From Above



I woke up to doors slamming all over the house, I’ve learned with that much noise I should probably check what’s going on. I got up, put my contacts in and opened my door, only to jump back as my dad ran past me into his bedroom. OK, unusual but maybe he was late for work. I laughed it off and walked into the living room. I didn’t know what to do, my dad was carrying a body and he dropped it down on the coffee table… but it was him. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes and in the most pathetic voice I’ve ever heard he asked, “Which one is me?” He rushed up, shaking me, and screamed, “WHICH ONE IS ME?” I heard screaming from my parent’s room so I pushed away and burst through the door. My mom was standing on the bed screaming and the dad I saw running past me was lying on the bed in fits, the left side of his body slowly drooping. I ran back into the living room and he was lying on the floor in a ball screaming at the top of his lungs, over and over again.

The rest of the night was pretty normal, the police came and hauled my dad off to the mental hospital, and as they carried out the bodies one of the cops turned to me and said “Don’t worry, it’s just some silicone and paint.” I said sure, walked back into the house and went to sleep. My dad was the only one who worked, so I had to get a job, after all, someone had to support the family. I went to visit him every week, and every week he would just sit and stare at a black spec on the table for the whole hour. Before one of my visits I got a call from a friend of mine who just got accepted into his dream college, “Well would you look at that” I said, “I never thought you had it in you.” I finished the call and headed to the ward. This time I wasn’t gonna let him just sit and stare at that dot. I screamed at him, told him how he’d ruined my life, but he just kept looking down. So I slammed my hand over it “OWN UP TO WHAT YOU DID!” He shut his eyes and stayed quiet. “Who’re you gonna blame it on dad, the aliens?!” His eyes shot open and he jumped up and hid in the corner. I couldn’t believe it; he really was using them as an excuse. I snorted and knocked to be let out. He turned to me and said four simple words “Don’t think about it.” He wouldn’t say anything else no matter how much we pushed him. I gave up and went home. As I got into bed I started trying to figure out what the hell just happened, what, was he trying to say he really was made by aliens and that story he’d told us about his parents wasn’t bull? That they were testing to see how he would react to seeing another him? I laughed and shut off the light.

I hit my alarm clock, stumbled over to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I walked to my nightstand and grabbed my laptop. I smiled, looked up, bolted into the bathroom and locked the door. I’ve been sitting here for the past ten minutes typing this up to calm myself down. The whole time I could see the shadow of someone’s legs and feet through the crack in the door. You don’t have to believe that I saw me sleeping in that bed, or that I heard me get and up try to open the bathroom door, but please do one thing for me.

Don’t think about it.