Saving Austin

Austin has been asleep for 3 days. One morning our mother went to get him from his room for school, and he didn’t wake up. Our dad rushed him to the hospital, but he was not dead, sleeping. The doctors said that the hospital had overcrowding. Too many people due to some other disease going around; so they sent Austin back home to us. He’s been in his room since.

My mother is becoming more upset each day and my dad hasn’t been doing too great either. I researched on the internet and found an ad on craigslist:

"Local Wizard will help with getting people out of bad situations". Payment first.”

So I thought I'll go to his spot and see what he’s about

The "business", which more so looks like a hut, was off the side of branch avenue. My bike was definitely more worn from the trip than me, but I was happy that I got there. The place was definitely in the ghetto. The walls destroyed, the building lacked any sort of security, I also noticed that the windows were out. But I saw no other option, so I walked up to the front door and knocked.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock* No Response.

I *knock* again, and the door fell down. Not the best way to start getting the help of a wizard, knocking down his door, but I said "why not?" and kept going. I walked into the back room and saw a man dressed in all black robes. His face was still very visible in the darkness. He looked at me, with peircing brown eyes, the color of chocolate. I saw that he was quite fair skinned, couldn't determine if he was black or not, but he definitely wasn't a white guy. It would have been a bit weird if he was in this neighborhood.

"Are you the wizard", I asked him.

“Get out of here kid”, the man said.

His voice was smooth and calm. I felt nice after hearing it. Despite this, I sat down on a nearby chair and gave him a look of contempt.

"I can't leave, I need your help", I told him.

He sighed and got up. He was tall, very tall, almost like a giant. His hands were just as large as him, and he used them to rub his temples and look down at me. "Fine...what dod you want", he asked.

“My brother has been asleep for 3 days now. We need help” I told the man clad in a black rob so obviously evil looking that I had to beg myself not to wince talking to him.

“What makes you think that I would help one such as you”, he asked me.

I thought to give him a long explanation about the love or anything else; but then I decided against it. “Look man, I got the money that you wanted out of your craigslist ad, why else would you not help me at this point.”

His eyes lit up and then he smiled for a moment. “Fair. That’s a fair response. I will help you then, give me the money. Take me to the boy”, the wizard told me.

I gave him the money, a total of 1 dollar. I hope this is worth it.

"By the way, leave the bike here", he tells me.

“Why?”

“Because we are taking magic broom sticks”, he said.

I looked at him trying to hold my face and composure, not sure if he was being serious. Which then led to him laughing like he said the best joke ever. “Because we’re taking an Uber together. I’m not riding a bike there, and you’re definitely not getting in my car”, he corrected himself.

The car arrived and we were on our way home. I closed my eyes for a moment to just think. In my daydream, I could see my brother calling out to me. “Jennifer! Jennifer” he was yelling. This happened almost everytime I closed my eyes, whether it be in class, or to sleep the last 3 days. I didn't like this. I thought that if I got this guy to help Austin he would be able to get me to stop seeing him.

I snuck the wizard past my parents, and got him upstairs to Austin’s room. He looked around the bed and the room. He took a bright purple powder out of his bag. He covered a specific area of the floor with it. And after that he spread the powder around the floor. Then he made a square around Austin’s bed.

“What’s the powder for”, I asked.

“In order to help him we’ll need to enter his mind. Come sit down and do like I do”, he told me.

The wizard sat down in the dust and crossed his legs. He began to pat his chest with his fist and began to hum rhythmically with the beating. I sat down and decided to do the same. Patting and humming, humming and patting, patting and humming… for forever. And then nothing. Nothing occurred. Nothing that I could notice. I stopped, and the wizard stared at me for a moment.

“Do you want your brother out of the coma or not” he asked.

“It feels like nothing is happening", I told him. We’ve been humming and patting and wondering what's going to happen”, I said.

“Your lack of faith is what will get this child killed”, the wizard said, “You must breathe, hum, and pat to the rhythm. Then you’ll understand.”

And then he began again, this time closing his eyes and getting into the beat.. I closed my eyes this time, visualized that I wanted to help my brother. Humming and patting… humming and patting… Humming and patting… I want to save him. Where did that come from?

And then, I felt it. I felt myself rising up. My body was levitating. The room felt like the air was being sucked out of it. The world felt like it had no gravity, like I was able to float. I was too scared to open my eyes to look at what was a place in space. Or underwater. Or in the sky…it was the sky. I felt myself rising higher, I was in the clouds. I was swimming in them. I never knew that clouds had this much water inside. I could see the whole world below me. I could tell the horizon was never ending. Then I was over the ocean. I dove down.

I swam amongst the fish. I heard the songs of whales hundreds of miles away, and dashed toward them. Pretty good for a girl who couldn't swim. I saw sharks eating their prey, and their prey working together to save their babies. I saw the octopus give up its life for it's children. I saw fish cry for it's lost husband. Then I dove deeper.

Now I’m under the ocean. In science class, my teacher taught us that the center of the earth has molten rock and magma. That it’s beyond hot, even being somewhere near it would kill you. Yet here I was staring at the center of the earth, and I could still hear the water above me. I could feel the waves crashing underwater, the sea life struggling and thriving for survival. Then I heard crying. I went there, to see what it was.

Now I’m in a hospital. The maternity ward. I am walking around the doctors and the new parents. Seeing one couple I follow the. I see them giving birth, the stress and the struggle, until the doctor says something that I cannot hear. Then the nurses and other doctors enter the room. They send my mother out of it, and my father looks scared. I follow them, all the way to the operating room. They’re giving her a C-section. Then it hits me. This isn’t just any woman, this is my mother.

And then I saw him. That little chocolate drop that my mom “had to get cut out of her”. I never really understood why she would say that to him, but I guess now I see the reason. Austin is crying loudly, his voice is almost deafening as he takes his first breath. I can’t help but admit that he’s quite beautiful, despite being covered in a ton of blood. I see the doctors begin to clean him, my mother is sleeping, that was exhausting.

They allow my father in the room for a moment. He picks up Austin, his only son, and I could see how my father fell in love with him. It was almost instant. This small infant was there with two people who love him.

“You must go to him, and protect him”, a voice said.

“Who was that”, I replied, shocked and horrified.

“It’s me, the wizard. Who else could it be?”

“Where are you” I asked yet again confused and scared.

“I am where you will be… once you follow your path.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Follow him” he said, and then I heard nothing else.

And so I did, I followed Austin like his shadow. I saw almost everything, his first time getting hit in the face with a dodgeball. The first person he ever kissed that was not our mom, was this boy in his class. I saw that my mother would often take Austin to the hospital. She never told me this. I was surprised to find that most of my time “following him”, was spent here. I also felt vindicated knowing that I was right that he was stealing my hair pins to play with or to fix a toy of his. I’ll definitely have to remember that for later.

The wizard came back to me, but he wasn’t himself. Instead, he appeared as some sort of bird. He said that he was a dove. Why he chose a white pigeon I’ll never understand, but he would follow me through my years of watching Austin. His commentary…wasn’t always helpful.

“Huh, so that’s what you looked like putting on make-up?”

“Can you shut up please? It was my first time.”

After the first few years of following him, I noticed something else. I…wasn’t there. Despite all these memories of his that I was seeing, I wasn’t seeing myself in many of them. The only ones I saw myself in, were the ones where I tortured him. Or I made fun of him, or made him feel bad. It’s strange to think about, but he doesn’t remember me? That couldn’t be it, I thought to myself.

We reached the week before Austin went to sleep and didn’t wake up. I sat in the hospital bed with him, staring at him for a minute. Watching him. It was almost uncanny how happy he could look in such a weird place. It was so clean, so washed out. I went over to the other side of the hospital. I needed to get away. It felt boring. Sitting and watching this little boy all day. I looked outside of the window. It’s hard to see much of anything happening in these spaces. Austin couldn’t see them, the places he hadn't been. Oftentimes they looked like washed out paintings, instead of actual vista’s or anything else.

The Wizard bird came to annoy me more than join me, I could already tell by how it flew.

“What’s wrong”, he said.

“I’m bored”, I replied.

“What is boring you? Watching your brother?”

“What else have I been doing but watching him?”

“You need to find your purpose for why you’re still here watching him.”

“Because you told me to? You told me to follow him?”

“Yes. I did, but you didn’t have to do that. I never held you hostage.”

“What do you mean?”

“You could have left your brother a long time ago. You didn’t have to sit there and watch him for all that stuff, you chose to. You could have woken up and gone about your day; sure your brother would never wake. But you wouldn’t have to be 'bored'”, he explained. “You have more in your heart that you’re not willing to admit.”

“Yeah well…” I started.

Then I felt something else. Something dark. Something…evil. I couldn’t tell what it was, but whatever it was, it was not good.

I turned around to look for it. “It’s coming from your brother’s room”, the bird said in a calm voice.

I ran back to Austin. I looked in his hospital bed. He was sleeping, and there was this… thing standing over him. I couldn’t tell what or who it was. It had a long nose, pointed ears. It’s eyes were a pale blue. The skin was white as snow. Their hands were claws that protruded what looked to be at least 2 feet for the nails alone. Their mouth was open, and it had razor sharp teeth. They had breasts and a woman shape, at least if that woman was built like a fridge, so I could only assume that it was female.

“What is that thing” I shouted.

The white creature opened the satchel bag that hung around it’s chest. It stuck it’s claws into Austin him waking up for a moment and staring it her. It gripped him, pulled out a bright white light and then consumed it. Then she spit out a small ball and packaged it away. She then looked at me, I saw that she was not happy by how she bared her teeth at the bird.

“That is as a Night Hag. It steals away children’s spirits in their dreams", he said. "If the spirit is not returned to their bodies, then the child dies", he explains further, "And the hag keeps the spirit eternity."

"I can’t let that happen. How do I stop it", I asked him.

“You must run in and protect him with your body”, he said. “You must show it your true intentions, otherwise it will steal you away too." The wizard bird perched him self as useless as ever, on the bed where Austin's body laid.

I took what he said literal and ran into the creature full force. I bounced off like a ball that hit a wall. She looked down at me, her eyes lighting up when she could see that I was a bit discombobulated. I started to feel the pull of the hag's open mouth.

"It’s sucking me up!”

"You must admit your intentions otherwise the hag will steal you away” he screams at me

"I intend to help my brother" Ishouted.

The night hag laughs more and opens her more. She begins to suck away my arms and my legs, my torso falls off of my body and all that's left is my neck and my head. I cannot hold on anymore. I see inside of her, pure darkness. The absolute oblivion. She will kill me. I will die, and my brother will never wake up. I’ll fail… I can’t fail… I can’t. She starts sucking up my head as well.

I LOVE MY BROTHER” I scream as loud as possible, “I WANT TO SEE HIM WAKE UP BECAUSE I LOVE HIM. I LOVE WATCHING HIM GROW, I LOVE SEEING HIM BE BETTER. I WANT HIM TO WAKE UP.”

Tears running down my face. But I am so much lighter, and it’s not the fact that I’m a disconnected head. I am...better.

The night hag closes its mouth. It spits out my legs and my torso back at my neck. My body puts itself back together. It stares at me with those beady blue eyes. And I, in turn stare back at it. After our little contest, she looks into her bag, and slams down a small white ball. It cracks. Breaking open, a small form out of the light inside. It’s Austin.

I run and pick him up, staring him down and kissing him. The night hag, having been the real failure, skulks off, back through a dark door. I hope I never see that thing again.

“You did well, young Jennifer. You saved him”, the bird said to me. “Now I must go…”

“Thank you”, I told the bird. “Um…not to be a nuisance. But how do I get back home from here?”

“You still don’t get it, this is allhappening in your head little girl. It’s all a dream”, the bird says laughing and using a bit of a mocking tone. It flies off, out of the hospital window and becomes a man with wings. He peers through the doorway and looks back at us, Austin unconscious at this point. “Remember to take care of that guy. We’ll need him in the future.”

“Wait, who’s ‘we’” I asked him.

And then he was gone. I can’t even determine if he flew away as he was gone so fast.

“I want to get a cheeseburger”, he said.

“Sure buddy. We’ll get all the cheeseburgers”, I told him, “But first we have to wake up.”

And then we did. As we woke up and I saw the room cleaned, the wizard man was gone, and Austin was standing over me. He gave me an excited hug; I thought back to his birth. The day that he screamed so loud it felt like I would be deaf. I thought about how I said back then that he was in the room with 2 people who loved him. But I was wrong.

He was there with 3.