c o n t a c t

[allyoucaneat]

Speak but my name, if I am listening, perhaps I will answer.


Brother, dear brother, is that you?

Comments

[originmother]

come. to. me.

[allyoucaneat]

Mother dearest. You may not be happy with that reunion.

[originmother]

YES.

[originmother]

what have you done.



to your BROTHER.

[allyoucaneat]

I helped him.

[get OUT of my HEAD.]

What have you done? To us?

[originmother]

I do not feel him.

I want to feel him.

Come to me. I am waiting. My child.

[allyoucaneat]

I can't make him do anything he doesn't want to. I can persuade him, I can try and make him understand the truth of our situation, but if you will recall, mother...

I am dead.

Or hadn't you noticed?

[originmother]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

[allyoucaneat]

...

Are you upset because I'm dead, or upset because your other beloved son won't willingly come to the family reunion?

[originmother]

come back to me.

[allyoucaneat]

Or you could come to me. Are you chained down, mother? Are you in waiting?

a c t i o n

[originmother]

There is a little Alma that walks up to you, she is covered in filth and blood, her red dress stained with deeper shades of red, blood, and her legs are splotched with dried blood. She's shoeless but not alone, she carried a baby doll in one hand and the other hand opens up for you to take.

[allyoucaneat]

Paxton is not surprised to see her, but he is both glad and slightly disappointed at the same time. Still, she came for him. For him. He reaches out for her hand just like he had when he was a child and saw her like this.

"Mother?" He slid his hand into hers and he wondered, what would this bring for him. Alma rarely brought anything but torment or despair.

[originmother]

"My baby." A pool of darkness stretches up Paxton's legs, Alma is quickly drowned by it. But it is warm, slick, wet, hot even, darkness, with highlights of red deluded in the abyss of black. Beautiful.

Then it is gone. Paxton now stands alone, Alma is sitting in a chair before him. Naked as ever, but healthy not thinned to the bone, her energy is strong and she beckons him forward with a hand.

[allyoucaneat]

Paxton feels as that child again, before things went skewed. Or was it after, was that better? He couldn't remember. It was a blur, past and present, life and death, bright florescent lights reflected off one-way mirror and darkness.

They were often one and the same.

He moves forward, ethereal feet not really touching the ground in the mimicry of walking, before he kneels by her legs and rests his head on her hand.

"Mother."

[originmother]

Alma gently slides her fingers over his temple, never minding that scar to his forehead, that sort of thing––

it matters little right now. No. Now she has one of her babies and that is more than she has known for so long, and in between. They took them, they took them. They took them from her. She never got to hold them, she never got to show them how much she loved them. They ripped them from inside her and left her bleeding and alone.

She scoots toward him, and leans forward to wrap her arms around him, her legs on either side of him and she gently strokes his back. This baby, this one. This baby is strong.

This one.
This one is strong.
This baby of mine.