Insomnium: Season One - Episode Four (Season Finale) (Insomnium: The Series Book 4) by Patrick Reuman

Author:Patrick Reuman [Reuman, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

Tommy and Emma sat in the dining room playing City, cars and little army men scattered about in place of citizens. The television was on in the living room, and Tommy’s mother was in the kitchen doing the dishes. Emma crashed a miniature police car into Tommy’s truck and pushed it off the imaginary road. She cried out in glee that she had finally caught the bad guy.

There was a thud, the sound of the side door closing hard. Tommy’s heart leapt. Time seemed to slow. It was the same feeling he got every time his father got home from work. Sweat soaking, needles prickling under the skin of his limbs. He and his sister both fell silent. Even the clanking of the dishes halted momentarily before starting up again. Emma tried to go back to playing, but Tommy didn’t. He shot a glance at the stairs, wondering if he was fast enough to make it up the stairs and to his room.

“I brought home a gift!” his father’s voice called out as if over a loudspeaker.

Anguish rushed over him. A feeling he once hoped to say a permanent goodbye to. It had been over a month now, almost two, since he found the letter in his mother’s drawer, and she had not said a single word to him about it. Worse, he went back to read the letter again, craving the feeling that the words had brought to him, but the letter was gone. Was it just a dream? He was sure the letter had existed. He could remember the feeling of the paper between his fingers as he held it tight, reading the words with an ever-growing happiness.

But the time never came, and they never left.

“Come on out here, everyone. I want you to see it.”

His voice carried through the house as if the man was yelling, but he was not. His dad never brought them gifts. Tommy looked at Emma, whose face appeared blank. His mom walked into the doorway between the kitchen and the living room and gave Tommy a quick glance before looking away. He wanted to meet eyes with her; even that seemed impossible.

Tommy’s dad entered the living room. “Ah, you guys are already in here.”

In the man’s hands was a long, rectangular box wrapped in gift wrapping paper. A wide grin wrapped around his father’s face. It terrified him. Tommy knew more than anything that his father was never happy unless he was instilling fear in those around him. He wanted to back away, to grab his sister and head up to his room. But he knew if he did that, the punishment would be great. A new bruise would find itself in a conveniently hidden place, on his butt, or maybe his side, under his shirt, where the last bruise was. His hand moved subconsciously to where the black and blue mark was as his dad closed in.

He stopped short of the kids. With a smile as though opening a Christmas gift

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