Michael's Story

Chapter 25

Junie jerked awake to the sound of her name being called. Bug-eyed, she looked around her room, wondering if she'd been dreaming. Then, she heard her name again, this time more urgently. Junie zoomed out of her room and down to her mother's open door.

While watching her father twitch on the floor, Junie felt her entire world disintegrate. Her mother had Jay rolled onto his side, and her face was flushed with concern. "Call an ambulance, Junie!"

*****

Jay sat on the sofa with an ice pack on his head as four paramedics surrounded him. The others stood over him, watching his every move as one took his vitals. Finally, the technician kneeled before Jay took off his blood pressure cuff.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Jay."

"Do you know what day it is, Jay?"

"Sunday."

"When's your birthday?"

"March 17th."

"All right, your family's worried about you. It's up to you what you wanna do, but they want you to go to the hospital."

"I don't wanna go," Jay said.

The EMT turned to Junie and her mom with a tucked smile, popping his eyebrows up.

"I'm sorry. If Jay was critically injured or unresponsive, we'd be able to take him, but—"

"Since he's not, you can't make him go." Her mother finished his sentence.

"Yeah. Sorry." He confirmed with disappointment.

The Paramedics packed up and were gone just as fast as they came. Jay returned to the bedroom, and his wife went along with him. Junie plunged into the cushion, annoyed with how everything reverted to black.

The hardest pill to swallow was that her father probably didn't want to get better. If only he could view himself the way Junie viewed him. Responsibility drove Junie out of the living room and into the pantry.

Knowing exactly where her dad hid the booze was Junie's best-kept secret. From there, she went to the kitchen pantry and, on the third shelf, grabbed the forgotten box of Saltines. There was a shot of Fireball Whiskey hidden under some stale crackers.

Then, she retrieved the three whiskey shot bottles from behind the fridge. Jay's boots were always located on the doormat. Gin was within them. Liquor was discovered on the cabinet's top shelf, hidden among unused knickknacks. The other compartments were in her parents' room, but Junie knew precisely where to find them. Junie would sneak back into her parents' room after they left to get the rest of the booze her father had hidden.

Toilet water was tainted with whiskey, gin, rum, and vodka. Junie scowled at the potent stew of past trauma, present addiction, and future suffering and then yanked the lever. Nonetheless, her sadness remained unabated. She felt a growing frustration as she stood there, wishing she could just flush the pain away.

******

Starting from scratch for some people meant what it meant for Antonio, a fresh start, a clean slate. For some, it meant returning to nothingness, loneliness, and being stuck at a zero. But Michael had no definitive explanation of what starting over looked like for him.

Nothing ever clicked for Michael when it came to love and romantic relationships. He was like oil, and commitment was water. It wasn't a fear of commitment that hindered him from being in a relationship but fear that no one would fit into his life.

With each woman he'd encountered, he'd find a good enough reason to stay away from her. She'd be out if she liked to party, go out, or travel for fun. Michael couldn't afford to live life carelessly. Michael opted out if she danced for a living, was well-known, or had a large social media following. No one would ever know what his partner looked like for her safety.