Visitation Rites - Day 1 (A Halloween Special)

The lecture now felt more like torture. The constant drone of his deep voice was enough to send anyone spiralling into insanity or a quick death, whichever came first. The large clock on the wall ticked away incessantly as if taunting or laughing at them all. It was almost like a competition as to who could produce the most annoying sound possible. The union of the two was unbearable to say the least. The agitation rose to new heights as chalk scrapped dryly against the blackboard. Teeth chattered in unison as if applauding this sick spectacle. Bloodied eyeballs pointed anxiously toward the front of the classroom. Not long to go. The finish line was finally just about in viewing distance. Halleluiah! We've made it, unscathed and unharmed. Well, physically anyways…

The bell resounded noisily as a heretofore respectable silence was broken by the chattering of young voices and textbooks being thrown into either a leather or cloth satchel. It always amazed Jamie how poles apart these two worlds were, yet somehow existed comfortably in the exact same environment. A sharp pain caught his ear as he spun round in alarm. Two stretched, grinning mouths (Ricky sporting a shiny, metallic set of fitted braces) crowded his vision.

“The reflexes of a sloth with the looks of a beaver. What did your parents do that night to create such a hideous monster!” laughed Barry in his traditional Southern twang. The other one stood gawking like a petrified cat. The stupid look on his face almost forced Jamie to burst out laughing.

“Not sure, Barry.” he replied already trying to supress fits of giggles. “Maybe you gotta ask your mamma as she was getting drilled that same night by my dad!” Barry leapt at him and swiftly locked a strong arm around his neck whilst ruffling his golden brown hair with a spare hand. “Well, let’s see what we can do to improve your existing damage, shall we.” The friendly banter was rudely interrupted by the booming sound of Mr. Wilson’s voice. “Come on, boys! Let’s take it outside now! Run along!”

Though you wouldn’t know it on first inspection, the three of them had a very special bond, a brotherly love for each other if you will. Having all attended the same educational institutions since kindergarten, they could tell you each other’s deepest, darkest secrets without batting a lash. The familiarity of spending so much time together had solidified a family-like trust between one another. A perfect definition of friendship if ever there was one. With the untimely passing of Jamie’s dad at such a young age, he relied more than ever on the support of others to fill in the missing void left behind. Seemed like he picked the two most unlikely candidates.

The hurried patter of feet along the narrow hallway reverberated through the air. Escape from the heavy shackles of Princeton High was just an inevitable few short seconds away. The students burst out of the main entrance as Jamie and his friends ran down the concrete steps and toward the main gate. The end-of-school-day jubilation coursed through his veins as he penned out the evening in his mind’s eye.

“Fancy coming round to mine for a bit?” Jamie asked casually. “You guys could play some games and chill out with me and Mia.”

“Mia and I.” Ricky said in a stern voice. He was the self-proclaimed brain box of their little group. A questionable title at best. “Besides, why you gotta always have that cat sitting in with us? He always looks at me funny.”

Jamie raised an eyebrow and looked at him. “Coz she’s been with me since I was a baby, that’s why. My little protector and guardian in life. Wherever I am, she is too. You got a problem with that?” Ricky turned his nose up at him.

“No, I guess not.” he said nonchalantly.

Barry started giggling like a half demented hyena. “That’s because you’re scared that you’ll lose the only pussy you’re ever gonna get, bitch ass!” Jamie gave him a crooked smile and held a small fist up in the air.

“Yeah, and keep talking like that and I’ll give you a free sample of my delicious knuckle sandwich right here. You got it?” He continued on to gesticulate with his head in the direction of his clenched weapon of choice. This only increased the laughter until the whole gang shrieked in amusement. The merry band proceeded to make their way home on a sun-drenched, gorgeous looking summers day.

---

“So, you guys coming in or not?” asked Jamie one last time.

“I told you already, I gotta revise for the test next week. If you had any sense up there in that poor excuse of a brain, then you’d do the same.” Ricky’s regimented lifestyle often clashed with the usual free-care juvenile nature of a young boy, but it was something that they had both gotten used to as time drew on.

Barry chimed in. “Well, I don’t know about studying and all, but mom has asked me to do the house chores. It’s Thursday, remember?”

Jamie looked at him with a pained expression. “Garden duty?”

“Yeah.” replied Barry in a doleful manner.

From that point, the gang departed which wouldn’t actually be for too long as they routinely reconvened at Jamie’s doorstep for school again on weekday mornings. Feeling a little lost at the outcome of the pre-planned evening’s activities, Jamie sauntered lazily up the driveway. He rang the doorbell as he brushed away a lock of hair from his dark, blue eyes. His mother had been meaning to give him a haircut for weeks now but never quite found the time. It was hard work looking after a thirteen year old whilst juggling a nine to five at the local “Sports Bar 'n' Grill”, but as she always used to say, “The bills won’t pay for themselves.” He noticed the door was unlocked, so let himself in.

The house seemed peculiarly odd. An unusual silence hung in the air as Jamie felt a tinge of unease. Something just didn’t sit right. He called out a little louder than normal. “Mamma? You home?”

A moment’s pause and then a soft voice echoed back. “Yes, darling. Come through into the living room.” She sounded hoarse and gravelly. Slightly panicked, he hastened up the short corridor and through into the lounge area.

He was greeted by his mother leaning forward in her favourite high back leather recliner. She got up instantly and invited Jamie with outstretched arms for an unexpected hug. He reciprocated but with caution as he had noticed that she'd recently been crying. “Oh, my love.” she whispered, close to tears again.

“Mom, what is it?” he asked, belly beginning to turn with anticipated nerves.

She tilted back so as to look upon his youthful, slender face. His mouth remained open and eyes were reduced to tiny, beady slits. “I’ll get straight to the point, Jamie. It’s Mia. She’s had an accident.”

He pulled back slightly, attempting to digest the newly acquired information from his childish perspective. It was a monumental task, to say the least. A battery of questions flooded into his head as he regarded his mother with a look of perplexity.

“What do you mean? Where is she now? I want to see her. Where is she?” he asked forcefully in a high pitched squeal.

“No, Jamie. She’s gone. You know as well as I do that she was quite old. Her legs just weren’t what they used to be. She was running across the street this afternoon and a truck hit her. I think she hadn’t judged correctly just how fast it would take her to get to the other side. Poor thing had a quick death, at least.” Janet couldn’t hold back any longer and sobbed deeply into a handkerchief that had been hidden away in her left hand.

The utterance of that taboo word brought it from a torrid dream into the physical realm. Death. It was a concept he had never faced before, save for his father. But he was way too young back then to comprehend what was going on at the time. This was the real deal and he had to accept the fact that it was really happening here and now. He stared at Janet, speechless for several seconds, watching his mother hastily try to compose herself, face awash with tears and mascara.

Jamie stood rooted to the spot in shock, yet no tears flowed as of yet. His face contorted in anger. “I want to see her now! Where is she?” he yelled.

Janet held his arms gently and struggled desperately to coax herself back into the role of being a mother again. “Look, Jamie. As you can imagine, I didn’t want you to see the condition she was in when I found her. I’ve taken care of everything. Just treasure the precious memories and time spent with her. It’s what she would have wanted. Please, let’s try to work through this together, baby.”

“What do you mean taken care of everything?” he demanded as if he were the adult scolding a spoilt brat. His whole world was crashing and burning before his very eyes and he found he couldn’t handle the responsibilities that came with it. He glared at her angrily, his only human outlet of emotional outpouring.

“With the help of Derek next door, we took her over to Dr. Morris and he did the rest. I’m not sure if this is the right time to say this, but perhaps tomorrow we should decide whether we would want her ashes returned to us or not. I know she was more yours than mine so I’ll go with whatever you wish, Jamie.”

A thunderous rage erupted through the essence of his soul as he screamed in agony. “You dumb bitch! Why did you do that, why in the fuck did you do that! I never got to say goodbye!” The floodgates finally opened as Jamie’s vision blurred into a foggy haze. Janet was taken aback with his abusive language, but this was no time to start handing out punishments for bad behaviour.

“Jamie!” she bellowed. “Calm down, please! Can’t you see? It was for the best! I know how you must be feeling but if you only saw the state she was…”

“Shut up! Just shut up! I’ll never forgive you for this, I swear it! You’ll pay, I promise you that!” He turned fast and raced out of the room and up the stairs into the welcoming safety of his bedroom.

“Jamie! Come back!” she screamed, but thought it better to leave him to it for the time being. She had perused through the search pages of Google in the early afternoon, trying to brush up on the finer points of dealing with bereavement. One of the first stages she recalled was denial. Janet held her head in her hands and wept bitterly, releasing a deluge of pent up frustration. The part she was dreading the most was now over and done with. A small respite to an otherwise horrific situation.

---

The evening air blew a soothing breeze through the open window. Jamie looked at his old Mickey Mouse clock still perched up on his bedroom wall. One of many cherished keepsakes from his infancy. The most important of which was now gone forever. It was almost two hours since he had begun staring out into the scenic beauty just beyond his garden fence. Woodlands swept across lush, grassy plains as the red sky above glowed and shimmered, offering an array of differing shades and hues. It was as picturesque and serene as anyone could have wished for, able to melt even the coldest of hearts. The reminiscing of Mia was like re-watching an old set of beloved home movies after many, long years. How she used to curl up at the end of his cot as he slept when only a few months. How he would hide behind a door or curtain waiting for Mia to come upstairs and search for him. How every school day, she’d watch him through the glass of his living room window wondering why he was leaving her behind. These hurt the most, the constant scouring through a historical backlog of past remembrances. Which ones had been missed out, which ones were lost in the vast expanse of the mind. It was the hardest thing he had ever experienced in his short time on this earth. It was like a living hell.

A faint tap at the door broke him out of his morbid trance. His mother guardedly entered. She had once again donned the mask of motherhood for the sake of her sweet child. “How you feeling?” she called out in a soft, loving tone.

“I’m OK, I guess. Just thinking, that’s all.”

“Well, baby. It’s good to think. It helps us accept what has happened and move on. I loved Mia dearly too so I’m just as broken hearted as you. Please, let’s help each other out.” Jamie turned his neck to one side. His mother beckoned him to come to her. He spun around and raced into her open arms, embracing the one true love he had left. Tears streamed from both their eyes once more, but this time with an acknowledgement of a cooperative understanding between them. They were all they had in the entire world and their bond unbreakable.

“I’m so sorry about before, mom.” he croaked through the lump in his throat. She stroked his hair gently. “It’s OK, son. It’s OK…”

---

Night fell as the trauma of the day’s events settled into a fragment of time and space. Jamie’s emotions, though, were as raw as ever. He lay in bed looking up at the ceiling. “Glow in the Dark” miniature paper stars peppered his vision as he still sifted through the memories of his beloved cat.

“I love you, Mia.” he said mournfully. “I wish I could be with you again.” He turned to one side, tucking his head snuggly into his goose-feathered pillow and closed his eyes.

Almost asleep, a distance sound caught his attention as his eyelids peeled open and he raised his head drowsily. He listened for a second more before shrugging it off and returning back to the comfort of his pillow. There it was again. This time, he sat upright. Head cocked, he tried to hone in on where the mysterious sound emanated from. A third time now, but he had already located its source. It was coming from behind the door and sounded very much like something scratching at the paintwork. As the sandman retreated from Jamie’s bedroom, he bounded out of bed and stood completely still, eyes affixed at the doorway. A fourth sound, but one he recognized only too well. It was the distinctive meowing of Mia. She was calling to him. He sprinted like a shot in the darkness to the door and pulled it open frantically. He scanned the black area in front of him wild with excitement. Nothing but a darkened hallway lay before him. A fresh feeling of despair overcame Jamie as he closed the door gently and shuffled back into bed. The mental anguish was unbearable. He lay down once more.

Again, a scratch and a soft meow. He had heard it and this time there was no denying it. He flew out of bed and burst open the bedroom door. Again, nothing but pitch black drifted peacefully in front of him. He reached a small arm around and felt for the hallway light switch. It fluttered on with a low hum. He looked either side of the landing. Not a trace of anything. Not his Mia. He shut the door and scampered back to bed in a state of confusion. He was positively sure what he had heard and nobody was going to tell him any differently.

But as soon as he lay his head down, the scratching began. A small meow followed it. He lifted the edge of his bed sheet and peered over. It was coming from the door and it was his Mia. The feelings of remorse and grief gave way to fear and dread. He stayed where he was, glaring apprehensively at the door. This time, the scratching and the meowing did not relent…

(To be continued)

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Hope you enjoyed this short story, please look out for more on the way... (author: @ezzy)