Welcome Home

I felt that relief wash over me a little more,

It was a great feeling,

Then it was all shattered,

As I walked through the front door,

The entire house was trashed,

And immediately I knew that something was wrong,

I rounded the corner into the hallway and almost screamed,

Ahead of me,

All three of them hung,

Swinging in the narrow hallway,

I felt my body frozen,

I wanted to scream,

And the last thing I remember,

I heard the dripping of the blood,

On the hardwood floor,

And then the world went black.

****

The cops came,

They took away the bodies,

And cleaned up a little,

Though there wasn't much they could do,

They gave me a paper,

That was stapled to my dad's chest,

It has one word scrawled across it,

Insurance

I stared at the paper almost wanting to scream,

"Does it mean anything to you?"

I shook my head,

I knew that if I said something,

They would come after me next,

And there was nothing that the cops could do,

To keep me safe,

Instead,

I went home,

Clutching my thoughts,

In my own head,

Hoping that it would all be a dream,

That I could wake up from,

But I couldn't get that lucky,

Instead it was a nightmare,

That would continue to haunt me,

Every night I saw my dad,

My brother,

And my mom,

Sitting on the couch,

Staring at me judging me,

For the actions I'd taken,

And every night,

I'd feel just a little more guilty,

Then I had before,

This went on for a few days,

Then the night before the funeral,

I snapped,

I started to shoot some of the alcohol that was in the cupboard,

It was the one and only time,

I'd ever had alcohol,

I went into my parents room,

Rummaged through a drawer,

And found what I was looking for,

I came back down stairs making sure,

That it was loaded,

I sat on the couch,

And stared across at them,

I showed them the gun,

"Is this what you want?"

The words came out slurred,

I saw the three of them smile at me,

Almost as if aging me on,

Without thinking,

I put the barrel to my temple,

And pulled the trigger,

This time the world went dark for good,

****

I blinked,

And what I saw was red,

In the center of it all I saw my parents,

And my little brother,

Playing cards around a table,

"It was a dream thank god."

"No, it wasn't." My mother said,

Without looking up,

"Then what's going on?"

"Welcome to hell son, we're all here,

Because of you,

But it's where we are now,

As a family,

So because of that,

I guess it's more apt,

To say welcome home."

I could do nothing but scream.