text: The door let out a screech as I bolted through running towards my bike. Behind me, I heard the furious cries of the owner. “Come back here Reggie!” I was stumbling all over the place yet somehow I made it to my bike. My keys were an unsolvable puzzle in that moment, I started to jam every one of them into the ignition till one of them worked. The rumble of the engine gave me sweet relief. I switched the lights on in perfect time to see the parked car in front of me as I zoomed onto the highway; if you cut me up reckon there would be more adrenaline than blood inside of me. I went from left to right from left to right across the road similar to the slither of a snake. I felt completely out of control and ironically enough it felt liberating. I woke up to my white sheets now crimson red. I saw the tears that covered my clothing as I tried to lift my head that was deeply buried in my pillow. “Yer late for your job again, get out of bed!” The bed latched onto me as I tried to get up. “Did ya not hear me, get out of bed!” I heaved my body out of the bed. In the mirror I saw myself, it looked like I had been thrown into the middle of a dog fight. Every time I took a step I felt an earthquake in my head. I heard Dad once more from downstairs. “Yer embarrassed everyone after that bloody disgrace you pulled last night, I hope you're ashamed to have survived.” I didn’t bother bandaging up my wounds. I wasn’t going to work, hadn’t for a while. I didn’t know when my Dad was going to find out that I was finally fired. It was a small town, just a matter of time. I walked down the old timber stairs, along the wall there were outlines of dust where photos once hung. Down the stairs a big dust outline where one of Mum’s blankets hung and the distinct outline of a cross right above the tele. “Okay Dad, I’m off.” “Hopefully for good this time.” Once upon a time, Dad was happy, me as well. All that is gone now though. I walked outside and looked for my bike. A wave of distress rushed through my body like an electric shock until I remembered the crash last night, couldn’t help but laugh. Instead of driving to the usual pub I walked to the local one. I was already the disgrace of the town right? What did it matter everyone seeing me there at this time? “Reggie Beacon, ya father know you here son?” “Can’t say he does, just give us something strong ye?” He poured my drink and I felt a burn down my throat as I sculled down the sweet poison. Around half an hour in I heard the slam of the rickety pub door, by then I was proper drunk. I turned to see my dad stampeding through the pub making anything in his path appear weightless. “You’re a disappointment Reggie and a disgrace and a prick and an embarrassment upon my family and your mother!” He started tearing up yet I struggled to show any sort of emotion back. Nothing really mattered anymore. No job, no bike, no family, nothing. As I went to finish my drink my dad seized hold of a pool cue and lashed it over my head. The splinters of wood rooted themselves deep into my head. I was like a lion at a circus being forced into its place. My body was powerless against gravity. I crashed against the floor feeling blood drain out my head and watching it drip into the cracks between the floorboards in front of me. The alcohol made it all feel surreal not just my body but my mind was numb. “Why couldn’t you be like your brother Reggie!” The other men tried to stop my Dad from falling over as I just laid there. I was ready to sink through the floor and into the hands of death, it was just a matter of time.