The Things You Did For Me

Chapter 6: WHY SHE LEFT ME

It felt like hours waiting for the police to come. Alex wasn't at all surprised when his father didn't show up. He was so involved with himself that he couldn't even be there for his family. He was all Alex had left...and he didn't even really have him.

Alex stepped outside as the officers searched the house, heading into the bedroom. An aura of grief washed over the neighborhood. Their prying eyes stalked his house. He caught sight of her through the crowd. He didn't care that she knew. It saved him the pain of having to tell her himself. But she didn't approach him. She stood in her yard with the rest of them, waiting for him to crack. He wouldn't cry in front of them—he couldn't. He took one last look at her. The sunset cast a golden glow around her. But she wasn't an angel. She couldn't save him. He knew that.

The sound of the stretcher wheeling towards him broke his daze. He watched as the men lifted his mother up into the back of the van, the colorful lights disguising their faces.

"Hey, kid." Alex glanced up at his father's deputy. He was the father he never had. Declan took a seat next to him at the foot of the porch. They looked out at the crowd of people, watching as the men packed up the van and drove off. "Don't mind them. They're just curious. They have to have something to talk about." He shook his head at himself. He wasn't the most comforting person. "Acting like they've never seen a dead body before."

But Alex knew better than to listen to him. There wasn't anything he could say that would hurt him. He was already numb. The neighbors began to leave one by one until she was the only one left. She waited a moment unsure whether to stay or not, but she turned and left without a word, leaving only the painful memory of her face witnessing his downfall. Alex turned back to the man beside him, sighing deeply. "Where are they taking her?"

"The morgue." Declan glanced at him. His eyes were cold...tired. "They're gonna do an autopsy."

Alex stood up weakly, shoving his hands in his pockets. "But she killed herself."

The deputy nodded, standing up to match him. "We just need to be sure." He patted him on the back. It was the only comfort he could offer him. He turned and made his way down the driveway, leaving the boy to himself. "Take care of yourself, Alex."

Alex watched him leave before heading back into his house and into his mother's bedroom. He laid down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. He knew this day would come. He realized it a couple years back. His father started coming home later...drunker. Strange men would show up at their doorstep asking for his father. He started to change. The whole town started to change. People began accumulating large sums of money out of nowhere. The poor were becoming richer. The whole system had turned on its head.

Alex glanced at himself in the mirror, but all he saw was his mother's reflection. She'd haunt him for the rest of his life. He hated his father. His mother was the perfect woman, and his father ruined her. He ruined the life they had begun. He dragged her into the mess. She tried to get out, but he wouldn't let her. There was nothing she could do to stop him. She knew what he was up to, so he beat for it. He ruined the life they had.

Alex made his way into the living room, reaching into his father's liquor cabinet. Whiskey seemed nice. He popped the top off and downed a third of it, coughing a bit back up. He wiped his mouth of with the back of his hand and slumped down on the couch to wait for his father.

It was late when his dad came home. Alex stayed up waiting for him. He didn't care how long it took. He watched as the man stumbled in through the front door. He was drunker than he usually was. The smell of bourbon followed him down the hall to the bathroom. It was a familiar smell. It was the smell of grief.