screenwriter mystery

Chapter 51

Click!

"I'm back, Mom."

Back home, Arthur yelled in the direction of the bedroom.

"..."

What responded to him was wordless silence.

Unsurprisingly, he locked the door, Arthur looked down at the clown mask in his hand, his eyes met the empty eye sockets of the mask, and the corners of his mouth raised unconsciously.

"who is it?"

At this moment, an old voice came from the bedroom.

Looking away from the mask, the corners of Arthur's raised mouth were pulled down again. He looked at the bedroom and quickly replied.

"It's me, Arthur."

"Arthur? Who is Arthur!"

However, facing Arthur's answer, the voice in the bedroom was still full of doubts.

"Your son."

"..."

Hearing Arthur's answer, the voice in the bedroom was silent for a while, and then he said suddenly.

"It turned out to be Arthur, you came back, why didn't you tell me, I thought someone broke in..."

"Yeah, I'm back."

Putting down the clown mask in his hand, Arthur went to the kitchen to heat up a cheap frozen steak while continuing to have a conversation with his mother in the bedroom.

"Don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt you, Mom."

While heating the food, Arthur took out the cans of medicine bottles in his pocket, opened them one by one, poured out the pills inside and swallowed them.

Doctors said the drugs would improve his bad condition, but Arthur didn't feel anything.

After swallowing the medicine, Arthur unconsciously looked in the direction of the clown mask.

Gollum-

At this moment, the hot water on the stove boiled, and the packaging bag inside began to tumbling.

Quickly looking away, he took out the steak in the hot pan, tore off the packaging bag and poured it on a plate. Arthur walked into the bedroom with the small dining table.

In the bedroom, an old woman with white hair was staring blankly at the TV.

"It's time to eat, Mom."

Looking at the woman in a daze, Arthur immediately said something.

Hearing the voice, the woman whose eyes had been on the TV screen turned her head slightly, and looked at Arthur who came to the bedroom with dull eyes, and said as if she was seeing him for the first time.

"who are you?"

"I'm Arthur."

Arthur was obviously used to the old lady's reaction, he put the dining table in front of her with ease, and replied while cutting the steak.

"Arthur, who is Arthur?"

"Your son."

Repeating this conversation that had been carried out hundreds of times, Arthur carefully cut the steak, but his eyes fell on the medicine bottle on the bedside table in the bedroom.

Alzheimer's disease, also known as senile dementia, is characterized by comprehensive dementia such as memory impairment, aphasia, apraxia, agnosia, visual-spatial skill impairment, executive dysfunction, and personality and behavior changes. unknown.

And Arthur's mother suffered from this symptom, and it was very serious. She almost lost most of her memory, leaving only a fragment of memory. At the same time, she also lost the most basic mobility, and she was lying in bed all year round.

"It turned out to be Arthur, you came back, why didn't you tell me, I thought someone broke in..."

On the bed, the old lady was still repeating what she said intermittently.

Arthur had already cut the steak on the plate and handed it to his mother.

"Okay, mom, you can eat."

Reaching out to take the fork, the woman glanced at Arthur in front of her.

"You have to eat, and you're already so skinny that only your bones remain."

"I've already eaten outside."

Hearing his mother's words, Arthur twitched the corners of his mouth and told a lie. He sat down by the bed and his eyes fell on the flickering TV screen beside the bed. That clown mask.

In the bedroom, Arthur watched the old-fashioned talk show on TV a little out of focus.

Suddenly, a burst of sharp laughter rang in his ears.

Ha ha ha ha--

Hearing this series of laughter, Arthur suddenly raised his head as if waking up from a dream.

"What's the matter, Arthur?"

On the bed, noticing Arthur's reaction, the woman had a puzzled expression on her face.

"Nothing, I just heard a burst of laughter."

Turning his head to meet his mother's suspicious gaze, Arthur said with some uncertainty.

"laughter?"

Hearing Arthur's answer, the woman on the bed immediately turned her head and looked around, and finally looked at the flickering TV screen in front of her, and said uncertainly, "Maybe it's the voice from the TV."

"maybe."

Although his mother said so, Arthur obviously did not agree with this statement.

The shrill, piercing laughter that rings in my ears is completely different from the canned laughter that is often used on TV talk shows.

"perhaps……"

The sudden laughter in the room reminded Arthur of the clown mask.

"Arthur, where are you going?"

"It's nothing, Mom, I'm just going to the living room."

Turning his head to comfort his mother on the bed, Arthur stepped into the living room of the room. He looked at the clown mask on the table, and the corners of his grinning mouth seemed to be calling himself.

"Maybe it's because I'm too tired, or because of those medicines, they finally had some effect."

Just, a mask of laughter.

Arthur shook his head, brushing away the absurd thoughts in his mind, he would rather believe that it was because of the medicine he had taken than the laughter coming out of the mask.

Ha ha ha ha--

After making a mockery of himself, he turned around and was about to go back to the bedroom, when the laughter sounded again.

A laugh from behind made Arthur stop in his tracks.

He turned his head suddenly, looking at the clown mask lying quietly on the table.

"how can that be?!"

An expression of disbelief flashed across his haggard face, and Arthur looked at the clown mask on the table with a look of astonishment.

Unconsciously, he stepped forward and picked up the clown mask on the table. Arthur looked at the rough painting and workmanship on the mask, but the words left by the homeless man kept appearing in his mind.

Subconsciously turned the mask in his hand and turned it to the back.

Like the surface, the back of the mask is also rough in workmanship, but the smile on the clown's mouth is a bit weird because of the curvature.

He lowered his head and silently stared at the mask in his hand.

The look in Arthur's eyes seemed to be attracted by some unknown force, and he put the mask on his face unconsciously.

Ha ha ha ha--

"who is it?"

In the bedroom, hearing the laughter from the living room, the woman showed a puzzled expression on her sluggish face, and asked again and again.

"It's me, Arthur, Ma."

Facing the woman's question, Arthur in the living room straightened his curled up body and twisted his neck to answer.

Immediately afterwards, there was another series of high-pitched laughter.

"Hahahahahaha..."

(End of this chapter)