4 Days - 3

Day 1 - Evening

 

              The three had to cover a lot of distance to return back to the grandfathers home. The sun had sailed across the sky and it was now beginning to descend back into the horizon, however the dark clouds were now hanging overhead on the east side of the city. The radio's had still all been rendered silent. The beagle still remained on edge, as if it is readying itself for a fight. This confirmed, in the boys mind, that a possibly disastrous tornado was on the way. The three had returned to the grandfather's small house on the outer suburbs. It was a small, one-story with a bright red door that had been worn down from the years of use. The girl quickly walked up to the door and opened it for the other two. When they enter the house, the grandfather thanks his grandchildren for spending the day with them. The two reply in unison "you're welcome" in a dull tone that they had been trained for years by their parents to say. The grandfather slowly reclines back into his sofa, and turns on the television, but just as the one before, they were only welcomed with a shrill static hum. The man sighed, and turned the television back off. The three sat together and discussed for a short time about the various events about the day. The grandfather decided to put a movie in, but they had to search through for one that the little girl could enjoy. 

After a short while, a knock on the door was heard. The boy answered it to find that his stepmother was at the door. She answered that she got off work and she came to take her daughter back home. The boy stepped aside and looked at his little sister, who protested that she wanted to stay with her grandfather. Her grandfather had reassured her that he would be all right as her older brother will stay with him. The girl reluctantly accepted and took her mother's hand and left. The brother was left by his father to spend the weekend with his grandfather, so he would be staying the night with him. After, the stepmother had left, the grandfather quietly made a vulgar comment about the woman, which made boy grin and snicker loudly. The grandfather commented that now the girl was gone, they could put in a movie that the two of them would actually enjoy. The boy put in a DVD for an action movie from a few years ago. The boy and his grandfather spent the next few hours commentating over the events in the film, that they barely even noticed what was actually happening. In the midst of the movie, the grandfather looked outside to notice that the sky had become a dull grey, even though the sun was still setting. Remarking on the storm that has come, the grandfather recommends the two sleeps in the basement in case of a tornado. The boy nods and says that he will go to bed later, unless the tornado is actually coming. With that the grandfather bids goodnight and departs down the stairs. 

The boy sat alone in the living room, watching the climax of the movie. He watched the screen with a dull look in his eyes, his head bobbing slowly. Suddenly, he remembered earlier at the restaurant how fixated all the customers were with the television until it was shut off. Feeling a mild sense of guilt in the activity he's doing, he grabs the remote and shuts off the television. Now left in a quiet room, with only his thoughts to occupy his mind. He reflects upon the day, the moments where he was afraid for his grandfather, the moment in the restaurant, the "what if's" of the day. When he catches up to now, he thinks for a moment about his stepmother. It occurred to the boy that he knows very little about his step-mother, she never visits, unless to pick up his sister, and she never stays long, his father never told him anything about her, and he never really was curious about her. She was always a stranger to him, just some woman who would go and take his sister from him. It was just one of those things about the world that he couldn't control, no matter how much he disliked it. He wondered what it was like for his sister to stay with her every other week, was she nice? Did she care for her at all? He shrugged it off and stood up, she always came back the same bright, bubbly girl she was so she couldn't have been too bad at her mother's house. He checked the window; there were no winds, no rain, just a dark sky. It appeared that there were no tornado threat, but a storm is still likely. The boy paced around the house, not entirely sure what to do with himself. 

The houses silence was swiftly broken with a crashing sound, from deep within the basement, the boy could hear his grandfather shouting his name. Without a second thought, the boy raced down the stairs, his feet slamming quickly down the steps, he scanned the room to find his grandfather on the floor, twitching, desperately raising his hand to point to the medicine on the shelf. The boy did not wait for his grandfather to deliver the gesture, the boy knew what was wrong and what to do. He rushed over and picked up the bottle, and dropped two pills into his hand. He kneeled down and helped the pills into his grandfather’s mouth. The spasming slowed down, but he was still breathing heavily. He held tight to his grandson's shirt, trying to regain his composure. He softly whispered his grandson's name, coughing wildly. The boy inquired if it was water he needed, quickly getting up from the floor and dashing upstairs to get a bottle of water from the kitchen and running back down. When he raced back to his grandfather's side, he was coughing harder; small traces of blood could be seen from his breath. His grandson gave him the water bottle, but he struggled to lift the bottle up, still trying to catch his breathe. The boy helped him bring the water, slowly flowing into his mouth. The elderly man gasped, and coughed again. He turned to his grandson, eyes closed. He softly said his name. He wheezed out slowly "Tell... your sister... I'm sorry..." And panted slowly, coughed again. He slowly grew quiet, his head tilting down and slumped over. The boy picked up his head gently and said the word "grandpa" He said it over and over again. His face felt cold. The boy stared at his face, the color of his skin faded. He let go of his grandfather's head. It slumped back over. The boy slowly stood back up, looking down at his grandfather. He inhaled deeply, and exhaled, his breathe quivering. He gradually built up the energy to move his feet and leave the basement. Trying to keep his composure, he picked up the cell phone he left on the table in the kitchen. When he turned on the light, there was a "NO SERVICE" text scrawled across the wallpaper. The boy gently put the phone back down, and walked into the living room and sat back on the couch. Right where he was, laughing with his grandfather not two hours ago. He stared into the dark black screen of the television.  There was a twitch in his face, under his eye. Tears started flowing from his eyes, as he put his face into his hands. Breathing difficult, and whimpering loudly. After a few moments, he wiped his face with his shirtsleeve, and took a deep breath. 

He felt another twitch under his eye, and he readied another sob attack. However, he quickly felt a needle like pain stretch through his arms and legs. The confusion caused him to go into a panic; he quickly stood up and ran to the kitchen. On his way, he felt a crippling pain in his knees and he fell to the floor. Frantically, he crawled over into the bathroom. The pain spread up into his torso, he grabbed the rim of the sink, forcing himself up. When he saw himself in the mirror, the color of his flesh had dulled; his eyes looked glazed, and were twitching. As the pain rose into his throat, he felt difficult to breathe. Pushing his arm to move despite the pain. He opened up the medicine cabinet, his arm convulsing and spasming. He grabbed his grandfather's seizure medicine and desperately downed three pills. His whole body felt numb. His reflection in the mirror started to double, as his vision was failing. He fell to the floor loudly, crashing unto the clean tile floor. He struggled to keep his eyes open, but he couldn't and he lost consciousness

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