Suburbia

Darkness has crept over the tops of the sycamore trees by the time I reach my house. I can still feel Eve’s soft scent cradling my clothes, clinging to the soft, white cotton of the polo never worn. I sigh contentedly and a smile creeps onto my face as my keys slide into the lock and the door swings open.

That same smile immediately drip drips off my face as the sound of my parents raised voices manages to break through the cocoon stupor that had obviously numbed my senses.

“Don’t appreciate your sacrifices? What sacrifices? I’m the one who does all the work!”

I can suddenly feel the soft thrumming of my veins against the skin of my neck and against my temples as all my senses seem to hum and throb with a great intensity to make up for their previous lapse in activity.

“Maybe you would appreciate them if you were ever around to see them, but no you ferret away in your god forsaken office while we all rot away in this house waiting on your every beck and call!”

My mother’s screech seems to reverberate through my mind a thousand times louder than normal, clanging and bouncing around the inside of my mind like a swarm of wasps desperately attempting to escape a dark and clammy tomb. My bag drops to my side with a thump as my hands rush to my temples to try and soothe the constant drumming inside them.

“Leland? Leland is that you?” My mother’s tones have suddenly turned to a sickly honey sweetness.

My stomach suddenly turns to lead and I immediately regret dropping my bag so heavily. I slowly lurch my way towards the kitchen door, the house suddenly unnaturally quiet, the grandfather clock echoing out a death march of ticks and tocks.

“Hey, mum, hey, dad” I murmur as I enter the kitchen, the air is frozen with their acid words stuck in the atmosphere like flies in honey.

“How was your day, sweetie?” My mum asks stiffly.

I try to think of a suitable response but my mouth appears to have melted together, my lips sticky and drooping, I try to open them while my eyes swim in and out of focus.

“Oh my goodness, what happened to your face! Let me take a look at you, what on earth happened?”

My mother gasps and rushes over to me and begins to poke and prod my cheeks and forehead, physically rendering me unable to talk until I am forced to push her off me.

“Well? How come you’re all banged up, Leland?” my dad probes.

“I- uh I tripped.” I mumble

“Oh, my poor baby!” my mother cries, cradling me to her chest before shooting a glare at my dad over her shoulder, “This is all you fault!”

“My fault? And how have you managed to twist me into the wrong this time!” My dad exclaims.

“You keep pumping him with all these pills and now look where you’ve got him, unable to walk straight! Bruised face, cut cheeks, who knows where he’ll be next, hospital most likely, all his bones broken! And you call what you do science!” My mother scoffs at him.

“Well what I do is a damn sight better than you, pottering about the house all day, what have you achieved today? Planted some new flowers?”

“You know full well that I put aside my career so we could have a family!”

I manage to unclamp myself from my mother’s side and I stumble over to the kitchen island. My head is spinning and I can feel my heart pressing up against my ribcage, bruising itself in its desperate thumping.

I scramble for a cup and slosh water all over the counter as I fill it with water. I try to swallow it but my throat is too dry and I’m forced to spit it out. My head is spinning, my eyes unfocused and my parents argument seems to fade away to a dull echo behind me.

Then suddenly, I hear it.

“I’ve always said it, no peace this side of the grave my man.”

Craig.

His voice is like ice water that cracks through the haziness that surrounds me, my vision is suddenly clear cut and sharp and there is no sound around me other than his voice. Craig’s voice.

“Craig?” I whisper

“It’s so calm over here man, you wouldn’t believe it, it’s like I can finally hear myself, like all the background noise has just been shut off, all the mindless arguments and chatter just gone.”

I whip around and twist my head in every direction trying to find him.

“Craig, where are you?”

“You never did listen to me though, huh? Always wrote it off as me talking the usual rubbish, well you’re listening to me now, and I’m telling you man, you’ve gotta do it, man, you have to.”

My breaths are getting caught in my throat so I have to struggle to choke out my words, “Craig! Tell me where you are!”

“Leland?”

I stop, I am breathing fast and my eyes are blurry again but now only due to the thin sheen of salt water that lies upon them. I can hear the tick tock of the grandfather clock again and a vague humming from some sort of kitchen appliance. I blink my eyes hurriedly and spin around to see my parents staring at me with varying degrees of concern.

I am panting for breath.

“What were you just saying, Leland?” my dad peers down at me.

“Nothing,” I bark back hurriedly, “Nothing at all.”

“You have been taking your medication, Leland, haven’t you?” my mother questions, her voice wavering.

“Oh so now you care about the medication, Martha?” my dad asks in a scathing tone.

“I care when it comes from a proper doctor ascribed to Leland’s case, yes.”

“And what am I if not a proper doctor?”

“An obsessive with a tendency to use his son as a guinea pig!”

My hands grip the counter beneath me but my palms are so slicked with sweat they can only slide from place to place.

“Well when my son is an antisocial nutjob which no doctor has been able to sort out, I say you should be happy that I have even put my reputation on the line claiming him as my son!”

The reaction to his words is instantaneous. My mother gasps and throws her hand over her mouth while my father looks over to where I’m standing, his face crumpling slightly at the sight of me.

“Son, I didn’t- I meant- I…” He doesn’t even bother to finish his sentence but simply trails off pitifully.

I take my hands off the counter slowly, testing my strength as to whether I am able to stand on my own two feet. I look down at the floor before I take a deep breath and look up at the both of them.

“I’m going out,” I manage to choke out before I turn and head toward the door.