TavernTales 22: The Express Train

[BreakABone]

This is one of those sections where I need to get to a place, not quite sure that place yet.
------
3
A little more than a decade later, the mother still found herself haunted by that singular voice. As the years went by, the demands changed but it always picked at her. When she worked, when she slept even when she tried to have sex.

To this voice, nothing proved sacred.


The clock read quarter past 7 when she returned to her tiny loft. It was not much, but at this point it was the only stable thing in her life. Hearing voices proved to be a huge detriment to landing a job and even after getting one, it was near impossible to hide her problems so sooner rather than later she was let go of.

The mail rose high above the ground behind the door. It had gone unread for weeks now. No good news could be in those letters she believed.

When the fridge door opened, nothing but a bright light shined in her eyes. She had forgotten to go food shopping, but it made no difference now she thought. Reaching for the phone, she would make a call that would solve all her problems.

Bypassing the imaginary dogs, she entered her room and began to undress. She did so in such a casual manner, it also seemed like she was getting ready for bed. Instead she reached into her closet, and pulled out her nicest gown. She had purchased it just this past weekend for this occasion.

After she finished dressing, she placed a bottle of pills on the nightstand by her bed. She had made her decision a long time ago, now she just needed to summon the courage to go through with the act.

She slowly unscrewed the bottle, the cops would be here any minute now she thought. She smiled a sad little smile.
-_-_-_
TML could feel the bond weakening, and then he heard it disappear altogether. He hardly knew the woman, but he knew what the silence now meant.

As he sat at his chair, his emotions froze. Part of him wanted to rejoice at being free, but another part of him now mourned the loss of his special relationship with this mysterious person.

While he never confirmed it, he always had a feeling that this special woman was his mother. In his heart, he knew she never wanted to abandon him, and had found some way to remain in contact.

Sadly, the connection only worked one way it seemed. Each time, he tried to reach out to her; he never received a response, but could tell the message was delivered.

He shut off the computer and left his room.
While most people would find talking to their mother only through a mental one way tunnel weird, that proved to be one of the more normal aspects of TML’s life.

As he made his way down to the dinner table, he stood at the bottom stair to admire the family he had left. While most people in this day and age were lucky to find two loving parents, TML had the distinct honor of having 6 parents who loved and cared for him.

The trade-off was of course that none of the six were married nor were they romantically entangled with anyone else at the table.

He had heard the story so many times with so many variations, but the gist of it was that he was found at the beach after a night of heavy partying. Each and every one of them instantly fell in love with the poor kid, and from that moment on they formed a ragtag family to raise him.

At times, he felt awful that they had each sacrificed their own happiness to raise him, but in some ways he knew that being in their life was more than enough for most of them.

Before he made it down to dinner though, the police came bursting through the door.
------
Hopefully get time to add to it at work tomorrow.

[BreakABone]

This is the final part, and one of my favorite chapters so far.
---------
4
The day the cops came bursting through the door of his home was the day the entire world changed for TML. It would prove to be the day, he lost two families. It also proved to be the day that opened up a world of possibility for him.

He felt an interesting sensation the moment, the first officer put his hands on him. The officer was so close that TML could read off the name on his badge. Officer Johnson. As Officer Johnson attempted to wrestle TML to the ground, he could feel this sensation grow. It became stronger.

Part of him knew what he had to do; the rest of him was surprised that it worked. All he did was suggest that Officer Johnson unhand him. Shortly after making the suggestion, he found himself free of the officer’s grasp. When the physical connection was broken, he felt the sensation die down, but still felt a special connection with this officer.

As the officer straightened himself up, TML knew what to do. He suggested that the officer go help his family out. TML was happy to see that there was no resistance to this suggestion as the officer went over and knocked one of his partners to the ground. The other officer bearing witness to this jumped to her feet and readied her hand to draw her weapon if the situation worsened.

TML could see that the situation would soon escalate so he rushed over to the officers to see if he could control the situation. He offered his hand to the officer who had been shoved on the ground and when he grabbed TML, he felt that sensation again. It was just as strong as the first officer.

Before TML could completely help the officer to his feet though, he felt a gun pointed at his head. “I don’t know what is going on here, but if you don’t get your hands off my partner I will not hesitate to blow your brains out!” The voice was able to convey doubt, worry and fear all at once. The one thing the voice did not sound like however was confident.

The two officers who had come into physical contact with TML now heard a soft voice in their head that nagged them to disarm her. This time TML could feel resistance coming from Officer Johnson, his will, or whatever you want to call it was fighting his suggestion. This only forced the voice to grow louder and more pronounced. Sooner rather than later, Officer Johnson gave into the demands. He flew across the room tackling the female officer hard to the ground. Her gun slipped out of her hand and slid across the floor.

The female officer wrestled her way from underneath Officer Johnson, and TML could not control a slight chuckle as it seemed like she had some experience in this department.

“What the hell is the matter with you, Johnson?” she shouted with even more fear in her voice.

There came a loud banging sound that sent everyone into frenzy. The officers looked at each other to see who fired the gun, but none were drawn. Then they recognized the source was coming from outside. In all this confusion, no one had noticed that TML’s family had snuck out through the backdoor and hopped into the family van.

While the officers were still confused by the sound, TML made a bee-line for the door only to be stopped by the female officer who grabbed him by the collar. There was no sensation this time. He felt no special connection. He attempted to wrangle his way free of his shirt, but only found the area of his neck grow tighter with the lining of his shirt.

“Listen someone is coming down to the sta…” BANG! This time it was a gun shot. BANG! And then there was another. Two bullets ripped through the female officer’s head.

When TML was free, he surveyed the scene to find that both officers had their guns drawn. In his panic, he suggested something a bit too extreme.

TML could not bear the scene anymore, and made a mad dash for the door. He was greeted by applause when he reached the door of the van.

It struck him as odd that none of his parents had lifted a hand in order to aide him, he would remember that lesson.
_-__--
TML’s trip down memory lane was broken up when he heard a soft landing on the roof of the train car.

The landing was too calculated to be mistaken. He pressed a button on his cane and heard the gears begin to move.
-----

Let's see how long it takes before the next part is up.