DOORS - A Roblox Doors Story (Book 2)

Bonus Chapter: Jack's Journey

(Content warning - parental abuse, violence, death)

Jack would say that having an alcoholic father was very much not great. Too many nights where he'd come back drunk and shout at him and his mother, too many empty bottles lying around the house, and too many random strangers coming over to drink with him. It drove him and his mother insane, and Jack wasn't sure how much more of it he could take.

It hadn't always been this bad. Before Jack's two sisters moved out, his father had actually been in a pretty stable condition. Sure, he had the occasional night that he'd come home not even recognizing his own wife or children, but those nights had been few and far between. Then Jack's older sister moved out for college, and he started drinking more often. It still hadn't been too bad, but it did get much worse after Jack had to drop out of highschool in the middle of his senior year due to absolutely horrible mental health. And it got really bad after Jack's younger sister graduated high school and went off to a very prestigious university, and Jack was still living at home.

Let's just say that Jack's father didn't have very many nice things to say about him.

Anyway, Jack's sisters were doing pretty well. Jack's older sister, Danni, was twenty six, and had gotten a job as an actress, and was a very skilled and well known one at that, with a husband who was an engineer and a two year old kid. His younger sister, Marilyn, was twenty three, and was pursuing a PhD in medicine, and had a long term partner of about three or four years. Meanwhile Jack was still living in his parent's house at the ripe age of twenty four, with absolutely garbage mental health.

How had his mental health deteriorated so much, you might ask? Well, it started in high school, when what had started out as minor burnout evolved into a horrible depression, which resulted in Jack falling very behind on his school work. He was doing horribly in his classes, and all of his teachers hated him. Most of his peers seemed to ignore his presence all together, and those who didn't only talked to him because they felt sorry for him. Needless to say, Jack was struggling. He had been working on finding a therapist, but they were expensive and neither Jack nor his parents could afford any. Jack's sisters wanted to help, but both of them had moved out and lived far away, so Jack only really saw them during the holidays.

In the darkness of the situation he was in, at least Jack's mother was there for him. She, unlike his father, didn't talk about him like he was a burden on her, and was overall pretty supportive of his mental journey.

Anyway, Jack's father had come home drunk again, and to avoid the worst of his words and actions, Jack was hiding away in his room as his mother tried to talk to his father. It wasn't very big and it was a bit messy, but Jack found it comfortable. He was just on his bed, listening to music as he doodled in his sketchbook. Art was probably one of the only things he found comfort in at this point, and the music certainly helped drown out the sounds of his parents arguing in the kitchen. This was normal at this point. And that wasn't good.

How long has this been going on for? Jack found himself thinking. This argument had been going on longer than it should have. He could hear his father shouting at his mother, calling her horrible names and just being overall terrible to her.This wasn't what normally happened.

Jack sat up, closing his sketchbook and turning off the music. I should go down there and help her, right? Usually, Jack's mother was able to help herself, but considering the length of the argument and the names his father was calling her, he thought that maybe he should step in.

Jack got up from his bed and exited his room, going down the stairs, as the shouting of his father and the pleading of his mother grew louder.

"Arthur, I swear to god, you have to stop drinking! Not only are you treating us terribly, but I'm beginning to get concerned for your health, too," Jack's mother was saying, sounding both exasperated and deeply distressed.