Short Story for Drunk Driving and Christmas- There are always two sides to a story

There Are Two Sides to Every Story
Shay O’Carroll

The ICU was relatively quiet as the family sat with their heads bowed down in silence. Their Christmas dinner has been left warm on the table when they received the phone call about their loved on. One child, a young boy, looked around curiously, wondering why they were here instead of eating turkey and playing with the Christmas crackers. He slid out of his grandmother’s lap to waddle over and tug on his mother’s pants.

“Mommy, why we here?” The mother’s eyes, glazed over, meandered until they fell on her son. She lifted him onto her lap, and smoothed his hair.

“Daddy was in an accident, honey. He’ll be better soon, but we might be here for a while.” The boy blinked at her, tears in his eyes, not because he understood that his father was hurt, but how they might be there for a while. He crawled off her lap and went to explore the children’s books in the corner. He barely glanced up when a young woman rushed in, wringing her scarf in her hands. He could hear voices talking behind him, but he ignored them to look at the pictures.

“How did he crash?” the young woman asked softly. The grandmother answered when the mother would do nothing but pinch her lips together and stare blankly at the wall.

“They said… A drunk driver… He came around the corner too fast and Jim was going to pick up some last minute cranberry sauce…”

The young boy continued to play with his toys, oblivious to the pained words and muttered curses behind him.

“Damn him… Damn him to hell…”

~*~

Damn me to hell, he thought as he took another shot of whiskey. His mind buzzed but even though his eyesight was starting to blur, the images in his head remained put. Flashbacks of a happier time, before his wife filed a false report against him for domestic abuse so that she could rendezvous with a younger man. His family hadn’t believed that he did not hit her, for he always had a bit of a temper. They had always warned him to control it, but it wasn’t until after it had been used against him that he realized they were right. He should not have had a reputation to use at the trial. His lawyer managed to get him as good a deal as he could out of it even if none of it was true in the beginning. That was when his life began to roll slowly and surely downhill. His family all but disowned him, refusing to talk to him. His wife had taken his only son. He was as alone in the world as he had ever been, and miserable.

For the last three years, Jack had been coping reasonably well. He worked overtime now, to try and take his mind off of his personal life. He managed and coped in all of the ways he knew how. The last two Christmas’ were just as bad as this but he spent them at home hugging the bottle to his chest. Tonight, however, he craved company, so he had driven to one of the local bars that were always open. Company he had not found though, the bar almost empty. All of the regulars were at home with their families or girlfriend’s. That fact hit hard with Jack, reminding him of his pain towards Christmas.

Christmas had always been a huge deal in his family. All of the relatives, from even a couple of cities over, came to celebrate. They did all of the traditions together; decorating the entire house, singing Christmas carols, the reading of The Night Before Christmas, and having a grand meal with all of the sides. There was never a moment of sadness, only a simple happiness for being together for the holiday. Jack had revelled in the holidays and the opportunity to spend time with his family, both the one he was born in to and the one he made. That was all gone now though, and Jack resisted the urge to give in to his suffering.

Jack perched his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands, his fingers pushing at the dwindling hair. How he wished he was with them right now. Not even so much his ex-wife although it would be nice to see his son. He missed the large family, the eccentric aunts and uncles and cousins. He missed his siblings, his sweet little sister, the stern older brother, and the trouble maker younger brother. His parents and their parents. .Jack tried to imagine what they would be doing right now. His mother would be cutting the turkey, the rest of his family squished together to fit on the long table.

He slid down from his bar stool, a decision firm in his mind. He could not stand another Christmas spent alone in his apartment with only the bottle of alcohol to keep him company. Jack had learned that it could not take away his pain, only numb it temporarily. He stumbled towards the door, his eyesight not entirely clear but he had his idea placed distinctly in his head. He jangled the keys out of his pocket, and slid on to the front seat of his car. Jack smiled when he thought about the reunion with his family and hoped that they would sup with him, even if he had to beg forgiveness for something he didn’t do. He turned the key and started off.

Jack’s car sped in the direction of his family’s house. His eyes started to wander as he drove, seeing flashed of people’s lives as he drove. Some windows were dark. Others you could see a happy family sitting around a table, saying prayers or eating their food with smiles and jokes. Jack saw one family eating a T.V. dinner tray in front of the television and he wondered what the story of their life was. He couldn’t exactly blame them for lack of celebrating. He himself had gone to a bar because the memory of a happier Christmas almost drove him to the brink of insanity. Maybe they could not afford a real turkey dinner. Perhaps they had family issues just like him. Jack could guess at why but he could not pretend to understand the reason. Everyone’s lives are different than they seem by just looking at them. There are always two sides to a single story, with details that had not been known before. Jack knew that the family must have a history that led to why they were eating a microwaveable turkey dinner. He did not judge them from what he saw.

As Jack was thinking this, his car started to drift from his lane. His eyes slid back to the road when two solid beams of light almost blinded him. In a split second, he realized that he was in serious trouble, and he was going too fast to get out of it unscathed. He almost wept about how he would not spend Christmas with his family after all.

He whispered a silent, “I’m sorry,” before the two cars collided, once more thinking about how there are two sides to every story; the drunk driver and the innocent man involved.