Chapter One:
"Go, run!" Barnabas' mother said, shoving him forward. He ran for about twenty paces then looked back to see if she had followed, but his mother was nowhere in sight. Instead, a mangled distortion of his childhood home laid where she once stood. Barnabas remembered exactly what he felt, even twenty years later. He wanted nothing more than to start ripping apart the rubble. Clawing and digging his way through until he found his mother. He knew she was dead, but he wanted to see her face one last time.
He never got that chance. Not long after dropping to his knees in disbelief, a soldier came and picked him up by his shirt collar. The soldier shoved an ax into his chest, shouting for him to raise arms and fight for his country, but the shock kept him from realizing someone was even talking to him. Barnabas dropped the weapon, and walked away from the soldier, his back facing the gravesite of his mother. Everything in his mind was telling him to run, get to safety. Follow his mothers' wishes and not become another casualty, but his body wouldn't let him.
The fear, the shock, the disbelief. Nothing rivaled those feelings. Even days after he managed to escape his war-torn city, he couldn't shake the trauma off and move on as he could do in the present. How could he? He was just a boy. Every day that goes by he wishes he had died too, but no matter how badly he wanted to join her in the afterlife, he couldn't bring himself to do it. His mother raised him to be a man, not a coward. He wished that she didn't so that he could join her and not feel guilty.
So why was she standing there in front of him? In his first home nonetheless. It felt like a dream, but nothing was dreamy about it. He could feel, he could see clearly, but nothing about this was right. She was supposed to be dead. This house was supposed to be torched to ashes. He simply couldn't wrap his head around it. "M-mom?" He said hesitantly.
His mother, who was washing dishes in the sink, looked over to him. A warm smile grew across her face, drying off her hands, she walked over and hugged Barnabas. "Oh, Barney! I knew you'd come and visit!" She said. That voice, that damned voice. Barnabas started to tear up. He returned the gesture, wrapping his arms around his mother and embracing her tightly. He picked her off the ground, squeezing her tighter and tighter. Oh, how he longed to feel her warmth, her love.
"I haven't seen you in ages, Barney! You've gotten so big!" She said. Barnabas, upon hearing her words, snapped back to reality. He gently set his mother back down on her feet, releasing her from the hug. "What's going on? Y-you're supposed to be dead. This house… This city is supposed to be gone. I don't understand." He wiped away the tears that were streaming from his eyes.
"What are you talking about? Did you have a bad dream, honey? Come here, let mommy help you feel better." Barnabas' mom said. She sat down in a dining room chair, patting her lap. Barnabas walked over, getting on his knees and resting his head on her legs. His mother played with his hair, just like she used to when he was a kid. "Tell me about this nightmare you've had. What's on your mind son?" She asked.
Barnabas immediately broke down, crying harder than before. Between breaths and chokes, he recounted the story of how he lost her, how he lost his home. "I was scared momma, I was so scared." He said. His mother kept playing with his hair with one hand and rested the other on his back. "It's ok baby, momma's here. Everything will be alright." Barnabas cried for a little bit longer. He was so embarrassed to be crying in front of his mother, or anyone for that matter. He was too tough to cry, but he couldn't help but release all the agony he felt for so long.
After what felt like hours, he finally dried up all of his tears and sat back up. He locked eyes with his mother, and she smiled at him. He hugged her again, so she did the same. Maybe it was all just a bad dream. She was alive, he was alive. There was no more war, no more pain, no more suffering. Everything was like it should have been, as it was meant to be. It felt right.
Though, as he had originally expected, the world around him began to fade around him. The dream world and the real world were slowly trading their positions in his psyche. He pulled away from his mother, and she too was being wisped away by the blinding light of reality. Barnabas tried desperately to hold on to her, to not let her be taken away again, but the attempt was futile. The last thing he saw before opening his eyes once more, was her face smiling back at him.