesn't end the same as last time either." The man chuckled softly as tears began to trickle down his cheek.
"I don't remember... what did... what did happen last time?" Tears were now streaming down Crista's face as well, the smile on her face started to seem forced as it grew dangerously longer to the point that it seemed her mouth might rip apart if it spread any further.
"I... I don't..." David began.
"Jakob won." A whisper from somewhere in the room near instantly set the family at ease.
"Yes, that's right. Jakob did win. That little booger, always having such a talent for these kinds of things." David slapped the boy on his back in a playful manner, the tears disappearing from the family's faces as the whisper from before dispersed.
"Well, let's spin to see who goes first then."
Jakob reached his hand out for the spinner as a cold, dark mist began to seep into the room and cover everything within it. However, it didn't appear that anyone had noticed it. The lights in the room went out one by one as each person spun the dial until finally as Jakob was about to take his turn, the entire room was engulfed in the darkness.
The visitor stood in front of Jakob, his hand covering the boy's eyes as he floated, suspended in the darkness. The father and mother floated beside him, now also trapped in this place with smiles stretched across their faces as they slept peacefully with their hands interlocked. The visitor tore the skin from around all three's mouths and tossed it aside, permanently barring their teeth. The shrouded being reached up to the father's face and pulled from it a handful of teeth before reaching into the mother's to do the same.
"'Tis really the only thing these adults are good for. Larger teeth do provide a more noticeable crunch compared to their younger variants."
The being dropped the teeth into a small sack at his waist before wrapping his hand around Jakob's, pulling apart his digits at the joints before tossing them into his mouth. The visitor sucked the bones clean, spitting out skin, muscle, tendon and blood before dropping the small bones into the top of his sack.
"P-p-please..." a whisper echoed in the darkness from behind where Jakob and his family were now suspended. "I'll... I'll do anything..." the soft voice of a young girl called out for help in the endless void.
The visitor sighed. "Seems my work is as of yet undone. I suppose I can still make my rounds to the others before moving on to the next. Soon, my dreamer. Soon you will have what is yours."
The being started to move towards the other shimmering lights in the distance, leaving behind the bodies of his new company, their teeth shimmering in the darkness. More and more whispers began to echo throughout as the visitor shuffled along, reaching another restrained families and repeating the process on them as he munched on the bones and teeth which he had already collected.
High in the sky above, a woman floats, restrained by unseen bonds. The lights of the families below shine upon her, their bones glistening as the darkness seeped out from them and into the woman's body which had been torn open and emptied of bones, muscles and organs alike. The Dreamer's eyes twitched behind closed lids as the visitor stripped the bones from the flesh of another family.
"Soon, yes, soon I shall repent. I shall repent to The Mother. Soon... I shall be forgiven my sins... soon I shall be reborn..."