Yawning, Emmy did not want to get up yet. Looking over to the window on the side, she saw that the sun’s rays barely lit up the sky yet. Beside her was Jean, sprawled over the mats. Feeling refreshed, she opted to just get up and start the morning. She liked it when she was first to wake up. She could finish more things than when her family was already awake. She was not the first. Matt was not where he was, and he was not in the room
His garments however, were. All of his clothes. It was unlike Matt to even walk around without a shirt on. Emmy suspected immediately that something was wrong. Emmy went for the door. It was already open.
She gathered all of his clothes. Then, she checked up on both the children, making sure they were both asleep, just in case, and left the room. Emmy checked both their room and Gina’s to see if Matt had somehow just transferred there. He wasn’t. Emmy hesitated going down. It was still somewhat dark below. She did not have a choice, however, so she ventured to go downstairs, taking careful steps as she tread on the stairs.
Halfway there and she began to have a sick feeling. There was a faint thudding sound – rhythmic, regular. She paused where she was, wondering if she would proceed or just go back up. When it seemed there was nothing else but that sound, she proceeded. This time however, she was bending forward, eyes scanning everything before her while taking even slower steps down. While she descended, her mind raced to find all the possible explanations about the sound.
It was still dark but the rising of the sun permitted some of the faint light to filter through. Of all the possible reasons she had thought of, nothing prepared her for what she saw. Before the door, she spied the outline of her stark naked husband. He was repeatedly banging his head on it. She ran to him.
“Matt! Baby! What are you doing?” She asked.
Although she tried to keep her voice down, concern bled through. Matt did not answer. He continued to bang his head on the door. She raised her hand up to shield his forehead. Thankfully, his banging was not strong enough to cause him real harm though she still cringed every time his forehead hit her hand. Emmy pushed him by the shoulder to keep him away from the door.
He became still. She threw his clothes towards the living room and guided Matt towards the sofa. When he wheeled around, Emmy saw that his eyes were open, but he wasn’t looking at anything in the house. They were just open, looking straight ahead. His expression was empty, but his lips kept moving.
Curious, she edged closer to him, hoping to hear what he was murmuring. She could not hear anything despite the relative quiet of the morning. He was not making any sound. She was ready to pass it off as twitching but there was a regularity to the movement of his lips that made her doubt it was just twitching.
After finally being able to sit him down on the sofa, Emmy clothed her husband. She noticed a slight discoloration on his head. Even after he had been clothed, Matt did not stir from his trance. He complied but did nothing else.
To make him comfortable, Emmy adjusted his position as best she could. She had a hard time getting him to close his eyes but eventually, he did. Emmy sat in front of her husband, watching him like a hawk until the sun came up.
~0~
Normally, she did not allow it. Even on weekends, it was her rule that everyone should be down and having breakfast by eight in the morning. This day, she did not care. It gave her more time to prepare breakfast, and more time to think alone.
Everyone woke up late. She didn’t mind. Emmy even thought of going back to sleep herself but decided it wasn’t the right thing to do under the circumstance. So, she prepared breakfast in the quiet of the morning while periodically checking on Matt whose head was against the sofa’s backrest.
Please don’t.
She could not help but worry about Matt. She heard him scream the night before and when she arrived, he was passed out and had pissed himself. Finding him banging his head on the door first thing in the morning while apparently in a hypnotized state was disturbing. He was the last person she was thinking would get affected. First, the children. Now Matt too?
Jean came down first with her rag doll in hand. Once she was almost done, she sent her daughter up to wake her sister while she went to wake up Matt. A pat on the shoulder, that was all it took to rouse him.
Matt’s expression betrayed his confusion. He swept the area with his gaze while raising a hand to his forehead. Emmy signaled to him with a finger to her lips. That confused him more, but he obliged.
“You bumped your head hard and fainted, that’s what I told the kids.” Emmy explained, leaning into his ear. “Good morning.”
When she pulled back to search her husband’s expression and hoping he would understand, her worry escalated. Matt’s expression took on one of total terror. He started looking around nervously.
“We will discuss it later babe, but please, not now. Get ahold of yourself. We can’t spook the children. Yes?” She said, staring him in the eyes, hands on both sides of his face.
Matt understood. Although his eyes were still wide, he began nodding slowly. He pulled her close, hugged her tightly for a long while then peppered her cheek with lingering kisses.
“Ughhhh, you guys. I’ll go back up.” Gina said.
“You will do no such thing, young lady.” Emmy said, still in Matt’s hold.
“Yeeech!” Jean exclaimed.
“Oh, shut up you troublemakers.” She answered, heading for the kitchen.
With Matt consumed by his thoughts about the experience, breakfast was noticeably monotonous.