Recovery

Theresa was in the middle of a Dexter marathon when she felt her phone vibrate from her pocket. She looked at the time. It was past midnight on a Friday night. She didn’t have too many friends, so she wondered who it could me. She took out her phone and saw the caller ID. It was Elwin. She frowned, but flipped open her phone.

“Hello?” she answered. She heard the background noise and someone breathing. “Elwin?”

“I’m in a bar… I… need a fucking drink so bad,” he sounded like he was in pain.

She quickly turned off her TV and gave him her full attention. “Elwin, do you have a drink in your hand?”

“It’s just one movement away from my hand,” he muttered. “It’s really… tempting. It can drown out all of the voices.”

She got off the couch and found her sneakers. She slipped them on and went to find her jacket. “Where you Elwin?” she kept her tone even. She didn’t want to scare him away.

“I’m… in a bar,” he said like it was obvious.

“I mean which bar,” she chuckled. “I’m going to go get you.”

“I might finish the drink before you get here.”

“No, because you are going to leave it there until I get there, now tell me where you are,” she said it so sweetly, he couldn’t resist. He told her where he was, and she told him she was going to be there in ten minutes. The bar wasn’t too far from her home.

She took her keys, wallet and phone. She was out of her apartment in minutes. She was in her car and on her way to the bar. She remembered being in Elwin’s place five years ago. She had gone to her first full AA meeting and she just felt like a failure. She went to a bar too.

If it wasn’t for Wilber, she would’ve gotten drunk.

She felt so proud of herself from coming so far.

She found the bar and parked her car in the last available spot. She rushed inside of the bar. She looked around for Elwin. He shouldn’t be hard to miss. He was someone who just screamed attention without meaning to. She found him in a booth with a beer in front of him.

She went through the crowd of people and sat next to him in the booth. He slowly became aware of her presence. She held a warm smile.

“Hi,” she said simply.

He half smiled. “Hi.”

Their eyes fell on the drink.

She sighed deeply.

“I started to drink when I was thirteen,” she started to talk. She hoped that if she opened up sincerely that so would he, and it would distract him from drinking. “I didn’t have very attentive parents. They were all about their Golden Boy, my brother, Jessie. Class President, Captain of every sport he played, blah, blah blah,” she laughed and he did too. “I started hanging out with the wrong crowd. I got arrested when I was fourteen. My parents just bailed me and grounded me for a week. A week later, I got suspended because of a fight in school. I started to drink more and more. It got worse as I grew older.”

She closed her eyes as she continued the next part. Her heart was beating out of her chest. It always took her a lot of courage to say the next part.

“It was a party a few years back, almost six to be exact, and my brother and I took the same car to take the carpool. I told him I was fine to drive, and he knew I could drive while being drunk. On our way home, he fell asleep, and I was getting sleepy too. We were on the streets by then, I fell asleep for about ten seconds, but the light had turned red, and… a car hit Jessie’s side,” she relived the scene in her head. She opened her eyes. “He was on life support for a year before my parents decided to pull the plug. There was no brain activity, none.”

Elwin’s eyes glistened.

“My brother died because of my drinking,” she said. “My parents can’t even look at me. I killed their favorite child. They know it. I know it.”

“It wasn’t--”

She laughed and shook her head. “No, Elwin, it was my fault. I have taken responsibility for it, but it’s not entirely mine. If my parents had paid attention to me, I would’ve been different. My brother would still be alive. They know that too, my parents. I think it kills them.”

Then, a silence came over them.

“This is the part that I open up, right?” he muttered. She chuckled.

“I think that would be only fair,” she said. “You don’t have to. We can just walk out of here and go for a coffee.”

“A coffee sounds great,” he said. He placed five dollars on the counter and they exited the bar. “Where would we get coffee at this time?”

“My place,” she said and headed towards her car. “It’s not too far from here. Just follow my car. It’s the 96 Honda Accord. The white one.”

“All right,” he said.

Ten minutes later, they were in front of her building. He followed her to her apartment. Her place was small, but it was cozy. It was pretty normal looking. He noticed the collection of DVD’s and CD’s.

“Cruise around if you want,” she said and went to the kitchen. She started to make a pot of coffee. She took out the crème from the fridge and she refilled her sugar jar.

When the coffee was done, she filled two mugs and then went back to the living room. She placed them on the coffee table and then went back to the kitchen for the small spoons, crème and sugar.

“Fan of Dexter,” Elwin said.

She looked up and smiled. “Yes, a friend recommended it. I like it. I’m on the second season.”

“Great show. I won’t give any spoilers,” he winked at her and she giggled.

They sat down and fixed their coffees to their likings.

“So, what do you do?” she asked.

“I’m in a band,” he said and then she noticed he looked uneasy. “I lied about my name, sort of.”

She laughed. “How did you sort of lied about your name?”

“It’s my middle name. My first name is Brian. Brian Haner,” he said. It was only fair since she shared something so personal to her.

“Why did you tell me your middle name?” she asked and tilted her head to the side.

“I thought… someone would recognize me,” he muttered.

“Oh, you’re in a famous band?” she asked.

“I guess not that famous since you don’t seem to recognize me.”

She grinned. “I’m sorry?”

He laughed. “No, I don’t meant to sound self-absorbed. I was just being careful.”

He explained that he was in a band called Avenged Sevenfold with his best friends. He knew most of them from high school. He began to tell her about them. He explained how he met each of them. She paid attention to them. He also had the courage to tell her why he was at the AA meeting.

“They all gained up on me and told me I needed help,” he concluded his story. “I attacked a fan, and that was fucked up. I was so drunk that I imagined the fan said something bad about me, and I just lost it. Luckily the kid didn’t press chargers. I didn’t do too much damage. His nose didn’t even break, but…”

“It wasn’t right,” she concluded.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “After that, my fiancée told me that she wanted me sober for our marriage.” He looked down at his coffee with a small glare.

“You don’t look too happy,” she said softly. “Don’t you love your fiancée?” she asked.

A small pause, small, but very significant. “I do.” He never used to pause when was asked if he loved Michelle.

“But don’t do this for them, this is for you,” she said and he looked into her eyes. “You can’t get better for them. It’s for yourself. It’s for your health. It’s so you can see you grandchildren.”

He chuckled. “Michelle wants kids right away,” he ran a hand through his hair. “Something about a ticking time bomb.”

Theresa chuckled. “You don’t want children?”

“I don’t know. I do, but I just don’t feel like it’s any time soon.”

“Well, for men it’s easy because they can get someone pregnant even when they’re fifty, but for a woman, it’s better to have them young,” she explained.

“I can see that, but she just keeps nagging me about it,” he groaned.

“I’m sure you’ll work it out,” she smiled.

She sipped her coffee carefully.

“Thank you, Theresa,” he said sincerely.

“It’s no problem. It’s my job as your sponsor to be here for you,” she sent him a warm smile.

“I should go now,” he got up and so did she.

“All right, well, I’ll see you tomorrow at the AA meeting.”

“See you,” he smiled.