Dreamrail

Lifelong Friend

by Michael Ripley

Blood dripped from the palms of Jeremiah’s hands as he held them out for his mother to inspect. She knew what to do, the gauze kept always ready on the edge of the table. She began to wrap them.“Close your eyes Jeremy. Your head is starting to turn.” She addressed Jeremiah by her pet name for him, the name he preferred, and pulled his blond hair back from his forehead to watch as the red points turned to punctures, and trickles of blood formed in a circle around his head.For the past six months, since Jeremiah turned thirteen, this routine had occurred at least twice a month.

“Get him out of the kitchen, Judy,” Jeremiah’s father, Richard yelled from the hallway. “Let’s take him back to the hospital.”

“You know they won’t do anything there,” she replied, never taking her eyes away from Jeremy’s bleeding head. “They never do anything except call everybody in to watch what’s going on.”

“I don’t want to come in there. Please, let’s take him. We’ll go to another hospital. Let’s take him into Raleigh. It’s bigger. Maybe they’ve seen something like this before. Bring him, I’ll drive there tonight.” Jeremiah could hear the fear in his father’s voice.

“Mom,” Jeremy started. “He’s about to hurt me again.”

“Jeremy, I know baby. I know it hurts.”

“No mom, it’s like last time, remember? He’s going to really hurt me.”

Jeremiah had lived through the wounds, and realized he could bear it. By the eighth occurrence, he learned to completely block out the pain. He closed his eyes, concentrated on his old friend Samuel, and stayed in their private imaginary land until it passed. Two weeks ago, it didn’t work like it had before.

“Lie down on the floor Jeremy.” Judy pulled the small rug over by the table and helped Jeremy down on his back. “Close your eyes, now.”

“It won’t work, mom. He knows.”

“Knows what Jeremy?” Her voice quivered and tears began to roll in a slow marching pattern down her cheeks.

“Knows that I can stand this.”

“Who knows you can stand it?”

“Samuel.”

“Jeremy, Samuel can’t cause your stigmata. You know what the doctors told us. You are causing it. Please try to stop it. Please close your eyes.”

Jeremiah’s left ear suddenly felt like a needle had punctured the inside wall, and continued far into his head. His eyes were wide open, the fear and pain showing through them made Judy scream, as she watched Jeremy lay silent.

“My ear, mom, my ear,” he finally gave in to the pain.

“What’s wrong, Jeremy.”

“He put something in my ear. Get it out. Please, mom.”

Judy put her hands over both of Jeremy’s ears as she tried to hold off the invisible intrusion that he described. Her flesh could not stop the driving force of the knitting sized needle being plunged into Jeremy’s left ear.

He started to scream. The ear-splitting, heart-breaking shrieks buckled his father’s knees, as he dropped to the floor of the hallway.

“It’s not Jeremiah, Judy. Listen to the boy.” Richard crawled toward the kitchen door, not wanting to enter, buy needing to help his son.

“I’m not allowing you to act like some imaginary friend is hurting our son,” Judy shouted.

“You can’t help but allow it. Look at him!”

“He’s been blessed with this. It’s his burden.”

“It’s no blessing, Judy!” Richard managed to slither across to the rug where Jeremiah still lay flat on his back, screams launching from his mouth, tears streaming from his eyes.

“Leave him alone,” Judy begged while pulling the rug away with Jeremy sliding along with it.

Richard grabbed the edge, and stopped her progress. She strained to drag the boy until finally her grip failed. Judy fell backwards, thunderously striking the corner of a cabinet with her head. She slowly rolled to one side, dazed and confused, and did not attempt to rise.

Jeremiah found his father’s sleeve with one blood-soaked hand, and pulled himself up until his face touched his father’s rough chin, and latched onto his neck with a force that made Richard attempt to pull away in fear that the affliction may enter him as well.

“Help me dad. It’s Samuel. You have to believe me.”

“I know, son.”

Samuel had arrived when Jeremiah turned three years old. As an only child, Jeremiah had many lonely days, and an imaginary friend seemed a perfectly harmless diversion from boredom. It seemed that Samuel never left Jeremy’s side. Over the years they grew inseparable, almost as a part of each other. This odd relationship became abnormal as Jeremy became a teenager. Samuel was forced to leave.

Judy helped by throwing a small luncheon for Jeremy and Samuel. Their parting ended with a ceremonial closing of the front door. Two days later, Jeremiah reported to Richard that Samuel had not found a new home and wanted back in. They agreed that it would not be a good idea to let things go back to the way they had been before. However, it seems that imagination dies hard.

“Just tell him to stop. He can come back.” Richard spoke to Jeremiah as the boy stopped screaming.

Judy regained her senses, pushed herself up on rubbery arms, and said, “Don’t do this, please. I can’t take that beast back in this house.”

“He heard you dad,” Jeremiah said, his hands finally dropping to his side as the pain subsided.

“Judy, we can’t keep him out of the house. We can’t let him kill our son.”

“Why is he doing this?” she asked. “Is it really him? Why stigmata?”

“Because he knew you wouldn’t blame him, mom. He knew you would want to believe it’s something else. If you believe it’s God, he can hurt me as much as he wants. He has to stay mom.”

“Invite him back Jeremy.”

_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

The End