"Morning Johsua What a wonderful dream." The voice echoed inside my head, making me shoot up as if I had more than just a nightmare, my eyes darting around looking for anything to grasp onto to ground my mind. The voice lingered it haunted my waking moments like a hangover. Leaving me in a foul mood for the morning. It didn't even bother me I was back in my room back in the clothes I wore the night past, all was drowned out by the drowning voice.
"Why?" I manage through quivering lips the memory still fresh in my mind as if I had just been there. The smells, the heat of the rising sun the nauseating feelings that make me want to kots. I managed to hold it all in for a moment but the voice was unrelenting.
"Why?" Asked the voice in a shocked tone "Can't I reminisce the memory of my birth?" His tone parting into a mocking one. What felt like a heartbeat out of the sink began to play in my chest. Opening the window next to my bed I manage to stick my head out before kotsing. I was struggling against my own body for control but managed to pull myself together after a few minutes. Falling back onto my bed with the glaring light of the dawn on my eyes I manage a few words.
"You are just a part of my legacy." I retorted not hiding the bile in my tone, trying to disparage it a little but I cared little for what I tried to do.
"No I'm a part of both," he said in a familiar tone, that of a father rebuking their child. "Your thoughts given a voice," he continued pulling up more images from my mind of the events that happened, With Dad and the days following. The hospital, the internal bleeding, the diagnosis, the goodbye. Before I could retort in an attempt to clear the images from my mind it continued. "And your Legacy given power." The last statement as he cleared the images from my mind. I sat there breathing in the darkened room, with only the rays of the morning on my face pushing it away. Trying to find anything I could grasp onto to pull myself back from the edge, and it was its voice.
"I am yours and you are mine. Mine is your power and yours is my body" his tone matter of fact closing any argument on that. I ran my hand through my hair in an attempt to find something to grasp onto to try and say it was lying but as my hand went through my short hair I could only ask.
"How did you do it, how did you use the mark on Mandella." I ask one of the only things still lost to me after the night's happenings.
"I feel what the mark can do, it is part of me." He started. "Adam merely showed me the heights that could be reached, like learning how to move your body properly." The poor comparison made enough sense as someone who had fallen plenty of times while trying to ride a bike as a teen, the new movements take a bit to learn even if you know what to do.
"And Mandella did he know that the mark could do that?" There was no immediate answer but a feeling of disgust began to well inside.
"A mark creates a one-way connection between you and what is marked, What I did was let the connection flow both ways. And the results were beyond my hopes." the glee and pride in its voice nearly made me go out the window again but I managed to hold it together.
"No more questions?" it said in a soft tone as if wispering into my ear a mockery of comfort.
"I'm done with you and I need to get ready for church. So shut it!" He and the voice spoke no more, but there was no peace in that clawing silence. Finally crawling out of bed and putting on his Sunday best, Joshua opened the door and made his way towards the kitchen, his steps were slow and waiting. Everything on his mind pressed down on him as if they were as if they were actual weights. But he carried on down the hallway, Finally making it to the kitchen. He was unluckily the first one there, The Father's Day prep would have to fall on him, And that only waited on his mind more.
Making a simple, Omelette the dish he knew was Joseph's favorite. He left it there on the counter; With a note hastily scribbled on a piece of paper, And stepped outside before anyone else in the house could notice. The cold morning wind was daggers but it Pushed his thoughts away from his mind and so even the pain was a comfort. He began making his way to the church. He knew the long routes and the shortest routes, But he was unsure. Each step was a second guess so even as he took a short route it took him a long time to get there.
The moments bled into one another steps into steps, roads into roads so in what felt like a moment it was at least a half hour. Standing in front of it the church didn't bring back any new memories. As I entered and walked through only the flashes of the past Nighy were seen till I reached the main hall and as I stood there I saw only myself on my knees defeated.
"Hi, Do you have any music for me to play." Jaydin broke me out of my daze, as the multimedia man he was always here first, his tired eyes lying as he was always giving his best. Shaking my head he made his way around again to get things ready for the service.
The motions of the church faded into one another, and soon everyone made their way in many looking at me as I was early, and many excited whispers were in the air. As more people started filing in, so did my family who swiftly joined me on the bench and I received a heartfelt thanks for Joseph. But even that was blurred by the start of the service and in moments it was the beginning of the end as children made their way up to bless their fathers.
Bacca had finished her rendition of Good Good Father. She had a beautiful singing voice that she used very well. Her song had earned her a round of applause and had caused her father to cry. To the sound of applause, she left the stage and after returning her mic made her way to her father. As that happened Pastor Elijah made his way to the stage with applause of his own.
"That was beautiful and truly deserved that applause. That was the last of the items but I would like to leave the floor open to the church, is there anybody who would like to take the stand?" his words met with a hollow chorus like that of a poorly timed joke. The silence echoed in the chamber for a long minute and I was not going to be one to break it. Holding my tongue even as the voice in my head clicked its tongue in my head. Pastor Elijah looked around leaving his eyes on me for a few seconds but I didn't meet his gaze so with a sad smile he continued.
"Go in peace, please Enjoy your Father's Day," Pastor Elijah said with a sad smile, as the congregation dispersed to enjoy their day.