Apotheosis of a Cynic

What did time have to do with any of this? All Mathew wanted to know was why all these strange events were happening one after another, he said sarcastically, turning back.

"Back to that car? Oh, yeah, because nothing screams safety like sitting in a moving death trap with you behind the wheel and being chased by God knows who."

Mathew paused for a moment, took a deep, relaxing breath, and then continued.

"Look, Mom, if you want to keep playing car chase, be my guest. I'm out." then he cycles back and asks where she even got the car.

She hesitated. It was obvious that there was something she wanted to say but for some reason couldn't, as she was obviously holding back Her voice wavered as frustration and desperation blended into her tone.

"You're being unreasonable..."

Mathew cut her off with a sharp glare.

"Unreasonable? You're the one dragging us deeper into this mess! And you don't even seem to have any sort of a plan! Do you think if we just keep running or driving in circles, they'll get bored and leave? Newsflash! They don't seem to be playing tag. They fucking killed people, mom!"

Her eyes widened and her lips parted, then pressed back together in a thin line. Glistening in the dim moonlight her eyes betrayed the emotions she tried to keep hidden. She was a mother after all, and no mother would derive joy in endangering their child. But she, for some reason unknown to Mathew, was forced to put him through such trials, and at the same time, keep the reason hidden.

The bottled-up emotions were finally overflowing. Trying to get him to understand she spoke in a low trembling voice.

"I..." she started. "Mathew I didn't want any of this to happen just as much as you. I might not be doing a good job of it, but I'm just trying to keep you safe... I'm trying to... to fix this, but I don't know... how!"

Like a dam bursting at the seams, her raw emotions were evident in every syllable as her words spilled out.

"And you're right. You're right. I don't have a plan. But still. I'm your mother. I'm supposed to protect you, but I've already made so many mistakes."

As she spoke, a single, and lonely tear slipped down her pale cheek. Looking up to him with an expression of plea and shame she said in the most desperate tone The young cynic had ever heard.

"Please... just trust me. Just a little longer."

No matter how upset one is, if a mother bursts into tears and pleads desperately with their child, no one. Not even a cynic like Mathew would be able to just stand there and watch.

As he watched his mother, the full weight of her pleas sank in. For a fleeting moment, he was tempted to fire off another sarcastic remark. But the crack in her voice, the vulnerability etched across her face, and that lone tear broke through the armor of his cynicism.

He ran a hand down his face, and let out a long, sharp, and frustrated sigh.

"Really? Tears? You're pulling 'that' card now?"

He walked forward, looked down at her desperately trying to wipe away the stream of tears, and pulled her into a loving embrace, and said.

"God, Mom,"

His tone was still laced with a hint of irritation but was softer now as he continued.

"You're really laying it on thick, huh?"

After a few minutes, she had finally calmed down. And in that time, Mathew had come to accept that no after what he said right now, she wouldn't divulge any information to him. So, even if reluctantly he decided.

"Alright, fine. You win. I'll get back in the car. But let's get one thing straight,"

Raising a hand to her cheek, he wiped off a tear and continued.

"But when we get to wherever it is you're dragging us, we're going to sit down and have a serious talk about this whole... disaster. No more running, no more vague 'trust me' nonsense. No more secrets."

His expression softened, and then he asked with a tone filled with more emotion than he had shown in the last few years of his life.

"Deal?"

A wide and bright smile appeared on his mother's face as she spoke.

"Yes, son."

After wiping off the rest of her tears, she continued.

"I promise. No more secrets."

Mathew stiffened, pulling his arms away and hanging them awkwardly at his sides then looked away. While scratching the back of his head, he said in an awkward tone.

"Alright, alright, enough of the sentimental nonsense."

With his gaze still averted the young cynic added.

"Just... don't make me regret this."

"Don't worry son. I won't."

'This whole thing had better have been worth it.' Mathew thought to himself as he and his mother stepped back into the car.

Mathew leaned his head back against the seat, staring out the window. When a thought finally came to him. It was a recollection of a question he had asked but got no answer to, so he looked to his mother and asked.

"Hey, you never answered where you got this..."

But before he could finish his question, the sound of glass shattering and the pellets striking him interrupted his flow.

In that same instant, Mathew felt a chill erupt down his spine. Looking to his mother, he opened his mouth to speak, but the words froze on his tongue and his pupils dilated. Illuminated by the glow of the streetlights, the sight before him was the most horrible, terrifying, angering, and at the same time painful thing he could ever see.

His mother's eyes were fixed on the road ahead, not because she was focused on her driving, after all, the car hadn't moved an inch since they sat back in their seats. No. It was a sight, he had been all too familiar with as a resident of the fifty-eighth district. Because all the life had left her eyes.

Mathew looked down to her neck and around it was a ring of ice and above that was a hand that reached through her broken window and wrapped around her neck. The hand squeezed tightly, cracking the line of ice on her neck. Mathew's words still refused to leave his lips. But still replayed constantly in his mind.

'No, no, no. Please no.'

But no matter how much he wished he was seeing things or how much he wished to wake up from this developing nightmare suddenly, with an echo, the sound of the ice moment was brought into his memories. Where her head once was, there was now nothing but a frozen stump of flesh.

Her head was no longer attached to her body.

His mother, was dead.