Somebody That I Used To Know

A Friend

Tom feels different sheets on his bare legs. He shoots up in bed to see that he's in a different house.

"What did I do?" he whispers, feeling a pounding sound in his head.

"Good morning," Denise smiles and places a mug filled with coffee in her nightstand.

It was a large studio apartment with two rooms, one being the bathroom.

"What did we do?" Tom snaps. "Denise, please don't tell me-"

"You don't remember last night?"

"No."

"You came stumbling into the yoga studio and then confided something very serious with me. You couldn't be home alone so I took you back here. I slept on the couch, you got my bed. Your clothes are in the bathroom, I had to wash your shirt and jeans after you throw up all over them... twice. I gave you one of Tim's t-shirts and you kept your boxers on. There's a robe on the other nightstand if you want, your clothes should be dry now."

"Oh this is embarrassing." Tom groans. "I... I don't know what to say. Um... well, t-thank you. Thank you very much for all of this, it really means a lot to me, and uh... I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Tim knows that you're here and he wanted to talk to you when he got home. He's a lawyer you know."

"You... you told Tim?"

"Not exactly. I just told him that someone was hurting you and you needed to stay with here for the night, he was fine with it. He asked what happened but it's not my place to tell him your business so he wants to talk and see if he can help you any."

"That's... that's very kind of him but I alright, really. I'm not going to the police."

"What if they try and hurt you again?"

"Well, I... I guess not feeling threatened by knowing that I called the police would be better than him having that knowledge."

"What about being in custody?"

"They won't send him to jail."

"He's on parole, Tom. He can look at you wrong and they'll send him back. They'll keep you and your family safe."

"He's... he's involved in sorts of bad stuff. I'm sure that he didn't get out legally and they're not going to do anything about it."

"Of course they will. If you're being hurt that bad, you need to say something about it. Tim can help you."

"No, no, Denise, really. I think that'd be much better if I didn't."

"Do you want me to call Molly for you? She can come and get you?"

"Please no. She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you."

"I... oh, God, Denise, I told her that I wasn't cheating on her but would this be considered-"

"No." Denise says. "No, it's not cheating."

"But I... oh what did I do?"

"It's not cheating, Tom, it's assault. You did nothing wrong. What if it were Molly? Would you be mad if it were Molly?"

"No, of course not."

"Then why do you think she'd be mad at you?"

"Because I'm a horrible father. I took my daughter's pain killers that she needed because she fell on my watch. I wasn't watching her because I was drunk so I lied on the couch to fall asleep."

"You're going through a lot."

"It doesn't matter. My daughter got hurt because I was drunk. I've drank with her in the backseat and I come up drugged. Although that's not exactly my fault, it still is because I could refuse it."

"Tom, honey, please don't do this to yourself. I met you two months after you tried to kill yourself and I've seen the progression since then. You haven't come to class so I haven't seen you in awhile, I can't say if you've changed but just this morning you're... so much different."

"Denise?"

"Yeah?"

Tom looks down at his hands, unable to look her in the eyes. "Do you have any alcohol?" he shamefully says.

"Tom," Denise sighs. "You know I can't do that."

"But it's... it's just a little bit, please."

"I will drive you to the gas station if you want but I cannot supply you with alcohol myself. I'm sorry but... I just can't do it."

"I don't feel too good, Denise. I... I'm lightheaded."

"Let me get you some water," Denise walks over to the refrigerator and gets him a bottle of electrolyte water. "Here you go. Drink this up."

"What am I going to do?" Tom whispers, holding the bottle with shakey hands.

"Tell Molly what's going on. She'll be able to help you."

"I... I was supposed to be somewhere last night and I didn't go, I'm very scared."

"Then call the police. Your phone is in the bathroom, I found a charger. Would you like me to grab it for you?"

"Um... m... mhm."

"Okay, hold on."

Tom sits on the bed, closing his eyes as he takes a sip of the water.

Denise walks back out and hands him his fully charged phone. "I think you have some notifications, I didn't check though."

Tom opens his phone and sees a text.

You broke your end of the deal... it's time to uphold mine.

Tom's face drops.

"Are you okay?"

With shakey hands, he shows her the phone.

"Don't take that away," she says and quickly grabs her phone. She takes a picture of Tom's text message. "Screen shot it."

"For what?"

"Evidence. Take the picture."

Tom screenshots the text and his phone restarts.

"What... what happened?"

"Clearly there's a block on the phone. Do you have more texts from him?"

"N-nothing too incriminating, no."

"Voice mails?"

"No."

Denise sighs and slowly sets a band on Tom's back, making sure that he was okay with it. "Well we have this and he doesn't know who I am so that's alright. When Tim gets home, you and I are going to talk to him and we'll get you help."

"Okay." he whispers.

"Okay. I'll make you some breakfast and then I'll drive you to your car. I want you to go see Molly and tell her what happened. Do you understand?"

Tom sighs and nods.

"Okay. Let me get you some eggs, alright?"