Eat My Heart Out

I wake up with the worst, dull ache in my head, but no energy or will to care about it. With each step I take, my head throbs, but I just keep walking. I take the next step like the one before, even though I know they're completely alike.

In the kitchen, I take a glass and fill it with water. I then walk into the empty living room and sit down on the couch. It's not until I see dad out the corner of my mouth and the blurry sight of the TV running that I realize that it's weekend.

“Morning,” my dad mumbles. I don't bother answering. I just stare at the weather prognoses for the next 5 days. Sun, sun and more sun.

The door bell rings and I accidentally spill a bit of water on my gray sweats. I take a tuft off my t-shirt and flick it off my finger.

“Hello, Mr. Iero. What are you doing here?” I want to turn around and glare at the man at the door, but I have no strength. I just stare down at my glass, feeling incapable of even raising it to my mouth.

“I'm here to see Frank. I want to hear how he's doing at school.”

“Oh. Well, him and Mikey have just gone out to get some school supplies.”

Frank needs a new notebook.

“Would you like to come in and wait?”

There's no verbal answer; mom's question only followed by the click of the door and footsteps on the living room carpet. I feel like leaving.

“Hello, Iero,” dad says with a bitter voice.

“Way,” Iero says back with an equally bitter and slightly less compromising voice.

The water in my glass splashes around when Iero sits down on the couch next to me, causing me to move around when his huge ass hits the cushion.

“Would you like something to drink?” mom asks. I feel Iero's eyes on me.

“Just a glass of water, please.”

I look back up at the TV. I'm too tired to glare. My eyes look empty, I'm sure.

I jump when mom screams from the kitchen, half of it swallowed by the sound of glass shattering.

“Donna?” dad calls. The crackling sound of newspaper-pages fills the silent house and I hear dad walk into the kitchen just as mom drags the trashcan around.

I hear them talk, but their voices are low and muffled.

“You're drinking again, aren't you?” Iero mutters in my ear, and when I quickly turn my head to look up at him, he's leaning towards me a bit. Yet, his eyes are glued to the TV. He leans away.
“You're hungover,” he mumbles with a sly smirk on his face.

My eyebrows pop upwards suddenly.

Slowly, I turn my head and let my eyes settle on the TV screen again.

I screwed up.

The front door suddenly slams open and Mikey's laughter fills the silent room. Iero gets up.

“Frank,” he exclaims. It's not a question, nor a demand. It's just a loud exclamation.

“Dad,” Frank says back stunned.

Mom and dad return to the room, and I don't need to look up at Iero to see the dirty grin hiding behind his serious, concerned mask.

“Mr and Mrs Iero, I'd like for Frank to stay with me for a couple of days.”

After this, there's a bit of a discussion. Dad keeps bringing up the court's decision, while mom tries to reason with Iero and maybe settle for just a weekend. In the end, they all turn to Frank, who I still have my back to. They ask him:

“Would you like to stay with your dad for some time, Frank?”

I don't know why, but I don't blame him for saying yes.