28 Rehabilitation: Hidden Past Part 1 (2/2)

When he neared his house, his mother was there, waiting for him with a stern face. When she saw him up close, she was horrified.

”Karma! What happened to you?!” she exclaimed. ”Why do you have bruises on you face?!”

”I...” Karma began, but he did not want to worry her. So he lied. ”I... fell down the stairs.”

But she was very intuitive, especially when it came to her son and knew that wasn't the case.

”Don't lie to me,” she said sternly. ”Tell me exactly what happened.”

Karma gave in and told her what happened. But he twisted the occurrences a bit. He didn't mention the voice in his head, his headaches and how he wasn't sane when he was fighting.

Karma's mom let out a sigh and smiled.

”Though I don't really approve of you getting into fights, you did the right thing,” she said. ”You defended a girl when she was being violated. Come, let's treat those wounds of yours.”

Karma nodded and followed his mother into the house. They went upstairs to her room and he sat down on a chair. His mom applied some medicinal cream to Karma's bruises and the pain slowly started to fade.

But as she was treating his wounds, his head began hurting. It was pounding heavily.

”Argh!” he screamed as he fell from the chair. The pain was stronger and he felt he would lose consciousness any minute.

”Karma!” his mom exclaimed in worry. ”Sweetie, what's wrong?!”

”M... My head,” Karma replied. ”It hurts... Argh!”

”I'm going to call for help,” his mom said. ”Here, lie down on my bed.”

His mom reached to help Karma get up, but Karma suddenly grabbed her arm with tremendous force.

”Ow!” his mom exclaimed in pain. ”Karma?”

In a swift motion, Karma pushed her down, each hand grasping her arms with force.

”Karma?” his mom asked in surprise. ”Karma, let go of me. What are you doing?”

Then she froze. When she saw her son's face, she was terrified. It was an expression of murderous intent.

Then he started to choke her. She tried to take his hands off of her and also tried to push him away, but he would not even budge.

”Kar-ma...” she said weakly. ”Pl...ease...let go.”

At those words, Karma suddenly let go. His face was full of fear and guilt. His mom coughed and tried to gather her breath.

”Kar-ma...?” his mom asked, still shaken up. ”Why did you do that?”

”I...” Karma began. ”I'm sorry!”

And with that, he ran to his room and locked the door.

*What the hell did I just do?!” Karma screamed in his head. *I just tried to kill my mom! What the fuck is wrong with me?! *

Then, for the first time in a long while, he began to cry. His anger at himself turned into sadness and depression.

Then he heard a knock on his door.

”Karma?” his mom called. ”Karma, please open the door.”

”I-I can't,” Karma said through tears. ”I can't risk the possibility I will go mad and try to attack you again.”

”Let me help,” his mom said. ”We can work through this.”

”Please... Please just go away!” Karma shouted. ”I.. I just want to be alone right now.”

His mom did not reply and the knocking stopped. A few seconds later, she spoke.

”... Let me know if you need anything.”

Karma then heard her walking off. He put his face into his arms.

It was a long night for the both of them.