'Doc Juan'

Chapter 38

"Oi! Ya done in there? I can hear ya goin at it again with that ridiculous ball tossing technique that ruins my wallpaper!" his tough-love preferring mother called out, knocking at the bathroom door which he'd locked from the inside. "Go away! Yer no bloody help!" he complained, sinking into the filled tub fully clothed as he prepared to take the extreme step. With a final toss, he'd let the ball bounce away and let it roll across the bathroom mat, no longer feeling the need for it. He could hear his mum's unheeded cries from the other side of the locked door as he stared hard at the blank wall ahead, clenching the sides of the tub with both hands before letting them slip to his side as he let his body relax and let the water engulf him. This was it. His life had already flashed in front of his eyes- His life with Elle. He was now nearing that light every dying person claimed to see...when he felt a hard tug at his necktie and someone pulled him up, saving him before he drowned.
"Oh, good! Ya decided not to kill yerself in the nude!" his mother remarked in a relieved tone with just a hint of sarcasm in her voice as she held him in her arms and patted his back while he sputtered and gasped for air. "I just....I can't....live without er...I just can't! I dunno what to do...! " he stammered, tearing up as he clung to her. He was still half- immersed in the tub and shivering, so she helped him out with whatever strength she had left in her, before covering him snugly with a towel from the rack, running her fingers through her troubled son's dripping wet hair. "I'd suggest holdin off the suicide, lad!" she suggested in her usual joking manner, trying to lighten his mood again. "Mum, it's not funny! Why're ya even ere? Why come bargin in ere to save me when yer just gonna kick me when I'm down? Why not just lemme drown?!" he retorted with those bloodshot eyes as he wrapped himself up with a frown. "An' have ya haunt the bathtub with yer suicidal spirit? The very bathtub yer ol mum likes to soak er sore body in every night, the one place I find solace in...An' ya wanna kill yerself in it an' ruin my peace o' mind? I'd be reminded o' it every time I took a soak, ya know?" she continued with her witty remarks, examining the doorknob of the bathroom door as she spoke. She'd broken it down with a hammer on having a hunch that he was probably up to no good in there.
"How d'you manage to make everythin bout ya?" he muttered under his breath, finally chuckling at her remark as she sat him down on the edge of his old bed and rummaged through a closet for fresh and dry clothes. "If it manages to elicit even the slightest chuckle outta ya, I'd do it more often, lad." she whispered with a smile, sitting down beside him and handing him the clothes with a peck to his cheek as an added bonus. She was relieved to see him break into a smile, but alas! It was only for a short while before he grew sorrowful again and rested his head in her lap and murmured- "Why do relationships have to end so abruptly? Why can't we hang on to the ones we love...just a while longer,mum?" "If I'd known the answer, I could've hung on to yer dad a while longer, I believe." was all she could bring herself to say after some thought, deciding to give the sarcasm a rest and bringing a tone of seriousness into her voice as she tried her best to console him.