Excerpt: Displacement

Chapter One

He watched her. She watched the ceiling. He really wished he could see inside her head. The science for that didn't really exist yet though. So he was forced to content himself with being close to her mind, and imagining all that was happening therein.

“I wish I could have been a musician.” She says.
“Could have been? You are only 17. You still could be.”
“Yeah… but I won't practice.”
“You're very sure of yourself, aren't you?”
“Too sure, I'm certain.”
“Too sure?”
“Yes.”
“Then why don't you change?”
“What will that achieve?”
“You might become a musician.”
“No.” She sighs. “I do not think I care much for changing myself.”
“You're very lazy aren't you?”
“Positively sloth-like.” She confirms, turning to him with a smile.

She seems about to ask me something, when a crash in the hallway grabs our attention.
“Mum? Is that you?” I call out. I disentangle myself from her arms and get up off the couch, leaving Dot sprawled across it.
Entering the hall I spy my mother, she sways and seems to be having difficulty seeing.
“Hey, ma?”
She turns in my direction at the sound of my voice she murmurs faintly at me, warns me off. I pull my phone from my pocket and dial emergency as I walk closer to her.
“Hi, yeah I need ambulance, my mother seems. I don't know. I don't think she can see properly.”

Everything has gone blurry. I know that I am leaning against a wall. But it might as well not be there. I do not feel it there. My mind feels. Black. My body feels. Fluid. I do not feel together. Like I might just disperse. Like mist. Where do I end? Ben is talking to me. No… shhh… just let me think Benjamin.

She feels a hand encircle her wrist and another ‘round her waist; someone’s gently pulling her over to sit on the stairs. She cannot find any weight, any strength, to resist and stay where she is.

“Mum. The ambulance is on its way. Just relax we are going to sort things out. Ok?”
Ben sits with his mum on the steps; Dot is standing in the doorway, watching very intently, confusion on her face. His mother’s gaze is unfocussed, but she looks around the room, as if attempting to find something she can see.
Then her eyes clear, a look of shock on her face. She shudders, and then inhales sharply. She pushes away from Ben, putting her back to the wall. Stumbling down the steps, away from him, falling as she goes. He tries to follow but she just retreats further. She clamps her hands over her mouth, shaking her head. Tears stream from her eyes, sweat from her brow. It is all too much. She cannot keep it in. Ben’s mother lets out a scream and collapses to the ground.

Ben rushes to her side. To help. But how? He tries to hold her down so she doesn't hurt herself. But she is very strong now, she fights him off.

As they hear the sirens approaching Ben is sitting in his hallway. Dot stands behind him in the doorway, watching. His mother is in a corner, pressing herself to the wall. Screaming and crying.