One Dysfunctional Mess part 4

Chapter 59

Sunday evening Zach sat in his room with his guitar in his hands as he looked directly into the camera.  He slowly strummed his guitar as emotions began to rise inside of him forcing him to cough to get his words out.   "I took my love and I took it down."  He closed his eyes as he belted out the words.  "I climbed a mountain and I turned around." His stomach began to tie itself into knots but he ignored it as determination overtook  him.   "And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills."  He then adjusted in his seat.  'Til the landslide brought me down."

At the apartment Jason stands in front of a roaring fire with two pictures in his hands as Trixie and Happy played behind him.  One was a picture he found of his and Cynthia 's wedding day. He was smiling like an idiot  while she looked like she had been sucking on lemons during the entire wedding ceremony.  The other was the picture of him and Lauren at their high school prom.  The picture that he had kept locked in safe for the past seventeen years.  The one that his mom had questioned him about the day he moved out.

Jason let out a sigh as he tossed them both into the fire and then watched as they slowly burned.  He then took a drink of his bourbon and sunk into his couch.  The two pups noticing he had sat down ran to him to join him.  He smiled as he picked them up and then watched as the fire continued to roar.

"Oh mirror in the sky what is love?"

At a nearby cafe Jack, John, Heather, Thea, and Dylan gathered around a table laughing while indulging in ice coffee and coffee cake while an envious Thomas watched from the sidewalk.

"Can the child within my heart rise above?"

At another restaurant Eddie by sat himself in a booth looking at his phone as sense of melancholy wrapped itself around him.  A smile then broke through as he was joined by Maddie who sat one side of him and Ashely and Lucas who sat on the other. 

"Can I sail through the changin' ocean tides?"

At Jack's and Jason's old home Jeremiah walked into the bathroom with a sense of despair tightly wrapping around him.  He splashed cold water into his face, turned the water off and then stared into the mirror with an haunted expression in his eyes.  He then caught Elizabeth's reflection in the mirror as she stood in the doorway giving him a look of disdain.  He turned to face only for her to walk away.  He then looked at himself in the mirror once again and then out of the bathroom to find his next bottle.

"Can I handle the seasons of my life?"

At the Harrison residence Sam walks over to Wendy with two glasses of brandy.  He hands one to Wendy and then sat down.  They both smile at each other faintly trying to conceal the pain brought on by the guilt that they both share and then take a drink.  Sam then took her hand and kissed it as they sat back in the couch.

Zach looked at the camera through a veil of tears.  "Well I've been afraid of changin cause I've built my life around you."

At the Richards residence Lauren sat on the couch scrolling down John's newsfeed looking at the pictures from the party and the dogs that Jason had gotten him and Jack.  The new life that he was building without her.  She could feel her heart shatter into a million pieces as her shoulders began to shake.  Sterling sat next to her and took in to her arms as he whispered.  "Its okay, its okay."  He then squeezed her tightly.

"But time makes you bolder, children get older."  Zach sang.

Pete and Iris sat in front of a computer talking to their mother and father who assured them that they loved them and they would be home soon.

  "I'm getting older too."

Cathy and Anthony stood outside his door listening to him sing.  

"He's pretty good."  Cathy said with a smile.

"Just like his mom."  Anthony said.

"Oh take my love, take it down."  

At the cafe Jack and Heather and John and Thea walked to the small dance floor and began to slow dance.  Jack looked lovingly into Heather's eyes as he thought how happy he was at the moment.  Heather gazed into her eyes.  Then she saw a look of disapproval cross his face.  She was about to ask him what was wrong but then realized that he was looking behind them.  She turned just in time to see Tommy running away from the windows.

"Oh climb  a mountain and you around." 

At the jail Cynthia sat in her cell silently trying not to look her cellmates in the eyes as she wondered what the next day would bring.  She hoped that her father would bail her out, that he was not leave her to rot away in prison.  But she had a feeling this time he was not coming to her rescue.

"And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills."

At the pententiary the younger prisoner is once again brought into Spencer's cell with head down.  

"Well the land slide bring it down."

Hanson walked out shutting the cell door behind him.

"And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills."

Spencer then came closer to the prisoner and told him to look.  The terrified man look up at him as Spencer cupped his face.  Spencer's eyes then widen in shock and he let out a cry of surprise.  He quickly moved back and looked down to see a piece of metal sticking out of his stomach.  He looked at the prisoner again and uttered "You bitch."  He then fell to the cell floor.

"Well the landslide bring it down."

The younger prisoner then rushed out of the cell as blood pooled around Spencer.

"Well the landslide bring it down." 

Zach then finished the song said something to the camer and then got up and turned the camera off.  He then returned his guitar to its place in the corner and laid down on his bed.  

He blew out a breathe as he said "Step one."