"Evaporate" by Alexandra U

There he was, silent, still, at peace. His dead body lie there unable to move,
unable to grasp onto reality. He was now only an apparition floating through the air
hoping to be more, hoping to console his loved ones. His wake was filled, a quiet room,
the only sound was the sound of each heartbeat. The room is still until a woman, the
boy's mother, walked up to his casket. His lifeless body is surrounded with puffy silk
pillows and billowy silk drapes. She set her hand on his, and wept, but not for the loss of
her son. She cries to keep the facade of a caring mother. Unfortunately for her, she is not
an actress so to keep the tears coming she remembers the last time she had a stiff drink,
2 hours. She starts to shake and her silent tears turn into gut wrenching sobs, she falls to
the floor and she is picked up and taken to a chair far away from her son’s body. Her
family approaches her with caution She is frail, she has orange hair and is wearing a
black form fitting cocktail dress, she is not trying to hide her hourglass figure, she flaunts
it. Because of this she is an outcast in her family, yet they come to her aid. They ask if
they can help her and she asks for money. Knowing she and her, now cold, son were
homeless living out of 1996 Toyota and living off of whatever boyfriend she had that
week. Reluctant they each give her money and their numbers in case she needs anything
else.
The attention shifts from the boy's mother to a tall man with hair as dark as the
bottom of the ocean and as fluid as waves just about to hit the shore. He has soft green
eyes and pale skin streaked with tears. He looks at the boys sunken face. He is covered
in ridiculous amounts of make up so the man takes out a handkerchief and wipes off the
boys face. He feels a twinge of happiness to see the boy as he was. Hair as dark as the
bottom of the ocean and as fluid as the waves about to hit the shore. The man had
fought for years to gain custody of his son, but because his mother was ruthless in her
attempts to ruin the man's life she did everything she could to stop it. With bribes of her
body, money and whatever else she could conjure up she single handedly killed both the
man and his son. He cried, he felt the eyes of an empty woman boring into him and he
wept for the loss of his only love, killed by the one he thought he would do anything for.
The woman who chose drugs and alcohol over the life of her son. The woman who killed
him. He felt her eyes burning into him, and in a single moment he gained his composure
turned to his old love and gave her one look. One deadly, angry, sorrow filled look. A
look that terrified her. He began to walk towards her when a rush of cold surrounded
him. He lost his breath and he fell to the floor. The apparition who saw the violence
hiding behind his father's eyes surrounded him. He gave him the closest thing he could
to a hug to reassure him they would be back together soon, his father grasped onto the
vapors surrounding him and he felt whole again, then suddenly the feeling of entirety
was gone as soon as it came. The boy had evaporated into thin air.
***
His eyes opened and fear enveloped him. He had been asleep for 5 days and had
no idea of where he was. He awoke to bright lights and the sound of a heart monitor. He
looked further to see he was connected to a series of tubes and monitors. Upon further
inspection he saw a tall man sleeping in a hospital cot next to him. He had hair as dark as
the depths of the ocean and as fluid as waves about to hit the shore. The boy wished for
nothing more for him to wake so his suspicions would become more, would become
reality. As his heart raced the sound on the monitor raced to catch up, the tall man
opened his eyes and the boy saw the pale green, matching his. His father rushed over to
his son and hugged him as tightly as he could and whispered to him. “We’re free.”