Stolen Lines #5

Tell me... have you ever thought...of changing your life?

There was a short pause as the six looked at the one seated across from them. The responder, expected to collect her thoughts into some semblance of an acceptable response paused briefly to light a cigarette, sensing the nature of the discussion. Technically, a life drenched in alcohol is no way to live but certainly, others had it worse, far worse...weren't there dying children? World hunger and struggles for peace to fight for? What her alcoholism had to do with them escaped her especially since one of the interventionists had inadvertently caused it...

The breakup was quick, there had been no warning or indication of unhappiness and as such the remedy was to forget the union ever occurred. Pretending it never happened was easier and less painful than being unexpectedly plowed sideways by an eighteen-wheeler. Her descent and fall from grace was quicker, the pit seemed bottomless. As things progressively worsened it became apparent she was single-handedly redefining the rock-bottom addage. The medicine required heavy doses and multiple nights of mind-erasing alcohol consumption. The more alcohol she consumed, the less she hurt yet the less she forgot. It was a viscious cycle which begat more of itself. Drinking yielded more memories, more text messages, late night phone calls and unwanted visits which yielded more drinking.

Once the life of the party, she became the center of attention once more albeit negatively. She became that girl. Parties became awkward, invitations became sparse. Everyone understands the necessity for a significant amount of alcohol consumption post-breakup however, everyone knows about the limit. The limit generally stops well before something's destroyed in a violent rampage or vomiting in inappropriate locales of a home, such as a kitchen table or living room floor take place. The happy-medium of drinking on the social continuum was skewed and friends, bless them, can handle so much and no more. They were officially embarrassed but still, failed to remedy the situation, and instead pussy-footed around it by rescinding all invites, e-vites and open calls to their homes. It was safer. The sloppy intoxicant being tossed out of bars and homes while others apologetically paid tabs and excused themselves from sticky situations had only further induced the isolation until now.

This was the first time either of them had seen each other since "the incident". Ironic. The person who inadvertently caused the mess rode in on a white horse with a resolution. She replayed her ex asking the question once more in her head, slowly, "Tell me... have you ever thought...of changing your life?"

Exhaling her first drag deeply she sighed and sarcastically replied, "You know, it hadn't really crossed my mind. But now that you mention it, I could afford to do something about this but first, I need an explanation, why did you leave?"

Some times, questions are best left unanswered, but sometimes others hold the true remedy for recovery-from alcohol abuse or heartache.

I stole the first line of this post from the play, Betrayal, by Harold Pinter" Grace over at Law With Grace started this project months ago and I've fallen behind slightly but am glad to be back!