Cael Gable starts to stir from a deep sleep.
He’s barely opening his eyes.
“Where am I?”
As his eyes open more, he sees more of the room, trophies and medals hanging up on some shelves, a bookshelf collecting dust, and a family photo on his nightstand.
“Am I home?”
It’s his old childhood bedroom, not a thing has been touched since his parents passed away.
“What am I doing here?”
As he gets out of bed, a loud creak comes from the floor.
A familiar voice comes from outside his room.
“Oh hey, sleeping beauty is finally awake, ha ha!”
“Dad? It can’t be.”
He opens the door and walks towards the living room, there’s Mr. Gable on his favorite recliner watching sports like always.
Cael instinctively goes for a long hug, awkwardly long and sheds a single tear.
“Is everything alright son?”
“Yeah Dad, better than ever, is Mom home?”
“Of course, she’s in the kitchen making breakfast for us, you know the routine by now don’t you?”
“Yeah, just a little out of it is all.”
His dad gives him an inquisitive look but goes back to watching TV.
Cael makes his way to the kitchen.
“Hi honey, can you help me with this?”
“Yeah, of course”
Cael whisks the eggs but something looks off, he can’t place it but thinks it’s his mind playing tricks on him, all of this feels like that.
After he whisks, he hands it to his mom and watches TV with his dad while they wait.
“Food’s ready!”
This is the one sport Cael never wins, the race to the table as his dad is there in the blink of an eye.
They all sit down to eat.
Everything feels good, everything feels right except for the food itself.
It’s not bad, it’s not good, there is no taste whatsoever, everything feels fake.
“Mom, Dad, is everything alright here? You’re not supposed to be alive, especially not here, I sold this place after you passed, it was too rough being here.”
His parents both sigh and look down at the floor.
His dad is the first to speak.
“No, son, not everything is alright, we’re not alive, we certainly aren’t meant to be here.”
His dad gives a slight push on the wall.
It falls easily with a dull thud, everything is fake like the set of a show but in the distance there’s screaming, it’s the first thing that feels real here.
“Are we in…?”
Cael struggles to say the words.
“We are, you aren’t.”
His mom says.
“Since you left heaven and came to earth for Yahweh’s return, we had to make a sacrifice, we have to endure this place until you return to heaven, only then can we go back up and reunite as a family.”
His dad speaks up.
“We didn’t want you to know, we know how important this mission is, we know what you must do but please come back soon. I can endure, what I can’t do anymore is watch your mother suffer.”
Cael wakes up in a cold sweat.
“Was that real?”
“What have I done?”
He cries himself back to sleep.