"Today was the day." I said to myself, waking up from my bed.

I looked around my room to find my things packed in plastic boxes. My clothes, encased in cardboard.

My nose had tracked scents of alcohol and wood. I could tell something changed by how clean my room was.

I rolled out from my bed, my feet touching the cold floor. My eyes, still slightly blurred by the lighting in the emptied room.

I sighed and attempted to walk toward the door, feeling the cold air coming from it's cracks.

Opening the door, I looked out into the long white hallway where I used to play in. Seeing my
parents, I couldn't tell their emotions since their faces were buried in their arms sitting down near another door that appeared in my sight seconds later.

I stepped out to see another looking to me with a smile.

"Today's the day huh?" he asked.

I could barely see his face only that he was thin and very tall. I could only say he was the man from my dream.

I nodded and signaled him to follow with a handed gesture. He began to move one stringy step at a time.

As we continued, I began to see my mother shaking as my vision sharpened. Immediately racing to my room, my mother fell to the floor after she approached.

I wanted to say something, but I didn't think she would hear me.

The stringy man walked passed me to guide me further down the hallway to the big doors that lead outside. Right at the door, the stringy man vanished. It was as if he wasn't there.

When I got outside, the brightness from the sun thickened then blended with colors of trees and the blackened pavement on the ground.

I could see a truck stopping in front of me, with men coming out the back of it.

At that point I knew that today was the day.

I ran back inside, and darted straight back to my room to find myself still on my bed with my broken inhaler.

I slowly crept back on my bed and brushed my head. My skin was cold, and my eyes still opened exposing my bluish hues to the ceiling.

Turning my head, I could see my mom still sitting on the floor in tears. I got off my bed and whispered in her ear. I could have sworn she heard me when she jerked back.

"I love you mom" I whispered.

Turning back, I walked toward the doubled doors down the hall. Looking at myself one more time, it was like a last look in the mirror before leaving the hospital.

© M T Lewin