Say Hello To Mama A super short story by Ismael Ascencion Ruiz
The complete and utter happiness on Shaun’s face was what completely surprised me. The way his eye’s gleamed with joy and his smile beamed so wide was astounding. I hadn’t seen Shaun that happy, well since before his mother passed away almost eight years ago. Sure, I’ve seen him smile and laugh; have a good time with the guys, but totally, completely happy? No way. Losing your mother to cancer before your junior year in school did that to people. Especially smart, sensitive guys like Shaun. But now, here he was before me, a smile so wide that it almost looked unnatural on him. As if his face had forgotten how to do something as foreign as truly smile. Shaun was almost vibrating with joy, unable to keep still he shifted his weight constantly from left to right. I took a step back from the open doorway and invited Shaun in. “Hey, what are you so excited about?” I said, motioning for Shaun to walk in. “I can’t believe it!” Shaun exclaimed, “She’s back, she’s back!” “Whose back?” “My mom! Can you believe it! She came back to me!” Shaun exclaimed rapidly, his voice full of glee. I stood their confused. At first I thought maybe he was fucking with me but if he was this was seriously not funny. “What are you talking about man?” I asked. “What do you mean your mom’s back”. Shaun looked at me earnestly, for the first time I noticed his eyes were pooling with tears and he was fighting to hold them back. “I mean she’s back, she came home! Wait till I tell my sister, she is going to be so happy!”
“Hold on, hold on I’m confused. What do you mean she came home? You’re not making any sense.” I said feeling like I was the subject of some reality T.V. prank. “I don’t know! I just woke up and she was there, watching me sleep. I almost shit myself I couldn’t believe it!” He exclaimed. “She kissed me on my forehead and told me she was sorry for leaving me alone for so long and if I could ever forgive her for going away. I told her it wasn’t her fault and then I hugged her so tight and we cried and cried all morning, but it was those happy tears you know? Like they always say in movies and shit”. Mind reeling I decided I had already heard enough. “I don’t know why you’re acting like this, but this is definitely not cool.” I said seriously, “Why would you even joke about something like this?” Shaun’s smile tightened a bit and he let out a nervous sounding laugh. “Joking? You think I’m joking? You don’t believe me or what?” “Believe you? Dude, your mom’s been” I struggled to put it gently, “um, gone for years. I know you must really miss her but this isn’t funny.” Shaun took a step back, his face darkening. “You really don’t believe me, do you?” Shaun turned around and paced a couple of steps away from me with his hands on his hips. For the first time I noticed that his clothes had large clumps of dark soil staining his chest and back. He looked as if a giant dirt monster had given him a bear hug. “Hey, what happened to you? Did you fall in a puddle or something?” I asked. Shaun waved his hand as if my question was an annoying insect buzzing around his head. “No, I didn’t fall, Mom was a little dirty you know. I didn’t even ask her why she was dirty, I was just so happy to see her.”
I walked up to Shaun and put my arm around his shoulders. A nauseous odor faintly drifted from his body. I struggled to put an image to that scent. It was almost like a pack of salami gone bad but worse. Trying to breath from my mouth to avoid the weird odor I led Shaun back to my front step. “Come on inside and let’s have a drink.” I said trying not to sound patronizing. If Shaun wasn’t messing around with me then maybe he was having some kind of breakdown. “Naw, maybe later. I’m gonna go back to mama and make sure she’s doing all right. I promised this time that I was going to really appreciate the time I have with her no matter what.” Shaun said with some of his early vigor returning. “Are you sure? I mean, I’m here if you need to talk” I said. Shaun shook his head. “I’m sure, I got to go see you later!” He said before running across the street and into his home. I stood there for a second, staring over at Shaun’s house, mulling things over in my head. Shaun house was a tract home like all the houses on the block. Aside from the colors of the homes, most of the houses were exactly identical. Suburbia at its best. Like all the homes on this block, the front of his home had a large window overlooking the front yard. I had blinds on my front window but before Shaun’s mother passed away she had decided against blinds and had hung light curtains over the front window. Shaun had never switched back to blinds and every once in a while he hung new curtains up that he thought his mom would like. Right now the curtains he had hanging were so thin that I could usually see his dark outline moving around the living room. I squinted my eyes and tried to focus on the window. Through the curtain I could see Shaun’s shape walk into the living room and stop in the middle of his living room.
I had been in Shauns house plenty of times and he had never rearranged his furniture after his mother had died.. His mother had set up the home when she lived and to him it that was how it would always be. It was easy enough to imagine myself in his house. The front door opened into a short hallway with a closet immediately to the left and a wide opening which led to the living room to the right. Further down the hallway were the bedrooms. Walking into the living room a person would see a floral sofa set, a love seat and a small dark cherry coffee table. Fauna of different sorts would be hanging from a corner of the room and other small bushes and vases filled with flowers would be set on end tables and drawers. A modest sized television would be set caddy corner on a black oak stand and directly in front of it would be Shauns recliner. Shaun’s dad had ran out on them when Shaun was a toddler so he hardly remembered him at all. His mother decided to keep the recliner though. She would tell anybody that would listen that since she paid for it there was no reason to give it to that no good son of a bitch. Before she died she would sit there, rocking slowly, crocheting a doily or knitting a blanket in front of the TV. Now Shaun sat there and most nights he would sit in front of the TV and watch whatever was on before drifting off to sleep. He spent most nights there instead of his bedroom. As he walked over to his recliner I watched expectantly, waiting for him to spin the recliner toward him and plop himself down like a sack of rocks on it. Curiously though, Shaun stopped short of the recliner and just stood there. The recliner spun around slowly though, without Shaun touching it. I felt my heart catch for a second. How could it move by itself? Maybe he has a visitor I tried to tell myself but I couldn't remember the last time Shaun had anybody, including me, over. I shook my head and squinted back at Shaun’s house trying to shake the feeling of dread that was starting to crawl through me. Finally the recliner stopped rotating and a dark shape stood up slowly from its plushy cushions and embraced Shaun.
I tried to laugh but only made an odd hoarse sound that I didn't like at all. It was the same laugh I used when a bully from junior high had joked about me. It was a scared pathetic sound. The memory that laugh brought made me angry and I stood there feeling foolish. Of course a chair couldn’t move on its own. Feeling extremely foolish I plopped myself down on my own couch and tried to watch the latest TV offering but my mind kept going to Shaun like a tongue goes to a sore over and over. What if somebody really was there? Was it a friend? Or was it a stranger that had somehow convinced Shaun that she was his mother? A mother that had been dead for over 8 years? Now I was really confused. Shaun had always been a little shy and quiet but I’ve never known him for being naive or stupid. But then again, when was the last time I had visited him? I couldn't remember hanging out with him like I had done before and now that I thought about it Shaun had been turning into a recluse. Maybe he was wanting to be conned. Maybe Shaun was so lonely and need human contact so bad that he had let this imposter into his home. A little far fetched but Shaun had been trying to deal with grief for a long time. Maybe its just another coping mechanism. All these maybes and what ifs were beginning to frustrate me. I decided I would just march across the street and introduce myself. I may have neglected my old friend but I was not going to let him get conned whether he wanted to or not. Filled with a righteous anger I strode across the street and into Shaun's yard and pounded on his door. Shaun opened the door a crack, his face looking puzzled before he recognized me. “Hey, what are you doing here?” “Shaun I decided I want to meet your new friend” I said loudly trying to peer down the hallway and catch a glimpse of the imposter. Shaun narrowed the door even more, his eyes darting back and forth.
“I think it would be better if you leave” Shaun said tightly. Shauns forehead was beaded with perspiration and a rank odor radiated from him. “No Shaun, I think you better let me in. You can't have people here pretending to be your mom. Its just not right. I know it was hard on you, I mean it would be hard on anybody but you need to find a better way to deal with your grief.” “You wouldn't understand! You don't know what its like” Shaun bawled. Shauns eyes filled with tears but his face was knotted in anger. “You need help Shaun and I want you to take me to this imposter and we can confront her together.” I said placing my hand on the doorway and shoving it open a little more. “No! Please don't, I won't be separated from my mother again” Shaun wailed. It was heartbreaking. My heart sunk but my resolve stiffened and I pushed the door open a little wider. “You don't have anything to worry about Shaun. I promise I will be a better friend. I know I haven't been there as much as I should have been but I'm here now.” Shaun hung his head and wiped a long green string of snot from his nose. Sniffling he said “My sister said the same thing. She said I needed to stop being a baby and get over it. She wasn't happy with me at all.” Shaun stepped aside to let me in. I walked past him forcefully and strode into his living room, my heart pounding with the anticipation of confrontation. I heard the door shut behind me followed by the loud click of the lock engaging but paid no attention to it. I was ready to give this con-woman a piece of my mind and I didn't give a damn about how old she might be. The foul scent that was on Shaun intensified as I walked deeper into his dim home and as I walked I noticed his normally immaculate carpet was filthy with dark black dirt. His photos, normally perfectly aligned were all askew and some were even cracked or knocked to the ground
as if a struggle had occurred here. My anticipation began to fade and dread was beginning to crawl its way back into my body. “What happened here Shaun?” I said, once again hating the whiny scared sound of my voice. “I told you not to come in” Shaun said. His voice was low and menacing. A mile away from the tear choked voice that he had at the front door. I was about to turn and face Shaun but now I was in the entryway of the living room. I might as well have been at the gateway to the 9th circle of hell. My first thought was, Oh my god , so much blood. Why is there so much blood? It was sprayed all along the walls, it stained the carpet where the thick black clods of dirt didn't and it was even splattered on the light curtains. How did I not notice them before. The familiar glow of the TV bathed the room in an eery light and I tried to scream but my throat was completely locked. Shauns sister was propped on the sofa. Her throat slit from ear to ear and still oozing thick dark chunks of blood. Her face was bloated and bruised as if she had gone a round with a heavyweight boxer. I feel to my knees and vomited. It was humiliating but I was to terrified to care. “My sister said the same things you did. She wouldn't listen to me. She wouldn't accept momma back. I had to shut her up. I had no choice” Shaun said his voice feverish. “Am I gonna have to shut you up? Are you gonna reject momma too?” I tried to speak but my throat was burning from my own bile and could only blubber like a baby.
“What was that? I didn't hear you?” Shaun said softly. His voice was terrible to my ears and I shook my head, trying to force myself to wake up. Trying to convince myself I was sleeping on my own sofa and I was having a nightmare. “Let me reintroduce momma back. Its been awhile and she's a little self conscious about her looks so try to be polite” Shaun said. Shaun grabbed the recliner and rotated it so that it was facing me. I stared at the floor terrified, not wanting to look up. My vomit stained the front of my shirt and pants in hot clumps. “Now don't be rude. You wouldn't want to offend Momma now would you” Shaun said menacingly. I shook my head vigorously. “No, no I don't wanna...” My head exploded in pain and I found myself lying on my side in a pile of the rotten smelling dirt. My face throbbed with a red heat and now my tears were failing heavily. Unashamedly. This was worse than any junior high bully. Worse than when my high school sweetheart cheated on me. Worse even than my parents splitting up. How I would do go through all those heartbreaks again to get out of this house! Shaun kneeled in front of my and brutally grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head up sending bolts of pain searing through my neck and filling the air with a loud crack. “Now, I'm gonna ask one more time. Don't be rude to Momma. You will regret it.” I tried to respond but could only managed choked sobs. WHACK! Shaun slapped me full force in the face and my neck snapped back. I tried to scream in pain and Shaun clamped his fingers on my throat and began to squeeze with a demonic strength I would never have guessed he had. I tried to claw at his face but his grip never wavered and my
chest felt as if I was going to explode. Shaun was going to strangle me to death and I couldn't do anything about it. His grunts of exertion began to fade away and slowly the world started fading to black. WHACK! Another vicious slap knocked me from the brink of unconsciousness and back into this living nightmare. Shaun got off my chest and dragged me by my hair directly in front of the recliner. My head felt as if it was on fire and I thought he was going to rip my scalp off. I got on my hands and knees and crawled as best I could and finally he let go of me. My head fell on the dirty carpet and I curled up into a ball. “Last chance. Say hello to my mom.” Shauns voice carried a strong finality to it and I knew he was at the end of his patience. “Okay, okay” I muttered through my sobs and looked up slowly. Sitting in the recliner was a very badly decomposing body in a floral print muumuu and fluffy slippers. Dirt stained the recliner and the corpses clothes as it did the rest of the house. The corpse itself was still a bit fleshy, green and rancid, and the skin was peeling in tatters. The corpses head was held up by a clothes hanger wire that had been shoved through the underside of its jaw and through the back of her head where it was hooked into the recliner itself. Her face was almost completely gone, her skeletal face grinned down at me. As I looked an impossible large worm oozed from one of her eyes to the other. Another hot batch of chunky vomit sprayed from my mouth. I couldn't stop. I hacked and hacked until I felt like my stomach itself was going to expel from my mouth. “Isn't she beautiful? I changed her myself. The clothes she was wearing when I brought her here were in bad shape but now she's much more presentable” Shaun said.
“Can, can I go now...please can I go” I begged hoarsely my throat burning with each syllable. “Oh we have so much catching up to do. I don't think so. I think your going to be here for an awful long time.” Shaun looked up at his mothers corpse. “You always wanted another boy didn't you ma? Now we can be a big happy family and I never have to be alone again” Shaun smiled once again and the complete and utter happiness on his face terrified me more than anything I had ever seen my entire life.
The End.