I spent last weekend just like any other weekend getting trashed and fucked up. It was Blake's weekend on at work so I went 'round to Will's to get high with him and his roommate Mark—Just for a change of pace. So that's where I was, smoking a bong, playing Forza on the X-box with Will and Mark and having what we defined as a good time. Hanging out with those fellas' things are always pretty mellow, we just chill at their place and play some games. I can't speak for Mark, don't know the guy that well, but for Will and I it's our opportunity to escape from our day-to-day lives. Spending one night with those boys does come at a high price, I'll admit that. The comedown and the seedy as fuck hang-over never gets easier to pull through. Every Sunday morning I'll ask myself if it was worth it but once the migraine passes the answer is always yes.
Must've been around eight when I left Will's last Sunday morning. Usually, I'd spend the rest of the day hanging out there as well but I wasn't feelin' it. Woke up with this knot in my stomach, a lump in my throat and I just wasn't in a good head space. I left while the boys were still asleep thinking the walk home would clear my head but that was a terrible idea. I'm never out of bed at eight o'clock, I won't get up for anyone or anything so I had no idea it was still so cold first thing in the morning. I didn't have my hoodie on and just about froze my nipples off, my brain boggled around inside my skull with every step I took and I stopped to puke on the nature strip outside someone's house, twice. Didn't clear my head at all.
When I got to our block of units I noticed the car parked out the front of our place wasn't Blake's. I remember seeing it but I was too out of it to think twice about whose car it was or why they'd be at our place so early in the morning. I just fumbled around in my pockets for my keys and went straight for the door. When I stepped inside I found Charlie sitting on our couch with his head in his hands.
He didn't look up at me as he said, "Where have you been?" His voice came out strained, like he was in pain and trying to hold it in. Before I could answer him he said, "I've been calling you for hours."
I pulled my phone out of my pocket knowing I didn't have a single missed call and as I went to prove it I realised my phone had gone flat. I tapped at the buttons and the screen and it did nothing, phone had died during the night.
Snapping at people and arguing with everyone is something I'd gotten damn good at and I was about to start dishing it out at Charlie. I was ready to bite his head off for showing up at our place unannounced, for demanding to know where I'd been and for being there so early in the morning. But then he started sobbing into his hands and it knocked the wind from me. I started to think; Why was he here so early in the morning? Why was he trying to call me for hours? And where was Blake?
My stomach churned.
Charlie had never shown up at our place like that before, ever, he wasn't doing it for the sake of it. I wanted to ask him what was wrong, why he was there and not Blake, but I was too scared to hear the answer. As I stood there in the doorway, watching Charlie cry into his hands, I began to wish I'd stayed at Will's after all.
YOU ARE READING
Relatively Dependent
General FictionA story of two brothers who have nothing in life but each other. The story is told through the main character, Joel, as he recalls events from his childhood and how he and his brother, Blake, escaped the nightmare of their Mother's drug fuelled abus...
