Faced with an utter silence accompanied by a white mask with its eyes so close to him that he thought he could see its face, he couldn't help but loosen his hold on his quivering jaws while letting out a cold dreaded breath that passed through the back of his sensitive teeth. He could only feel a sting of pain that came from his mouth along with this empty feeling on his arm, now severed and was found sitting on top of a pool of white liquid at the corner of his sights. It made him want to stand up. kick her and run away while screaming if only he could move, to which he was wishing for at this very moment.
He then heard the reaper at his side let out a somewhat elated breath, bringing her face up to look at the ceiling while pulling her hand towards her, gently shaking off the same thick white liquid dripping from her black gloves. "Now, mind telling me about your mom's favorite color?"
"I told you… I don't know!" Jason cried, stealing a glance towards his arms before looking back at her.
"I see, can you tell me about your favorite color then?" She said, moving her hands at her back without taking her face off of him.
He looked at his surroundings once again to see if there's anything that he could use for his escape plan but as soon as he found himself in an impasse, he glared at her and shouted, "Why are you asking me this?"
"Just answer the damn question, Jason," Mary commanded, pushing her face closer towards Jason to make him look at her instead.
"Why are you so obsessed with goddamn colors?!" His face crumpled into an expression that's one step short from crying. It became worse as soon as he saw his mother's dreaded yet relieved face as she talked with her visitors. "It's blu—"
He was interrupted by a cold sensation going through his hand along with the sound of metal hitting their concrete floor, which made him look and widen his eyes in shock.
"A fucking kitchen knife?!" He added with his left eye twitching, then with a short breath followed by a tear starting to make a run through his pale cheeks.
He felt no pain just like the last time. What he saw was just his hand, seemingly drenched by white paint with a piece of metal giving off this silver luster as it bit through his palm and into the floor. The fear of feeling or imagining how painful it was supposed to be didn't bother him at all, but what pestered his mind like ants slowly tearing off a frog's dead body was the fact that he felt like he was missing something and didn't know what he had forgotten at the same time.
"You're about to say it right… you're about to say it? Mind telling me that again?" She said, with her voice sounding as if she was about to break into a laugh.
"It's… It's… It's b…" He looked around him, only to see a version of his familiar world that now seemed so fuzzy like an incomplete puzzle. "Green? Red? I… I don't know… I can't remember…"
He looked at Mary again, attempting to peer through the holes of her mask to find himself some refuge and comfort, but what he saw was her leaning back, yanking her arm towards her chest as if she was pulling something out of the air. Contrary to what he had expected, he saw five strings, glinting and filled with tension that was then followed by a sudden loss of weight complemented by a few drops of white liquid shooting from his back and hitting the side of her mask. He felt his right leg disappear. He raised his voice to scream after realizing what just happened but at the very next second, his voice wavered into a cry that was then muffled when he planted his face into the ground.
"Mom..." he said, raising his head a moment later to gaze through the interior of their house and making Mary turn her head to follow his lead. He squinted and frowned as if he was missing something as his eyes moved from person to person. "Mom… where are you… where are you… remember that pasta you cooked for me on my 17th birthday… I told you that it sucked so bad I wanna puke but I really liked it's sweet and sour taste. I lied, I didn't want to get rewarded by something simple like washing the dishes but please… I want to taste it again. It made me feel special so please… let me taste it once more… mom… where are you?"
Mary saw his dad along with his mom walking towards the door where they're at. Jason's eyes seemed to have moved past them as he continued to gaze at every person in the room until his face retreated back to the floor. Then, with a disappointed sigh, she commented, "What a way to call for help… and to think that you were more attached to the dish rather than the one who made it… "
"Mom… please… answer me…"
Then, Mary saw the couple walking and stopping by the door as they embraced each other with their feet only a few inches short from the face of their mess of a son. There, the figure of his father, sleep-deprived and battered, moved closer to blanket the body of his wife with the warmth that came from his arms. He gave him a peck before he whispered, "Honey… everything's gonna be fine. We're here for you too, okay?"
"Dad?!" He raised his head in panic, looking through the couple right before him to gaze into their house's visitors once more.
"I know… I know that he wouldn't want me to be so sad too," his mom replied, gazing back at him with her tired eyes before moving to rest her temple on his chest.
"Mom?!" Jason continued, finally realizing that the voices that made him move came from the couple right above him. "Mom is that you?! Can you hear me?!"
"Yeah, I know that he died too early with his future still ahead of him... but at least we could be happy…" His father added, breathing through his nose and hugging his wife tighter.
"Mom, what the fuck are you talking about? I'm still here! Mom!" he shouted in response to his mom's face that looked as if it was about to be liberated from her current moment of pain.
"Yeah, that's right," his mom replied, letting out a breath before curving her lips into a relieved smile.
"You don't know what you're saying! Everything is cold here, help me… buy off someone to make me live… please… I'm sorry! Listen to me! Listen to me, please!" He bawled, screaming as he tried to crawl and pull his limp body forward using his left knee so he could touch their legs with his forehead.
"I feel like we could do it… finally… and at least…"
"Mom, no! No, just listen to me, mom… I'm right here! Your amazing son has never left you yet and I'm not leaving you guys ever again! It's just a prank, yes, it's just a prank… I'll just go back… yes… I'll just go back to my body and make everything right! Just wait for me! Just look at me, mom! Wait, just wait for me! I'm still here, look at me! Look at me!" He shouted along with a desperate and broken grin.
"Yeah, honey," his dad muttered sweetly as Jason watched him look into her mom's eyes that were seeking for comfort just like him. "just let your heart rest, and we would too. He's in a better place now and maybe, he's watching us, looking at us with that bright face of his from the heavens above."
"YOU MOTHERFU—"
His head was cut off.
Feeling that something was torn inside him, he found the strength to lift his upper body along with a scream that was interrupted at a perfect moment when his head was torn to shreds. There, his lifeless body fell back to the ground with a thud, twitching as it summoned another pool of thick white liquid below it.
"Right before the goddamn moment, nice." Mary turned around to let out a satisfied breath while shaking the tension that she brought upon her right shoulder. "Well, so much for me dodging work, can't believe I had to babysit a goddamn baby who's hungry for attention… But I guess it's all worth it. I should be able to make it through the…"
When she was about to step out, she found herself holding her breath at the moment she looked back at the person she just decapitated. She found Jason standing up, growling yet headless, with a new arm and leg that looked like plastered flesh, facing his mother and father who still seemed oblivious of his presence.