Abandoned: Part I

Disclaimer: The part of the outcome of the story is not mine, but I wanted to write something to lead up to it. It was too promising. Otherwise, everything else is mine.

RING RING RING RING—

By the fourth ring a woman had hurried towards the phone, wiping her hands hurriedly on her apron. She was in the middle of cooking dinner, and the day was quite normal.

‘Hello?’

‘Yes, is this Mrs. Elledon?’ The caller spoke with a hint of a French accent, and it was vaguely muffled, as if he was speaking through a bushy mustache.

‘It is. May I ask who’s calling?’

‘Madam, this is Dr. Beaucot, your husband’s therapist.’

The woman’s breath caught. She waved her hand in the direction of the next room, where a teenage girl was watching TV. The girl turned down the volume and her mother walked around the wall to the next room, lowering her voice as she spoke.

‘What can I help you with?’

‘Mrs. Elledon,’ he paused in his speech. ‘Your husband’s test results are in.’

‘And?’ she asked after a moment’s pause. She listened to his next words with baited breath.

‘I’m sorry, madam. The condition that he has… There’s nothing that we can do for him. By all means, it seems as if nothing is wrong. He’s clinically depressed, but until he’ll let us talk to him, nothing we do will help him. We can just give him anti-depressants and hope that he’ll open up. I’m sorry, Mrs. Elledon.’

Mrs. Elledon let her breath fall, and tried to hold back the tears. ‘Of…of course. I understand. Thank you, Dr. Beaucot. I appreciate your help. God bless you for it.’

The man sniffed and cleared his throat. His rich voice was somewhat clearer as he said, ‘Yes, well, all in a day’s work.’ Mrs. Elledon would never forget those words. ‘Take care, Mrs. Elledon,’ the French man continued. ‘I’ll call for a check up in a month’s time. Until then.’

‘Yes, until then,’ Mrs. Elledon said idly. Her mind was elsewhere. ‘Goodbye, doctor,’ she said as she hung up. She stood against the whitewashed walls of her family room, hearing and yet not paying any attention to the sounds of the television in the next room. She dared not turn around and face her family. Her son, David, was sitting at the kitchen table, doing his college homework. Her daughter, Melanie, watching TV in the Family room, her spark of strawberry-blonde hair visible over the half-wall that divided the room and the kitchen.

And right above the TV was a picture of their family: David, Melanie, their father Jim, and his wife, Laura. The perfect picture of serenity, a pastor of God’s house and his good Christian family.

“Not of late,” thought Laura. “As much as we’ve tried, our family is falling apart. Just one more thing, and that dam will break. I just know it.”

Laura took a deep breath and tried to regain her composure. She walked briskly back into the kitchen and put the cordless phone back onto its base.

‘Who was that, mom?’ David asked without looking up.

‘What? Oh, no one, honey. Just someone from the bank. Apparently, our interest rate has hiked up again. I’ll talk to your father later about it, don’t worry.’

David nodded absently and continued on his work, hardly paying attention. He raised his head and called to his sister.

‘Hey, Mel, you mind turning down the volume? I can barely concentrate on these figures.’ He typed a few numbers into the calculator and hit Enter, then wrote down the revealed number.

‘Sure thing, Dave,’ Melanie called back. The room was suddenly much quieter without the distraction of the loud noise. Laura realized how much simple her family life really was. She had two children, both successful in their academic studies and in their other activities. She had a husband who provided for their family, and she had a job teaching at a daycare center. At night, she cooked dinner, and it was always on the table by six o’clock, right when her husband walked in the door. Her life wasn’t anything special, and yet it was all about to change.

“Change…” she thought grimly. “It’s the last thing my family needs. Why, God? Why did you have to do this? Why is my family breaking?” She felt the tears coming again and brushed them back. With a fixed smile, she cleared her throat.

‘Uh, hey, kids, I have to run out for something. How about you just do hot dogs for dinner tonight? I’m almost done with this salad; throw some vinegar and dressing on it and it’s good to eat. I’ll be back later, ok?’

David looked up and nodded, but his eyes flashed. ‘I’ll take care of dinner, Mom. Don’t worry about it.’

The relief was evident on her face as she took off her apron, setting down next to the counter on a barstool. ‘Thank you, David. I’ll be back in a few hours,’ she called as she grabbed her purse. She walked out of the house and got into her car, starting it up and driving the few streets out of her subdivision. Once out, she pulled into the gas station around the corner and got out. After making sure the car was locked and she had everything, she made her way down the street. She walked, longer and longer, just letting the time pass. Finally, after passing restaurants, shopping centers, fast food courts, movie theaters, she came to her destination.

Jester’s Haven.

It didn’t look like much on the outside, mostly a dilapidated old building, but once inside, the bright lights and dance music changed everything. It was a dance club, but more importantly, it was a bar.

----------------

Mr. Elledon, or Jim, sighed. He rubbed his forehead, quickly pinching the bridge of his nose, and flipped on the windshield wipers of his car. It was raining…again. It’s not that it was always raining outside, for in fact, the days had been quite beautiful and long. Jim had seen children, families and young couples outside more these past summer days than he had in the past years.

But today, it was raining. The dull pounding and constant annoyance of the rain, pitter-pattering on his car.

It was the same pounding in his head.

Jim slammed on his breaks to avoid the car ahead of him, who also stopped abruptly. The tired man muttered something about ignorant and oblivious drivers before easing onto the accelerator again. The rain continued to beat down, horns sounded in all directions, and Jim rubbed his head again. The pounding in his mind was in perfect rhythm with the outside weather. His head spun as he cast a glance at the clock. It read ten-to-six; he would barely be in time for dinner. He reached for his phone to call his wife and let her know he might be a little bit late. The flip-phone opened to reveal a sleeping character, a small yellow man. The screen changed to reveal a smiley face with the words ‘Out of Power.’ Then the screen went blank.

Jim stared at it, hardly aware of where he was driving anymore, and tried to contain his frustration. Would nothing go right for him today?! He slammed his phone shut and threw it out the window, ignoring the cold water slapping his face.

“Blast…” he cursed. He hadn’t meant to throw out the phone. He looked over his shoulder and pulled quickly over to the side of the road. Stopping on the shoulder, he got out and pulled his sweater tightly around him as he trudged through the wet grass and mud to try to find his phone. It was a gift to him from his family, the most recent model offered from Verizon.

He got to his knees and searched, cursing his luck to forget his glasses in the car. He didn’t want to run all the way back though, so continued his search. Passing cars splashed muddy water into the air, and flecks attached to his sweater. Within minutes he was soaked to the bone and still hadn’t found his phone. Trying to resist the feelings of frustration and the intense migraine, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His fingers met something cold and hard. He’d found his phone at last.

But just as he picked it up, he heard a blaring of horns behind him and turned quickly. As if in slow motion, he saw a car hit its breaks and slam into another one, which, in turn, flew forward, crashing into his car. It was a wreck, and the passing traffic had to stop quickly or hurry to the side to avoid the collision.

Jim took one look at the steaming pile of garbage, and tried to take a few steps towards his car. But his legs gave out below him and he slammed headfirst into the mud, his pounding head finally overtaking him.

END PART I

Heylo there! Ok, so this really isn’t going to be that long. No more than a few chapters. I could have made it into a one-shot, but I decided to make it a bit lengthy and include some of the incidents leading up to the incident. If you don’t know, which you don’t, what I’m talking about, I’d advice (and would prefer) you to read on. Please? Well, if not, please review. Trust me, it really is going to be fairly decent. Thanks, bye!