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Mother Knows Best
Mother Knows Best
Midnight strikes. The air is cold and dry, but the light coming from the desk-lamp is warm. I type the numbers into the computer as my eyes struggle to stay open. My body is numb, my mind is blank, my hands work as if they had a mind of their own. I can’t remember the last time I felt that tingling sensation in my brain that makes my lips curl up into a smile. Had I ever known the feeling? I did, a long time ago, I think. Ah, yes, there was that time when-- “Stop getting distracted, George”, I tell myself. I obey and keep typing mindlessly. Suddenly there was a loud knock at my door. It almost seemed as if the knocking scared time into stopping. I sat there at my desk, frozen. Who could possibly be at my apartment’s door at midnight? My mother warned me of situations like these when I was little. “There are many bad people out there to hurt you, Georgie. You must be careful, very careful indeed.” I remember her saying that as she tucked me in at night as a child. She then proceeded to lay a gentle kiss on my forehead. Those ‘bad people’ visited my dreams quite often since that day. As I grew older, my mother let me in to more secrets of the dangers that hide in the world. Strangers, white vans, free candy, and so much more. Thankfully, I have always made safe choices in life. I work as an accountant for a post office. I am not married - mother had also warned me about how marriages can take some gruesome turns when least expected. No pets, of course. Do you know how many diseases one of those creatures can carry?
The door knocks again only this time louder. Who could it be? What do they want? Why would someone knock at my door at midnight? Mother had also warned me about midnight. “As the night gets darker, men do too.” That she told me when I was a teenager. It’s fine though, I didn’t even want to go to those parties. I’ve always been a lone wolf myself. A small, white wolf that camouflages into the snow. There it is again, that terrible loud knock. Why won’t they go away? Just leave already! My heart starts beating faster and my breath gets harder to catch.
I remember the last time mother and I talked. She looked so vulnerable laying there alone with her frail, skinny hands in mine.
“Georgie. It’s time. He’s coming for me. I want you to take care of yourself just as I taught you. Can you do that for me Georgie? Yes?”
“Who’s coming for you mother?”
“The Reaper, my son. It is time. It is time for him to come and take my poor soul. Now go get some sleep, it is very late.”
I obeyed. It was very late indeed. Just like it is now. The next day, she was gone.
Four loud, violent knocks made my small apartment shake once again. Suddenly it all made sense to me. Could it be? The Reaper? Could this be the moment my mother had prepared me for my entire life? I must find a safe place to hide myself in. The bathroom? Under the bed! No, too obvious. I start sweating like a pig. He knocks again, again and again. My mind is racing. He must pay. He took my mother away from me. There was a knife on the kitchen counter but then, without noticing, it was suddenly being held tight in my hand. Rage is flowing inside me, pouring out my eyes, steaming through my nose. I swiftly open the door holding the knife high in the air, ready to strike.
A drunken man stood there. “Who are you? Where is everybody? Who- who are you?” He said.
I just stood there frozen for a minute, slowly lowering the knife in my hand.
“Everybody who?” He looked confused. “You must have the wrong apartment.” I replied, abruptly shutting the door to his face.
I slowly returned to my desk and sat there once again, mindlessly typing the numbers in.
