Honey Whiskey

Way Back Home

The snow blanketed the landscape surrounding the road leading into Manitou Spring. He listened to the soft whisper of the wind brushing against the car as he drove. With the radio turned down, thoughts of his parents started filling Jonah's head. He always dreaded going back home, especially because of his mother. Nowadays, she always seemed to have a cold attitude toward him. Ever since Jonah was barely a teenager, she became very distant from him, and he never understood why. Was it because he was too much like his dad? Suddenly, he realized how freezing it really was in the car, feeling lucky he made that brief stop earlier to put on his sheepskin coat. After a few long minutes, he made his way into town. Driving up the alleyway leading to the sage green Victorian house, he noticed how well taken care of it still was. His mother was always trying to be perfect, in every aspect of her life. The house clearly reflected that.

After parking the car and walking towards the old house, Jonah's heartbeat was accelerating. He was dreading the moment he would have to face his mother once more. He had deeply wished to never come back here but he couldn't do that, his dad was the only one happy to see him every time he would come to visit. Tightening his grip around the handle of his duffle bag, he took a deep breath, steam was swaying in front of his face. Knocking on the door, Jonah was soonly greeted by his mother. His heart was weighing down on his chest.

"-You're here finally.", Sarah was standing, her hand resting on the edge of the wooden door.

"-Yes, I made it. Where is dad?"

"-He's not back, yet."

"-I'll wait for him then.", giving a kiss on her cheek, he made his way into the house of his youth.

Inside, Jonah could feel the heat embracing his body. Ignoring his mother completely, he went up the curved staircase. In his bedroom, he dumped his bag onto his bed before looking around. It didn't seem to resemble his room anymore. The walls were banana yellow, the bed had new white sheets with a lot of decorative pillows. A coral blanket had been carefully placed on the edge of the bed to give an accent of color to the decor. His mother had obviously thrown away his old memories and decorations. He felt as if he was in unknown territory, Jonah was patiently waiting for his dad to come back home. After a few hours, the bedroom door had creaked open, his dad peeked his head through the gap. He was totally embracing his grey hair, Jonah got up and hugged the man who was nearly identical to him. Don was back from his little adventure, releasing him, he was really happy that he wasn't going to be left alone with his mom.

"-You came for a few days?"

"-Yeah, come to visit, as per usual."

"-Your mom told me you were hiding here. Do you like the new decor?", Don looked at the decorations and plants scattered perfectly into the room.

"-It really changed."

"-I tried to keep some of your stuff but she was adamant about not keeping any of it."

"-It's ok. It was old stuff. Are we going to have a family dinner?"

He had always kept a good relationship with his father, they were both the black sheep of the family. Don was drowning himself in work and he kept himself busy with other women. Jonah had moved out when he was eighteen and decided that he was going to live as far away from his mother as possible. And Sarah, she acted like everything was fine. It was perfect. She would regularly go to church, attend town hall meetings, and meet with other uppity preppy rich women. Sarah had a beautiful house, she was married and had a son. She was ready to make any sacrifice for her life to stay that way.

"-Uh, yeah. You know your mom, you can't run from it.", Don was slightly chuckling.

"-Great. I'll be there soon."