Broken Hearts - The Beginning

Chapter 6

Connor's POV:

Why did they think a little family gathering would get rid of my anger issues? If anything it might make it worse. Whenever I speak I mess up then I turn into a monster. They ask why I wear my black hoodie all the time and why I always have the hood up. I just tell them it's because I feel like it but really I just wanna hide from everyone.

"Connor! Connor! CONNOR!" Dad yells while poking me in the side, erasing me from my thoughts.

"What?" I snap at him, he slowly pulls away and sighs.

"I was just trying to tell you that your food was gonna get cold if you don't eat it" He replies. I suddenly am reminded of where I am, on a picnic blanket in the middle of the apple orchard with my family, with the uncomfortable feeling of grass underneath me. I sigh and look at my food, I take a bite of my sandwich and set it back down.

"I'm full" I say and start walking towards one of the tallest trees in the orchard, I start to climb it. My hands grip the cold hard branches, I climb and climb until I finally reach the tallest branch, I let my feet dangle from it as I look back at my family enjoying the family meal without me.

See they don't need me, it seems like they've all been ignoring me ever since my recent anger issues came up.

After a while I can hear dad yelling at me, I look down and laugh at him.

I'm not coming down just because you say so.

"CONNOR GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW, YOUR MOTHER IS STARTING TO GET WORRIED" I can hear dad yell, I laugh.

"If she's so worried then why doesn't she just come to get me?"

"CONNOR JUST PLEASE GET DOWN HERE! Y-YOUR MOTHER HAS NEWS ON THE APPLE ORCHARD" He replies, I can tell he's trying to hold back a tear.

"What? What do you mean?" I ask.

"Well if you'd get down here I'll tell you"

"Fine" I say as I slowly climb down from the tree, branch by branch. Once I get down dad grabs my hand and we run over to the picnic blanket, mom his dads newspaper in her hands, I can see tears rolling down her face.

"What is it?" Zoe asks in her cute high pitched voice, I'm gonna miss it when she hits puberty.

"The orchard..." mom says while trying not to cry, I can tell this is a lot for her. "It's shutting down..."

"What? When? Why?" Zoe replies again, mom just pats her back and tries to make the best out of the situation, but I can tell this is hard for her.

"Next month.... February 4th..."

"Look Cynthia I'm sure we can find another place to have family gatherings" Dad replies while holding moms hand, mom lets out a couple tears and quickly wipes them away.

"They'll never be anything like this Larry, we've been taking the kids here for so long..."

"Hey you know what how about we grab a scoop at A La Mode and have it for the ride home? How does that sound?" Dad replies, Zoe's sad expression soon turns into a smile.

"Yes please! I can't wait to have some double fudge ice cream"

~~~

Once we make it home I run out of the car and into the house, I throw my empty ice cream dish in garbage and head upstairs to the bathroom.

The apple orchard can't be closing, that place was true heaven for me when I was younger. And now with that closing and my newly found anger issues that only seem to get worse I need a way to escape all of it. In 5th grade they warned us about drugs, they said they made you feel better but it's not worth it. Well I don't care what they say, if they make me feel better I'm trying them.

I open the medicine cabinet and grab out a random pill bottle, I read some of the words on the front, I see a sentence that is bolded and highlighted.

'For Larry Murphy: only use one a day'

I mean this can't be that bad right? Surely not.

A smile slides across my face as I unscrew the lid and pour out a few pills, I pick out one and I pop it into my mouth, I quickly grab water to wash it down.

Perfect this is just what I needed. I mean if I only take one it can't be that bad right? I mean it might make me feel better.