No One Knows – Eclectic Corner #5

My friend I wait at your feet

Along the path we walk

So walk slow or fast with me

To where e’er together we will be

Even as the streets we stalk

Reach out to our heartbeat.

 

Please keep nearby

Even as I cry

To have you by my side.

 

Each day was much the same, waiting for My Boy to come home from school. He was always the first through the door and I was ready and waiting. I loved the others just as much, but My Boy was special. He needed me more than the others, not because life wasn’t just as hard or them but because My Boy didn’t have the same kind of support that his siblings had. I don’t understand much about humans, about how they decide who should and shouldn’t be their friend, but My Boy didn’t have friends his age. Those few that he did have were usually also friends with his siblings.

So during the times when it was just My Boy and me, before the others got home from school, or after school activities, he would curl up against me and with his face pressed into my belly and no one had to know about the tears soaking into my thick coat of fur.

No one had to know about the taunts he’d repeat.

No one had to know that his homework was done twice to hide the tear stains.

No one had to know about the smiles that look so broken, the ones that he practiced to make sure that no one could tell that they were broken.

No one had to know that My Boy’s siblings worried about him.

No one had to know that they would whisper into my ears about their fears.

“He never talks about school.”

“He only hangs out with us when we ask him to, he used to ask to spend time with us all the time.”

“I haven’t seen him happy about anything outside of the house in months.”

“I just don’t know what to do, Rabby.”

So I sit there, curled around My Boy and wait because there is nothing more I can do.

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This little story snippet and poem was inspired by the picture prompt from Eclectic Corner #5 for this week from the lovely Justine.

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Take A Step Outside

Mary knew that her sons were growing up, she knew that it wouldn’t be long until her eldest wasn’t even living in the same home and that, not long after (to her reckoning) her youngest would also ‘leave the nest.’ She both was and wasn’t looking forward to it.

She was looking forward to it because it meant that her sons had lived long enough to move out. It meant that they were able to support themselves and possibly a family of their own. It meant that she would no longer have to work as hard to hide the grief at the loss of her Bonded.

She wasn’t looking forward to it because it meant she would be alone more. Her sons might not visit very often or even call. Hadn’t her coworkers often complained at the lack of interaction with their grown and moved out children? It meant that the emptiness that was forever within her at the loss of Warren would no longer be partially covered up by the sound of Warren’s sons. It meant that the urge to end this existence sooner rather than later would also be stronger.

Mary was afraid to be by herself. She was very afraid.

What Mary didn’t take into account (what she so often forgot) was that her sons were aware of her feelings in this regard and were working to take steps to avoid the thing she feared most from happening.

“Terry, we can’t leave Mom like this, she will die if we leave her all alone.”

“I knot that, little brother, but I don’t know what else to do!”

Matt nodded an agreement with his elder brother, something that he’d thought as a child he’d never do. “She doesn’t want us to stay living with her once we’re married because she thinks that newlyweds need their own space, but doesn’t want us to invite her to live with us after the newlywed phase has passed.”

“Why is Mom so insular?”

“That’s a big word coming from you.” the younger of the two retorted on principle alone.

Neither of them really knew why their mother didn’t seem to have any friends. They didn’t even know why their parents had separated as there hadn’t been any kind of fighting that most other kids whose parents had divorced talked about.

Terry sighed and closed his eyes. He knew that his brother liked to pick at him, he liked to pick right back, but they needed to talk about this, not ignore it like they’d been doing most of their lives.

“Sorry,” Matt mumbled, “It’s just so much easier-”

“I know,” Terry interrupted, “but we need to have some kind of plan if we’re going to convince Mom not to finish closing herself off to the world.”

Matt hung his head, “I…I don’t know how we can do anything about it. She’s never really listened when we’ve tried to get her to have some kind of life for herself. She always replies that we are her life and that it’s more than enough for her.”

“She’ll die if we can’t help her, I don’t care if she’ll still wake up and eat and move about, inside, she’ll die.”

They didn’t know what to do, but they wouldn’t let the woman who brought them into this world and raised them to fade away. Now if only she would give them some kind of clue on how they could do it.

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Inspired by Light and Shade Challenge.

A Long Sleep

I have no fear of death. Must be wonderful, like a long sleep. —Katharine Hepburn

Sometimes, when she stared off into nothing for a long time, she could see the little particles of light-

(Is that what they were?)

-dance around. She was never certain where they came from or if they were even there-

(Was anything really there?)

-but she would look at them regardless.

They helped her feel less…lonely. Yes, that was the word. She was lonely. She hadn’t always been lonely, had she?

(No, once there were others all around her, weren’t there?)

Either way, she was lonely now.

She was old and there were very few who ever came to visit her now. Those that did would talk around her or at her, but not to her. They had tried talking to her in the earlier days of their visits-

(She still didn’t know who they were…)

-but she had such a hard time keeping track of the conversation that they often had to start it all over again every few minutes.

(She didn’t always make it that far, sometimes it was every few seconds.)

They kept coming anyway, though, and after some time, she’d come to appreciate the visits even if they were nothing more than companionable chatter all around her. She was like the rock in a stream, watching everything swim by but still enjoying the atmosphere of the little glade the river ran through.

(How their lovely faces would crinkle and worry and yet still hold so much love…)

She was smiling when her eyes closed for the last time.

Frolicking Crisis

She frolicked through the tall grass, chasing ducks and snakes and whatever else caught her fancy.

“Iris!”

The black cat continued to run about, enjoying her new-found freedom of playing in more than just the backyard.

“Iris!”

She didn’t even turn an ear to the voice calling her name. The outdoors were just too much fun! She was going to stall as long as possible before going home. Cotton, that old white and black grandma of a cat, went out for the whole day all the time and she was hardly ever called to come back sooner than she wanted!

(Iris completely ignored the fact that she was still very much a kitten in human and cat terms and that she had never been this far from home by herself. She was too busy griping about her mom calling her home earlier than she wanted to.)

Meanwhile, back at the house…

Iris’s mom and dad were really starting to worry. It had been more than five hours since anyone had seen their cat and both of them had lost other cats in much the same way. They had gone out one day and never come back. They couldn’t bare to lose Iris after not even having her for a full year yet.

Everyone ran around the house, the yard, the creek, looking for the missing cat. This was truly another Family Crisis.

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Written for this week’s Three Word Wednesday prompt: http://www.threewordwednesday.com/2014/06/3ww-ccclxxii.html

Also, this happened to us yesterday. It was really hard on my sister and her husband because Iris is still very much a kitten. We finally found her playing near the creek… Which didn’t help as my sister was convinced that she’d fall in, be one of those few cats that can’t swim (family history has taught us that they do exist…for us at least) and fall into the creek and drown.

Her husband and I finally got her after dark and dragged her back into the house (man, but that can can wriggle!) I got a nice slice of one of my fingers taken off as a parting shot, but that cat is now in the house (and it time out apparently.)

Random Moment of Worry and Fun

There was so much that she could do and so much that she couldn’t do.

“This isn’t something I can ignore, Mary, you know that.” Alex said as he sat opposite her in her parlor. “What if he decides that the information about what you can do is more important than you are?”

“Warren isn’t like that, Alex.” Mary protested, interrupting her adoptive brother before he could continue. “He isn’t going to try and turn me into some kind of lab rat.”

“How do you know that?” Alex demanded, “Just because you’ve started to ‘fall in love’ with him doesn’t mean-”

“Alex,” she interrupted again in a much quieter voice, “I know that you worry about me and I know that you’re just concerned that Warren will do to you what you’ve done in your youth.” She held up a hand before Alex could do more than open his mouth, “No, I know that you’re not like that anymore, not really, but that’s not what people see anymore. All they see when they see you is someone whose made a lot of mistakes and that can’t possibly turn himself around. Warren even saw you like that when he first discovered that I was under your protection, but he doesn’t think that of you anymore.”

“And how can you know so much about Warren, Mary?”

She smiled, “It’s something about what I am, and no,” she continued when she read the look on his face, “It’s not that I can read his mind, but I can sort of…infer…what his intentions are towards me. It has something to do with the-”

“You don’t need to tell me how or why you can do that, Marry,” Alex sighed tiredly, “I know that you’re just trying to distract me with science.”

“Is it working?”

“No, stop trying to distract me.”

“It is working.” Mary sounded quite pleased with herself.

Alex had to remind himself that it was his idea to adopt her as his sister, his younger sister, and that this was apparently how she treated siblings. He wondered if this was how she’d treated her twin at all.

(He had no idea that part of the reason Mary was acting like this was because it reminded her of her lost sister. Mary was so used to being the serious sibling that acting differently reminded her of what she’d lost, but it made her happy to have a reminder. Mary’s sister had lost more than Mary had, at least Mary was certain that this was how she felt and if acting like this occasionally helped her to feel closer to her… Mary was more than willing to give Alex premature grey hair. He’d understand in time.)

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Written for the Random Moment of Delight prompt for this week: http://firebonnet.com/2014/05/11/random-moments-of-delight-19-meet-my-bff/

This is the scene that came to mind as I was reading another blogger’s post for this week’s prompt (http://eclecticoddsnsods.com/2014/05/11/random-moment-of-delight-19-tears-ahoy/comment-page-1/#comment-3855).

So here is a random moment between the adoptive siblings Mary and Alex in my Former Guardian universe.