She patted her son's head and they ate together.
The fuming plate on the table was colourful, but bland. The rice, the spices weren't better than the maggot he had before. Its temperature did not add much.
"What's on your mind?"
"Nothing mother, the food is wonderful, you are a very good cook!"
She looked disappointed. There was no reason behind such behaviour. Keith was aware of her instability, but he couldn't ignite her fire.
Once they were both in the bed, she spent time to watch him falling asleep, she was breathing slowly and, with her hand going around her head, she scratched the rotten planks. The moist under her nails accumulated and soon there was a deposit under her hand.
Keith adjusted his position multiple times to cover his ears but with his head against the floor he could still feel the constant scratch. He hid his face under the bedsheet and he felt the coldness going around his forehead.
He felt the grasp tightening gradually, but because he could not hear his mother any more, he wouldn't struggle against it. But the grip became heavier by the second.
His mother asleep, the monster was out. His gapping mouth fully opened, Mister Show approached Keith's belly and stuck his head inside, followed a tearing ache.
The kid could feel an overbearing amount of pain seizing him at the same time, his breath stopped, but his limb were stuck because of dark arms holding them against the floor. Lava entered his guts, or so he thought. His eyes rolled back as pain intensified to an upper level.
His left ear was under a heavy pressure and so was his temple, his cheek. It all became covered in bruises. From his toes to his lips, his body was very cold, his lips were dry and the little air he managed to breathe in was the only source of heat he had.
Near where the stomach is supposed to be, there were drops of acid spreading through his gastric system. That was warm too. But that wasn't pleasant at all.
A loud everlasting tinnitus engulfed him in a deep sleep.
Morning did not came for Keith. He woke up by himself, with another light, evening. He felt fine, though he was sure he had been pierced all over by sharp spikes and thrown into a hot pot the night before.
And there was something missing of course. Hunger!
He tried to speak, but only a low voice came out.
"What have you done?"
But nothing was in the room besides him, only silence.
He tangled to the entrance of the house to look for his mother.
'It's this late already, why would she not wake me up?'
His vagrant mind was all over the place, he could see a faint silver lining around the house with an irregular pattern, and one in the sky up to the tree. The orange color of the atmosphere was wonderful.
A blur image came to him, with a muffled sound.
"Hey! Bring the wheelbarrow."
He wasn't even walking straight. He had to redouble his efforts to understand the few words his mother shouted from the other side of the yard.
'I can't advance properly.'
His feet sank into the ground step after step. The dirt on the pathway became sandy and Keith had difficulties to balance himself.
Then he realised the silhouette of his mother was totally wrong. He blinked a few times to see a woman with long and dense hair, black marks coming out of the eyes down to the jawbone. She had nothing under her ribcage.
Just a hole with a complex 'white stick' keeping her standing. Down her hip there was just a hole with lump of chair hanging around. There was nothing human in this. Her gaze was dark and she looked sad because of the marks.
As she neared him she repeated.
"Bring me the wheelbarrow!"
Still that was her voice.
Observing his surrounding, he noticed the field, its every fibre were green and tall. The rice undulated under a warm wind and every of the grain collision made it sound similar to a light rain.
"I'm coming!"
A voice coming from behind him said. So he turned around to see a familiar face. A face with unknown features.
"Father!"
But the man did not react. He brought what he was asked to the lady. He had a hole in his belly too. He had no crotch. Just dangling guts that could make him trip any moment. But the man looked happy.
He observed the strange couple working together. With such wound, they could not possibly be alive.
Time to time he tried to talk with them or touch them, but to no avail.
"I must be dreaming."
His feet came out of the ground with a push from below. Then a shadow came out of his own and materialised entirely, with red eyes and an open mouth, supported by an army of bandy limbs.
"Yes. I have a few things to tell you. The first one is, call me Show, that'll be easier."
Keith's jaw dropped. That was the first time he had a full sentence, with the shadow's voice, and something he hadn't heard before. A fully-constructed one. He was bluffed.
'What the f-'
"Hey! I can hear that too. Don't be vulgar, you piss-in-bed kid."
"Sh-... Show...? What's all this? Ain't we in my dream?"
A few arms lifted to scratch the head of the monster. Its shape wasn't undulating any more, nor was it moving with chaotic movements.
"No, I'd rather call that an Explanation. You saw them right? You don't even have a clear memory of this poor Lorbe. But hey, that's not only how you see your parents, it is the way I see them too.
"What?"
One of the hand came out of the main body and landed on Keith's head.
"I know! That's complicated! But listen, it is basically all your mother's fault. She came to me long ago, she wanted kids, but the couple wasn't able to make one, so she asked me to help her. I used to be what's called a shaman. That's a mystical healer, don't ask."
Keith's finger was raised, but he lowered it.
"I accepted to help her under one condition, the first child would be mine."
Keith gasped but he was interrupted by the brutal darkening of the sky, there was no star in the sky, and no moon lightening around, the whole scenery around him had disappeared. The two red eyes glowed and their light aimed at Keith.
The tone of the voice lowered.
"You might ask, what does that mean? You do what I say, that's it. By the way, I gave your mother what she wanted, But she forgot me afterward... So here I am. The gods allowed her to give birth but they took from her too, her sanity is fading. And you died a few times already."
"I am dead?"
"I said a few times! I can't let my investment go so soon. We have plenty to do together. Let's see... The time with that ranger, he strangled you... Then it was your mother strangling you. She also made you an internal bleed, you know, with her favourite toy. Such a mess to repair! And finally, this poisoning attempt."
"Mother's second mind tried to kill me today?"
"You stop interrupting me! She did kill you. I just ate your insides, the stomach area. Maybe it hurts. I don't mind. Ain't I a good frostbite?" The monster said with a cold tone.
Show waited for Keith to react, but the kid didn't even know this word. He continued his talk.
"I am here because I had a part of you, we are in your head. I can learn language as well you know! I just need a tongue. We'll find one sooner or later. I'll be easier to talk in the first world."
Keith was taken aback, he was in front of a special being, fluently speaking to him. He forced his voice out.
"What do you want from me?"
"Heh!"
The shadow snarled, the light from Show's eyes was dimmer.
"We'll go find your father. He must be going crazy too, he was in for the deal after all. Once we dispose of your mother, we can go out."
The kid's eyes widened.
"Dispose...? What! No! Picco said we can go after father once I grow up."
Both frowned.
"Then we'll see if you are 'this' patient, young one."
Keith asked another question.
"Why have you said you hate him? Why did you say 'hate' after the visit at Picco's home?"
The red light changed to white, and it tarnished little by little. Show's speech hastened.
"We'll have a talk about that later. For now it is time to wake..."
Keith opened his eyes, hit by the sun's rays.
"...Up!"
His mother was holding him above the mattress.
"Please wake up, forgive me!"