Short Story #2

He only sees what he allows himself to see. The neighborhood he’s always wanted to live in. A failing marriage. Perfect sons. A daughter who never listens.
It’s never his fault, yet he’s the reasoning behind it all. His house, concrete gray, like the prison he creates, only looks normal on the outside. The inside is broken down and messy. A reflection of those who live there.
Susan is constantly blamed without any explanation as to what she did wrong. This man feels no need to explain himself. His wife knows her place. She knows better than to question him. It’s when she forgets to accept the error of his ways, when she shakes the hold the silence has on her, that Scott loses his temper.
The arguments begin the same way every time. No smooth transitions. No voices gradually getting louder and louder. One minute he’s fine, the next minute he’s yelling, screaming, swearing, until Susan resumes her place once again.
The arguments end the same way every time. The wife sits there and says nothing. A blank stare imprinted on her face. He storms upstairs, shaking the entire house as he does so. Then, the bedroom door slams. Everyone’s unsure as to how long he’ll be up there, but for now it is safe. The wife becomes the mother-consoled by her children.
The sons only know so much. They learned from their father how to limit what they see. Benjamin, the oldest, is frustrated. He comforts Susan with the most sincerity he can possibly offer. As soon as he leaves the room, any resentment he had for his father is forgotten, and Benjamin’s life will go on. James on the other hand, needs more than just leaving the room to put his mother’s anguish behind him. But once it is forgotten, James will forever bury the episode where his memory cannot reach it. Denial is so much easier than reliving the moment.

Crystal is the acception. If it weren’t for her mother, she’d be just as oblivious as the boys. Susan isn’t to blame. She needs someone to talk to. The women are in this together. They allow themselves to feel what the boys cannot. Crystal experiences more than just frustration or anger. When she thinks of her father, she feels resentment. She feels rage. Fury. Feelings that linger until eventually, she feels hatred. Crystal hates her father. The man who makes others around him suffer his own forgotten torment. The man who will never realize the faults he won’t allow himself to see.
It would be so different if Crystal was a boy. A final installment to a trio of perfect sons. The ones who can do no wrong. They never question, never fight back. Scott would be so proud!
But it will never happen. Crystal will always be the disappointment. The one who knows too much. It’s more than she can bare to handle. She’s never home anymore. The house brings back too many memories. Everything she tries to let go of comes back to haunt her whenever she comes home. When Crystal’s with her friends, she seems happy. She looks happy too; only a slight hint of the hatred shows through.
She does feel bad for leaving Susan. She tells her mother to get a job. Leave the house. Just do something. But Susan always has an excuse. She has to clean the house. Or she has no money. Or she has no friends. Crystal eventually gives up. Just because her mother cannot leave the house does not mean she will be trapped too.
It wasn’t always like this. Scott may have lost his temper once in a while, but at least he was happy. He used to love Crystal the most. Susan used to have a mind of her own. But everything’s so different now…

When he’s ready he will come out of his room and find the wife. She’ll accept his fake apology-a sorry said just to let everyone know he no longer wishes to argue. Nothing is talked about. Nothing is resolved. The same ending to the same pointless argument.