Liam Drake
I wrote this a few days ago, and I still don't get it. I'll see if you can get up with a good explanation about what's going on here.
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Liam didn’t know what happened, suddenly he was just there. Standing in the middle of nowhere, curiously looking around himself. He wasn’t even frightened, like he imagined he would’ve been if reality had shifted in front of his eyes three weeks ago. Nothing seemed to frighten him anymore. He looked down and saw, not surprisingly, that his feet didn’t have any support. He imagined himself realizing he couldn’t really stand there and falling just because of that, like in a cartoon. He rolled his eyes and sighed. People never learn, do they?
“I do not fear the nothing!” he cried out into the void. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he could see the soundwaves caused by his voice to ripple and burst through his surroundings. As if his protest was heard, the land around him shifted once more. He now found himself in a child’s room. Toys were spread over the floor, and various posters of dinosaurs and trucks were taped on the wall. It was obvious it was a small boy’s room. Being a little nostalgic, he went to the desk, opened a drawer and took out a small stone. He remembered how he always took it with him when he went somewhere. It was for luck. He let his thumb brush against it a few times before putting it back. He looked up at the ceiling.
“What now? Will you let my room be soaked with blood? Maybe my dead parents will come in through the door? Or maybe a dead me, murdered by someone just like me? There is nothing you can do that I haven’t already done or seen. All this is a waste of everyone’s time. Let it stop now.”
Liam turned towards the door and read the text on the poster there carefully, as if trying to divert his own attention. He heard a ghostly sigh behind him.
“If only you could understand, Liam.”
Liam grinned bitterly.
“There is nothing you can teach me.” He said quietly and left his old room. He stepped out into the living room, looked around himself and went down the stairs. He smelled pancakes. And, as always, his mother stood by the stove. She had a content smile on her aged face, and she was flipping pancakes with the skill of a veteran. She smiled at him.
“Good morning dearest.” She greeted him when he sat down by the table. He smiled back.
“Good morning, mother. I hope all is well today.”
“Oh, it is. It is.” She said with the tone of an unfinished sentence. Liam patiently waited for the continuation.
“I was just thinking, dear... maybe you can stay a little longer this time? We’ve hardly seen you for so long.”
Liam put his hands down onto the table and stared at them.
“You know I cannot make any promises, mother. I will stay as long as I can, as always.”
His mother sighed deeply.
“Yes. As always.”
Liam suddenly felt a desperate need for coffee. He carefully got up and took a cup. While he filled it, he noticed that though his mother had fried several pancakes, there was no growing stack to be seen. He chose to ignore it this time. Everyone made mistakes. He sat down again and took a sip of his coffee.
“When will father be back? I haven’t seen him in a while.”
Just for a second, his mother’s movements stopped. He could hear an irregularity in the ticks of the clock. He silently counted to three. His father came in through the door.
“Hello dearest. Hello Liam. Glad to see that you are back.”
Liam made a small nod as a greeting. His father sat down on the opposite end of him and, as if it was completely normal, took his cup of coffee and drank from it. He didn’t give it back. Liam leaned backwards. His father glanced at him.
“So... why are you here this time?”
“Marcus!” Liam’s mother barked by the stove, now glaring at her husband. He gave her an apolegtic look.
“I’m just asking. It’s not like he pays us a visit that often.”
“I am here because they wanted me to be.” Liam explained silently. His parents glanced at each other.
“I see.” His father finally said and continued to drink the still steaming coffee. Yet another mistake. Liam could feel the chill of ‘presence’ behind him.
“They don’t know what you’re talking about. This is reality.” The voice behind him said. Liam nodded.
“But still, that won’t stop me from telling. Maybe one day they will wake up.”
There was a moment’s silence.
“You’re the one who has to wake up, Mr. Drake.”
“Be quiet. Leave me.”
As he said it, the presence disappeared. Liam turned his attention back to his parents. They stared at him. He stared at his father, who slowly put the cup down.
”Liam...” he began.
“I do not want to hear anything you have to say.”
“Liam, please. You have to stop that. Don’t you understand?”
Liam glared at him. Then lowered his eyes.
“Yes, father.”
His father relaxed, loosening the tight grip he had of the cup.
“I’m glad to hear that. Have you been taking your medecine?”
Liam thought of the small package of blue pills. He couldn’t remember what they were for, but remembered abandoning them last time they took him somewhere else. Still, he nodded.
“Yes father.”
“Good boy, Liam.”
“But they do not have the desired effect. I still know the truth. Why would you like to dampen my senses?”
His mother sighed deeply. Then she froze in the movement. As did Liam’s father and everything else around him. Liam looked around himself a moment, then took back his warm cup of coffee and continued to drink. After a short while, a young woman came in through the door.
“Liam.” She said shortly. He looked up at her.
“This simulation was flawed, Ms. Redding. There were small details that everyone would notice. I expected more from you.”
She smiled wearily.
“I had hoped to make a bigger impression on you this time, but apparently I need more practice.”
Ms. Redding took a few steps towards him, always smiling.
“Tell me what I did wrong.”
Liam sat quietly for a while, before finally sighing.
“My mother’s pancakes disappeared, a little glitch when father came, my coffee is still warm and when I first arrived, it seemed as if they knew what would happen, then they treated me like their mentally ill son. It was too much.”
She nodded slightly.
“Yes... I see what you mean.”
They were silent for a while, before Liam suddenly got on his feet and threw the coffee against a cabinet on the wall. He turned towards Ms. Redding.
“How many times must I suffer this? My parents, my home, it’s gone! It is no more and I am well aware of it! The death of my wife! All those little children! My son! Me! How many times must I see this?! How long must I suffer this?!” he screamed at her, tears running down his face. She stood motionless, looking at him. Then she smiled bitterly.
“Until you have paid the price of your crimes, Liam.”
He looked down on the floor. He made a strange, whimpering sound and began to wipe the tears off his face with the back of his hand.
“I... understand. Of course.”
“It will be easier if you could take this as reality. Time will pass faster.”
“I will not.”
She made a motion with her hand, something Liam recognized as a control movement. The room faded away.
“You are the only aware one we’ve had so far. You do understand I must make your punishment more agonizing because of it?”
Liam nodded without a sound.
“Good. Would you like to know how much time you have left?”
“No. Thank you.”
“Alright. Well, Liam. I have a secret. It’s your birthday today, so I’ll give you something special. You’ll see when you ‘are taken somewhere’, as you call it. Where would you like to go?”
Liam was quiet for a while. Then his face broke up into a hideous grin.
“I want the void.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“The void? Why? You know that is…” her voice trailed off at the end, as if she couldn’t find the right words. He looked away from her, looked at something only he could see. His grin transformed into something more human.
“Because I want to see if I can fill it.”
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