Rylie, a teenage boy, walks into his house. He is returning from the doctors and is letting all the news he was told, sink into him. He is overthinking everything, pondering to himself many questions. “Why hadn’t I gone to the doctors earlier? If I would have known, could I have gotten treatment? Would people have stopped bullying me if they knew about my narcolepsy? If I had gotten treatment earlier, would my hallucinations, before and after I go to sleep, be gone? Would my father stop telling me I am a failure if he just knew all I have to go through?”
As Rylie touches his peach fuzz facial hair, he begins to become overwhelmed with fatigue. He falls asleep suddenly, collapsing onto the floor. As his parents walk in a few minutes later, they see that he has fallen into a deep sleep. They are used to this happening by now, but it still shocks his mother every time. His mother, Taylor, looks to his father, John, as they sit down on the couch near where Rylie is laying. A tear falls down her face. She feels this dull pain in her abdomen that she can’t shake off. Taylor puts her hand on John’s shoulder and starts bawling. She starts to talk, but it is not loud due to the mucus and saliva filling up in her throat.
“Honey, what are we going to do about this?”
John looks at her, closes his eyes, and shrugs.
“I don’t know sweetheart. We learned a great deal of information today about Rylie. It is a lot to take in. I never expected to be raising a child with so many problems. But you know what I say, nature never allows a man to be more than he is, only less.”
Taylor rolls her eyes and huffs.
“John! I told you to stop believing in this. It is not Rylie’s fault he has been given this destiny. You need to stop telling him he should expect less. If anything, he should take the obstacles presented to him and allow himself to succeed and become more than he already is.”
John is about to angrily respond but holds himself back since he knows neither he nor Taylor needs any more stress today. He hugs Taylor.
He looks at her and says, “It is going to be okay. We should probably put Rylie in his bed now.”
John leans over and kisses her on the forehead as he stands up from the couch. He walks over to where Rylie is lying on the floor and picks him up. Taylor follows behind as John carries Rylie to his room.
At this time, Rylie is asleep in bed. He is a very active sleeper. He will walk around, talk, or eat during his sleep periods. As he is sleeping, he starts dreaming about hearing a man banging on the front door. He starts to talk aloud saying, “Who is it? Who’s there?”
Rylie has frequent night terrors. He has had a troubled past. His family and he also live in a bad neighborhood in Hollywood, so he is constantly on edge. His night terrors normally consist of stabbings, shootings, someone coming into the house, or being chased in an open area. Rylie also has hallucinations, due to his schizophrenia. Some days he will wake up from sleeping and see a man in his room. Not until today, after talking to the doctor, did he realize these were hallucinations, so he has not removed the knife from his bedside table. He has told his parents many times about the man in his room, but by the time they get there he disappears or his parents become strangers to him. He forgets every sense of his reality when he gets in his hallucinated states. His father has an existing knife mark on his leg, from the one time Rylie stabbed him.
John walked into his room one morning, and Rylie had no remembrance of who he was. He thought that he was a different man who entered the house. As John leaned over to touch Rylie to wake him up, Rylie flipped him over his shoulder and onto his bed. Rylie grabbed the knife from the bedside table and threatened his dad. John kept saying, “It’s me Rylie. It’s me!” Rylie didn’t recognize John’s voice and stabbed the knife right into John’s right thigh since it was the closest thing to Rylie. As Rylie pulled the knife out of his dad’s leg he woke up from his hallucinated state. He looked down, noticing his dad’s thigh was bleeding, and said, “Dad what happened?” John looked at him in terror. Rylie looked around and realized he stabbed his dad with the knife in his right hand. Rylie dropped the knife suddenly. His eyes filled up with tears. His stomach became upset, and he started loudly crying. “I am so sorry dad. I am so sorry.”
John said, “It is okay son.” Rubbing his back now, he sighs, “It is okay.”
Rylie is still dreaming in his bed on a sunny Thursday afternoon. The man that normally enters his dreams is still trying to break into his house, now pounding louder and louder on the front door.
Rylie screams, “Leave. Stop. Why are you doing this?”
His father and mother hear his scream while they are in the kitchen. Taylor and John look at each other and start running into his room. As they are running, the man in Rylie’s dream has entered the house now and is chasing him into his room. He jumps out of bed. Starting to hallucinate, he shoves the door closed. His father and mother are now banging on the door, but Rylie believes it is the man. He won’t let them in. Finally, John pushes the door very forcefully sending Rylie flying away from the door. As they walk in, Rylie grabs the knife from his bedside counter. The fear is overtaking his whole body and mind. He looks at his mom and dad processing that there are now two unknown people in his room.
He looks at them, trying to conceal his tears, and says, “Stand back.”
His mother runs to him trying to comfort him, but as she does he stabs the knife right below her heart.
John yells, “No!”
As Rylie pushes his mother to the floor, John runs to her. He lays on the floor and starts crying. Rylie starts screaming at his father, who he thinks is the normal man in his dreams.
He says, “Why do you keep haunting me? Why are you here?”
John tries to conceal his sadness and fear as he looks up, under Rylie. His hands start to tremble. He is going to place his hand on Rylie’s shoulder, but before he could, Rylie stabs his father violently in the back, multiple times. His father falls onto his stomach. Rylie is not satisfied with only stabbing the man so he picks his father up and slices his throat. He feels this is the best punishment for the man who has been terrorizing him for quite some time. As his lifeless father lays in his lap, he wakes up from his hallucination. He looks at his hands, which are now covered with blood and are shaking with terror. His whole body is filled with a state of shock. His stomach aches severely, and he throws up. He starts bawling as he looks at both his parents’ faces. Both their eyes are still open, so he closes them shut. He puts his father’s body down on the floor and hugs them both.
He just keeps repeating, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Rylie lays with his parents for about thirty minutes trying to understand what he has just done. The words his father said constantly, overwhelmed his thoughts. My father was right! Nature never allows a man to be more than he is, only less. I am a horrible person, who has horrible problems and goes through horrible obstacles. I will never be more! I am meant to be a piece of shit! Rylie, still sobbing, kisses his mother’s forehead, and he hears the front door unlock. He turns to look at his door and starts to panic.
TO BE CONTINUED…