Free Elijah's Chariot (The Forgotten Children Book 1) by Andrew Griffard

to
a standing position and hopped into the hall. 
    Halfway
down, Viktor noticed that the door to his mother and grandmother’s room at the
end of the hall was open. Maybe mama’s already up, he thought. Since she has
the day off, she’ll probably want her tea in bed. Probably a better idea to ask
her now rather than have her loudly complaining in a few minutes, he said to
himself as he slowly shuffled down the hall. Early morning was usually the best
time to deal with her – she hadn’t yet had the chance to warm up to yelling. 
    The
ancient, paint-peeled doorframe bit into his shoulder as he leaned against it,
poking his head around the half open door. He could see his mother lying on her
back, her mouth open. Viktor had never seen her mouth open so wide – she
usually kept it tightly shut, a habit that she’d developed long ago to hide her
extreme under-bite. He could see her dark yellow teeth poking out of
nicotine-stained gums and her small, slightly upturned nose. Her covers were
pulled tightly up to her chin – she didn’t look like she had been up at all
yet.
    Viktor
glanced over at his grandmother on the other side of the room as he was turning
to go. She was in roughly the same position with her hands neatly folded on her
chest. She was still wearing her rings, four or five large, tarnished brass
bands with fake rubies and emeralds. Since either Irina or Tatyana had had to
get her dressed and undressed every day for the past several years, they had
long ago given up removing her precious rings. If they forgot to put them back
on in the morning, she would whine loudly until they did. 
    He
couldn’t remember exactly who she’d received the rings from, even though she’d
told him the story once when he was a little boy. He recalled that it was
someone besides her late husband, possibly a former employer or some close
friend. Viktor had always thought that the rings were terribly ostentatious,
but who was he to tell old women what to wear on their… he suddenly came to
himself and remembered that he’d been standing in the doorway for several
minutes. During that whole time, her hands lying on her chest hadn’t moved at
all. 
    He
glanced quickly over at his sleeping mother, wondering if he should wake her to
find out if his grandmother was okay. As he considered this, his eyes locked on
to his mother’s chest and he slowly counted out each second. After a minute or
so he made a couple, quick bent-knee hops over to the side of her bed, taking
care not to let his slipper slap on the floor when he landed. Standing above
her, Viktor could see that her chest was, in fact, not moving at all. Her mouth
hung open motionlessly – not a sound was coming out. She looked perfectly
peaceful. 
    Viktor
planted the heel of his left hand firmly on the mattress as he eased himself
down to kneel beside her. He strained his neck to get his face as close to hers
as possible. After a few seconds of staring at the sun-weathered, waxy skin, he
gently turned his head and laid it on her chest.   
    After
half a minute, he slowly raised his head and looked back into his mother’s
face. She did look peaceful, he thought. The almost constant scowl and look of
derision that had adorned her features for as long as Viktor could remember
were gone, replaced now by a calm serenity. Viktor continued to stare at her as
tears came to his eyes, until, finally, he laid his head back down on her
forever silent chest. 

CHAPTER
ELEVEN
     
    Cold
water ran down Svyeta’s hands, dropping off her fingers in rivulets before
falling down the drain. It was early morning and everything was quiet and still
– her favorite time. Her mother was often at work at dawn, either finishing her
shift or having just started one, as she had today. Zhenya usually slept later,
especially on school days. And her father always slept late, almost until noon
when he would habitually rise and begin drinking again to chase away the pain
of his hangover. So, she