John Dorian's Final Realization

Chapter 18: My Guide to the Graveyard

    Falling to his knees he wondered how it came to this. How not long before he had it all. A wife, a son and a great future ahead of him and now he was here. Greasy, drunk and alone. His vision hazed in and out as he struggled to pick up the broken bottle's shards from the kitchen tile.

    Laura Fratel- No, he mentally corrected himself with a sneer. Laura Franklyn, as she now chose to refer to herself again, had walked up to him one morning with her bags packed and their 3 month old in tow before handing him a file and leaving without looking back. "All just because I wanted to- to fuckin' join the army!" David growled. "It's not m'fault you were bein' so goddamn annoyin' all the time. And little Noah-! Christ! He just wouldn't shut up!"

    The twenty-five year old wobbled to his feet and hissed in pain as his foot fell on a splinter of glass. "Of course! Of fuckin' course!" David grabbed the fruit rack off of the counter and threw it across the room, anger and grief overcoming him. "..How was I supposed to know the recruiter would call before I got home, huh? H-How was I supposed to know that they'd deny me just because of my trick knee?! I didn't! Couldn't have!"  He vented his frustrations to his fridge.

"I just wanted a break from you- From him- From your constant naggin' and Noah's constant complainin'! A guy can only take so much! I can only-" His voice broke and he slid back down to the floor. "I could only take so much."

    It was the fourth day in the row he had spent feeling spiraling in his own filth instead of showing up for his shifts. His reflection glared back at him from the smooth surface of the oven door. The clothes on his back reeked of sweat and cheap whisky and David could no longer remember when he last changed. He let out a low, irritated laugh. "Tommy prolly fired my ass by now. God-!" He covered his face with his hands. "What the fuck am I going to do now? This is all her fault! This is all your fault, Laura! If you hadn't been so stuck up all the time maybe I wouldn't have gone to the fuckin' army, ever thought about that? A real big goddamn overreaction the way I see it. ...What a waste of a woman."

    A few hours passed and to his horror he had finally reached the end of his liquor stache hidden in the back of his infant son's closet. He ran a hand over his face and cursed. He could already feel his hangover setting in. "Shit where can I-..." An idea suddenly came to mind and he found fumbling with his keys twenty minutes later in the parking lot of his small town bar. The key, despite his every attempt at readjustment, always seemed to miss its mark when he tried to lock up his car. "Come on you little-"

    "Dave-? Davey, man, it's been ages now hasn't it?" Fratelli fought back the urge to punch the man who now had his arm tossed over David's shoulder. He looked up to find his coworker, Martin... God he couldn't remember his last name. He had forgotten so long ago and never built up the nerve to ask him again despite working alongside him for 4 years now. "Where have you been? People are beginnin' to ask questions back at the old office."
    David shrugged him off and began to head for the bar door. "Around. It's been what, a week? Give me a break. I doubt you all are strugglin' without me there. It's been dead for ages now." The bell above them jingled. And, after buying a few drinks on Martin's dime, they settled themselves in a booth away from the rest of the bar.

    "True," he allowed. His dark eyes squinted at him and he gave him a sympathetic look. Fratelli glared back. "What about you? We're doin' alright but you look like you're at death's door. No offense."

    Fratelli sighed, he never could stay mad at his friend long. Nor could he get the leech of a man to lay off when he really meant to get his answers. "None taken, Mar'. Honestly, I feel it. It's.. been rough. Lady left with the kid over nothing and now I gotta clean up the mess she left behind." He scratched at the stubble now crowding the sides of his face. "I don't know what to do if I'm bein' frank. Considerin' all that happened, I don't know if I'd want to go back to workin' for Tommy anymore even if he'd let me. He and Laura were close and well... You know how it goes."