Warrior

Chapter 1: 14 Years

I sat on the porch of Pops house. I guess he didn't ever leave here after we left. I had just gotten back from Iraq. I grabbed one of the pill bottles from my jacket pocket taking a few, chewing on them a bit, washing them down with whiskey. I waited for Pop to come home. My mind wondered to my little sister. I wanted to visit Jade but I knew she would be way to angry at me. I left her when she needed me most. I still felt guilty but she could have come with me.

I didn't know if Naomi was back. Me and her served together for a bit. I saw her in that tank, they were all drowning. I couldn't leave them there.  I couldn't leave her there to die. I had already lost Manny. I didn't even know for sure if Naomi was even alive. I'd hope she is. Her and Joel.

Pop drove up and I waited for him to get out of the car. He got out and noticed me during on his porch. "Tommy?" He spoke, he's voice raspy and quiet. He looked so shocked to see me. "What are you doing here?" He asked. "I was just passing through. Figured, why not have a belt with old man." I replied. "She looks good." I say looking down at the car. I can honestly say, I'm surprised it's not fucked up. "Yeah, she's hanging in there." He replied patting the car softly before walking up to me. "Well, you always did take good care of her. Paddy Conlon. Man of priorities." I said, calmer than I wanted to be.

I dug into my duffle bag as he walked up the steps to the house. I found the bottle of alcohol. "I got a little something for you. Ma always said, never go anywhere empty handed." I I say, handing him the bottle. "She did. That's not for me anymore, Tommy." He said, shaking his head. "You change brands?" I asked, genuinely confused. Pop? Not drinking? He shook his head again, "Come on, let's go inside." He said walked inside as I followed behind.

I walked in, looking around the old house. The home I and my family used to live in. "I like what you've done with the place" I spoke up, looking at all the pictures on the walls. "I appreciate that" He replied, in the kitchen. "There's not much of a woman's touch around here" I say, looking around the house. "No more woman for me, Tommy." He spoke up. I looked at all the pictures and books he had. I saw that he had a bible. "Yeah? Must be hard to find a girl who can take a punch now a days." I spoke, taking another swig from the whiskey. "Here you go" Pop said, comming up behind me with a cup of coffee. "Coffee? You haven't seen a guy in 14 years and you're not gonna have a drink with him?" I spoke up. It baffled me that he wasn't drinking. "I told you, I'm off it. I'm comming up on a thousand days." He  replied. "Ahh, come on." I insisted again. He shook his head and sat down on a chair next to the front door.

I looked at all the pictures pop had on a long table. I saw a picture with Brendan. "He's a school teacher down in Philly." Pop said. That surprised me. Brendan? A school teacher? Didn't really sound like his thing. "Remember Tess? They've got two beautiful little girls, now." He spoke up. I continued scanning the pictures. "So you found god, huh? That's awesome. Ma kept calling out for him but he wasn't around. I guess Jesus was down at the mills, forgiving all the drunks. Who knew?" I say, a hint of anger in my voice. He didn't reply. "So, you gonna ask about her, or you just gonna set there all sober." I asked. "I know." He spoke quietly. "Oh, you know? What do you know? Did you know it wasn't enough to drive west to get away from you? That once we hit the water, we drove north, too." I spoke,  anger in my voice. "When I got sober, I hired a man to find you." He said calmly. "Is that one of the 12 steps? Or does a guy like you get 24?" I asked calmly but angry. "Just 12" He replied quietly.

"Did your guy tell you what you needed to know?" I asked. "Just that your mother died in Tacoma, and that you were in the Marines. That was all. Thay was enough." He replied calmly. "That's too bad. You could have gotten some good details." I said, sitting down on a chair. "You could of heard about her coughing up blood in a shit box with no heat. Having me rub her down with Holy water, because she didn't have no insurance. All the while waiting for your pal Jesus to save her. Did your man tell you that?" I said angrily. "I'm sorry, Tommy" He replied calmly and quietly. "It's good to know you're sorry, Pop. Goes a long way." I spoke up. The pills were starting to kick in, mixed with the alcohol. "I think I liked you better when you were a drunk." I say before passing out.