“Mom! Mom! Are you home?”
I walk up the stairs quietly. I hear whispering and then shuffling in my parents’ bedroom. I stop at the top stair and see a crack in mom’s door. I crawl over to the door and peek through the crack. I see a tall brown haired man scrambling around trying to pick up his clothes. I crawl away and nonchalantly walk down the stairs and strut into the kitchen.

A couple minutes later, someone was coming down the stairs. It was just mom. I question myself about “the secret boyfriend”, and then quickly get distracted. Mom began to say,

“Hun, do you think you could go to the store and buy some stuff for dinner?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure mom.”
She grabs her purse and pulled out four twenty dollar bills and handed them to me. I walk out and get in my truck. I was suspicious, so I left the house and drove down the street. Five minutes later a red car drove past me. It was mom’s car, and a man was in the passenger seat. I then think to myself, then leave for the store.

At Wal-Mart, I grab a cart and walk to the frozen aisle and look down it. I was so busy looking at every door, I didn’t see that another person was in front of me, so I ran into them. I look up and see that it’s a really pretty woman who had the cart in front of me. I blush and say,

“Sorry ma’am. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“Oh, it’s okay. I wasn’t paying attention either.”

“Well then I guess it’s both our faults.”

“Yeah, I guess it was. Well, what school do you go to? I feel like I’ve seen you before.”

“I go to Doplin Sr. High.”

“Ahah! I told you I’ve seen you before.”

“Oh, I’m a senior. I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“Oh. Well it is a big school, but I am in your calculus class.”

“Oh. Right. I never really noticed you.”

“Well I sit in the very front of the room.”

“Makes sense. But, I have to get going. My mom wanted me to come and grab some stuff for dinner then leave.”

“Alright. Well I’ll see you later.”

It was late, late at night and I walk into the kitchen and flip on the light. In the corner at the dinner table was dad. I jump and fall on the floor. He starts laughing and got up.

How can he be home? Did he get fired? Hmm. Wow. I wonder.
He comes and grabs my hand and pulls me up to my feet. He instantly grabs my shoulders and pulls me in to give me a hug. I haven’t seen dad since last year because he’s been trucking all over the country. In my mind I think,

How long will he be home for? Does mom even know? I’m so glad he’s home, I’ve missed him so much.
He finally let go of me and told me to sit down so we could talk. He looked a bit sad but maybe because he’s finally home and gets to see mom and I. Tears started rolling down his face, but slowly. Now I really wondered what’s going on. He said,

“Your mom and I are splitting up.”
I just sat there in shock and didn’t know what to say. He added,

“I know this is so mind blowing to you, but she told me to pick.”

“Pick what?!”

“My house, wife, and son… or trucking.”

“And you chose your job all over this?! But why?!”

“Well your mom and I were talking earlier before she left for work. And she thought since I'm not home at all, that there was nothing keeping us together.”
By that time I was getting angry. I pushed my chair out and ran upstairs and slammed the door. I thought of anything and everything.

Does this mean we have to move again? Or maybe after the divorce was final, mom or dad will start dating someone else and get married and have more kids!
By thinking of so much, I got a massive headache. So I laid down waiting for time to pass and me to get tired. When I woke up, my whole world changed.

Mom and dad were downstairs fighting.

“No wonder why we’re getting a divorce!” screamed dad.

“I’m sorry! You were gone so much! I got lonesome.” replied mom.

“God. And to think I loved you and was going to quit my job after I got my paycheck and come home!”
I began to walk down the stairs and accidentally made a squeaking noise. Both parents stopped talking. Silence filled the whole house.

“I think Clark’s awake. We should try and act civil and act like nothing happened. He doesn’t know yet. Does he?” asked mom.

“Well. Sounds like you have some explaining to do Christy.”

“What’s going on?” I asked shyly.

“Oh nothing, Hun. Your dad and I were just talking. Loudly.”

“Yeah, I got that. It woke me up.”

“Say son, do you want to go out hunting?”

“Sure. Let me go get ready.”
I ran upstairs and got on all my warm clothing. Dad yelled up the stairs,

“Hurry up! We don’t have much time! They’ll all be gone by the time your slow butt gets out there!”
Dad and I walk out to the stand I built with my cousin. I could smell the fresh morning air on the walk down to the stand. Silence filled the air except birds chirping in the dark green evergreens. The sticks and leaves of many other trees fell to the ground and when you walk anywhere you hear the loud crunching sound underneath your feet. No one could change the way things were happening around here. I know that in dad’s mind, he was about to fall apart. A marriage of nineteen years with one child and good paying jobs and memories, all down the drain. I know inside my own self, if anything more dramatic was to happen, I just might fall apart too. He took a good look at it and said,

“Well, son. You and Hank did a good job on this stand.”

“Thanks. So what’s going on with you and mom?”

“Nothing. Just nothing.”

I went to school the next day. Everybody around me didn’t know what was going on, but expected me to be happy. It’s the first big game, the starting of basketball. I don’t care about basketball, all I care about is what’s happening right now. A month went by; my grades began to drop really low. All my teachers wanted me to talk to them after class. I didn’t know what to say to them.

“Is there a reason why you’re failing my class? You were at the top of your class. What happened?”

“I have no reason. It just doesn’t seem like a big priority to me anymore. I don’t care anymore.”

The house felt so different. Everybody was going nuts. Nobody was happy anymore, except maybe mom. After dad left, mom always had her new man over, I didn’t like him at all. He tries to impress mom with trying to hang out with me. It didn’t work when I told him he annoyed me and I told him to leave. Of course, mom started yelling at me and I got grounded. I’m glad school is almost over because I get to go to college. The college I want to go to is close to dad. Which mom doesn’t like that idea. Well, I don’t care about what she has to say.

I felt alone and I didn’t like that feeling. I didn’t want to be here anymore. Mom came home and asked me,

“Why are you home? It’s a school day.”

“Because I wanted to. Why would it matter to you?”

“Well, maybe because I’m your mother and you are not to stay home from school unless I say.”

“Whatever. Just leave me alone.”
No matter what I did, she always yelled at me. It was like I was the disappointment and that I was the one who broke the family up.

The next day I got a phone call. It was a number I’ve never recognized, so I let it go to voicemail. Later, I listened to it and it was a hospital in a town next to where dad was. It was dad who called me saying he was in the hospital. Somehow someone purposely hit dad and got into an accident. I called him back and told him I’d be there in a couple hours to see him. I packed a duffel bag full of clothes and other things and got in my truck and left. Mom ended up calling me asking me where I was. I told her I had to go somewhere and won’t be home for a couple days. I could tell she was upset by this and she yelled at me telling me I needed to come home. I screamed no and hung up and kept driving until I got to the hospital.

It was six a.m. and I finally got to the hospital. A lot of thoughts ran through my mind. I slowly walk through the sliding doors and see a woman at the desk. She asks me what my name is.

“Clark Dawns. I’m here to see my dad. Jackson Dawns. He was admitted here last night.”

“Oh, yes. He told me he was waiting for you. Room 461. Go to the fifth floor.”

“Thanks!”
My hands were shaking. I tried to calm myself down. I started walking down to the elevator. I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking just to push the button. I stepped into the elevator and pressed the five button. It took a while to get to the fifth floor. It seemed like forever. I never liked going into hospitals. Reminded me of when my mom’s sister got into a really bad car accident, it was so severe that she was in a coma for months and then woke up and never regained her memory.

I walk down the hall and found room four sixty-one. I saw an opening in the door and I knocked. I heard a groan and then,

“If it’s one of those dang nurses, you might as well get lost!”

“Uh, no dad. Hahah. It’s me Clark.”
I step in and close the door behind me.

“Oh, hey son! Sorry about that. These nurses are terrible at their jobs.”

“Oh it’s alright.”
I didn’t make eye contact for a while. Then, I finally did. All I saw was bruises and cuts. His right leg was broken also his left arm. I could tell by the look on his face, he was in pain. Not just from the accident, but from mom. He may have not wanted to admit it, but it was true.

“I’m sorry you have to see me like this. But you were really the only person I could call that actually would come.”

“Well of course Dad. I may have just walked out and left, but I still came no matter what.”

“Did you even tell your mother where you were going?”

“Um no.”

“You should’ve. She might be really worried about you.”

“I doubt it! All she cares about is her new boy toy and nothing else. She is hardly home and if she is, then she has that guy there with us. She always tells me to go to my room if he’s there also. God, she’s nasty. I can’t stand it there anymore! Ughhh!”

“Well is she at least happy?”

“I think so… but then again I don’t really care.”

“Well, just be happy for her. And let her know that you still are there and to not forget about you.”

“She already has. She grounds me all the time and doesn’t even clean the house anymore or make dinner. She always goes out and I always clean house. She’s changed. And I don’t like it.”

“Yes, I know. But there’s nothing we can do about it.”

I felt my phone vibrate in my jean’s pocket. I grab my phone and look at the text message. It was from mom saying,

“Clark, honey. I really need you to come home. It’s an emergency.”

“Hah, she just texted me telling me to come home. She says in an emergency.”

“Well it might be. You never know what it might be. Text her back.”
I get a response back,

“I fell down the stairs and I think I may have broken my ankle and I was pregnant and lost the baby…”

“Oh my god! She was pregnant!”

“Wait! What?!” screamed dad.

“Yeah! She just told me that! She fell down some stairs too… And broke an ankle.”