The Vortex

"Ray! Stay close!"

Ray turned to look at his mother. She wasn't looking at him. Instead, she was focused on something else with her new boyfriend. But not focused at him.

Ray decided not answer his mother since she didn't seem to care where he was anyway. He walked further into the triangle structure.

What a stupid looking structure, he thought. Triangular with D-shaped holes. He heard some people earlier, complementing its uniqueness and what not, saying it is art.

Ray didn't understand it. He only saw a piece of useless looking structure with no purpose. Such a wasted space, he thought, which could have been put to better use as a skateboarding platform. It was not as though the structure would lead to a hyper space or time space vortex that could suck him out of this world, this life.

How he wished there was one. Then maybe, just maybe, he could go into space, away from here or go back into time, to find his father. His father.

"Dad, I miss you...", Ray sighed and thought sadly.

It was two years ago that his father left him. A freak car accident, his mother told. The story was that his father crashed into a tree on the way back from work.

Although Ray was just eight, he knew it wasn't as simple as that. His father had always been a careful driver, checking to make sure that he was properly strapped in, signaling, looking at all directions before he turned whichever way and going over bumpy roads carefully.

Perhaps, maybe, his father saw an animal passing by and he tried to avoid it, that was the only logical conclusion Ray could think of but he had other thoughts.

Mother's new boyfriend started appearing during his father's funeral. At first, he only saw him once every few weeks but the boyfriend made his appearance more often in the last 6 months. More than what Ray was comfortable with.

Ray could see his mother was getting cozier with the new guy too. He came over for dinners and spent hours at their home during the weekends. The guy was always trying to make small talks, tried to be friendly with him, much to Ray's annoyance. "Did he think he could take over dad's place? No way!", Ray thought angrily.

This trip, Ray didn't want to join but the guy suggested and mother agreed. "Good to spend some time together", he said to mother while looking at Ray. Ray tried to protest but he was only ten. His mother sternly insisted, he could only sulk and follow.

🌻

Come join us at CCC in A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.