Short Story

    Tom O’Leary woke up in a hospital bed, soaked in tears and blood. The blood was soaking a brown carpet which was under the hospital bed he was laying in. The brown carpet, with intricate swirls down the side, slowly turned to a scarlet carpet. He was shark bait he was bleeding so much, but there weren’t any sharks and there was no water. There was only his cries for his wife and daughter, which were answered by no one. Darkness.

    Tom O’Leary wakes up 24 hours earlier in his own bed, next to his wife. He goes downstairs to watch the morning news with his bowl of cereal. The news says, “Two killed in home invasion late last night.” It then shows graphics of the crime scene, including a brown carpet, with intricate swirls down the side, soaked in blood. Just like the one Tom has under the coffee table. Tom shuts off the TV. Darkness. He goes to his ever-normal job as an accountant, juggling numbers like a clown juggles flaming torches with his eyes closed. During his lunch break he eats his bland turkey and ham sandwich, which looks quite brown today. He then has a thought. Why not break the system, do something crazy today? The wife has been busy with the one year old daughter lately, so money has been tight. Why not do something wild, maybe even get some money for it. He thinks, thinks some more, and then falls asleep. Darkness.

    He wakes up. It is three in the afternoon now. Lunch break should’ve ended at one. Too late to go back now. Then the thought hits him, a subliminal message: rob a drug store and get some extra money. Tom immediately gets up and drives to the nearest drug store. He pulls out the brown pistol, which has intricate swirls along the sides, that he keeps in his glove department and then walks in. When inside, Tom pulls the gun on the lady behind the counter. She is old, probably too old to be working. She was a wrinkled up raisin that had fallen out of a child’s lunchbox and cooked in the sun for weeks. She follows his demands, but the money drawer slips out of her hands. The money goes everywhere. Tom pulls the trigger right up against her temple. Darkness. He collects the money that has fallen on the ground, and starts to leave. Then he stops. He sees that the blood from her dead body is soaking a brown carpet, which has intricate swirls down the side. She was standing on it just a moment ago; now she is piled up on it like a stack of old clothes that hobos threw on the side of the street because the blood, dirt, and holes were too much to deal with. It looked just like the one he had at his house. He ran to his car and drove all the way home.

    Tom O’Leary is driving down his street, like nothing weird has happened, when he sees four police cars in his driveway. Instead of fleeing, he decides to face the truth. He walks up to an officer, who informs him why they are there. A man trying to make a few extra dollars broke into Tom’s house while he was at work. His wife and daughter were home. The man shot the wife, shot the daughter, took as many valuables as he could, and left. The wife and daughter died in the house. Darkness. Tom’s reaction is different than the officer expected. Tom says nothing, but walks slowly into his house. Once inside, he goes to his coffee table. Under it, lays his brown carpet. Except, there is one difference. The carpet is now a scarlet carpet, soaked with blood. Even the intricate swirls on the side are starting to turn crimson. Tom starts laughing. It starts as a giggle, then turns into a hysterical laughter. He is on the floor, in a ball, laughing as hard as he has ever laughed. Tom collects himself, walks over to his car, and opens the glove department. He grabs his brown pistol with the intricate swirls down the sides and puts it to his head. He then pulls the trigger. Darkness.

    Tom O’Leary woke up in a hospital bed, soaked in tears and blood. The blood was soaking a brown carpet which was under the hospital bed he was laying in. The brown carpet, with intricate swirls down the side, slowly turned to a scarlet carpet. He was shark bait he was bleeding so much, but there weren’t any sharks and there was no water. There was only his cries for his wife and daughter, which were answered by no one. Darkness.