Aberrant: 2011 - The Price We Pay

[Gabriel Stone]

Quote:

The following Fiction is written in a stream of memories. The song is 'Hurt' performed by Christina Aguilera.

I hope you all enjoy.

The Price We Pay

Gabriel Law quietly walked through the halls of his family’s secluded Beverly Hills manor. “More like a palace” as a reporter put it one time during an interview with his father. Now, the halls were all empty. The echoes of his footsteps left his heart heavy with each step.

Slowly he moved down the corridor. His fingertips slid gently across the wall. Languidly he stepped through the halls of the home he used to share with his mother and father.

A small table sat in the hallway. Upon it laid a lovely brass framed picture of his great aunt and uncle whom he had never met. IT was not always this way though, and he remembered a time when there was an expensive and delicate Faberge Egg resting in the pictures’ place. It all came back to him in an instant.

Seems like it was yesterday when I saw your face.
You told me how proud you were, but I walked away.
If only I knew what I know today.

His mother stood over him scolding him for riding his skateboard in the house. The young boy of only eight wept and sniffled as she shouted at the top of her lungs holding fragments of a shattered egg while the table lie knocked down. For minutes she goes on, and with every harsh word his tears come faster and faster as he says he’s sorry over and over.

Gabriel can’t help but smile as he watches the scene play out through his minds eye. Only after she out of breath and sees the shuddering form of her crying son does she realize that how much her words are hurting him. Quickly, and now crying herself she grasps her son her arms and tightly lets him know she still loves him.

I would hold you in my arms.
I would take the pain away.
Thank you for all you've done,
Forgive all your mistakes.
There's nothing I wouldn't do,
To hear your voice again.
Sometimes I want to call you,
But I know you won't be there.

Around the corner and into one of several large living areas within the home, he and his family used this one the most. The dark brown leather furniture matched the equally dark wood paneling on the walls. As he stopped and leaned on the back of the long sofa a Christmas tree faded into the view of his peripheral vision. A young boy sat by the tree tearing into presents with an ecstatic expression. His smile was spread wide across his face.

Directly below him, Gabe remembered where his mother and father sat that morning. There on the couch, still wrapped in their robes they cuddled each other. Trapped near the middle while boxes and wrapping paper surrounded them on all sides. All the while they smiled as their little boy tore through box after box.

The room became to much for him to remain in, hastily he walked out trying to choke back the emotion of his memories as if they were bile in his throat.

Oh, I'm sorry for blaming you,
For everything I just couldn't do,
And I've hurt myself by hurting you.

Some days I feel broke inside but I won't admit,
Sometimes I just want to hide 'cause it's you I miss,
And it's so hard to say goodbye,
When it comes to this.

Alone, he gathered his thoughts in the kitchen. Huddled up at the table he say with his face in his hands, resting his elbows upon his knees and his feet sitting firmly on the support that ran across the legs of the chair he was in. This room held memories for him too. Even as he say trying to shake away the sorrow that had gathered in his now vacant manor still the depression and the shock of their loss still hadn’t sunk in.

It was years ago, here in the kitchen, that he had argued with them. His father had found pot in his room, and he had completely flipped the conversation around, making the two of them feel guilty for invading his privacy. The scene played in his mind as he recalled it all. He had always been good at that, saying the right thing, in the right way to make others feel like the mistake was theirs. His parents were no exception, and now, with them gone he realized every mistake he ever made, and wished against all hope that he could see them one last time.

Would you tell me I was wrong?
Would you help me understand?
Are you looking down upon me?
Are you proud of who I am?

There's nothing I wouldn't do,
To have just one more chance.
To look into your eyes,
And see you looking back.

He remembers the doctors hovering over him. Lights from the ceiling shine down on him and the slight prick from the IV is barely felt on his hand. Frantically they fight at his side but their words come through his ears as incoherent mumble. The defbrillator shocks his body and opens his eyes wide. The light is blinding as the fluorescent light burns images of the medical staff looming over him trying to save his life.

His mother clung tightly on his fathers arm as he spoke on the phone with the hospital. Continuously she asked what was wrong, and pleaded for the man to give her an answer. He hung the phone up and turned around to face his wife. His attempts to calm her down only served to panic the woman even more. In seconds she crumbles to tears as he explains to her what has happened and where Gabriel is.

Frantically the two race to the hospital, their car streaking through the streets of Beverly Hills at a break neck pace. They wre at the stage now where they sat in the car hoping he was alright but blaming themselves. Ishing that had they been there for him, or been better parents then he wouldn’t be in the hospital over dosing on ecstasy.

The Mercedes streaks through through the main strips of the city, through a red light. Gabriel’s father is so busy debating with his mother and arguing over how Gabriel ended up such a rotten child that he never even notices the red light. The driver;s side lights up, all aglow with the oncoming traffic. Fear strikes his fathers expression, followed by a split second of submission. He knows it will be the last time they see their son alive or dead, again.

Oh, I'm sorry for blaming you,
For everything I just couldn't do.
And I've hurt myself.

If I had just one more day,
I would tell you how much that I've missed you,
Since you've been away,
Oh, it's dangerous.
It's so out of line,
To try and turn back time.

Winter rains in California pour down, drenching the young man in a torrent of rain. On his knees in the grass Gabriel wept. His black suit slowly adopted the shimmer of dampness as he huddled there in front of their headstones. The pain in his head made thinking about anything unbearable but memories filled his mind with sorrow, regret, and the weight of blame.

I'm sorry for blaming you,
For everything I just couldn't do.

Alone he wept, tears streaming from his eyes as he clenched the earth in front of him and balled the grass tightly in his fist. The doctors saved his life. He had been given a second chance, and the price he paid for it was his mother and father.

Thunder rolled through the sky and lightning shot a spider’s web of bolts through the sky. One man, now alone in the world because of his own selfish actions begged silently for their forgiveness, and hoped they could hear his pleas.

And I've hurt myself by hurting you.