It has been twelve years since that terrible accident which took off my dear Stacey’s life. That evening I stayed at home with our son, Oscar. It happened when she was coming back from her parents, it was raining heavily, and visibility was nearly at a zero level. Getting dark is a quite early thing in our area. I do not even know if Stacey had a chance to survive. The car was completely burnt out after the collusion, identification was carried out by DNA. It took a lot of time for me to believe in what was going on. Too many coincidences, but even more pain and even more emptiness. Oscar was just a year and a half when she was gone. I thought we would come through it, but life had another point. The first month was just unendurable, it is hard to say where I took a power to live on. A dreadful depression and a lack of meaning in future existence killed me every single day. Every day I woke up and desired to die. I stayed alive only for him. Our little Oscar, a small piece of your soul.
I long for you to see him, he is a real genius. At the age of seven he painted a picture which took the first place at city’s competition of children’s drawings. When he was in the kindergarten I’ve already sent him to the art school to divert his mind from the tragedy somehow.
I’m writing this letter, and occasionally I feel a smile through tears on my face. After all, the achievements of our son are of our merit, too. I’m proud of him. When I finish writing my thoughts, I will have to hide this letter. After three days I will burn it alone with nature. I will burn out all my pain, as my psychoanalyst said. At least it should become much easier. I need to live further, Stacey. I can’t be like that anymore…
I put a pen aside and wiped the tears away. I had to conceal the letter on the top shelf of the bookcase. Nobody has peeked there for five years.
— Hi dad, I’m home. — Oscar shouted while entering the house. I should confess he had me over the barrel. — What has happened? — He understood I was remembering his mother again. My eyes didn’t have enough time to become dry. — Everything is alright, don’t mind it. Give me a couple of minutes. — I tried to avoid showing him my tribulations. He had suffered enough without maternal love.
— Imagine, I made a mess in a whole class today. I proved to my physics teacher that his task may be accomplished in two ways.
— You should spare his nerves, he is to teach a lot of generations a thing or two. — I softly made witticisms to divert from my thoughts.
— Don’t worry dad, I will substitute him if something happens.— And we laughed.
Oscar went to his room while I started making a dinner.The TV-set was broadcasting in the background, and I was in high spirits, what seemed strange. Firstly after all these years I felt myself good. Maybe it was because I saw our son being happy, or maybe my psychoanalyst’s task had an effect. It is hard to say, and there is no need to delve into these things, the main thing is that it is good for me and that the son comes home with a smile on his face.
I put lasagna into the oven and went upstairs to the first floor.
— May I come in? — I asked having knocked at the door.
—Yes, sure. — Oscar was sitting in front of the notebook, evidently, he was chatting with friends. Social networks, they are like the whole world for teenagers.
— Dinner will be made in twenty minutes, will you go downstairs?— I went up to the window and began to stare into the distance.
—O.K., I’ll just finish one deal.
—Listen, maybe we could repeat that evening? Remember, when we were watching ‘’Dreams behind the Wall’’ and discussing everything happening on the screen without carrying emotions.
—I'm only for it, I’ll search for something interesting right now. —Oscar lit up with a foretaste of the joint evening.
— I’ll wait for you downstairs, come down after all. — and I left him alone that he could calmly clear off his deals.
We had a bite and having put the dishes in the sink made ourselves comfortable on the couch. Flash drive has already been in the TV-set, we should only turn on the next masterpiece.
— What’s its name? — I asked with a great interest.
— ‘’The Dark Matter’’, something about universe. Rating is very high. — he began to conduct manipulations with the TV remote, and signature tune appeared on the screen.
It was an incredible film, I declare. Some theories of eminent physicist of the whole world were at the heart of it.
I won’t give you the bottom line, omit spoilers. But its idea turned out more attractive than a hackneyed title.
After watching we brewed tea and powwowed what we had seen. During the film we did not want to do it at all. The theme was too difficult and besides very interesting. Generally, Oscar and I were sitting in front of TV like two decent zombies.
— The core isn’t there. — son argued with me. — People made it by themselves having alienated collective mind from them. We hate each other and want to survive in this chaos. It’s impossible until every man for himself. People must understand that we should live for the sake of others. We will develop all fields of our science in leaps and bounds only together.But for now we’re just animals which can speak. Humans’ progress is at a very low level for now. — I was sitting with my mouth open having nothing to say. He was absolutely right.
— We’re just animals which can speak. — I repeated his words.
— Dad, are you okay? — he was looking at my face and snapping his fingers near the eyes.
— Oh, yeah. I buzzed for a while. Your thoughts are pretty well. I thought it’s much easier.
— All right, I'm going to bed, I am to get up at seven in the morning tomorrow. —he rinsed a cup out and went to his room.
After his words I couldn’t come to my senses for a quite long time. All telecasts seemed to be a primitive delusion which was entertaining slavers tired of routine.
I fell asleep wandering in my thoughts continuously leafing through channels. I had an output the next day, so I could afford to lie down at any time.
Oscar went away so silently that he didn’t wake me up.He certainly does not want a sense of tact. I got up about twelve. My head was in such a state as if I didn’t sleep at all. Coffee, a shower, a morning walk. Coming to consciousness becomes more difficult with age.
I was walking in a high street then that terrible bell rang.
— Mr. Lionel? I’m a school pediatrician.
— Something happened to Oscar? —the ground started to slip away from under my feet.
—He’s alive, don’t worry. — the doctor falsely cleared his throat and continued. — Once a half of a year we take a sample from children and Oscar’s last results confused us a lot. Sir, we checked his data a lot of times, error is excluded. By and large, a rare breach is found in his DNA. Only seven people on the planet have it now. Our medicine is incapable of curing this. We don’t know the nature of phenomena like this. As practice shows, he has about six months left. I’m very sorry, Mr. Lionel. — my phone fell on asphalt, and I ran as fast as my legs could carry one. I was running till the forces ran out.
I was revived by some strangers, apparently I lost my consciousness because of overload.
— Are you okay, sir?—they were anxious about me. — Maybe we should call a doctor?
— No, there’s no need to. What time is it now?— I lost all track of it when I broke my phone.
—Twenty minutes past five. —they took me by the arms and helped to stand up.
— Thanks for help. Visibly, I lost my consciousness. Don’t worry, now I’ll reach my home. —staggering strongly I walked towards my street.
Oscar came home at about 7 p.m. I drank a half a glass of whiskey to take away the stress. I shouldn’t tell him about the disease. So it will be easier for him.
—Did you see the news? The whole world is chained to the screens. All channels transmit only one thing. —he turned on the TV-set not allowing me to say a word.
A slight tremor swept over the whole body.
«Unidentified flying object hovers above New York. For now it is hard to mention what it is, but experts from NASA persuade that it has come from a long space. They were observing it for a long time, but no one rushed to draw conclusions ahead of time. Strange creatures were registered by some CCTV cameras. They are obviously familiar with teleportation, because they easily appear and disappear in the remotest corners of the planet. Eyewitnesses do not carry their emotions. Aliens did not show aggression till now».
— Is that what, someone’s joke? — I glazed at my son.
— Hardly. Looks like extraterrestrial guests are exploring us. I heard they cannot talk. Communicate by some unintelligible sounds.
— The main point is that they are far away from us. I would not like to be in New York now.
—That's for sure. — Oscar slightly laughed.
About eleven the son went to sleep. And I prolonged watching news.
After a half of an hour I heard my son’s scream. Falling down the couch I ran to the first floor. The door was locked, and I kicked in the lock’s area with all my might. Breaking a part of doorjamb I rushed in.
An alien was holding my child’s head and scanning his brain with a dark blue laser.It is difficult to convey what happened next, but I calmed down only in a half of an hour.When I fell flat-out on the humanoid having brought my hands down to the bone. It has been lying motionless for nearly twenty minutes, and I was striking in his face in the heat of passion at the while. Having lost my vigor totally, I fell on my side. Son came to me and hugged me standing on his knees.
— Are you alright? — I had a strong shortness of breath.
— Everything’s okay, I was frightened only when I saw him. The rest of the time I was as if in my sleep.
After an hour we called an ambulance, and we were brought to the military hospital. Heaven only knows by what this unbidden guest could infect us. He was taken by some special services.
The next morning a head doctor went to me.
— I have two tidings for you, Mr. Lionel. The first one will please you much. Your son is completely cured. No flaws were detected in his DNA. But the other one…
— I hope it’s good news, too? — I glanced at the doctor, but he was obviously delaying the answer.
— We have analyzed your nightly visitor… I don’t know how to tell you that and how it’s possibly could be… But the DNA of the humanoid you killed is identical to the DNA of your dead wife… She didn’t scan your son’s brain, sir, she cured it. I’m sorry, but I have to go. And you, I suppose, should stay in privacy.—the doctor slammed the door, and tears began to flow down my cheeks…
Author: Shturenkov Sergey
