Arriving home..

Ronan arrived home for an unpleasant surprise...

Rónan forced his eyes open for the tenth time that hour. He was about to pass out, and he knew he was. It was 3am, and he would have been already in bed, and half way through his third dream, if he hadn't been driving on the motorway to his hometown. It was earlier that day that he had heard about the death of his mother. His sister phoned around 8am, when he was barely awake and informed him that his mother had taken a heart attack and died right in front of their father who was suffering from dementia and barely able to care for himself, never mind caring for his longterm wife. He momentarily took a hand off the wheel to rub over his eyes which ached from the effort needed to keep them open and on the dark road in front of him. It had been a good hour or so since the last car had passed him, and he didn't blame anyone, even he thought it was crazy to be driving for so long during the day then straight on into the night; but he was so close to home that he didn't want to stop now.

For the first few hours of the ride, he cried himself out. He loved his mother so dearly, she'd been what had inspired him to go off away from the home town to follow his dreams in the jobs he wanted to pursue, even if they did change so frequently. But now that she was gone he already felt lost. Who was he going to go to for motherly advice now? Who was going to supply him with fuel to keep going? He sighed looking down at his lap as he compressed tears that we beginning to form again, tears he denied could even exist due to the amount he had previously cried. No matter how distraught he was however; he could never blame his father. He understood how dementia was as he had to grow up watching his mother deal with his father, so he didn't think he could put up a good reason to blame it on him at all.

Half an hour later, He found himself pulling into the front garage of his family home. It was a big house, bigger than any he'd been able to afford anyway since he moved off. His mother often complained that since him and his other siblings moved away its been empty and the rooms only gathered dust, she almost decided to move out, but his father talked her into keeping the house as he didn't want to leave the family home, he felt it was the only thing of his earlier life that he had left. Rónan pulled out the keys and let himself rest back on the seat as he stared at the house in front of him. This brought back a lot of memories. He remembered playing in the garden with his brother, and chasing his sisters around the exterior of the house when it was sunny outside and the sky was blue. Now however, The sky was a deep purple and clouds blocked the stars. It was also raining quite heavily now that he had arrived which only made him stay that bit longer in the car, causing him to slowly doze off against the leather seats.

After another hour or so, his body shifted and he could have groaned. His body ached from sitting so uncomfortably in the front seat, especially with the seatbelt still wrapped tightly around his waist and chest. He pushed a hand down and unbuttoned the seatbelt and let it pop off and snap around the side of his body, finally free him from the seat. His second hand came up and rubbed his face, hoping to wake himself up a little bit. The hard battering on the roof of the car told him it was still raining, and even heavier than before, which made him groan as he turned his body and put his hand on the handle, seconds away from pushing it open before he gave a loud shout and jumped back. A face was at the window, almost pressed against it. The face belonged to a woman, but not one who was healthy and in her prime. Her cheeks were sunk so much that the skin was clinging to her face, almost seeming to be sucked in. Her eyes were also sunk back and had grown dark rings around them. Her dark hues were fixed on him, almost in an angry expression as she simply watched the boy who had begun to tremble.

Rónan didn't dare look away, his eyes were fixated as he stared back at the woman in utter fear, his mind racing at a million miles an hour until it stopped and his breath caught. "...Mom?!" He breathed out, but as soon as his thought crossed his mind the car seemed to lunge and start to slid backwards, making him tear his eyes away to see that he had sat on the handbrake and the car had started to roll backwards. He quickly moved himself back onto the passengers seat and pulled the hand break back up causing the car to halt in its tracks. When the car stopped, his eyes immediately jumped back up to the window, only to find it empty once more. He blinked and looked around, startled and expecting to see her at the window he now had his back to, but she wasn't there either... He paused only for a second before he quickly manoeuvred his body and pushed the car door open so he could step outside into the pouring rain.

The rain slammed down on his head the moment he was exposed to it, completely drenching his hair and clothes so they stuck to him. He looked around the car from where he stood, looking completely confused for a split second when he couldn't find her. His heart started to race again as he looked down at his feet, an overwhelming feeling taking over him as he looked down at the bottom of the car. No one would squeeze under there in the pouring rain, right...? The fear was building up inside him until he heard a bang behind him, causing him to jump around and his attention to be caught by something at the side of the house. It wasn't clear in the rain, and it didn't stay there for long, but he had completely forgotten about it when he saw the woman, this time she wasn't standing in the rain, she wasn't close to him either; but she was still staring. Her dark eyes burned into him as she stood at the window, standing out from between the curtains as she glared, causing goosebumps to arise from his skin.

That couldn't be his mother, it wasn't how he remembered her at all, but there was an itch at the back of his neck that was making doubts arise. His mother was dead. That's why he was here...But then who was this stranger in his family house? He was froze on the spot until he gave a start when the figure moved, but turning away but instead backing up, keeping her eyes on him until she disappeared into the darkness of the room again. Ronan yanked his keys from the car and hurried over to the house, not even bothering to close the car door as he ran through the rain. As he passed the window, his heart stopped. Now that he was closer he could see the woman standing at the door way, half of her body hidden as if she was peeking out from behind the frame, watching his actions. His legs trembled but he didn't stop, he just kept going until his fingers were fumbling to get the key into the lock.

When the key clicked, and the door opened, he stopped. He stood in the rain as he pushed the door wide. Did he want to go in? He didn't know who this woman was...And to be honest she was beginning to scare him. He swallowed and stepped into the front entrance, his body dripping from the rain, but aside from the drips on the tiles and the rain on the roof, the house was completely silent. The halls were also dark but he continued on as he knew the place fairly well. He could swear that his heart was about to bounce from his chest, and he was sure it nearly did when he turned the corner just to see someone enter a room at the end of the hall. His stepped paused for the smallest fraction of a second before he started in a run. He didn't know what he expected to see when he turned and slipped through the doorway, but what he did see stopped his heart...

A coffin stood at the end of the room, the top was closed, but he knew who it was. The woman was completely forgot about as he slowly stepped closer, wanting to see his mother one last time, but not wanting to see her dead. He stopped and slowly ran his hand over the exterior of the coffin, his eyes tearing up but he pushed that back, the wet clothes almost stinging is body from the cold, but that was all pushed away as his hands when to the latch and he clicked it up, his mind lost in the moment as he pulled up the lid only to reveal that it was empty. He stared down at the lace and silk, partially relieved, but confused at the same time. He stood, wondering what was going on until he was yanked out of his little day dream by a voice in his ear. "You did this...YOU LEFT ME!!" A woman's shouts cause him to turn his body so fast that he was sure he pulled something in his back. The woman. His mother. She was back. She was in his face. And her eyes and mouth were wide as she screeched. Ronan stepped back so suddenly that his body jerked and he sat up so fast in the front seat of the car that he whacked his head on the roof.

He had woken himself with a shout, only to realise that he was still in his car, he was still dry, and he'd just had a horrible nightmare. He rubbed his head as he looked around, looking out all the windows before he sat back. "God f*****g d****t, you dumb son of a.." He growled and hit his head off the headrest on the back of the seat. How could he have fallen asleep in the goddamn car. He cursed himself again and grabbed his bag from the back seat, yanking his keys from the car for the second time and shoving the door open as he headed inside the house to find a bed.