I stood staring at the TV, my mouth hanging open as tears began to fill my eyes,
“That’s my mum. I just know it…” I thought to myself,
I sat down to watch the news report, and when it finally came on, neither the woman or the daughter-in-law were named, the news was withholding all private information and wouldn’t show any pictures. I jumped up from my seat and ran to the kitchen, grabbing two glasses and filling one with water, I placed them down on the table, took a box out of the freezer and ripped off two small pieces before looking in the top drawer for a pen. Writing on the back of the cardboard I had just written down,
“Mum,”
Then there was a knock at my door, picking the piece of cardboard up and sliding it in my pocket, I went to answer the front door. Upon opening it, looking to see who was there. Greeted with a warm smile and a familiar face, a woman with long brown hair, in a Parka and jeans was looking back at me,
“Mu… Mum?” I said, shocked,
“What? You asked me to come by,” My mother replied,
I stepped to the side to let her in before closing the door behind her,
“Are you okay?” My mum asked,
“Erm, yeah, yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” She replied, “You’re drip white, are you eating enough?”
“Yeah,”
“And how did you get the black eye?”
“Oh, I spilt some coffee and didn’t clean it up right away, I ended up slipping on it and caught my eye on the computer desk,”
I couldn’t help but stare. I was talking to my mum, after everything, she was here, right in front of me, having a conversation with me.
“I’m going to make a coffee mum, do you want one?” I asked,
“I’ll have a quick one,” She replied,
I picked the remote up from by the sofa and handed it to my mum before heading to the kitchen, I threw the cardboard in the bin, put the kettle on and went back into the living room while I waited for the kettle to boil.
“Bloody Loose Women?” I laughed,
“Yes, I love this program, I think that Ferne Cotton is great!”
“Ferne? I thought she was on Radio One?”
“No that’s Holly Willoughby,”
“So who’s the one on This Morning then?”
“That’s Janet Street-Porter,”
“Oh I can’t keep track, anyway, the kettle’s boiled, do you want milk? Sugar?”
“Milk, no sugar, you know this,”
“I don’t know much about the universe, today,” I laughed as I turned towards the door,
I headed into the kitchen to make the coffees, as I began thinking how I had finally made it. I had reached a dimension where my mum was alive, my sister was obviously going to take her place, otherwise, my mum would be dead by now, and soon, I was going to be with Lucille too. A smile crossed my face as I grabbed a couple of biscuits from the cupboard and went back through to the living room to sit with my mum,
“Oh you’ll never guess what happened today,” She said, as I handed her the coffee, “Some woman got shot in the Arndale!”
“Oh yeah, I know” I replied, “I saw it on the news, that reminds me, where’s Lucille?”
“Why did that make you think about Lucille?”
“I just remember when I saw it on the news, I knew you were both shopping and I worried about you,”
“I see, well that’s very thoughtful of you but we are both okay, and Lucille took the shopping back,”
My mum and I sat talking for half an hour or so, making small talk and giving me ample opportunity to get to know her. That’s when my mum said she must head home and asked me if I was joining her. Taking the opportunity to find out where my mum lived, I put on my coat before accompanying her. We were just over halfway there when I heard a familiar sound in the distance, the sound of muffled music… I started to look around to see where the sound was coming from and as I turned around, my mum was half way across the road, and a familiar car sped around the corner, my car, from the first dimension! The car was heading directly for my mum, running out to save her I pushed her to the other side of the road, falling to my knees in front of the oncoming car. I screamed as the car sped closer, and right before hitting me, it began to look as though it was a hologram flickering through static before it glitched out of existence,
“What the hell was that all about?” My mum shouted,
“I… Erm… I’m sorry mum; I tripped over something,”
Standing back up I crossed over to the other side of the road and continued walking with my mum,
“Hang on, I just need to go into the store, I need to get some milk,” My mum said as we approached the corner shop,
We both went inside the shop, my mum picked up the milk and asked me if I wanted anything, to which I politely declined but thanked her anyway. As we neared the counter there was a young Asian guy in a black leather jacket and his hair backcombed, covered in an excessive amount of hair products, grinning as he looked over the counter top,
“Just that please, love,” My mum said,
“Oh would you look at you,” The Asian guy said as I glared at him, “I’m Tariq, what’s it going to take to get you in my bed tonight,”
“Oh that’s not going to happen, love,” My mum replied, handing him the money for the milk,
“Are you sure you don’t want the best night of your life?” He grinned, “You wouldn’t be able to walk for days after getting in the sack with me,”
“Well I guess we’ll never know, will we,”
“You’ll see,” He laughed as we began to leave the shop,
Just as we were walking out of the door, Tariq thought it appropriate to whistle at my mum,
“Prick,” I muttered under my breath,
We had just rounded the corner for the shop when I told my mum I needed to pick up some painkillers and I’d forgotten when she asked if I wanted anything, to which my mum said she would wait if I were quick. I ran back down to the shop and asked Tariq for two boxes of paracetamol, taking them from behind him, he placed them on the counter,
“Three quid mate,” He said,
I picked up the paracetamol and put them in my pocket as I turned around,
“Oi, I said it’s three quid!”
I picked up a tin off the shelf and turned back to face the Tariq, grabbing him by the throat I pulled him over the counter and forced him to the floor, hitting him repeatedly with the side of the tin,
“You ever speak to that woman like you did just now, and I promise you pal, you won’t be speaking to anyone again because I’ll rip your f*****g tongue right out of your mouth, do you understand me?” I shouted as Tariq tried to cover his face,
I pulled his hands away from his face and slammed the bottom of the tin into his nose and hitting him in the mouth, knocking out a couple of teeth, standing up I threw the tin at him and began stamping on his ribs,
“Are you listening to me?” I screamed,
“Yes…” Tariq cried, as blood poured from his mouth,
“Good, not another f*****g word to her again,” I shouted, “And while you’re at it, you may as well take those as well, you’re going to need them,” I said, throwing a box of paracetamol at him,
I began walking out of the shop, as I look back at Tariq laying on the floor I couldn’t help but laugh to myself,
“Are get rid of the f*****g CCTV footage as well, you don’t want this to happen again, do you? Next time I’ll f*****g kill ya’,”
Running back down the street to where my mum was waiting I called over, waving the second box of paracetamol,
“You took your time,” My mum said, “What took you?”
“My legs,” I laughed as we continued to walk.
We walked a little distance down the road before we came to my mum’s house, the same house from the first dimension I visited, so at least I knew where it is now, entering the house my mum called out to Lucille,
“Lucille, Alex is here,” She shouted, “We’ll be in the living room,”
We went through to the living room and I saw pictures everywhere, some of my nanna, some of me, and one that stood out in particular, there was a picture of me standing with a little girl, no older than 13, I was pushing her on a tire swing and we were smiling,
“She really loves you, you know?” My mum said as I stared at the photograph,
At that moment I heard the door open behind me,
“Hey Lucille, Alex is here,” My mum said,
Turning around my heart began to race, I was finally in a dimension with my mum, and Lucille was here! But when I was met by the most confusing sight, as the little girl from the picture was stood by the door looking at me, and then she spoke two words that made my heart sink, and I was overcome with absolute terror,
“Hello, brother,”