| Black Tongues |
| Fear courses through his blood as a sudden static current charged the air. Something is wrong. Somebody did something wrong. The dull adrenaline in him aches his heart. Too scared to get up and investigate, he strained his ears to listen. Nothing. Not a sound, but he know there are. How long he lay on the bed, he didn't know. Then a noise filtered through his opened door. A man was talking in a low, quiet, dangerous voice. A woman answered just as low and quiet , but full of fear. Her fear is different from his. Her's was sharp. Finally too curious to lie there any longer, the little boy got out of bed to investigate. So he slowly lifted his blanket, sat up, and softly placed his bare feet on the cool tiled floor. In his pajamas, he walked towards the light that streams from the open door on his right. The man was just releasing the woman's collar from his tense, hairy, clenched fist. "Mummy? What are you two doing?" he piped. "Nothing. Go back to sleep", the woman answered. He saw tears in her big eyes. Her eyes were red too. He didn't move. He didn't dare too. Anger was contamination the warm air, mostly from the man. His face was contorted in such a way that is seems like he wanted to kill her. "Go", the woman said more firmly. After what seems like eternity instead of seconds, the boy slowly turned and creeped back into bed. Something bore down in his heart. Something heavy. He didn't know what. All he thought of was that Mummy is crying. She left him out of whatever it was. He has never known sadness until that moment. However, the sense of anger overcame that moment. Invisible black tongues streamed out of the low, wispering voiced humans. Floating. Floating. The boy didn't dare to sleep and least of all to close his eyes. The black tongues were much too near for comfort. He can even see it. After a while, the black tongues started to fade. The Man and Mummy was no longer outsid his door. The black tongues stopped fading. He can hear silent tears. He can hear unsaid murderous words. The black tongues are still there. Were they fighting? No. Man and Mummy don't fight. They fight with him. Wouldn't let him eat any ice-cream. Mummy left him out. The black tongues still won't go away. The air isn't warm. It also isn't cold. The air isn't there anymore. And still the black tongues stayed. Then all was gone. |