changes

Now all my days
Are filled with tears
Wish I could go back
And change these years

I'm going through changes
I'm going through changes
-black sabbath

Sid walked the floors of the house. Were they really all alone? Really?

"What are you doing?" Violet asked.

"Just be quiet. You need to be quiet." It was the last thing he remembered saying because then he was walking. Up the staircase around to all the rooms. Then another stair case to another level of rooms. It was on going. How long must it go on? His feet were tired. Each step heavy. The silence prevailed. He wasn't even sure if Violet was behind him because everything was spinning after awhile. Making him dizzy. Feeling all was lost. And could there be another empty room to see. Around and around.

Sid sucked in a breath feeling he might be in a vacuum of some kind. Had he remembered this happening before? Maybe he had. Maybe he would remember. But maybe he wouldn't. Possibly not. And then he felt as if he'd been sucked into something so dark and he was gone. Gone.

In the next moment he blinked his eyes open and the sun was coming in brightly through the curtains in Violet's room.

Sid jerked himself up. Was he even wearing anything?

"What happened!" He demanded.

Naturally, Violet was asleep. And she didn't wake easily.

He nudged her then. "WHAT HAPPENED!" He shook her awake.

"What?" She squinted hard. "Really Sid, don't tell me you forgot everything, again."

"No, there was nothing to forget." He squinted back with a scowl.

"Sid, stop it now. You are just fine. You were very brave. You remembered so much so suddenly for the police. How your father brought back that thing in her apartment from one of his hunts for the zoo, but he kept him for a pet until well, you know, he croaked."

"Who croaked?"

"The black panther."

"Anything else?" Sid blinked.

"Yes, yes, the house." Violet smiled as if that was the best part. "Its yours. Your great aunt left you the house. Its all yours, but you keep insisting its ours. She held up her hand then. There was a ring on her finger.

"Holy shit!" Sid almost jumped out of bed. "We got married?"

"Don't be daft, you gave me one of her old rings and said we would be married one day, but you know, I'm not holding my breath as if it'll be tomorrow or anything." She smirked.

"Do you like this other Sid better than me?" He wanted to know.

"I dunno." She laughed. "Let me think on it." She touched her lip with her index finger for a moment. "Well, first of all I didn't know there were two of you. But it makes sense. Actually." She winked at him then. "You were so brave at the funeral. Shaking every-one's hand. You knew everyone of your cousins who came. Like old times, you know. It was all so sad and melancholy. But then you remembered her favorite tune."

"What?" Sid gave her a disgusting look. "Old Danny Boy?"

"No, Black Sabbath's Changes." She told him. "And you sang it right there with no help from anyone."

"God, what is going on?" He hugged his pillow then.

"At least you remembered so much." She told him.

"That does not help me now. Did you see my mother?" He looked at her then waiting for the worst answer possible.

"Yes, she's lovely." Violet looked at him blankly.

"I took a picture of the two of you." She opened the night stand drawer and handed him the framed photo of the two of them.

He did look an awful lot like her. It pained him to see them together when he feared he'd missed so much. Not knowing her now. All this waiting just to go to sleep, again. He guessed. He stared at it for some time and tried not to cry. But he did in the end.

"Its all right. Really." Violet hugged him as if she knew exactly how he felt. "You want me to wake her? She's just down the hall."