Days With Zion Dawsey

39. AA

Shery Dawsey sighed and looked at her table. Two cups of tea- cold tea. He was not coming, she thought. It was Friday and her son has not called or messaged her or anything. She had offered to talk with him three days ago and she was still hopefull.

But she was done waiting now. She stood up, looked at the clock. It was ten p.m. She had been waiting for four hours now. She shook her head, hoping nothing happened to him. Then she took her car keys and left to visit him.

Once she reached his driveway, she was surprised to see his car already parked. For some reason, she hoped he was still at work. But he wasn't. And even though Sheryl hesitated to ring the doorbell, she did. It looked like he was sleeping since he had no lights on. But she soon realized that he was still awake when she heard a loud crash.

"Zion? Open up, honey!" She panicked, hoping he was okay. She knocked on the front door once more and waited. She heard someone talking inside and pressed her ear against the wooden door. He was mumbling nonsense and so Sheryl knocked again.

After a few minutes, the door opened slowly and Zion came leaning against the door frame.
"How can I help you?" He asked, his voice slurred. Sheryl's eyes widened.
"Are you drunk?" She asked, pushing past him and sending him to the floor in the process.

"I'm sorry, honey." She said, helping her son up.
"Wow." Zion said, leaning against the wall to steady himself. Sheryl closed the front door and turned the lights on. Zion immediately covered his eyes.
"Turn them off!" He growled.

"No. Come with me." Sheryl took his wrist and lead him to the couch in the living room. Zion had no other choice than to follow her, since he could not even stand on his own, let alone fight anybody in that state.
"You stay here and wait for me to come back with a glass of water." Sheryl told him and Zion barely nodded.

"Drunk as a sailor at ten p.m." Sheryl hissed at him and shook her head before getting him a glass of water. His eyes were already closed when she came back. She shook his body, waking him up again.

"Hi mom." He smiled up at her with his lazy and cheeky smile that she has not seen in ages.
"Hi baby. Please drink the water." She begged him, saddened that she had no idea about her son's alcohol problem. She was disappointed with herself for letting it get that far.

"Okay." Zion said, gulping down the liquid that his mother held to his lips.
"Thank you." She said after he finished his glass. She set it onto the coffee table and then looked back at her son, his eyes halfway closed.

"Lay down, honey." Sheryl said, helping him to lay down on the leather couch. She propped a pillow up behind his head and stroked his cheek, a tear rolling down her own. How could she? What kind of mother does not realize when her son needs help? What kind of mother only sees her child four times a year? She shook her head. Things needed to change.

She thought things were going great ever since she found out about River. But she only saw a small part of her son's feelings. Although she knew he missed his older brother, she never thought it was that hard on him. She had to help him, he was her only son. He was still there and it was time to be a mother again, not just a grandmother. She was the parent and Zion was the kid. No more letting him decide what he thought was best for her.

Things were going to change from that day on.

.

Zion awoke at the familiar sound of his phone ringing. He groaned and turned his head to the side before opening his eyes. And then he closed them again. He once again forgot to draw the curtains close. He rubbed his eyes, letting them adjust to the light. Once he saw where he was, he groaned once more.