Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: OVERLOAD (10/06/16)
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TITLE: The Amber Abyss | Previous Challenge Entry
By Gary Ritter
10/10/16 -
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They didn’t talk on the way home, just as they’d been mainly silent earlier this morning. What was there to say? Lately Cassie had gone partying with friends, only to end up in another man’s bed and come stumbling home well after midnight. She’d confessed her infidelity after each encounter following the first time Jack had caught her cheating.
“I promise it’ll never happen again.”
Empty words. She wouldn’t stop her weekend “tension releasers” as she called them—joining her drinking pals. And, Jack thought, she called herself a Christian.
Once they arrived home, Jack knocked before entering his daughter’s room. That was another thing he and Cassie couldn’t agree on. He wanted the kids to go to church with them. Cassie demanded they make up their own minds about religion. Maryanne made a quick movement with her computer mouse as Jack stepped through the door.
“Dad! Can’t you give me the privacy I deserve?”
“What were you looking at online?”
“Nothing.”
Fed up with attitudes, promises, and denials, Jack reached for the mouse.
“Hey, don’t touch that!” His daughter’s indignation spurred him on.
The blank screen came to life. Before him was a pro-LGBT website for teens that outlined how to keep their personal life from their parents.
“You want to explain this?”
Maryanne sat with arms crossed and a sullen expression. Jack kept looking at her until she finally said, “Okay, fine. I’m gay. What are you going to do about it?”
He wanted to slap her to knock some sense into her foolish head, but he refrained. He stormed out. “We’ll talk about this later.”
At his son’s room, he almost passed by, but something told him to enter. Without warning he threw open the closed door. Stephen stood in front of a mirror, nearly naked with women’s panties and wearing a blond wig. Unlike Maryanne’s defiance, Stephen pranced and flaunted the discovery. “You can call me Stephanie from now on, Pop. You like?”
Jack’s shoulders slumped. His eyes burned and felt tired. Fatigue welled up within him. He exited and shut the door. Behind him he heard his son turn on some music.
In the living room he found Cassie in front of the TV engrossed in one of her real estate makeover shows.
“Maryanne’s gay and Stephen’s a cross-dresser.” He might as well have been talking to the wall. “Did you hear me? I said—“
“I heard you. That’s life in these United States nowadays. I say good for them that they can find their true selves.”
Jack threw up his hands. “What is it with you people? This family is so screwed up I could scream.”
“I scream every night in my sleep when I dream about being married to you.”
“I’ve had enough of this!” Jack went into the kitchen and found the bottle of Jack Daniels he’d stashed away.
Every Thursday Jack attended a Christ-centered recovery group. The camaraderie and sharing had helped his problem a lot, but life kept driving him back to the bottle. He’d hoped that through this program he could overcome the habit that occasionally left him in blackout condition. Each time he’d come back to the group, take the blue surrender chip and promise himself that this time would be different.
It never was. He’d lost all control of his family. Seeing twenty-four hours into the future, he knew he’d lost control of his own life as well.
He poured the first healthy glassful and downed it like water. The first touch of the liquor burned his throat. The rest went smoothly. He closed his eyes and savored the feeling.
About to pour more, he started when his cellphone rang. He almost ignored it, but answered anyway.
“Jack, this is Ralph from Celebrate Recovery. You looked angry in church this morning. Are you all right?”
Torn, Jack didn’t know how to answer. He desperately wanted help—to talk out the burden on his shoulders, but the pull of the bottle was strong. His hand shook as he poured another glass of the amber liquid.
He looked into its depths. From the bottomless pit within he heard himself say, “No, Ralph, I’m not all right.”
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