Chapter 4
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The official diagnosis for mom's condition was Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) caused by the sudden loss of a loved one. Her doctors declared her mentally unfit and recommended we place her in psychiatric care to help her recover from the ordeal. Although I was initially against leaving mom behind in St. Lucy's psychiatric ward, I was smart enough to understand that neither aunt Lena nor I were equipped to help her in any meaningful way. Since the doctors promised they would do their best to help mom heal mentally, I relented. What else could I do?
That same night aunt Lena brought me home to the empty house and told me she would live with me for as long as my mom was in the hospital. She would rent out her apartment for a while and use the guest bedroom in the house's second floor which was conveniently right next to my room. It was a comfort to hear her decide this without having to ask her to stay. I couldn't even imagine living here all alone with nothing but the recent tragic memories for company.
Meanwhile, the hunt for Luca lasted a mere two months. Having found no significant clues to his whereabouts, the police ended their search and chalked it up to just another mysterious and unsolved missing person's case.
It wasn't like they were incompetent—although I remember calling the detective that to his face when he informed me and aunt Lena of the Police Department's decision—it was just that there were so many missing people in Starlight City that Luca's incident didn't seem so abnormal. Sure, once in a while a well-known family like ours would lose a kid and get attention from the authorities, but we were in the minority. Most missing person's cases didn't even make the news. It was just generally accepted as a hazard of living in Starlight City. Yes, missing teenagers was tragic, but the city was prosperous despite it. Businesses rarely went under, outbreaks of diseases rarely happened, and money flowed into all sectors of life. Starlight City thrived, and in a world where problems like famine, disease, and war cropped up everywhere, the citizens of Starlight were content to live here despite the odd sacrifice or two.
After the detective left that afternoon with a promise to call us if any news regarding Luca turned up, I stormed out of my house not knowing where I was headed. My feet led me along the familiar path to the nearest bus stop, and from there I rode the short ride from the suburbs into midtown. I got off at 5th Avenue ten minutes later and walked along the bustling streets packed with people on their way home from work. My subconscious was obviously taking me somewhere. I only discovered where after I found myself standing in front of the entrance to St. Lucy's.
As dusk approached, the hospital's entrance sign lit up like a neon beacon in the growing darkness. To me, it seemed like a proverbial go sign welcoming me in, and so I did.
Mom's room was on the fourth floor of the hospital's second tower. But because hesitation slowed my steps, by the time I made it to her floor, night had completely fallen. The LED lights above me were glaringly bright as I made my way through the white hallway of the Psychiatric Ward. I passed an open door to my right and heard the angry shouts coming out of it.
"The fairies—the fairies are calling me, I tell you! They won't let me rest!" a man's low baritone voice screamed.
"Mr. Azuma, please calm down," another man answered. "Nurse, we will have to sedate him… give him a dose of Lorazepam."
"No! Don't put me to sleep! Don't send me back there!" Azuma screamed.
Two burly orderlies in white scrubs passed me by before they charged into the room to help secure the rampaging patient. Soon afterward, scuffling sounds emanated from that room, as if the patient inside refused to be restrained.
I moved along, not waiting to see which side would win. I had my own battle to fight.
Mom's door was on the left, near the end of the long hallway, and far enough from the rampaging man's room. I stood before it undecided if I should enter. Five minutes passed, and I still didn't have the nerve to turn the door handle.
Why was I being such a wuss about this? Because I was looking for hope and I knew deep down that I wouldn't find it here. After visiting mom nearly every day, I knew only hopelessness lay beyond the door.
"Get it together, Dean," I whispered.
However, before I could get it together, the door actually swung open on its own and a young woman in a white lab coat appeared on the other side of it.
Long golden hair fell across her shoulders in wavy curls. Her eyes, hidden behind thick glasses, were the striking blue of a clear azure sky. Her nose was long and extended more at the tip. Her skin was the alabaster white of a goddess statue that had suddenly come to life. The surprise showing on her oval face at seeing me standing there mirrored my own, although I doubt her jaw was dropping like mine must have been. No, her small mouth with their pale pink lips reformed in a smile just before she inquired about why I was there.
My brain felt frozen, stuck on loading to the point where I couldn't utter more than a dumb, "um," in front of the gorgeous woman who I assumed was a doctor. She was wearing a doctor's signature white lab coat after all.
The doctor giggled. It was a wonderful, playful sound.
"You must be Dean," she said.
Her voice, although high, wasn't the grating kind. It was the sound of honey being poured into my ears.
"Are you here to visit your mother?" she asked.
I nodded dumbly.
The doctor walked through the open doorway and stepped aside for me.
"Please go ahead," she held the door open. "Lora's feeling much better tonight."
There was something wrong in her statement—like she actually believed my mom was better. Nevertheless, I could do nothing but follow her suggestion. I entered the room, but when I turned around a second later to thank her—or more likely, ask for her number—the doctor was nowhere in sight. The corridor was empty.
"That's… weird," I said, confused.
"Hi, Dean," a female voice said.
Just hearing her greet me in such a calm manner sent my heart pounding madly as I hadn't heard mom sounding so normal since the night I found her on the couch. Only, was it possible for someone who had PTSD to get better suddenly?
Fear and hope gripped me in equal measure as I turned around to face her.
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Mom was sitting on the cushioned bench by the window staring out at a view of the night sky where the full moon was out in all its glory. Moonlight drifted down from the sky to illuminate the darkened room, and it was only then that I realized the lights were out in here.
"Mom?" I called, hesitantly.
She turned to look at me. There was a warm smile on her face, the kind you probably wouldn't find on a catatonic patient's face.
Mom gestured me over to sit beside her, but I hesitated.
"I won't bite, Dean. Come over here and give me a hug," she insisted with a laugh. It was the same one dad used to gush about.
That clinched it. It really was mom. She was okay.
At that moment, I forgot all my problems and went over to embrace her. I didn't even notice the waterworks flowing down my cheeks until she brushed them away.
"When did you turn into a crybaby?" she asked.
I rubbed my eyes while my face turned red from embarrassment.
"I'm not… I've just got something in my eyes," I lied.
After I blinked the tears away—something that took a longer time to accomplish than I initially imagined—I saw mom's face turn grave. Her mood changed instantly. The atmosphere turned serious.
"Listen to me now, Dean… We have little time," she said.
"What's wrong, mom?" I asked.
"There's so much to tell…" She grasped both my hands in hers. Our fingers intertwined. "I'm so sorry… Everything that's happened to you and Luca is our fault… Mine and your father's…"
I stiffened. What did she mean by this confession? And how was dad involved?
According to mom, mine was a sickly birth that came with many complications. The doctors didn't think I would survive the night.
Her hands squeezed mine. "But your father… Desmond… he wouldn't give up on you so he made a deal to save your life…"
"What kind of deal?" I asked.
If this was a movie, now would be the moment suspenseful music would begin playing, the kind that raised the hair on the back of one's arms while simultaneously increasing the tension up to several notches.
"I didn't know about it until a year and a half later… when L-Luca was born," mom said, her voice turning frantic. "They tried to take him then, but Desmond wouldn't let them… it wasn't the deal."
Here was when I noticed how the moonlight seemed to reflect unnaturally onto my mom's eyes. They were too bright, like cat eyes reflecting a car's headlights.
"The ones who came… they were… they were… they were…" she struggled but couldn't seem to finish her sentence. Every time she tried, she would choke on what I assumed was an important word. Eventually, she gave up on this tactic and switched to telling me about Luca's birth instead.
Unlike mine, Luca came out of the womb a strong and healthy baby. It was very uneventful, at least not until later that night when mom woke up from her sleep and found two strange visitors standing over baby Luca's hospital crib.
"One was tall and lean while the other was squat and had a barrel-like shape. It was all I could see as they were both covered in shadows," mom explained.
Her grip tightened on my hand.
"Fear overtook me. I screamed… but no sound came out of my mouth," she said.
Her failed outburst caught the attention of the tall visitor, and his response to her silent scream was to place a finger over the space where his lips must have been like he was telling her to be quiet. Luckily, dad—who was sleeping on the couch next to mom's hospital bed—was a very light sleeper, and mom's frantic movements had alerted him to the intruders who arrived in the night.
"I'd never seen him so furious… Yet I could tell he was also very frightened," mom admitted. "He yelled for them to go away as it wasn't time yet…"
Her voice had turned hollow like the sound made by a robotic voice recording.
"Mom… what's wrong?" I asked, worried.
She ignored my concern and continued her story as if she couldn't stop herself now that she'd begun.
"The tall one spoke, and it was like the sound the wind makes in a storm… It was terrible to hear," mom said in her hollow voice.
Mom's eyes shone even brighter. They were two pinpricks of light in the darkness of the room.
I won't lie. The current situation was starting to terrify me.
"The voice said they were only there to inspect the merchandise… to ensure the sacrifice was healthy," mom said.
My brow furrowed at the word "sacrifice" and I had to ask her what she meant by it. She responded with the worst answer I could imagine, "Luca."
"Why? Why was Luca a sacrifice?" I asked, confused.
Mom had lost much of the lucidity she had when she asked me for an embrace. Her glowing eyes stared at me with an intensity that made me want to pull back but she tightened her grip on my hands and kept me in place. Then her voice switched to an urgent, hurried tone that felt rushed and nearly indecipherable.
"They vanished as quickly as they came… like imaginary ghosts in the dark… but not before they revealed the truth," she said.
"Mom, why did they want Luca?" I insisted. I needed her to stay on point.
The urgency in my voice must have gotten through to her because she answered, "The deal Desmond made to save you — your life for the life of our next child."
My hands slipped out of mom's grasp. I pulled away from her as the horror of this realization overwhelmed me. Mom was wrong. It wasn't her or dad's fault. It was mine. I was the reason Luca went missing.
"Does that mean... is Luca... is he dead?" I asked.
Mom shook her head.
Relief flooded my system, and the pain in my chest lessened to a dull throb that was incomparable to the squeezing sensation I felt previously.
The lights flickered on and off, adding to the already foreboding mood.
My mother's eyes began to lose their weird shine. Intuition told me this was a bad thing. She was most likely losing her connection to that night—and maybe to her newfound sanity too. This was no longer a time to be gentle. I grasped her shoulders and forced her to focus on me.
"Tell me who took Luca, mom," I asked in a cold tone that didn't reflect the panic or worry in my heart.
She shook her head repeatedly. "No, no, no… I can't…"
"Tell me now," I insisted.
Her eyes which were no longer lustrous gazed back at me, and just for a second, I could see a spark of understanding flare-up in their brown irises.
"Fairies," she whispered. "The fairies took Luca."
The lights flickered again. More violently this time. As if a naughty child had its hand on the switch and was fooling around with it.
"Fairies?" My brain hurt. It felt like invisible hands were squeezing them from inside my head. "What the hell are fairies? Where would they take Luca?"
Mom shut her eyes. She shook her head. Then her mouth opened in a wordless scream right before she slumped forward and passed out on my shoulder.
The lights flickered one last time before brightness filled the room and banished the darkness surrounding us.
Mom stiffened in my arms as if waking from sleep. She pulled away. Her face, which only a minute ago had been so animated, was back to the glazed catatonic state that was now her default since Luca vanished.
Realizing mom would be no more help, I put her arm over my shoulder and half-carried her back to her hospital bed as gently as I could. She obeyed without complaint. After she laid back onto the mattress, I placed the blanket over her to keep her warm. The night was cold after all.
Feeling drained myself, I sat on the chair beside her and just stared at the ceiling. The shadows in the room had deepened before I stirred again. The cold numbness that overcame me when I realized I was responsible for Luca's disappearance was slowly giving way to a furious rage simmering inside me.
Fairies were real, and they abducted my little brother. It was up to me to bring him home.
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The official diagnosis for mom's condition was Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) caused by the sudden loss of a loved one. Her doctors declared her mentally unfit and recommended we place her in psychiatric care to help her recover from the ordeal. Although I was initially against leaving mom behind in St. Lucy's psychiatric ward, I was smart enough to understand that neither aunt Lena nor I were equipped to help her in any meaningful way. Since the doctors promised they would do their best to help mom heal mentally, I relented. What else could I do?
That same night aunt Lena brought me home to the empty house and told me she would live with me for as long as my mom was in the hospital. She would rent out her apartment for a while and use the guest bedroom in the house's second floor which was conveniently right next to my room. It was a comfort to hear her decide this without having to ask her to stay. I couldn't even imagine living here all alone with nothing but the recent tragic memories for company.
Meanwhile, the hunt for Luca lasted a mere two months. Having found no significant clues to his whereabouts, the police ended their search and chalked it up to just another mysterious and unsolved missing person's case.
It wasn't like they were incompetent—although I remember calling the detective that to his face when he informed me and aunt Lena of the Police Department's decision—it was just that there were so many missing people in Starlight City that Luca's incident didn't seem so abnormal. Sure, once in a while a well-known family like ours would lose a kid and get attention from the authorities, but we were in the minority. Most missing person's cases didn't even make the news. It was just generally accepted as a hazard of living in Starlight City. Yes, missing teenagers was tragic, but the city was prosperous despite it. Businesses rarely went under, outbreaks of diseases rarely happened, and money flowed into all sectors of life. Starlight City thrived, and in a world where problems like famine, disease, and war cropped up everywhere, the citizens of Starlight were content to live here despite the odd sacrifice or two.
After the detective left that afternoon with a promise to call us if any news regarding Luca turned up, I stormed out of my house not knowing where I was headed. My feet led me along the familiar path to the nearest bus stop, and from there I rode the short ride from the suburbs into midtown. I got off at 5th Avenue ten minutes later and walked along the bustling streets packed with people on their way home from work. My subconscious was obviously taking me somewhere. I only discovered where after I found myself standing in front of the entrance to St. Lucy's.
As dusk approached, the hospital's entrance sign lit up like a neon beacon in the growing darkness. To me, it seemed like a proverbial go sign welcoming me in, and so I did.
Mom's room was on the fourth floor of the hospital's second tower. But because hesitation slowed my steps, by the time I made it to her floor, night had completely fallen. The LED lights above me were glaringly bright as I made my way through the white hallway of the Psychiatric Ward. I passed an open door to my right and heard the angry shouts coming out of it.
"The fairies—the fairies are calling me, I tell you! They won't let me rest!" a man's low baritone voice screamed.
"Mr. Azuma, please calm down," another man answered. "Nurse, we will have to sedate him… give him a dose of Lorazepam."
"No! Don't put me to sleep! Don't send me back there!" Azuma screamed.
Two burly orderlies in white scrubs passed me by before they charged into the room to help secure the rampaging patient. Soon afterward, scuffling sounds emanated from that room, as if the patient inside refused to be restrained.
I moved along, not waiting to see which side would win. I had my own battle to fight.
Mom's door was on the left, near the end of the long hallway, and far enough from the rampaging man's room. I stood before it undecided if I should enter. Five minutes passed, and I still didn't have the nerve to turn the door handle.
Why was I being such a wuss about this? Because I was looking for hope and I knew deep down that I wouldn't find it here. After visiting mom nearly every day, I knew only hopelessness lay beyond the door.
"Get it together, Dean," I whispered.
However, before I could get it together, the door actually swung open on its own and a young woman in a white lab coat appeared on the other side of it.
Long golden hair fell across her shoulders in wavy curls. Her eyes, hidden behind thick glasses, were the striking blue of a clear azure sky. Her nose was long and extended more at the tip. Her skin was the alabaster white of a goddess statue that had suddenly come to life. The surprise showing on her oval face at seeing me standing there mirrored my own, although I doubt her jaw was dropping like mine must have been. No, her small mouth with their pale pink lips reformed in a smile just before she inquired about why I was there.
My brain felt frozen, stuck on loading to the point where I couldn't utter more than a dumb, "um," in front of the gorgeous woman who I assumed was a doctor. She was wearing a doctor's signature white lab coat after all.
The doctor giggled. It was a wonderful, playful sound.
"You must be Dean," she said.
Her voice, although high, wasn't the grating kind. It was the sound of honey being poured into my ears.
"Are you here to visit your mother?" she asked.
I nodded dumbly.
The doctor walked through the open doorway and stepped aside for me.
"Please go ahead," she held the door open. "Lora's feeling much better tonight."
There was something wrong in her statement—like she actually believed my mom was better. Nevertheless, I could do nothing but follow her suggestion. I entered the room, but when I turned around a second later to thank her—or more likely, ask for her number—the doctor was nowhere in sight. The corridor was empty.
"That's… weird," I said, confused.
"Hi, Dean," a female voice said.
Just hearing her greet me in such a calm manner sent my heart pounding madly as I hadn't heard mom sounding so normal since the night I found her on the couch. Only, was it possible for someone who had PTSD to get better suddenly?
Fear and hope gripped me in equal measure as I turned around to face her.
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Mom was sitting on the cushioned bench by the window staring out at a view of the night sky where the full moon was out in all its glory. Moonlight drifted down from the sky to illuminate the darkened room, and it was only then that I realized the lights were out in here.
"Mom?" I called, hesitantly.
She turned to look at me. There was a warm smile on her face, the kind you probably wouldn't find on a catatonic patient's face.
Mom gestured me over to sit beside her, but I hesitated.
"I won't bite, Dean. Come over here and give me a hug," she insisted with a laugh. It was the same one dad used to gush about.
That clinched it. It really was mom. She was okay.
At that moment, I forgot all my problems and went over to embrace her. I didn't even notice the waterworks flowing down my cheeks until she brushed them away.
"When did you turn into a crybaby?" she asked.
I rubbed my eyes while my face turned red from embarrassment.
"I'm not… I've just got something in my eyes," I lied.
After I blinked the tears away—something that took a longer time to accomplish than I initially imagined—I saw mom's face turn grave. Her mood changed instantly. The atmosphere turned serious.
"Listen to me now, Dean… We have little time," she said.
"What's wrong, mom?" I asked.
"There's so much to tell…" She grasped both my hands in hers. Our fingers intertwined. "I'm so sorry… Everything that's happened to you and Luca is our fault… Mine and your father's…"
I stiffened. What did she mean by this confession? And how was dad involved?
According to mom, mine was a sickly birth that came with many complications. The doctors didn't think I would survive the night.
Her hands squeezed mine. "But your father… Desmond… he wouldn't give up on you so he made a deal to save your life…"
"What kind of deal?" I asked.
If this was a movie, now would be the moment suspenseful music would begin playing, the kind that raised the hair on the back of one's arms while simultaneously increasing the tension up to several notches.
"I didn't know about it until a year and a half later… when L-Luca was born," mom said, her voice turning frantic. "They tried to take him then, but Desmond wouldn't let them… it wasn't the deal."
Here was when I noticed how the moonlight seemed to reflect unnaturally onto my mom's eyes. They were too bright, like cat eyes reflecting a car's headlights.
"The ones who came… they were… they were… they were…" she struggled but couldn't seem to finish her sentence. Every time she tried, she would choke on what I assumed was an important word. Eventually, she gave up on this tactic and switched to telling me about Luca's birth instead.
Unlike mine, Luca came out of the womb a strong and healthy baby. It was very uneventful, at least not until later that night when mom woke up from her sleep and found two strange visitors standing over baby Luca's hospital crib.
"One was tall and lean while the other was squat and had a barrel-like shape. It was all I could see as they were both covered in shadows," mom explained.
Her grip tightened on my hand.
"Fear overtook me. I screamed… but no sound came out of my mouth," she said.
Her failed outburst caught the attention of the tall visitor, and his response to her silent scream was to place a finger over the space where his lips must have been like he was telling her to be quiet. Luckily, dad—who was sleeping on the couch next to mom's hospital bed—was a very light sleeper, and mom's frantic movements had alerted him to the intruders who arrived in the night.
"I'd never seen him so furious… Yet I could tell he was also very frightened," mom admitted. "He yelled for them to go away as it wasn't time yet…"
Her voice had turned hollow like the sound made by a robotic voice recording.
"Mom… what's wrong?" I asked, worried.
She ignored my concern and continued her story as if she couldn't stop herself now that she'd begun.
"The tall one spoke, and it was like the sound the wind makes in a storm… It was terrible to hear," mom said in her hollow voice.
Mom's eyes shone even brighter. They were two pinpricks of light in the darkness of the room.
I won't lie. The current situation was starting to terrify me.
"The voice said they were only there to inspect the merchandise… to ensure the sacrifice was healthy," mom said.
My brow furrowed at the word "sacrifice" and I had to ask her what she meant by it. She responded with the worst answer I could imagine, "Luca."
"Why? Why was Luca a sacrifice?" I asked, confused.
Mom had lost much of the lucidity she had when she asked me for an embrace. Her glowing eyes stared at me with an intensity that made me want to pull back but she tightened her grip on my hands and kept me in place. Then her voice switched to an urgent, hurried tone that felt rushed and nearly indecipherable.
"They vanished as quickly as they came… like imaginary ghosts in the dark… but not before they revealed the truth," she said.
"Mom, why did they want Luca?" I insisted. I needed her to stay on point.
The urgency in my voice must have gotten through to her because she answered, "The deal Desmond made to save you — your life for the life of our next child."
My hands slipped out of mom's grasp. I pulled away from her as the horror of this realization overwhelmed me. Mom was wrong. It wasn't her or dad's fault. It was mine. I was the reason Luca went missing.
"Does that mean... is Luca... is he dead?" I asked.
Mom shook her head.
Relief flooded my system, and the pain in my chest lessened to a dull throb that was incomparable to the squeezing sensation I felt previously.
The lights flickered on and off, adding to the already foreboding mood.
My mother's eyes began to lose their weird shine. Intuition told me this was a bad thing. She was most likely losing her connection to that night—and maybe to her newfound sanity too. This was no longer a time to be gentle. I grasped her shoulders and forced her to focus on me.
"Tell me who took Luca, mom," I asked in a cold tone that didn't reflect the panic or worry in my heart.
She shook her head repeatedly. "No, no, no… I can't…"
"Tell me now," I insisted.
Her eyes which were no longer lustrous gazed back at me, and just for a second, I could see a spark of understanding flare-up in their brown irises.
"Fairies," she whispered. "The fairies took Luca."
The lights flickered again. More violently this time. As if a naughty child had its hand on the switch and was fooling around with it.
"Fairies?" My brain hurt. It felt like invisible hands were squeezing them from inside my head. "What the hell are fairies? Where would they take Luca?"
Mom shut her eyes. She shook her head. Then her mouth opened in a wordless scream right before she slumped forward and passed out on my shoulder.
The lights flickered one last time before brightness filled the room and banished the darkness surrounding us.
Mom stiffened in my arms as if waking from sleep. She pulled away. Her face, which only a minute ago had been so animated, was back to the glazed catatonic state that was now her default since Luca vanished.
Realizing mom would be no more help, I put her arm over my shoulder and half-carried her back to her hospital bed as gently as I could. She obeyed without complaint. After she laid back onto the mattress, I placed the blanket over her to keep her warm. The night was cold after all.
Feeling drained myself, I sat on the chair beside her and just stared at the ceiling. The shadows in the room had deepened before I stirred again. The cold numbness that overcame me when I realized I was responsible for Luca's disappearance was slowly giving way to a furious rage simmering inside me.
Fairies were real, and they abducted my little brother. It was up to me to bring him home.
The official diagnosis for mom's condition was Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD caused by the sudden loss of a loved one. Her doctors declared her mentally unfit and recommended we place her in psychiatric care to help her recover from the ordeal. Although I was initially against leaving mom behind in St. Lucy's psychiatric ward, I was smart enough to understand that neither aunt Lena nor I were equipped to help her in any meaningful way. Since the doctors promised they would do their best to help mom heal mentally, I relented. What else could I do?That same night aunt Lena brought me home to the empty house and told me she would live with me for as long as my mom was in the hospital. She would rent out her apartment for a while and use the guest bedroom in the house's second floor which was conveniently right next to my room. It was a comfort to hear her decide this without having to ask her to stay. I couldn't even imagine living here all alone with nothing but the recent tragic memories for company.Meanwhile, the hunt for Luca lasted a mere two months. Having found no significant clues to his whereabouts, the police ended their search and chalked it up to just another mysterious and unsolved missing person's case.It wasn't like they were incompetentalthough I remember calling the detective that to his face when he informed me and aunt Lena of the Police Department's decisionit was just that there were so many missing people in Starlight City that Luca's incident didn't seem so abnormal. Sure, once in a while a well-known family like ours would lose a kid and get attention from the authorities, but we were in the minority. Most missing person's cases didn't even make the news. It was just generally accepted as a hazard of living in Starlight City. Yes, missing teenagers was tragic, but the city was prosperous despite it. Businesses rarely went under, outbreaks of diseases rarely happened, and money flowed into all sectors of life. Starlight City thrived, and in a world where problems like famine, disease, and war cropped up everywhere, the citizens of Starlight were content to live here despite the odd sacrifice or two.After the detective left that afternoon with a promise to call us if any news regarding Luca turned up, I stormed out of my house not knowing where I was headed. My feet led me along the familiar path to the nearest bus stop, and from there I rode the short ride from the suburbs into midtown. I got off at 5th Avenue ten minutes later and walked along the bustling streets packed with people on their way home from work. My subconscious was obviously taking me somewhere. I only discovered where after I found myself standing in front of the entrance to St. Lucy's.As dusk approached, the hospital's entrance sign lit up like a neon beacon in the growing darkness. To me, it seemed like a proverbial go sign welcoming me in, and so I did.Mom's room was on the fourth floor of the hospital's second tower. But because hesitation slowed my steps, by the time I made it to her floor, night had completely fallen. The LED lights above me were glaringly bright as I made my way through the white hallway of the Psychiatric Ward. I passed an open door to my right and heard the angry shouts coming out of it."The fairiesthe fairies are calling me, I tell you! They won't let me rest!" a man's low baritone voice screamed."Mr. Azuma, please calm down," another man answered. "Nurse, we will have to sedate him give him a dose of Lorazepam.""No! Don't put me to sleep! Don't send me back there!" Azuma screamed.Two burly orderlies in white scrubs passed me by before they charged into the room to help secure the rampaging patient. Soon afterward, scuffling sounds emanated from that room, as if the patient inside refused to be restrained.I moved along, not waiting to see which side would win. I had my own battle to fight.Mom's door was on the left, near the end of the long hallway, and far enough from the rampaging man's room. I stood before it undecided if I should enter. Five minutes passed, and I still didn't have the nerve to turn the door handle.Why was I being such a wuss about this? Because I was looking for hope and I knew deep down that I wouldn't find it here. After visiting mom nearly every day, I knew only hopelessness lay beyond the door."Get it together, Dean," I whispered.However, before I could get it together, the door actually swung open on its own and a young woman in a white lab coat appeared on the other side of it.Long golden hair fell across her shoulders in wavy curls. Her eyes, hidden behind thick glasses, were the striking blue of a clear azure sky. Her nose was long and extended more at the tip. Her skin was the alabaster white of a goddess statue that had suddenly come to life. The surprise showing on her oval face at seeing me standing there mirrored my own, although I doubt her jaw was dropping like mine must have been. No, her small mouth with their pale pink lips reformed in a smile just before she inquired about why I was there.My brain felt frozen, stuck on loading to the point where I couldn't utter more than a dumb, "um," in front of the gorgeous woman who I assumed was a doctor. She was wearing a doctor's signature white lab coat after all.The doctor giggled. It was a wonderful, playful sound."You must be Dean," she said.Her voice, although high, wasn't the grating kind. It was the sound of honey being poured into my ears."Are you here to visit your mother?" she asked.I nodded dumbly.The doctor walked through the open doorway and stepped aside for me."Please go ahead," she held the door open. "Lora's feeling much better tonight."There was something wrong in her statementlike she actually believed my mom was better. Nevertheless, I could do nothing but follow her suggestion. I entered the room, but when I turned around a second later to thank heror more likely, ask for her numberthe doctor was nowhere in sight. The corridor was empty."That's weird," I said, confused."Hi, Dean," a female voice said.Just hearing her greet me in such a calm manner sent my heart pounding madly as I hadn't heard mom sounding so normal since the night I found her on the couch. Only, was it possible for someone who had PTSD to get better suddenly?Fear and hope gripped me in equal measure as I turned around to face her. Find authorized novels in Webnovelfaster updates, better experiencePlease click www.webnovel.com for visiting.Mom was sitting on the cushioned bench by the window staring out at a view of the night sky where the full moon was out in all its glory. Moonlight drifted down from the sky to illuminate the darkened room, and it was only then that I realized the lights were out in here."Mom?" I called, hesitantly.She turned to look at me. There was a warm smile on her face, the kind you probably wouldn't find on a catatonic patient's face.Mom gestured me over to sit beside her, but I hesitated."I won't bite, Dean. Come over here and give me a hug," she insisted with a laugh. It was the same one dad used to gush about.That clinched it. It really was mom. She was okay.At that moment, I forgot all my problems and went over to embrace her. I didn't even notice the waterworks flowing down my cheeks until she brushed them away."When did you turn into a crybaby?" she asked.I rubbed my eyes while my face turned red from embarrassment."I'm not I've just got something in my eyes," I lied.After I blinked the tears awaysomething that took a longer time to accomplish than I initially imaginedI saw mom's face turn grave. Her mood changed instantly. The atmosphere turned serious."Listen to me now, Dean We have little time," she said."What's wrong, mom?" I asked."There's so much to tell" She grasped both my hands in hers. Our fingers intertwined. "I'm so sorry Everything that's happened to you and Luca is our fault Mine and your father's"I stiffened. What did she mean by this confession? And how was dad involved?According to mom, mine was a sickly birth that came with many complications. The doctors didn't think I would survive the night.Her hands squeezed mine. "But your father Desmond he wouldn't give up on you so he made a deal to save your life""What kind of deal?" I asked.If this was a movie, now would be the moment suspenseful music would begin playing, the kind that raised the hair on the back of one's arms while simultaneously increasing the tension up to several notches."I didn't know about it until a year and a half later when L-Luca was born," mom said, her voice turning frantic. "They tried to take him then, but Desmond wouldn't let them it wasn't the deal."Here was when I noticed how the moonlight seemed to reflect unnaturally onto my mom's eyes. They were too bright, like cat eyes reflecting a car's headlights."The ones who came they were they were they were" she struggled but couldn't seem to finish her sentence. Every time she tried, she would choke on what I assumed was an important word. Eventually, she gave up on this tactic and switched to telling me about Luca's birth instead.Unlike mine, Luca came out of the womb a strong and healthy baby. It was very uneventful, at least not until later that night when mom woke up from her sleep and found two strange visitors standing over baby Luca's hospital crib."One was tall and lean while the other was squat and had a barrel-like shape. It was all I could see as they were both covered in shadows," mom explained.Her grip tightened on my hand."Fear overtook me. I screamed but no sound came out of my mouth," she said.Her failed outburst caught the attention of the tall visitor, and his response to her silent scream was to place a finger over the space where his lips must have been like he was telling her to be quiet. Luckily, dadwho was sleeping on the couch next to mom's hospital bedwas a very light sleeper, and mom's frantic movements had alerted him to the intruders who arrived in the night."I'd never seen him so furious Yet I could tell he was also very frightened," mom admitted. "He yelled for them to go away as it wasn't time yet"Her voice had turned hollow like the sound made by a robotic voice recording."Mom what's wrong?" I asked, worried.She ignored my concern and continued her story as if she couldn't stop herself now that she'd begun."The tall one spoke, and it was like the sound the wind makes in a storm It was terrible to hear," mom said in her hollow voice.Mom's eyes shone even brighter. They were two pinpricks of light in the darkness of the room.I won't lie. The current situation was starting to terrify me."The voice said they were only there to inspect the merchandise to ensure the sacrifice was healthy," mom said.My brow furrowed at the word "sacrifice" and I had to ask her what she meant by it. She responded with the worst answer I could imagine, "Luca.""Why? Why was Luca a sacrifice?" I asked, confused.Mom had lost much of the lucidity she had when she asked me for an embrace. Her glowing eyes stared at me with an intensity that made me want to pull back but she tightened her grip on my hands and kept me in place. Then her voice switched to an urgent, hurried tone that felt rushed and nearly indecipherable."They vanished as quickly as they came like imaginary ghosts in the dark but not before they revealed the truth," she said."Mom, why did they want Luca?" I insisted. I needed her to stay on point.The urgency in my voice must have gotten through to her because she answered, "The deal Desmond made to save you your life for the life of our next child."My hands slipped out of mom's grasp. I pulled away from her as the horror of this realization overwhelmed me. Mom was wrong. It wasn't her or dad's fault. It was mine. I was the reason Luca went missing."Does that mean... is Luca... is he dead?" I asked.Mom shook her head.Relief flooded my system, and the pain in my chest lessened to a dull throb that was incomparable to the squeezing sensation I felt previously.The lights flickered on and off, adding to the already foreboding mood.My mother's eyes began to lose their weird shine. Intuition told me this was a bad thing. She was most likely losing her connection to that nightand maybe to her newfound sanity too. This was no longer a time to be gentle. I grasped her shoulders and forced her to focus on me."Tell me who took Luca, mom," I asked in a cold tone that didn't reflect the panic or worry in my heart.She shook her head repeatedly. "No, no, no I can't""Tell me now," I insisted.Her eyes which were no longer lustrous gazed back at me, and just for a second, I could see a spark of understanding flare-up in their brown irises."Fairies," she whispered. "The fairies took Luca."The lights flickered again. More violently this time. As if a naughty child had its hand on the switch and was fooling around with it."Fairies?" My brain hurt. It felt like invisible hands were squeezing them from inside my head. "What the hell are fairies? Where would they take Luca?"Mom shut her eyes. She shook her head. Then her mouth opened in a wordless scream right before she slumped forward and passed out on my shoulder.The lights flickered one last time before brightness filled the room and banished the darkness surrounding us.Mom stiffened in my arms as if waking from sleep. She pulled away. Her face, which only a minute ago had been so animated, was back to the glazed catatonic state that was now her default since Luca vanished.Realizing mom would be no more help, I put her arm over my shoulder and half-carried her back to her hospital bed as gently as I could. She obeyed without complaint. After she laid back onto the mattress, I placed the blanket over her to keep her warm. The night was cold after all.Feeling drained myself, I sat on the chair beside her and just stared at the ceiling. The shadows in the room had deepened before I stirred again. The cold numbness that overcame me when I realized I was responsible for Luca's disappearance was slowly giving way to a furious rage simmering inside me.Fairies were real, and they abducted my little brother. It was up to me to bring him home.
