Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 77663 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77663 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
What happened to my baby boy? He used to be so dashing, so confident; he was the light of my life. Now, he looks like a shell of his former self, and it was hard to watch. I don’t know how many nights I’ve cried myself to sleep since his divorce. He seems to be on a downward spiral that no amount of talking can bring to an end.
“Son, you’ve got to let this go and look at things the way they are.”
“No, I could’ve made things work with Mandy, but you kept pushing and pushing and ran her off. You…. Look, if you don’t want me to say the wrong thing, I think you should leave.”
He tipped the vodka bottle to his lips, and I felt like I was drowning. How had things turned out this way? How had I lost control of everything like this? I thought things were going well between the two of them, so what the hell happened to set him off and kick Deidre out of the house?
I need to find Mandy. I can’t let my son keep suffering like this. I’ll drag that little bitch back here by her hair if I have to.
“Leave Mom, I want to be alone for now, please.”
DAN
I didn’t even look up when she left. Who cares? I didn’t; I haven’t cared about anything for a while now. Not even the pint of vodka I downed was enough to erase the memories from my mind. I can’t believe I was such a fool.
I can’t believe that I lost the only good thing I had in my life besides my career. Mandy had been with me for more than half my life. All of my best memories are with her. Every good thing I had in life had come because of her.
Even way back when, when I wasn’t doing so well in school, she was the one who tutored me. On the days and nights when Mom was too stressed to cook for me and my sisters, Mandy’s Mom fed me and never complained.
It got so that I was at their house more than my own, and they even took me on their family vacations. I was part of the family, not just a son-in-law, but a son. I was happiest with her, and now she’s gone, and I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
As much as I blame Mom, I know that this was all my doing. Isn’t it strange how a clear mind helps you to see things from a completely different perspective? I wonder how long I would’ve remained in the fog if things hadn’t played out the way they had in the last couple of weeks.
It started with Deidre showing me the bruises I’d left on her and threatening to go to the cops if I didn’t do what she wanted. I’d balked at her suggestion to get married the week before, and she was not happy, but I told her in no uncertain terms that I would never marry any woman except Amanda.
That’s when she started claiming that I’ve been hitting her or strangling her, I think she’d said. For the first time since I met her, I used my head and asked her to calm down so we could talk. I didn’t even deny her claims since I knew she was full of shit, but I decided it was best if I protected myself.
I waited long enough for the bruises to fade completely, pretending all the while to give in to her demands. What she didn’t know is that I’d hired someone to wire my place so that if she ever accused me again, I’d have proof that she was lying.
What I didn’t know, and didn’t expect, was to find her drugging the shit out of almost everything in my house. I didn’t even know that such a thing was possible. The energy drinks I drank in the evening when I came home, the food she made, all of it was laced with something.
I didn’t know what that something was; I just saw her injecting something through the tops of the bottles. That’s why I never knew they were tampered with. She’d even dosed the kid with medicine in the evenings.
No wonder he slept through the night from an early age. And there I was, thinking that he was just a good kid, as she said. No wonder she refused to let him spend the night at Mom’s.
I didn’t say anything to her right away. I went and got checked out and found out there was LSD in my system, and it had been going on for a while. I was pissed. She knows I could be randomly tested at my job, and if they found that shit in my blood, my career would be over. What the hell was she thinking?