The Mind Never Sleeps
Marty was just sitting down for another solo dinner when there was a knock on the door. He walked slowly across his apartment, remembering that it was time for Niles' weekly visit. Since Marty's wife passed away 5 years earlier, he could always rely on his son's punctual visits to keep him company. How lucky he was, although he did not know it. He arranged a forced smile before pulling the door open.
"Dad!" Niles grinned broadly and wandered into the lounge room of his father's small apartment. Unlike Marty, Niles had had more time to prepare himself for the false cheeriness that went on during their time together and was doing rather well. Every visit he checked hopefully to see whether or not the ancient, filthy, stained, breadcrumbed, recliner was still present. And with every visit he was disappointed.
"Hey Niles. I was just having dinner, have you eaten yet?"
"No, I'll need to save some room. As we speak, Maris is preparing a delicious birthday dinner for me, or rather, she has ordered the cooks to prepare one. There's a slight hint of dessert in the air too." Niles winked.
"Oh.. gee, that's right, I almost forgot! Happy birthday Niles!" Marty gave his son a pat on the back, completely bypassing the disturbing image of Maris providing "dessert" for Niles. Had he been quicker he would have commented that Niles would be better off not eating before such an event. This was awkward. He'd completely forgotten about his birthday.
"It's ok dad, never mind." He rocked back and forth on his heels and tried to keep calm. But he couldn't contain himself. "I bet you didn't forget Frasier's birthday though." His voice began to elevate. "The favourite son who moved across the country and left us! No! You couldn't possibly forget about him!" Niles grabbed Marty's shoulders and started shaking him frantically, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not get any sort of reaction from his father at all.
Then his father vanished through the tips of his fingers and the room went blurry until it was unrecognisable. It was cold, and misty. Niles spotted a railing directly in front of him and quickly clutched onto it and squinted through the haze. As it cleared he realised he was very high up, above Seattle on the Space Needle. His knees buckled and he tried to back away from the railing. But as he tried, something was pushing him towards it. He glanced behind him and saw Frasier and his father, who had his hand on Niles shoulder, pushing him forwards. He felt his body slide over the top of the railing and knew that any attempts at saving himself would be useless. He was already too far over the edge. And then he was falling, fast.
Niles jerked suddenly and felt the mattress of his bed break the fall. He opened his eyes and peered through the darkness, trying to confirm that he was dreaming.
"Oh thank goodness" he sighed, his heart pounding. "Maris? Arranging a birthday dinner for me?" he murmured to himself. "And dessert? What a far-fetched dream.." he frowned with disappointment, before turning over and welcoming another round of slumber.
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