Title: What had passed

Rating: T

Genre: Drama/Anguish

Summary: The dream came of his son came to him and after the realization of how his life had failed, he realized he had lost the last thing important to him. One shot.

Notes/Warnings: Inspired by the song, “Come what may” from the movie, Moulin Rouge; based on the life of someone close to me; one-shot; drama

X

What had passed

The dream coaxed him into restlessness. Nightmares were common enough for him, but this wasn’t a nightmare. Strangely enough, it wasn’t anything horrifying like he expected. He was used to dreams that would haunt him for days, which would have his eyes glazed with the images that had crept into his mind in his subconscious. This was a different dream, one that would usually relax him into a soft slumber. It wasn’t like that, though. Instead it made him thrash and hiss in his sleep.

His five-year-old son sat before him in the white blankness, playing with toys and absorbed in his own little world. His back was turned to the man as he moved the cars and made soft noises. He was oblivious to his father standing behind him, suspiciously turning and staring around. Suddenly, as if the man had spoken, his son turned and blinked up at him. After a moment of gazing up at him, he beamed and waved.

Hi, daddy.

His breath caught at the words, but he couldn’t bring himself to answer. This small, fragile creature that was his son didn’t seem to expect a response. It was as though they were looking at an image of themselves, so alike were they. Slowly, the man crouched down and touched the boy’s cheek with a shaking hand, as though afraid he would shatter before his eyes. The smile on the full face broadened and the brown eyes twinkled with joy.

The sound of footsteps brought his eyes up. Looming above them with a dead face and cold eyes was his ex-wife. He wanted to reach out and grab his son and run far away, even if it was only a dream. But where would he run? There was white nothingness as far as the eye could see. He came to his feet and met the woman’s gaze briefly. She dropped hers to their son.

Slowly, the smile slipped off of the boy’s face and he turned to his mother, who held her hand out to him, not even changing in expression. He took her hand and she led him away. As they walked, he turned to look back at his father. He waved at the man who could only watch as his son was taken from him.

“No...Don’t take him. Please! He’s all I have!” He woke from his sleep, sweating and trembling from the dream. As he stared around him, he whispered his son’s name, expecting the boy to come toddling over to him with his beautiful smile and innocent, plump face. But there was no answering call to his desperate murmurs. Through his drunken haze of sleep, he put his surroundings together and saw that he was sleeping on the couch at his sister’s house.

He brought his hands to his face and rocked slightly as the reality of the dream came slamming into him. He vaguely recalled his ex-wife calling him a week ago, telling him she was moving and taking their son with her. If he remembered correctly, she had left to the other side of the country. All he had was his son. Now he had nothing. His family didn’t even completely comprehend how deep his depression was.

Gasping on tears, he stumbled from the couch and through the blur of tears, he entered the kitchen and leaned against the counter, looking around him. A small, bitter smile tilted his mouth upward. His ragging on his sister had come out well. She had become successful. It was better that she was, too. He dug in the drawers and found a sharp, thin knife that cut well and deep.

It is better this way, he assured himself as he sliced one wrist and then the other. The warm liquid spilled over his arms and dripped onto the floor. “He’s gone,” he whispered as he grew dizzy. He slid down to the floor, the knife slipping from his wet fingers. “I’ll be...happier...now...” Slowly, his eyes slid closed as he fell to the side, a soft thud sounding in the silent kitchen.

Finis