by TJ Weeks
STEVEN
STEVEN STAYEDin his room most of
the day. His arm was still throbbing and had started to gain more discoloration. He paced his room trying to figure out what he should do, he pulled the pillow case from his pillow and wrapped it around his biceps, then grabbed his knife’s case to pull the sheet through the belt loop portion and began to spin it vigorously until he couldn’t feel anything but pressure and then tucked the knife case for his make shift tourniquet. He fell back into his bed and waited for his arm to go completely numb.
About three hours later, he grabbed the knife and made a small incision about three inches under his tourniquet. There was no blood, but the small portion of meat made him nauseous. He had been in the military about half of his life and hunted his entire life, so he didn’t
understand why this was bothering him so much.
He sat there nervously shaking his leg up and down like a drummer getting down on some serious beats with the foot petal for about fifteen minutes. “Fuck it!”
He grabbed the knife once again and pressed down hard before making his slice. Even though he couldn’t feel the pain, he could feel the blade scraping around his bone. The bone was too thick to cut through so he walked over to the door and looked out to make sure it was clear. There was no one in sight so he put his arm in the door and used the force of his hip to break it off. It took six bounds at the door before it finally snapped, but he still had to brace his foot at the bottom of the door and tear backwards for the final removal.
Tears began to fall from his old withered eyes. He opened the door quickly and looked around once again and grabbed his arm. The whole arm had turned a greyish blue like those of the rotters. He dropped it next to his bedside before flopping back into his bed. Lying there on his back and tears rolling down both sides of his cheeks, he finally drifted back off to sleep.
*** S teven heard laughter, cries, chatter, and screams of happiness. He opened his eyes to a plethora of small children in front of him. They swung back and forth on monkey bars, some were sliding down slides, and three little girls were gathered on the swings dragging their shiny shoe covered feet while they talked.
Steven furrowed his brow in confusion as to why he was at a playground with children that he didn’t know. He looked around for all of their parents and did not see an adult anywhere. “Am I supposed to be watching these kids?” He questioned himself. The children paid him no attention as they went about their fun.
Steven took a step from the soft grass he stood on to feel the small pebbles roll beneath his boots. The crunch of the rocks echoed through his ears with each step he took. He made it to the other side of the playground to a picnic table and sat down. He watched the children playing and running back and forth with no worries of any kind. Steven began to smile, remembering being little and not having a care in the world except how fast he could make it down the slide or how high he could get on the swings before jumping off.
He peered around to look for any other adult that may have shown up to be able to tell him where he was or why he was there. He could not see anyone but children. As he scanned the grounds, he was able to see a bouquet of balloons flapping on the other side of the green and yellow play scape filled with kids running across the swaying bridge.
Steven rose from the red wooden picnic table and walked on the edge of the small rocks towards the blowing balloons. The tablecloth was a bright green and balloons were tied to each corner of the table. A huge green iced cake sat in the middle of the table that read Happy Birthday. Presents sat on the ground and ninja turtle plates and cups sat inside a small bag at the edge of the wooden bench seat. Two plastic grocery bags sat next to the presents filled with two bottles of punch.
“A birthday party?” Steven questioned out loud. He peered back up at all of the children as they ran from one side to the other of the small bridge and shot down the slides that were attached. The three little girls had moved from the swings to a sand box nearby. Two little boys were racing to see who was able to get higher faster on the swings. A little girl sat off to the side of the groups playing with a Barbie in the rocks. Steven noticed that none had even noticed him walking around.
“Was he invisible?” He thought. He sat at the edge of the colorfully decorated table and wondered which child’s birthday it was; and again why there were no adults to watch all of these kids.
He then peered down at his clothing and realized that he was dressed in a pair of shorts and a blue and red striped t-shirt. His tennis shoes were black and red and he had on white socks that stopped just above his shoes.
He grabbed one of the presents to see if it had a name on it of whose birthday it was. ‘To: Steven’ the tag on a small present read. “My birthday?” He questioned.
Steven was confused. He looked over at the cake and read the full cake. Happy Birthday Steven! Steven shook his head and tried to grasp the reality of the situation.
Steven got up from the table and walked to the metal slide that no one wanted to go down because it was always so hot, he leaned over the very end of the slide and a mirrored image shot back at him, he quickly pulled away; he leaned over again and looked at the image staring back at him. It was him as a child. It was his birthday. He reached up and felt his face and could feel his moustache with his hand but that is not what he saw in the reflection.
Steven looked around and noticed a little girl in a yellow dress sitting on the edge of the jungle gym swinging her legs back and forth. It was Sarah, his crush from grade school. A little boy ran past him.
“Little Fast Freddy?” He questioned out loud.
He turned and began watching all of the kids. “Come down the slide Steven!” A boy yelled from the top of the play scape. Steven stepped towards the small ladder that led up to the small platform where he stood and he climbed up. Once he reached the platform, he tried to stand and hit his head on the top of the awning that covered it. He ducked quickly and put his long legs into the green slide next to the yellow one the little boy sat in.
“Ready, set, go!” The little boy yelled. Steven pulled himself down the slide by holding onto the top of it and pulled himself into the tunnel as he had when he was a child. He remembered it being bigger, but he eventually came out of the other end with the little boy standing there.
“I win!” Screamed the boy.
Steven smiled at him before he ran off to race someone else down.
“Hi Steven.” A sweet voice squeaked. Steven turned to see a little girl in a blue dress.
“Margie?” He quietly questioned. Margie had been the little girl next door that left him love notes on his doorstep. His parents used to think that it was the cutest thing and encouraged Steven to play with her.
She giggled as she strolled over to where the other girls sat in the sand box. She said something to them and they all looked at him and began to giggle.
Steven remembered when he was younger and all of the little girls used to crowd around him on the playground to try and talk to him, but he only had a crush on one, Sarah Granger. She was part of the small group giggling, but peeked her head around and smiled at him and then whispered in another girl’s ear.
Steven stood there and wondered why he felt uncomfortable since he wasn’t really a child, but now an adult. He did miss being a child and decided that if this was going to be his chance to be a child again, he was going to take it for what it was worth.
He ran to the swings and sat down and began to move his legs back and forth. He had to bend them sideways so they didn’t drag the ground, but got higher than the little boy next to him and then jumped as far as he could. He heard his knee pop and fell down to his butt on the gravel. He stood and wiped himself off and looked over to the group of girls to make sure they were watching. He was not the show off in school and had always been shy, so liked that he was able to show off some since they saw him as the child he used to be. He waved at Sarah and began to climb the nearby ladder to the cross the monkey bars. He hu
ng on with all of his might and lifted his legs and began to take the monkey bars two at a time. Though the group may have seen him as a child. He remembered his military days of doing this exact thing. He made it to the other side and jumped down. The little girls giggled and the little boys watched him in admiration.
“That was cool Steven, how did you do that?” Some of the boys asked. Steven only shrugged, afraid that if he spoke that his voice may not be that of a child’s voice, but of the adult voice that he had.
Steven made his way to the hot metal slide and climbed up. Everyone waited and watched him knowing how hot the slide was. Steven stood at the top and took four large steps down it so that he did not have to endure the heat, then jumped off of the end. The kids all clapped and then dispersed.
All of them ran and began to gather around the table filled with presents and balloons and more importantly at that age, the cake.
“Come on Steven!” They all belted out looking his way. Steven looked one more time into the slide and still saw himself as a little boy. He slowly walked towards the table.
“We are all waiting on you birthday boy.” Sarah hollered in the sweet voice he
remembered.
Steven arrived at the table with ten candles already lit on the cake. He watched all of the kids and listened to the Happy Birthday tune being sang and quickly blew out all of the candles. The group clapped and encouraged him to cut the cake. He grabbed a knife that sat to the side of the cake and cut the first piece, he tore open the paper plates from the bag by the side of the table and handed the first piece to Sarah. She looked at him with admiration and took the first piece as everyone made an ‘awww’ sound that they did not get it.
Little hands outstretched in front of him as he cut the rest of the pieces and placed them on plates and handed them out. He was finally able to put a piece on a plate for him and then decided against it and sat it to the side. He looked up at all of his happy cake eating friends; all of their mouths hung open, their jaws were clapping open and then shut and open again; their faces were smeared with green icing. Some began to growl and their faces had become distorted in different ways. Some of their eyes were sunk so far into their head that you couldn’t see the color; some only had one eye and some had one eye hanging out of their heads. Their hands were reaching out to him like they were asking for more cake and they all were making their way around the table towards him. Some of them stumbled and hit their heads on the table and some fell and began crawling to him. Sarah was now staring at him with a blank look and her dress was torn and dirty down the front with stains that made the dress a deep brown color. Fast Freddy was headed towards him with his teeth chomping at him and fresh blood mixed with the icing smeared around his mouth.
Steven backed away from the group and tried to decipher on what was happening and what to do. He ran up the ladder to the platform where he had stood earlier and watched them reaching for him. The platform was small and low enough that they were able to put their small hands onto the platform and touch his shoes. Steven would pick up his shoes and put it back down every time he felt one of them touch it. He stepped on a little boy’s finger and it came off onto the platform. Steven quickly kicked it off and stood inside the edge of the slide. He squatted down thinking that if he went down the slide and just ran that he would be able to get away from them all. He looked into the tunnel and then at the children that were trying to attack him. He sat on his butt and stretched his legs into the tunnel. He looked around the outside of the slide and decided that he thought he had a good idea until he felt something grab his leg and pull. A growl echoed through the slide and up into his ears. He peered down at the noise and pulled his leg away from the tight hold and watched Sarah slide back down the slide and try and climb back up without the grip on him. The small blue of her eyes that he could still see told him that she was still in there.
“Sarah, it’s me, Steven.” He whispered into the slide. She growled louder and deeper at him and reached her hands up to him. Her jaw sat to the side of her face as her mouth opened up at him and then closed again after the loudness that she belted out. Steven had no other choice, he had to get past her.
He slid down hard and fast and raised his shoe and kicked the twisted faced little girl in her head. She fell backwards as Steven came out of the other end and he began to run over the pebbles. He made his way to the grass and slipped on the softness. The group came after him. There legs were small but they seemed to make headway very quick. They seemed to run as fast as he did. He made it to the edge of the park and stopped for a moment to catch a bit of breath. The clad of children that followed ended up right on his heels as he tried to take off again. A little boy fell down and grabbed one of his legs and made Steven fall face first onto the sidewalk. As he raised his head up, blood covered the ground in front of him where he had hit his nose.
The group of little girls came at him from all sides and the little boys grabbed each of his feet. Instead of eating him right away, they dragged him back to the park and onto the small pebbles that he could feel imbed into his stomach. They turned him over and Sarah stood above him, with a mass of her head smashed in where he had kicked her before. The group let go of him and Sarah dropped to her knees and took a bite from his neck. Steven screamed as the others dropped down and took bites from the rest of his body. He flailed his arms and legs trying to get them off and could feel the sweat pouring off of his body. He peered up at Sarah with his own blood smeared across her mangled jaw and watched tendons and muscles being pulled from his body by the rest of the children that were supposed to be his friends, with stares from the children looking at him while they chewed on his dismembered parts.
*** Steven sat up and gasped deeply, he opened his eyes to the classroom that he had slept in. His blankets were on the floor twisted up, he lifted his hand and wiped his face as he sat up on his cot.
“What a fucking nightmare!” He said out loud. He brought his hand back down and looked at it full of sweat and rose from the cot to stand. He almost fell back down from the pain that was in his knee.
“The swing.” He thought. “I jumped off of it and hurt my knee.” He rubbed his knee wondering how his dream could be a part of his reality.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I WOKEup with my wife compressed
against me like a suction cup and about to sweat me out of my clothes. I could tell that I had been super tired because I never even felt her lay down next to me, much less push her whole body against me. My arm was asleep and numb, I raised my head up to look around, and the lighting wasn’t that great. I got up slowly so I was not to wake up my wife. I walked to the door of the store to look out through the caged door. From the light coming down the hallway of the mall, I could tell it was getting close to about six o’clock in the morning. I inched the door up while trying not to make a sound. It was hard since the door sounded as if it hadn’t been oiled in centuries. Fortunately for me, Bo was the only one that I woke up. He wiped the sleep from his eyes and got up. I raised the door up far enough for me to slide under. Bo must have been real sleepy because he just kind of rolled out behind me.
“What’s up bro?” He whispered.
“Not much, just getting a head start on re- fueling the vehicles.” I whispered back. I cracked open the back door of the Tahoe and pulled out one of the gas cans and handed it to Bo and then grabbed another one. He started filling the truck while I filled the Tahoe. Each only held the one can. I grabbed a spiral out of the Tahoe’s dashboard and found a black permanent marker from behind the counter and wrote in big letters, “Be back soon” and stuck in front of the door.
Bo and I left out to explore the mall. “Shouldn’t we take one of the vehicles?” He questioned. “Na, we’ll just set whatever we need out and drive through and pick it up on our way out.” I responded.
“Sounds good.” He stated. We walked down the corridor, the next store was Hot topic. I looked at Bo and smiled. We both walked in and split up down each side o
f the counter in the middle of the store.
“Hell yeah!” Bo said a bit quietly.
“What’s up?” I asked looking over the counter full of gothic jewelry.
Bo popped his head up showing the earrings he just put in his ears.
‘I haven’t had anything in since I left. What ya got over there?” He asked. “Just some shit Kris would like. We should grab whatever normal clothing we can find in here, might make some of us feel a little normal. I’m sure this is where Kris got the shirt she already has for me.” I said.
“Here ya go bro!” Bo danced around. He held up a red leather sexy lingerie piece. “Not sure that will fit you man, but hey if that’s what you want!” I laughed at him. “Not me asshole, for one of the girls. Maybe your wife?” He stated.
Hell, I thought you were gonna put it on and model it.” I joked. Bo through the piece to the floor and gave me the finger. I collected some jewelry that I knew Kris would like, since I am sure that she didn’t get anything for herself and some t-shirts along with a few wallets that hung on the wall. I knew the guys back home might like them just for the normal feeling of having one in their pocket. A few adult games that were lining the shelves that maybe could bring a little fun to the late nights and a few pair of shoes that sat at the front. I placed everything I had found outside the door and scanned the store for Bo. I could see the top of his head over the shelves as he rounded the register with an armful of stuff. He placed it all with mine and we moved on.
The next store was Burlington. Bo and I entered, but with a bit of caution. The store was quite large and four register aisles covered the front entryway.
“We may want to stick together in this one.” I stated to Bo. He nodded and fell in next to me. We rounded each aisle grabbing some different size jackets off the racks since winter was coming and long sleeve shirts. We cleaned the aisle of winter wear and headed out to set our armfuls outside of the store and headed back in. We moved onto the aisle that we had cleaned out and began grabbing all different sizes of blue jeans. We laid them over one arm to keep our other arm free for rotters that may come up.
