Ethereal

Was it in my thoughts or was it real?

Jack could not sleep that night, his friends Larry and James had come over to his place. His parents had left town, they had allowed him to have friends for sleepover under the watchful eye of his trusted cousin Seth, who was an adult.

Seth had made it clear that he would allow anything but adult activities. It was late, the night sky visible through his window, the stars were eyes looking down upon earth and the moon itself was a gift to human kind.

His friends had fallen asleep, Seth was probably asleep too.

He was on his bed, Larry had slept over a blanket on the floor and had put another blanket over him.

James was sleeping on the table. A profound but bland carelessness reflected by his posture.

Are the stars really that far, it seems like they are really high, but can be reached. Look at them sleeping in absurd positions, hectic it is, but the sense of fun lies with it. I was a part of it a few hours ago, all of this intellectual thinking had not been there. Everything we do for fun and entertainment is really just an escapism from the reality.

Jack snapped out. These thoughts filled him when he could not sleep. He closed his eyes and lay in the bed.

Silence. I like silence. This is the kind of silence I like, that seems eternal. Just peaceful. This is one of those rare moments, where I have nothing but eternal peace.

Again.

Jack sat up in his bed, the thoughts were at him again, like wolves on a helpless sheep.

Why don’t these thoughts go away?

Tears almost fell from his eyes, he wanted nothing but the insidious thoughts to go away.

Accept it, I am not going to fall asleep anytime soon.

He laid down and the blanket up to his chest and looked to the sky.

The friends of the night came to him, his memories. Jack was looking at the sky but the only thing he could see was that day.

He had been seven.

"Mom, I want pastries."

He had wanted nothing but pastries when he had been a child.

The softness, the way his spoon could carve into it. He always did it slowly, eyeing it, gazing at it, staring at it as the metal slowly and slowly separated the cake, its particles moving apart, screaming delicious. How slow and how ethereal it was.

He had returned from Larry's house that day, he could remember.

There had been some leftover pastries at Jack's house, and all the way back from Larry's house to his, he had been dreaming about eating those.

When he got back, he went to the kitchen. He took a plate and a spoon and opened the fridge.

Where the pastries should have been, there was nothing.

Jack didn't feel sad or wistful, he just stood there, gazing at the reality. It was a strange kind of beauty. He was numb.

He went to the living room, his mother was watching something on the television.

"Mom, where are the pastries."

"Mrs. Jones from next door had come over for a visit, so I served it to her as we were talking."

Jack did not say anything, he did not unleash a tantrum, or express any emotions. He went upstairs, to his room and locked his door.

He did not feel angry, he wanted to.

He jumped on his bed and buried his face on the blanket. He flounced to the wall and started hitting it while shouting.

"CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE"

He kicked at the wall, he felt something cold on his feet.

He looked down and there was a white insect that felt cold. Insects frightened him.

Jack jumped away. But the thing was not moving, it was not an insect, it was something else, something that looked strange, it was CAKE.

He turned around, and ever so slightly, just for a fleeting second he thought he saw a humanoid figure dashing through, Jack could not really see it properly, he had tried to make of what he had seen, every time, his brain told him that it was a human that was cake.

The night sky became visible to him again, Jack got away from his memories. He was in the present again, feeling every part of his body that touched the bed. Feeling thirst at the walls of his neck.

Was it real or was it in my thoughts? Or is it just a way that I am avoiding that it ever happened?

Jack stood up and went to the other room.

There was a bottle of water, he opened its cap and took a gulp and for a moment he stood still, a surreal shiver soared in his spine. He went near the wall

He shouted, "CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE" and kicked it.

Indeed, it was just in his thoughts.

Image credits: <a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/little-boy-eats-chocolate-cake_6779685.htm#query=kid%20eating%20cake&position=2&from_view=keyword&track=ais">Image by KamranAydinov</a> on Freepik