Becoming: Part 4-A Home
Light suddenly filled the room, burning Alex's sensitive eyes. He moaned and rolled onto his stomach, covering his head with a pillow.. There were mumbled voices from across the room and someone approached Alex.
"Are you O.K?"
Alex spun around at the sound, backing up against the far side of the bed as he did so. The person stepped back, raising her hands up in the most non-threatening manner she could. Seeing this, Alex calmed down. He realized that he was safe. This was the first time that he had woken up in a bed, but without being chained to it.
"Wh...Where am I ?" Alex's voice was hoarse, almost to the point that it was unintelligible.
"You're in Colorado. But now you need to rest.
She rested her hand over Alex's eyes, gently guiding his head down to the pillow. Alex didn't resist. He needed his sleep. He had many pressing questions on his mind, but they would have to wait...
Many hours later, in the heat of the day, Alex awoke in a cold sweat. He had dreamt of being trapped inside the burning building. The smoke was omnipotent, it stung his eyes and made it impossible to breath.
Reassuring himself that it was just a dream, Alex wiped his brow and crawled out of his bed. He was in a small room that was coated in a peeling yellowish paint. There was a small window near the door. He threw open the blinds and was temporarily blinded by the sunlight. He covered his eyes with his forearm and turned around. He had always been sensitive to sunlight, but it had never felt this bad before.
Alex waited a minute to allow his eyes to adjust to the light and then turned back to face the window. Large mountains surrounded a small town. There were numerous evergreen pines and aspens. In the center, there was a large lake. The sun shone down on the little village, making the scene almost picture perfect.
After staring out the window for a moment, simply taking in the view, Alex turned towards the door. He turned the handle and pushed. Nothing happened. He gave it a light shove. It didn't budge. The door was stuck on its rusted hinges. This was getting on Alex's nerves. He didn't like being locked in small rooms, especially after the fire. Feeling trapped, he gave the door another shove, only a bit harder. But this time, the door flew open and crashed against the wall. Alex looked himself over; then he checked out the door. It was torn clean off of the wall. Hurried footsteps started to fill the house. Seconds later four people turned a corner and stopped as soon as they saw Alex and the door. There was a feral look on his face. It looked rugged and tired, but it showed a look of self-security. As he looked up at the family, the expression disappeared from his face.
"D..uhh...umm.. I can
explain"
They were sitting around a table.
Alex was nervous.
"Look, I'm sorry about what happened to your door. I promise I'll make it up to you somehow."
The father looked up at this.
"How?"
Alex let his head fall.
"Well, I can't repay you with cash, but I could do chores around the house or something. I don't know"
"I could use someone to help me clean up around here." She smiled at Alex.
"Mary..." The father gave a stern look to his wife.
"Oh calm down John, you always get so worked up about nothing." The mother retorted.
At this, the father got out of his chair, walked towards the living room and motioned for Mary to do the same.
She sighed, then got up and followed her husband. After she entered, John closed the door behind her. Even though they were in a separate room with the connecting door completely closed, Alex could still hear what they were saying as if they were talking only a foot away from his ear.
"Mary, why are you inviting him to stay with us, we don't know who he is! I mean, he could be on drugs for all we know!"
"Oh, for Christ's sake John, he has no where to stay, we don't know when the last time he had anything to eat or drink was, and in all honesty, I could use someone to help me around the house."
John sighed. "Fine, we'll let him stay, but if he does anything even remotely dangerous, he leaves the next day."
Alex heard a faint "thank you" and the sound of a small kiss being placed on someone's cheek.
Seconds later, Mary opened the door with a large smile plastered over her face. John followed behind her, scowling all the way.
"You're welcome to stay in our home" Mary said.