Abel Ladd - The Crying Child | Day 5 : 1458 words

“Wake up,” the voice said in his head. “Wake up Abel,” it repeated.
Abel’s eyes opened to see the the crib bars back lit by the night light in the wall. His tiny arms swaddled tight against his infant chest he wiggled against the cloth. His head felt so heavy and he still couldn’t lift it fully, the puddle of drool soaking into the sheet spread out like a delta.
“Wake up Abel, oh, you’re awake, good.” The voice said.
Abel wiggled in his swaddle and his babbling baby voice sputtered through the spit in incoherent noises.
“You shouldn’t drool so much. It’s not good for you,” the voice chided gently. “You’ll get a rash.”
Abel babbled more and blew a bubble of spit. The door opened and Esme walked in to check on him. She bent over and picked him up, setting him against her shoulder.
“How’s my my little man doing?” she said as she rocked him back and forth. The swaddle wrapping him held his arms tight and kept him from being able to scratch himself with the tiny little daggers of finger nails he had. The womb box sat on the nearby stand and she eyed it as she rocked him in her arms. After numerous glances and staring fits she finally got the nerve to try to set him in the box. Her arms lowered him down and as soon as he sensed the box around him the beginnings of a cry showed ion his face and Esme picked him back up and held him tight.
She turned on the musical mobile to hopefully help him stay calm and try to sleep. The music ramped up in volume and the mobile began to spin. Esme watched it for a moment as she rocked Abel from side to side then began to set the mostly calm form back into the crib. Abel’s eyes widened as she began to move but then once on the mattress he lay quite with eyes wide watching the mobile and as Esme turned his demeanor changed rapidly.
She heard him begin to inhale, the deep kind of inhale that proceeds a crying fit. She spun back around to see his face contorted and scrunched as the cry began to emanate from his tiny form. She reached down and picked him up, cradling and rocking him once more. Abel began to calm down again and his crying quickly stopped. She held hi and rocked him for another half hour before he was calm enough seeming to set him back in the crib. As she removed her hands from around him she felt the beginning of a cry breath and moved her hands back under him and lifted him into her arms saying, “alright, but you will have to sleep tonight. We’ll try again in a bit.”
Finally his eyes had fallen and she felt his form go limp when she again tried setting him in his crib. As she did Esme pulled a stuffed monkey from the shelf and put it in the crib next to Abel. “This was mine when I was a baby. Now you get to have him keep you company while you sleep.” She whispered.
Abel rolled around on his back still swaddled his eyes seeking the mobile. “Try not to make such a fuss,” the voice toned in his tiny skull. Once he found the mobile arms rotating above him he quickly went to sleep. Esme closed the door until just a crack and walked to the living room.

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like the womb box,” she said as she sat down on the couch next to Neal.
“I told you,” Neal said quickly, “I have never liked it myself and don’t see the point of it still to this day.”
“I know you don’t like it but I don’t want him to be too different, I mean really, he is already the most different of all babies, should we make him even more so by not practicing?” Esme had turned and looked at Neal part way through, her eyes and face showing the worry that welled deep in her.
“I just don’t feel comfortable forcing him to lay in that thing every day. He obviously doesn’t like it,” Neal said. “I’ve told you before how much I don’t like it. The only reason I do it ever is because it is the norm,” he said with an exasperated sigh.
“I know you don’t like it but it IS supposed to be helpful. Why are you so stubborn about this?” Esme asked.
“I really don’t want to talk about it. It was some bad shit when I was a kid. I just really don’t want to even think about it.”
“What could possibly be that bad? Everyone starts out in their boxes.” she pressed.
“Really, I don’t need to do this right now,” he said as his jaw clenched and his teeth began to grind.
Esme shook her head in disagreement and looking at him said, “what is your problem? Who are you?”
“Really? You’re asking me that now after 6 years? That’s generally a beginning of relationship question, not knee deep in it,” his eyes were crooked in knowingness.
“I just don’t remember you ever reacting like this to the box,” she said.
“I couldn’t ever tell you. You have been all gung-ho on it and totally sold on the idea. I didn’t want to break your spirit by raining on your parade.”
“So I’m that fragile then? I see,” the reply slid out of her cold and cutting.
“You’re not fragile,” Neal’s shoulders drooped, “I didn’t mean it that way. You know what I ‘m saying…” his voice trailed off.
Esme turned and looked out the window at the darkening night. She could feel his stare and it annoyed her. “Stop staring at me,” she said without turning.
Neal jerked his head away and looked back to his pda. He swept the notifications down and saw one marked “EXTREMELY URGENT”, tapping it the screen filled with its text.
You need to meet with me. I have information about your son that you will want to know. Reply to this email with a yes and I will contact you soon.
G
The short message raised the hairs on Neal’s neck as he read them.
“Es, look at this email.” He held the pda out for her to read from. “This seems like a scam.”
Esme read the email then looked at Neal and said, “do you think this is one of the doctors that tested him?”
“Uh, good question. Should I reply?” Neal said.
“I think you better. If they know something about Abel I want to know too. Tell them yes.”
“Okay, I’ll see what happens. It’s sent.” His fingers tapped at the screen for a moment then stopped. Neal tossed his pda on the table in front of him and it landed with a thwack.
Esme winced at the sound and shot Neal a look and said, “shh. Not so loud, I think he might be asleep already.”
Neal shrugged his shoulders and dropped his head. He stood and began to walk down the hall.
“Don’t wake him.” Esme said as he exited the room.
Neal rolled his eyes and shook his head as he walked to their bedroom. As he passed Abel’s door he heard him making noises. He stopped and peaked through the still cracked door and saw Abel on his back with legs in the air and his babbling voice sounding like he was talking to someone. He stood and watched for a while and listened closely to the babbling but heard nothing intelligible.

Esme walked out of the room and Abel watched at the door that was nearly shut save a small crack that shone light. His night light changed colors slowly and the mobile spun while the music gently played.
“You have quite the life set out before you,” the voice said as Abel blew spit bubbles. “You will be quite the important person in the future.”
Abel lay in the crib and listened to the voice as it seemed to be telling him important things, things that he could not understand, things that he felt likely would be useful later. Everything at this point of life is useful later. He found himself listening to the tone of the voice more than trying to focus on determining what it was saying.
“You aren’t even listening, are you?” the voice asked.
“Blabble blabble blurts,” Abel replied through a mouth of spit.
“You need to learn to swallow, that spit is getting out of hand. Maybe roll on your side so you can drool.” The voice offered.