Arch

Chapter 22

After the awards dinner, I head home. Mother and Father are nowhere to be seen. The staff say they're on vacation. Maldives or some shit place that costs a bomb. Mother will be drunk most of the time, while Father is fucking anything that looks in his direction. They won't even be back before I leave.

I storm to my room, and as I stand there, I can't help but lose it. I snatch one of the drawers out and throw the whole thing across the room. It hits the full-length mirror, smashing it. I sigh, picking up one of my trophies. I launch that, too, and it buries itself in the wall.

I rip out another draw and throw that and then another. I kick at the drawer unit again and again till it starts to lean over. Giving it another kick, the wood splits, and it crashes to the ground. I jump back but grin, heading into the walk-in. I grab all the clothes and drag them onto the bed. Anything I want to take, I pile on my chair. For everything else, I take the scissors from my desk and start cutting and ripping at the fabric.

I yell and scream, and no one cares. No one comes. I'm all alone, so I do the only thing I know how to do. I rage. I rage, and I destroy. I pick up the lamp from my desk and throw it hard. When it reaches the end of the table, it twangs back at me, and I have to duck out of its way. It smashes against the wall. I take out all the drawers and throw them around the room. I rip my pillows open and throw the feathers around the room, laughing and bouncing on the bed while I go.

I rip the blinds and the curtains down and throw them on the floor. When I flop back on the bed panting, I sigh, and that's when the tears start. I curl in on myself, lying on the bed in the fetal position, and I cry. Well, I sob, and when I don't think I can cry anymore, I manage it. But I'm still all alone, and still, no one cares, and again, no one comes.

I wake up, and it's dark out. I check my clock, and I've slept the whole day away. It's the next night, I'm still in my suit. I feel exhausted and wrung out, and I realise I'm still alone. If I walked out of here now, they wouldn't even know I wasn't here, and that feeling of desertion crucifies me. I know I'm a grown man, but right now, I feel like a scared, lost kid who no one gives a shit about.

I call one of the staff down the hall and they bring me a suitcase. I pack everything and head to a hotel. I don't want to be here. I don't see the point. They've let me down enough, and after the weekend, I will be away and battling to become part of the team. I so long to have a family, friends, and a life that's my own, not one my father has carved out for me. Maybe this is my chance, my time for a fresh start, to try and become the man I want to be—whoever the hell that is.