Liane is fast asleep when a thunderous crash resounds through the house from down the hallway. She jolts awake in a panic, and quickly realizes the sound came from the direction of her son's bedroom.
Oh dear.
She puts on her nightgown and hurries through the dark hallway over to the closed door of Eric's room.
Her knuckles rap against the wood as she calls out.
"Poopsiekins? Is everything alright?"
She waits for a response for quite some time. Eric always hates when she invades his privacy, but she knows that something is very wrong given how loud that crash was, so this time he'll simply have to bear it.
The first thing she sees when she opens the door is Eric's body-length mirror shattered into countless pieces on the floor, knocked over from its stand in the corner of the room.
"Oh my!" she exclaims.
Her gaze travels through the room and finally finds her poor Eric, sitting on the floor and curled up against the wall behind where the mirror used to be. She can't see his face, but his breaths are quite fast and his posture is tense. This fills her with worry in an instant, infinitely more so than the broken mirror did.
She desperately wants to run to him, to comfort him, but she has to be mindful of the sharp shards scattered everywhere to avoid any nasty cuts on her feet.
"I'll– I'll be right back, sweetie. Mommy has to go and get her shoes, okay?"
Eric gives her no response, doesn't even flinch, like he doesn't hear her. This compounds her worry even more, and she knows she has to act quickly.
Liane dashes down the stairs to find her sturdiest pair of sneakers, along with Eric's. She fastens them on her feet in record time, then hurries back up the stairs again.
She reaches the threshold of Eric's bedroom once again and examines the path she must tread to find the best route. Carefully, she makes her way across the room, avoiding stepping on the glass when she can but unable to avoid it for most of the journey. Each time she does, she hears a tinny crunch as the shards break into impossibly more pieces.
At last, she's within arms reach of her distressed son.
"Eric, what happened?" she asks, keeping her voice calmer than she feels. She crouches down and lays a gentle hand on his shoulder. He flinches at her touch and his head whips around to face her. His eyes are wild with dark bags underneath from lack of sleep, and all the color has drained from his face.
"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Liane tries again, squeezing his shoulder in reassurance.
Eric's gaze darts back and forth across her face for a long moment, though not quite making eye contact. Whatever he sees there seems to calm him a bit, and the furrow in his brow softens. He looks away and swallows thickly.
"There was a fucking camera in the mirror," he says, staring at the floor, voice shaking.
Liane is confused. She takes a deep breath and shakes her head.
"Eric, that's not possible."
Eric scowls. "I saw it, mom!" he snaps. "Someone's fucking spying on me. It– it was right there." He points an accusing finger past her at the broken mirror.
Liane blinks. Oh. She understands now.
It doesn't happen often, but occasionally Eric will have these… episodes. Sometimes he can't seem to make sense of what is real or not, and it makes him lash out. Makes him do things that he wouldn't normally do.
And, as much as he tries to hide it, she knows that it makes him unbelievably frightened.
"Have you been taking your medication?" she asks gently. "The ones your doctor prescribed?"
In an instant, his demeanor changes. His expression contorts into something nasty and angry, glaring daggers at her. It breaks her heart.
"What, and let that quack keep poisoning me with that shit?!" he shouts in her face. "Why the fuck would you let him do that to me, mom?!"
Liane tries not to let the hurt show on her face, that he would accuse her of such a thing. She reminds herself that Eric isn't himself right now. She knows he loves his mama, and deep down he must know she loves him to the moon and back.
"I would never hurt you, Eric," she says. "You don't have to take it. It's okay."
She knows she'll have to give him his medication somehow, but she'd be fighting a losing battle if she tried to force him right this moment.
Eric's lip twitches and his angry expression falters, but doesn't disappear.
"Alright, g-good," he stutters, then he turns away from her and starts to mumble. "No fuckin' way I'm taking that shit. Goddamn retarded-ass doctor, trying to fuckin' poison me… Who the hell does he think he is? 'S fucking ridiculous, that's what it is."
Liane knows she has an opening now.
"Eric, sweetie, why don't you put on your shoes? I don't want your poor feet getting hurt from all the glass." She offers him his sneakers and he eyes them warily before taking them. Liane sighs in relief.
Once his shoes are on, she helps him stand and guides him with an arm around his shoulder out of his bedroom. She takes him downstairs to the living room and sits down with him on the couch.
"Okay, there we are," she says. "Now… Do you want to talk about what happened? About what you saw?"
Eric grits his teeth and scowls. He stares at the floor and he curls in on himself even further.
"I was just minding my goddamn business and there was this… this flashing light in the mirror. And when I looked closer I swear to fucking God, there was a camera lens, mom! I told them to fucking stop but they wouldn't listen, so I broke it. Serves them right, trying to fuckin' spy on me without me knowing."
"I see," Liane replies tentatively.
It's silent for a moment, then Eric gasps.
"Shit, look! There it is again!" Eric exclaims, pointing at their reflection in the glass of the television.
Liane looks. Of course, there is no blinking light to be found.
"Someone's out to get me, mom," Eric continues, his voice low and dark. "I swear to God, I'm gonna find out who it is and rip their fucking heads off." His breaths get faster as he speaks and he works himself up enough to start shaking.
He quickly stands up, hands clenched into fists, and takes a purposeful first step towards the television.
Liane panics and runs after him to stand between him and the screen, grabbing him by the shoulders.
"No! Please don't break anything else, Eric," she begs. Eric makes a growl of annoyance and fights to get past her, but she holds her ground. "Let's just sit back on the couch, okay? Look, I'll— I'll turn the television around so it isn't facing us."
Eric stops at that, thank goodness. She cautiously lets go and does as she said she would quickly, then takes him back to the couch.
Her poor son is still shaking with anger and fear.
Liane doesn't know what else to do. She wraps her arms around him and pulls him close. Luckily, Eric lets her do so without much of a fight. She holds his head against her shoulder and strokes his hair. Eric takes a halted breath.
"Eric, my darling, listen to me," Liane says. "You're safe here. Mommy's not going to let anything bad happen to you."
Eric shakes his head frantically.
"No! You don't get it, mom!" Eric retorts. "You don't— It's not— God, fuck."
At last, Eric's body releases its tension and he lets his weight fall against her. He turns his head into her shoulder and lets out a gasping sob, gripping the collar of her nightgown in a tight fist.
Liane's heart breaks as her son cries in her arms. She keeps holding him close and rocks him slowly back and forth, murmuring reassurances and soft shushes.
"It's alright, Eric. I'm here… Mommy's here…"
It goes on like this for some time. Liane can't remember the last time she's done this, with Eric letting her hold him for so long. It must have been years ago.
After a long while, he settles down a bit and his breaths even out, but he still clings to her. Liane sighs and keeps holding him.
"It's late," she says. "You should sleep, Eric. Mommy will stay with you."
She feels Eric nod slowly against her shoulder, and he moves to lay his head down in her lap.
She's not sure what prompts her to, but after a moment she starts to sing softly as she brushes his hair with her fingers.
A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're fast asleep
In dreams you will lose your heartache
Whatever you wish for, you keep
Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling through
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
The dream that you wish will come true
When the song finishes, Eric's breaths are finally calm and his body is relaxed against her. Liane smiles sadly down at him, her only boy. Her sweet, beautiful little boy who she loves more than anything, whose own mind makes living in this world so difficult for him. She wishes with all her heart that she could do more to help him, but... this will have to do for now. She needs to let him sleep, and she needs to sleep too.
"Goodnight, Eric," she murmurs. She sighs and lets her head fall back against the couch cushion, then finally lets her own eyes close as well.
ooooooooo
A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes
author's note: Liane reminds me a bit of Ilene Woods, and not just because their first names are similar. Woods is best known for her beautiful singing voice as Disney's original Cinderella, which of course is a hopeful and romantic story. But, if you listen to the only full album she ever released, the majority of her songs are about lost love and loneliness, which… I think is unfortunately very fitting for Ms. Cartman.
oooooooooo