VICE

| SESSION |

There was a soft knock on Austin's bedroom door. It was definitely not his mom, she always just barged in because he hardly ever locked his door. Nicky knew to knock, but it was usually more of a banging noise than it was a knock. That left out one person, his father.

The man knocking on his door at eleven o'clock at night was in no way a good sign. Not that his presence ever was. He was like a dark cloud looming over them, intent on raining on each and every one of their parades. He succeeded a lot in doing that.

Austin got out of bed in a flash, his nerves on alert and his stomach a rumbling mess. He even tripped on himself and managed to knock over a glass of water that was seated on his bedside table, spilling a considerable amount of water all over his pajama pants. That's what he got for not turning on his bedside lamp.

When he finally reached the door, he put his hand on the knob but did not turn it. He needed a second to breathe and collect himself. It was like approaching or running away from an elephant in the wild; Clumsy, sudden movements are always a bad idea because it just spooks them.

Once he was relatively calm and collected he opened it, revealing his father . He was in a robe and had one hand resting against the adjacent wall while the other was in his pocket.

"Why are you not asleep?" His father asked.

Seriously? Austin thought. If he thought he was asleep,why did he come knocking!"I was!"

"I'm assuming you received my message!" Crap! "What time did I say you should be there?"

"Uhh..Four-thirty in the afternoon." Austin stammered.He was seriously thinking about ditching. But Mr. O'Toole seemed like the goody-two-shoes type of person who was definitely going to tattle. Ever since Austin met the guy, he just wanted the kick him back to Ireland.

"Good," his father said, "Don't even think about missing it, you hear me?" It's like the man was reading his thoughts.

"I wasn't," Austin lied.

"If you do, I will know. Then you will be in more trouble than you already are in !" This was escalating quickly. "You're lucky I'm choosing to be conventional with this 'phase' you're in!" He said the word 'phase' as if it burned his tongue and to some extent, Austin wished it actually did.

Conventional? What part of this was conventional! If it wasn't for the fact that his mother was around, his father would not have been above soaking Austin in holy oil and setting him on fire!

"Yes, I'm very lucky."Austin said sarcastically, his father did not catch on to the sarcastic part though.

"Now, I never want to hear anymore of this nonsense about liking other men! You are going to be normal and you're going to get cured by the doctor whether you like it or not. Am I clear?"

"Crystal." Austin said with a monotone.

"Now, go back to sleep. We don't want you sleeping in school tomorrow!"

Austin nodded and quickly shut the door, not bothering to wait for his father to walk away first. His night was officially ruined. Most fathers at least wished their kids a good night every once in a while. Not his though. The man had literally never once wished him a good night -not even when he was a kid. And from recent occurrences, that was not gonna change.

He was about to get back into bed when he noticed the wet patch on his pant leg . It started getting cold due to the fact that he was not wearing a top and the cold water had seeped through, making contact with his sensitive skin.