The Author Is Speechless

Somewhere in his dream.

He slowly opened his eyes and saw the very old empty library. He was floating around in the infinite maze and then, he took over the control around him.

He was lucid dreaming.

"Looks like my sleep was too deep that I ended up in this empty place again."

At least I don't have to worry about them.

He crossed his arms and imagined his chess board to visualize its perfect shape. But each time he succeeds in making a pawn, it melts when he tries to make another one.

"Tsk! When am I going to make a perfect game to play? My imagination isn't working well today."

So, he pushed away the board and lay on his imaginary bed inside the floating library to spend his time. But hours passed, but he was still inside his dream. He wasn't waking up or the library wasn't melting which was the sign of his dream to lose control. He was stuck inside his dream.

"What is happening? It's been hours but my body is still sleeping outside."

He became anxious, so he closed his eyes to break out of his lucid dream. But nothing was working.

"What the hell? Am I dead outside?"

He tried to break out, screamed, he pushed those huge bookshelves and kicked the locked chamber. He threw a tantrum around the library but nothing happened.

"What the hell? Did I faint or something? If I am then why aren't they waking me up?"

He became more anxious…

…

18 hours have passed in reality but none of the family members bothered to open the door for him. The mother wasn't at home and the father didn't know he was locked inside the storage room.

She didn't inform anyone about his situation and left with her daughter to visit her grandma's house to stay there for a night.

The father had no idea, so he stayed at home and watched all night long. The clock was ticking and it reached 11 AM and then he noticed his foster son wasn't around.

"Where did that punk go?"

He mumbled but didn't care.

He ate his breakfast and gathered all the garbage to throw inside the storage room.

When he opened the door, a strong odour of rotten garbage went inside his nose, so he quickly covered his nose with his shirt.

"She didn't throw out the trash? How disgusting!"

So, he turned on the light to go inside and became stunned to see his foster son laying under a cardboard.

He went inside by covering his face and then he kicked his face to check if he was awake or not. But there was no response.

"Oi, did you die in your sleep or something you trash?"

But he didn't respond to his voice either.

"Tsk!! Why do I have to take care of her shit?"

He dragged him out by his leg and threw a glass of water on his face to wake him up. But one glass didn't work. He became worried…

"Oii!! Wake up!! You're getting on my nerves! Wake up!!"

He dragged his thin, weak body inside the bathroom and put his head inside the bathtub full of water. After a few seconds, he inhaled some water and woke up.

Poor him coughed for ten long minutes to get all the water out of his lung. With a burning, painful chest, he looked up and saw his father's face full of anger.

His body started to tremble in fear.

"Come outside."

He talked with a heavy tone and left the bathroom.

'I thought I was dead.' He hushed.

He went outside after drying himself with an old towel and went to their living room because he was ordered to.

"I am here sir."

He looked up but didn't say a thing.

After a moment, he threw away the newspaper on his face and told him to pick it up.

"Do you know how much money we have to spend on you?"

He was standing there silently with the newspapers in his hands.

"ANSWER ME!!!"

He became frightened by the sudden scream. Being unable to make eye contact with him, he kept looking at his toe.

"Yes, sir."

"Then tell me. Why are you this useless? Why can't you satisfy my wife? Do you think everything is free in this world?"

"Mother said that…"

"BE QUIET!!! HOW DARE YOU ADDRESS HER AS YOUR MOTHER!!!"

"I'm sorry sir."

"If you can't score a good result in your next exam, I swear I will never leave you alone. I will suck every penny you ate from our pocket. You are trash, a dirty stray dog in my eyes."

He was standing there like a statue.

The man stood up and told him to follow him into the kitchen. Just like he was told to, he followed his father into the kitchen.

"Here, eat this. But not on the table. Eat your food on the floor. Stray like you should be grateful that you are treated like this. Leftover rice, warm home with warm clothes. I think this is too much for a stray dog. Go and wash after eating. You smell like walking garbage."

'At least my big brothers are eating the same old cabbage soup every day happily in a warm place.'

I miss my home.

He sat on the floor and pulled the small bowl of rice closer to him. His father was still standing behind him to check if he was eating or not.

"Eat it up and throw that bowl in the trash. I don't want that bowl in my house anymore."

Then he left the kitchen and turned on the tv.

Just like he was ordered to, he threw his bowl in the trash and went inside his room to clean himself.

'Oh, I missed school today.'

With his trembling body, he opened a small container that he hid under his bed and ate two painkillers to keep his body stable to study. Because that was his only weapon to fight back and get away from his family.