0 comments

Fantasy

Ellen, a deaf-mute, realizes that her son is sleeping with the sheet up to half his head. She sees John lying face down with a reddish tinge. Despair sets in and Ellen takes the unconscious child on her lap. Ellen had agreed on an "emergency code" with her husband, she was going to call him and clap three times. That way, Carl would understand the warning and go home.

The cry for help comes when she calls her husband, a night watchman. Ellen runs with the child on her lap, tripping over the cat that was passing between her legs, picks up the phone with one shaking hand, while the other holds the baby and dials the number with just a thumb.

In the company where Carl works there are four other watchmen that night. At the same time the cell phone rings, Carl is urinating in the bathroom and leaves the cell phone on the table. Luckily for fate, a person sitting at the table sees the phone ringing and reaches it. When holding the cell phone incorrectly, the power key is pressed. Without an answer, Ellen ends up becoming even more desperate and leaves her house with the child on her lap searching for help from neighbors. A few minutes later, Carl manages to return the call, but, right now, Ellen is walking through the house gate, so she doesn't hear the phone's ring. Carl goes home to meet his wife.

Ellen, on her way to find someone, claps at the gate of the nearest house, an owl is frightened and flies away, it is very dark and the street is poorly lit. Ellen keeps clapping, however, as no one answers, she decides to head to the next house. As she turns and walks down the sidewalk, she stumbles and strains to hold the baby. Her foot is now throbbing with pain, however, the need to find someone is greater.

When Ellen is passing under a lamppost she realizes that the child's nails are white and a transparent liquid runs down her nose.

A man who was passing by sees Ellen walking by herself. She waves for him at about one hundred meters distance, but, in the dark, he does not notice that. Ellen rings the bell of the second house continuously, without taking her finger off the switch. Nobody answers. Once again, she goes to the next house, she is already on the third attempt. When she gets close to the door she hears the sound of a dog barking.

 At that time, her heart speeds up, one window in the house lights up and Ellen is sure of finding someone. She waits for a few moments, but no one opens the door. She insists and waits a little longer. Every second wasted is precious for the baby’s life. After five minutes, the lights go out and Ellen, hopelessly, decides to leave.

It is already 5:30 am when Ellen sees a house with the door opened and the light on. She comes close to the entrance, there is no bell, so she claps and waits. As no one answers, she decides to open the door and enter. The first room to step in is large and white. Suddenly, she sees a woman making coffee in front of the stove and approaches for help.

She is concerned about the reaction of the resident, Jennifer, as she has a hot kettle in her hand. Jennifer notices the approach, turns back, screams and goes into despair letting the boiling waterfalls to the floor. Ellen walks away, points at the baby and puts her hand on the baby's heart. Thus, Jennifer concludes that the woman has a problem and is not as threatening as she imagined.

Ellen opens the baby's sheet, shows his face and starts to cry in front of Jennifer. Then, she calls the emergency and asks Ellen to sit on the couch. Ellen keeps stood up and Jennifer repeats again for her to sit down. Ellen does not obey, so Jennifer realizes she also has hearing problems and writes a note: I have already called for help, you can wait while sitting in the room.

Jennifer is so anxious that she decides to wait at the door of the house to prevent the ambulance from missing the address. The child's hand moves. In about twenty minutes the rescuers arrive. Ellen, hopeful, places John on the doctor's arms.

At this moment Carl enters his house and does not find Ellen. As a paranormal man, Carl feels vibrations and exchanges energy. He goes out into the street and looks for vibrations that lead to Ellen's whereabouts. As he walks, the sensations increase, the sweat drips and he stops in front of an ambulance. He decides to enter a house that has the door open and finds the doctor with his son.

The doctor does the exam and begins the cardiac massage. Fortunately, the baby breathes again and the doctor, happy, returns him to the mother to breastfeed. When Ellen starts to supply milk, Jonh sucks with great strength and hunger. Just a few seconds after the first feeding, the baby suddenly stops sucking on the breast. Then the doctor intervenes again with cardiac massage, for an exhausting forty minutes kneeling on the carpet, dripping sweat on John's face, an effort that is in vain.

Carl approaches the child and touches him. He feels a pain in his chest, all his energy is being sucked in, his legs are wobbly and his heart speeds up. That moment would be decisive to save his son, he would have to donate all his energy. Carl starts to feel sick, he feels sick and his vision is blurred.

I need to save my son, I can't stop now, he thinks. Carl passes out.

Carl wakes up in the hospital and looks at Ellen's face. She smiles, hugs him and writes on paper: our son is hospitalized but is doing well.

I knew I could do it, my son is safe, thinks Carl. I knew I could do it, my son is safe, thinks Carl. He hugs his wife once more.



March 13, 2020 15:06

You must sign up or log in to submit a comment.

0 comments

RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. 100% free.