Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Fantasy

Reality had set. 
Tony had awoken at last in a sweat. He fathomed Bella may have appeared in his dream after waking up from a nightmare because he could hear her voice through his bedroom door. He suffered from nightmares. Things happening in his teen years wasn’t going in his favor. His mom worked all the time. She was in school and worked. Tony had nobody to talk to, to help him sort out his problems. He thought his problem lied with Bella getting all the attention.
Tony’s mom allowed Bella to stay over for a while. 
Just like in his dreams, it was like déjà vu. He’d gotten out of bed and laced up his shoes. They were all old and worn out. He opened his bedroom door to seeing Bella. She never looked happy, like how he felt. Except, he’d hide his emotions. 
Tony laughed. “Why do you look like that?” Bella ignored him not saying a word. He saw his mom moving around in a hurry putting on earrings. 
“Tony, knock it off. What has gotten into you? There’s food down there. I made breakfast.”
“It smells burnt,” He said with a straight face. It reeked of pork grease burnt in a Teflon frying pan. Enough odor that could set off a smoke alarm. There was a smoke detector in the hallway.
Tony’s mom looked in disbelief. “That’s on you if you don’t want to eat.” He wanted to show off, or perhaps since he lived in in a drug-infested neighborhood, he was developing street ways. The one person he knew growing up since age nine living in that house was Eddie. Tony’s mom didn’t like Eddie. She saw him as a bad influence on her son. There was a knock downstairs at the door and a yell through the door’s mailbox. “That must be Eddie. You need to stop hanging with that boy. He’s not your friend.”
“Can I let him in? It is Saturday with nothing to do and no money to spend.”
“You don’t need any spending money boy. You’re in the house,” Tony’s mom said, going downstairs as Bella followed looking withdrawn. Tony saw his mom open the door from the upstairs hallway. “No company,” she said to Eddie with an attitude, then closing the door. The living room furniture was covered in plastic. 
He made his way downstairs not wanting to eat what his mom had made for breakfast. He laid on the couch. Tony’s mom left. Bella eyeballed Tony while she flipped through cable channels. “You guys are so poor. No music stations,” she said sitting across the room. 
That was the first thing he heard her say to him and his eyes turned mad. “You better be glad my mom is letting your spoiled-self stay here.”
“I’m not spoiled.”
“You are too,” he said. Their voices heightened. He decided to end their discussion and get up off the couch. She threw the TV remote against the wall. “Why did you do that?”
“You made me mad.”
“If my mom asks what happened to her TV remote, you better say you did that.”
“Oh, please. Your mom is too busy for TV. That’s why you have no cable. What do you do in this house on a Saturday? And who was that ugly boy knocking for you?”
He avoided her question and had gone into the kitchen wanting to cook something. “I’m hungry,” he said as he touched the stove knob turning it on the gas. He changed his mind. “I’ll have cereal instead. I don’t know what I’m doing.” He forgot to turn off the stove knob. That made gas escape into downstairs. Neither of them detected the odor. He poured himself a big bowl of cereal and sat at the dining room table. Bella let out sighs of boredom, he heard her and found it in his heart to offer her food. “Will you like a bowl of cereal?”
“Sure,” she said pulling out a hard chair from the table making it drag screeching the floor. They sat quiet. They listened to each other munch on their cereal wanting to break the silence. Tony thought of the dream he had. He thought it would’ve been a great time to tell her. 
“I had a nightmare last night. You were in it,” he said. He wore eyeglasses. She had a look like she wanted to laugh at them.
“Oh, yeah? Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why was I in your dream?” She held her spoon with grace. He hesitated on a response. They became delirious. Apparently, the gas that leaked contacted with them. “I don’t feel so good.”
“Me neither,” he said.
“I’m going to lay down,” she said getting up out the chair. She stumbled and fell to the floor. Before they’d slip into unconsciousness, he tried to help her. He fell too. They passed out on the floor in the living room.