Broken Bottles

Broken Bottles: chapter 24

As I walked into the house I was greeted by the sound of shuffling and objects being moved around. I then took in the surroundings of our living room and felt my eyes widen. The entire room was trashed from floor to ceiling. Our coffee table was flipped upside down, the couch was tipped on its side, and the television was pulled from the wall. Books from our shelves were thrown all over the floor and every frame on the walls were crooked. I even spotted our mail scattered on the floor with every envelope ripped open. One object stood out though. Placed perfectly undisturbed on the flipped over coffee table was a six pack of bottled beer. I then immediately knew who was responsible for the destruction and my happy mood from the morning diminished.

"Hello?" I called out.

I heard a grunt come from the kitchen, so I made my way across the trashed living room and into the kitchen. I was surprised to see the kitchen was a mess just like the living room. Our table was turned over, every chair was on its side, and every single cabinet door was open. The oven, refrigerator, and microwave were also wide open.

"Dad?" I called out to the man who was anxiously and angrily looking through the cabinets. I watched as he ignored me completely and tossed every dish over his shoulder onto the floor.

"What the hell are you doing?" I tried again.

He finally turned to face me and his eyes looked panicked.

"Where did you hide the money?" He asked. He sounded anxious which worried me, but I was more concerned with how he sounded drunk this early in the morning.

"What money?" I decided to play dumb.

"Don't pull my leg right now, boy. I need all the money you got." He said.

"I can't do that. Just tell me what's going on." I stayed calm.

"I was down at Stevie's last night like normal and a few guys came in wanting to play pool. We made bets and I smoked them the first game, but they insisted on doing double or nothing. We played again and those sons of bitches hustled me. I told them I'd be back with the money by noon." He explained. As he explained himself his tone went from panicked to angry.

"How much do you owe?"

"Five hundred."

I gaped at him, "Why would you bet five hundred dollars?"

"Because I thought I could crush those poor bastards. Now tell me where your stash of money is. I only have an hour left." Dad told me.

I shook my head, "No way. I'm not giving you five hundred bucks. We have bills to pay for this month and it's mine and Penny's money." When I mentioned the money also being Penny's I briefly wondered where she and my other siblings were. I then remembered Penny had work early this morning, but the other three should have been home.

"I am your father and you live under my roof, so when I want money, you give me it." Dad's eyes turned cold.

"Might be your roof, but I still pay the bills. I can't afford to give you five hundred dollars right now and honestly, I don't want to." I said.

Dad took a threatening step towards me, but I didn't back down. He then growled and turned back to looking through cabinets.

"I'll deal with you later, but right now I need to find this money." He said.

"You aren't going to find anything." I said more confidently then I felt. Since I went to homecoming last night I couldn't bring my saved up money with me. I hid it underneath Sidney's mattress, because I figured dad would think to look under mine and not his if he ended up searching for it.