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A Bad Dream |
| Written by Carl Norwood | |
| Saturday, 05 January 2008 | |
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Share it:      A Bad Dream - CS Norwood 2007
I started to stir; waking isn't usually easy to comprehend. The blurry sight of the room soon became obvious. I looked at my watch, 9:37am. I checked if I had a glass of water on the sideboard but there was none. Damn it, my mouth is dry so I will have to get a drink soon. So I grabbed my shorts and wandered half in a dream world towards the bathroom to go the loo and get a drink. I got my glass of water and then "Ding Dong". Just what I, need the bell to go at this time in the morning. Swigging the water really fast while still dizzily and making my way downstairs to get the door. "Hi, Carl" James said. It was the provident man come to collect this week's money. "Morning James," I said. "Won't be a mo. I'll just get the books for you." The provident books were on the fuse box behind the downstairs toilet which is by the front door. Why were they green? Karen didn't tell me that they had been changed. I flicked through mine and it was empty compared to what it used to be. The three bills were there and all in order but no listings of all the previous payments I had made. I passed James the books. "I'll just go and grab the money." "Okay," James said fiddling with his and my books, trying to get a pen sorted in one hand. I totted upstairs to the bedroom to the sideboard were we keep our money that we normally have plans to put into the bank. Very rarely does much of it go into the bank but we do try. On opening the sideboard I was astounded. There was wads of notes, it looked like there was thousands of pounds there all wrapped up in elastic bands. They were crisp and new looking. I took a deep breath and thought to my self to phone my wife when I've sorted James out. I grabbed forty pounds from a few loose notes that weren't wrapped up. The loose notes still looked like there was a good few hundred pounds in loose notes. I took the forty pounds down to James. "Hi mate, how's things with you?" I politely asked and doing a good job of hiding what had just happened. "Busy, this week has been mad." James replied, scribbling a few notes in the books. "How's Karen?" "She's at her mates at the moment. Probably be back in about an hour." "All done Carl." He passed me back the books. Remembering the books had changed I asked, "I've noticed the books have changed colour." "Yeah, the company has been taken over so we've issued everyone with new account books." He answered. "I gave them to Karen last week." Thinking nothing of it I said goodbye, seen James out and put the books back on the fuse box. I hadn't had a cigarette yet with getting out of bed so early so I went towards the kitchen door which was closed. The kitchen door is usually closed on a night time to keep the cat, Jinx, from wandering and clawing at furniture and wallpaper during the night. After opening the door my mouth dropped to the floor. The kitchen table was broken and two of the legs had come off. The breakfast bar was smashed to the floor and splintered at the wall end. The kettle, toaster, microwave and plenty of other kitchen items were in pieces, mangled and all over the floor. The freezer door was off the fridge-freezer was all bent and off its hinges. Everything else in the kitchen was ripped, torn or smashed. The cupboards and the drawers were all open. There was cutlery and tools all strewn over the floor amongst the rest of the broken furniture. Where's Jinx, I thought. She was nowhere to be seen in the kitchen. I shouted her but no response. I ran upstairs and nearly fell up them. I was still in a daze from not long waking up and I couldn't believe what was going on. At the top of the stairs I shouted for Jinx again but no answer. Chloe's bedroom door was open but she wasn't in there. Normally at this time in the morning on a Saturday she would still be in bed. I started to panic so I ran still in half a daze in to the bedroom to grab my phone. My priority is to phone Karen before anything else. I'll phone the police after. I found my jeans scrunched up still on my side of the bed. Finding my way into a pocket I pulled out my phone. There was a message on it. It was a multimedia message. Opening it, it showed a picture of the kitchen in the state I saw it just a few moments ago. Pressing the play button some text came up on the screen. "MY MONEY NOW!" The number I did not recognise. My head was spinning and I could feel my heart pounding. What the hell was going on? Why does James come at that time on a Saturday morning? Chloe is normally in and Karen isn't normally out at this time of day. Searching through my contacts I found Karen's number and dialled. It went straight through to the answer phone. I tried a couple more times and then I tried Chloe's phone. My heart was beating faster. Panic was going right through my whole body. Answer phone again and again. The door bell rang. "Ding Dong." I tried my utmost to breath slowly and calm my self down and made my way to the door. It was James again. What was going on now? My heart still pounding I asked James to come in but to hang on a moment while I sit down for a second. My legs started to go beneath me, I fell to the ground. Looking up I could see James face looking worried. I was thinking about Karen and Chloe and where they were, are they safe. My eyes started to fizz up like a TV screen with static and I went. My lights faded out to nothing. In a dizzy state I felt a nudge on my back, blurry, I looked at my watch, 9:37am. "Good morning Hun." Karen said slowly waking me up. She gave me a kiss.
Copyright 2008 Carl Norwood |
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