SILVERWOOD:a healing

A SILVERWOOD COMIC

BY BETSY STREETER

©2013 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WWW.BETSYSTREETER.COM

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her husband, gabriel, rolls over and squints at her.

“babe, you’re not sleeping,” says gabriel.

“i never can sleep when this hap-pens,” says kate. “i just... can’t. i mean, what if something goes wrong?”

“she’ll be okay,” says gabriel. “this is the arrangement we made. it’s okay every time.”

“that doesn’t stop me from worrying,” says kate, brushing her hair from her eyes.

thumping noises from the kitchen, and then a crash. must have been a glass left on the counter. they must tidy up bet-ter next time.

“i’m just gonna... sit up, and wait. until the visit’s over,” says kate.

“okay,” says gabriel. “that’s your right as a parent, i think. i’ll wait with you, if you want.”

“thanks,” says kate.

at midnight...

kate silverwood switches on the bedstand light.

helen silverwood, three years old, slides out of bed.

her visitor is in the kitchen.

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“they told me you won’t remem-ber that i was here,” says the man.

“what they didn’t tell me, though, was that you would serve tea. thank you, helen, you are very kind.” he sips, gently holding the tiny cup between his fin-gers.

helen looks at him, but her face remains blank.

“i should be going, young lady,” says the

man. “i need to get back to my family, and you need to get back to bed.”

her visitor is a male, this time. kind of young. he needs a min-ute to recuperate, collect himself and get used to being a human again. he’s been bat-tling for his life, his mind, for days. the tromindox, human-eating creatures, they absorb you and live off your brain energy. but sometimes, a hu-man with a strong will gets the upper hand and escapes the process.

it took everything he had to make it to this kitchen.

helen takes this opportunity to get out her tea set and place it on the kitchen table.

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“thank you, helen silverwood, you saved my life. and thank you to your parents. i’m sorry that you won’t remember me, but i will remember you. and if you need anything, i will be there. for you, and for your family.”

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“mommy!”

“she’s waking up quicker,” says kate. “what if she wakes up while it’s still here...”

“We’ll deal with that when - if - the time comes,” says gabriel. “don’t worry, babe. she’s okay. i promise.”

kate goes to her daughter.

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“mommy, i had the dream again.”

“the dream with the mon-sters in it?”

“they’re not monsters, mommy, they’re people. peo-ple who are trapped. i let them out, mommy.”

“okay, but from your de-scription, they sound like monsters.”

“this one was a man, mommy. he said he knew you and daddy. he said he would be there to protect us.”

“they will be,” says kate. “they will be there to pro-tect us.”

“are you sure?” says helen.

“i am as sure about that as i am about your beautiful eyes, bug,” says her father, appearing in the doorway.

kate and gabriel tuck their daughter in, and go back to bed.

the end