compare scars

twenty four

"Kyle, what are we gonna do? He's getting worse." His mother asked him, almost oblivious to the black eye and busted lip on her son's face.

It had only been two months since he left everything behind to help. And it had felt like a years.

As a kid his father had always been rough. And as a result he grew up with small bruises, but they were always easy to hide. A sweatshirt one day, long pants the next.

But this was straight abuse. At first his father would play nice, only calling him names. But then it would escalate. Then he would forget that it was his son trying to help him. Those were the worst. The look in his father's eye was the look he hadn't ever seen.

"You know he's just confused. Give him Time." Those were the words his mother told him the first time. The two were sat in the car on their way to the hospital where Kyle would get his nose stitched back together.

The rest of the time she seemed to turn a blind eye. And if he was lucky enough for her to say a word about it, it was always excuses for his actions.

That was when he turned to alcohol. The first few times he had to face his father, it worked. Even the punches felt as if they were softened and the pain wasn't there.

He finally understood Dan.

But that only lasted for about a month.

--
"Hey you okay?" Kyle's silence was interrupted. He lifted his head off checkered flooring of the grocery store.

"Uh yeah. What time is it?" He asked, looking around to the empty store.

"It's 12:00." The man replied, checking his watch.

"Oh shit. He's going to kill me." Kyle scrambled to his feet, brushing the dust off his jeans.

"How long was I out?" Kyle asked, holding on to the toilet paper rack for support.

"Um I saw you come in around like 4:00, so like eight hours. Sorry I should've woken you. But I was asleep too. It's all my fault." The man said holding his hand out for him to grab.

Kyle took a step forward, stumbling on his feet. He then heard the dropping of the bottle, and saw all the white pills scattered on the toilet paper isle.

"It's not what you think." He slurred, bending down to carefully pick them up.

"I'm not judging." The man said and helped him pick up the rest, handing him the orange bottle of oxycodone.

"So you must be Dan." The man said after reading the name on the bottle.

After Dan's incident the doctor had given Kyle the pills so that Dan didn't grow dependent.

"No I'm Kyle. You are?" He asked curious who this grocer was.

"Will."
--

Dan sat down in the sofa, kicking his feet up. He slowly sipped on a root beer.

"You wanna go out?" Charlie asked, pulling a sweatshirt on.

"Naw, I'm gonna stay in and write my speech thing for tomorrow. Some new guy joined and I got picked to show him around like you did me." Dan smiled, putting on his glasses and reading the case file carefully.

27 years old
Male
Currently residing in Manchester
Quitting: alcohol and oxycondone
Possible abuse case

Dan put down the file, panicking when he read the last line. He hadn't ever had to deal with any sort of abuse. It was a topic he had only know from books and movies.

It scared him a little bit, but he would try his hardest to help. He knew for a fact if he hadn't had Charlie on the first day he would still be drinking.

He would still be in the hole that he dug for himself. Still mourning Kyle, drinking himself to sleep, keeping himself going by drinking while teaching.

"Alright I'll see you later." Charlie grinned walking towards the door.

"Hey, thank you." Dan said quickly having to get it out.

"For what?" Charlie asked him, looking at him confused.

"Everything."

---
Did anyone read my story sobriety on my other account? I'm just curious