Fade to Black (648 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 2 on 17 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by ugaly <UG_A_LY.at.hotmail.com> (View user info) at 2004-06-04 13:38:42 EDT
Derek sat up in his bed; the noise coming from the living room was unbearable. To him it seemed like all the sound came into his room and reverberated off the walls, constantly ringing in his ears. Mom and dad were fighting again. They had been arguing every night for the last week.
They separated eight days ago. Dad moved out and into his own apartment a few blocks away. He came over each night to declare something that wasn't his for his own. Mom always tried to protest his claims but everything was in vain. Midway through the arguments mom would start crying, and at the end dad would hit her and leave.
Derek stood up and walked towards his door. He looked out and watched them argue for a minute then shut his door. He walked back to his bed and laid back down. He stared at the ceiling trying to fight back the tears that were coming. He rolled over and buried his face in his pillow and let it out. All he wanted was to be like the rest of his friends; have two parents that didn't fight and loved each other.
He stood up when he heard the front door slam. He heard the pictures on the wall in the living room rattle against the wall. A split second later and he heard a crash followed by shattering glass. He ran to open his door. When he opened the picture of him, his mother and his father lay on the ground, shattered. He looked up figuring he would find mom. Instead dad was there, standing red in the face.
"What are you doing still up!" He yelled at Derek. "You were supposed to be in bed over an hour ago!" He started walking towards Derek with his fists pumping; the veins in his arms were sticking out like mountains.
"I couldn't sleep. Not with you and mom yelling through the entire house. Where did mom go?" He cried, backing away from his approaching father.
"Hell for all I care!" He was still yelling, only scaring Derek more. When he finally stood not two feet away from Derek he released, catching Derek in the nose and upper lip. Derek flew backwards and his head slammed against the corner of his door. He fell down and let out a loud wail. He stopped abruptly as the blood flowing from his gashed lip caught in the back of his throat.
"Get back in bed!" His father yelled once more.
Derek stood up to walk to his bed and fell over. His eyes had gone blurry, and he had lost all sense of depth perception. He got on his hands and knees and crawled to his bed. As he was crawling he heard the door slam behind him, leaving him alone once more. When he got to his bed his strength gave way and his face hit the floor. He could see the red blur of blood on the white carpet.
He began coughing. He could feel the blood running down his nose freely; his head was quaking. The taste inside of his mouth was making him sick. He groped around clumsily searching for his garbage pail; the nausea was growing in intensity. After he laid his hands on it, he pulled it close and vomited. Half of it hit the bucket, the other half landed on his hands and the floor. He wiped his mouth on his shirt then took it off and wiped his hand. He threw the shirt across the room and laid down on the floor grabbing his head.
After thinking for a few short minutes he crawled onto his bed to get to his window. He tried to open his window slowly because it made a lot of noise when being opened. After getting it opened he forced the screen out. As he was starting to climb into the window sill the nausea attacked him again and he threw up out the window. After regaining himself he heard the heavy footsteps of his father bounding across the house.
Derek tried to climb back into his room, but because he was rushed he fell inside instead. He quickly crawled to the side of his bed and rolled under, hoping his father would suspect him gone.
The door was thrown open, slamming against the wall and rebounding a little. The shadow of his father cast long into the room; Derek crawled into a little ball underneath his bed and tried to slow his breathing. He heard his father's footfalls on the soft carpet as he ran towards the window. Derek watched his father elevate to the tips of his toes. After a few long seconds his father slammed his fists on the windowsill.
"Damnit!" He yelled.
As he yelled, Derek's head started pounding. He tried to hold back the shriek of pain. His heart started racing and he held his breath, hoping his father would leave soon.
After thirty seconds, he stormed out of the room. He heard the fumbling of keys shortly followed by the slamming of the front door.
He tried to carefully climb out from under his bed, but hit his head in the process. He put his head back on the ground and stared at the bottom of his bed. A few moments later, he watched the world fade to black.
+++++++
He was awoken by the sound of the door being kicked open. There was more than one person in the house. They were all moving quickly, judging by the frequency of the footsteps. When one of the people came into his room, they walked forward. Derek was breathing heavily but didn't notice it.
"Rick!" He shouted to get the other man's attention. "Look at this."
A flashlight moved to the spot of blood Derek had left on the carpet earlier. Rick knelt down and looked under the bed. He shined the flashlight right in Derek's.
"He's under here. He's alright."
Rick motioned him out from under the bed. "I'm Officer Rick Morris. You're going to be just fine. Would you mind coming out from under there for me?" Derek followed suit when he saw the gleam of his badge. He crawled out and sat against the wall.
"Where's my mom?" he said with a shaking voice.
"She's alright. We have her in custody at the station."
"Why's she in custody?" Derek said, grabbing his head.
"Eric you want to get a medic in here." The other officer looked at Derek's face, winced, then turned around and left.
Derek could feel his lips were swollen. He hadn't noticed before because of his aching head, but sharp pain was shooting from his lips. He touched them and winced, drawing in a breath quickly.
"Why's my mom in custody."
"Your father went looking for her. When he found her she was waiting for him and shot him three times; twice in the chest, and once in the head. We've got to take her in for questioning."
Derek let out a weak smile and watched the world fade to black.
***Thanks again lojo***
User Reviews
Submitted by melkorthedelerious (user info) at 2004-06-08 01:31:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
-2 for tricking me with a metallica song title.
+4 for a great post.
Submitted by wazzawazzayo (user info) at 2004-06-07 13:26:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked this like I like bean burritos.
Submitted by Random Joe at 2004-06-05 02:40:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Good stuff
Submitted by youarsoghey (user info) at 2004-06-04 23:21:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was nuts.
Submitted by spedmonkey (user info) at 2004-06-04 20:12:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Me likey fiction.
Submitted by Disektor (user info) at 2004-06-04 17:40:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wow..
Submitted by Totally_useless (user info) at 2004-06-04 16:42:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Fuckin'........
FUCK!
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2004-06-04 16:01:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Ruthy (user info) at 2004-06-04 15:07:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That was great, really gripping, it was the perfect length. I loved the ending. GIRL POWER!
Submitted by ugaly (user info) at 2004-06-04 14:31:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Metallica reference = catchy title = more people come and read
Submitted by Falconer (user info) at 2004-06-04 14:29:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Metallica reference?
Submitted by iamhewhoisnot (user info) at 2004-06-04 14:22:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
good job
Submitted by Domochevsky (user info) at 2004-06-04 14:08:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
What can I say? Good job.
Submitted by Magicaddict (user info) at 2004-06-04 14:06:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Sick, sick, sick and effective. Nice one.
Submitted by lojope (user info) at 2004-06-04 13:57:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You are welcome, anytime. You are a great writer.
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2004-06-04 13:51:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Very well written. It held my attention from start to finish.
Submitted by jme7551 (user info) at 2004-06-04 13:43:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
wow!