Daddy's Home Part 1

Part 1

Daniel had been woken up by a cop knocking on his window. Daniel groaned and sighed before rolling down his window.

“Carl, hey. I was just”

“Danny, come on. We talked about this. You can’t camp out by the playgrounds.”

“What if”

“Danny, no. It's been a month. It might be time to give up.”

That seemed to wake Daniel up as he stared with a mix of anger and disbelief. “So much for you being my best friend.” Daniel started up his car. Carl tried to talk to him but Daniel rolled up his window and ignored him as he sped off. Carl sighed and cursed at himself.

Daniel drove to a small house. Making his way inside, he avoided looking at the toddler’s tricycle in the frontroom. He yelled at himself in the mirror by the kitchen. Blaming himself. Reminding himself how much he hates himself. How much he misses his son. How much he misses his wife. Telling himself that everything can be better if he finds his son. He looked at the crushed cans all over the couch. He cursed at the couch, as if he was speaking at his younger self, for being a mean drunk. He shifted back and forth between anger, grief, and fear.

He could feel a whisper at the back of his neck. His son’s last word haunting him. It felt like his son was floating behind him, talking to him softly, directly in his ear.

“No more mean juice… pease.”

As he started to cry, he could hear his own voice coming from the couch.

“What’s the point? Everything sucks. Tess is dead. Her brother blames us. We’re going to get fired any day now. And Charlie is gone because of us. Carl is right, he’s probably dead by now. Why not just have another drink. For old times sake.”

Daniel stepped toward the couch. Then another step. Then another. Then a knock at the door. Daniel froze up and slowly collected himself. He walked to the door, the whispers fading with every step. He answered the door to see Carl, out of uniform. Carl peeked inside and saw the cans all over the couch. Daniel closed the door enough to block his view. Carl put his attention on Daniel. Clearly checking him with his eyes. Daniel, releasing what Carl was doing, cleared his throat in a clearly annoyed way. Carl slowly blinked as he adjusted his sights on Daniel. Daniel leaned against the doorway and folded his arms. Carl jingled his keys and gestured to his car. 

As they sat in a sports bar, Carl cheered on the local team. Daniel couldn’t take his eyes off of Carl’s 52 oz mug of beer. He could feel the whispering in his head getting louder and louder. 

“Dan.Dan? Dan!”

Daniel looked at Carl, slowly, “Huh?”

“Who do you think is gonna win?”

“”Oh… uh, Who’s playing?”

“The high schoolers are playing in the nationals… Is the alcohol too tempting?”

“... No. no… A little.”

“Sorry man. I’ll ask “

“No. It's okay. I’m my burden. Not yours. Enjoy yourself. Since it’s legal for you.”

Carl gave Daniel a disappointed look, “That’s not fair.”

“Neither is being blamed for killing my wife and losing my son.”

“She wasn’t just your wife, she was my sister, Daniel. I’m sorry for being so emotional when everything happened but see things from my point of view. My sister tells me that her and her husband are separated due to his drinking problem. They start living separately. A few weeks into them living apart, she’s found dead and her son goes missing. Three days after that, her husband is found passed out drunk on a playground bench.”

“I was looking for Charlie.”

“You were drunk again.”

“I was looking for Charlie!”

Daniel slamming his fists on the table, not only made Carl put his hand near his gun but also a few eyes in the bar were fixated on them.

“Calm down, Daniel.”

“I’m tired of everyone looking at me like I’m a monster. You found no evidence that I did anything to Tess. I love Tess! I love Charlie! I wasn’t the best husband but I was a great father!”

“You are a shit father.”

“You take that”

“Daniel, Charlie goes missing and Tess is killed, you go out drinking. You notice that Charlie is missing because you missed your pick up time by 2 hours. You find out Tess is dead three days later. You didn’t check with Tess if she had him. You assume she’s punishing you and go out drinking. You were a terrible husband, a terrible father, and a pitiful man. You always claim that you’re trying to get better but it never sticks. And for some reason, Tess still loved you.”

They both stared at each other for an uncomfortable amount of time. 

“We can’t all be happy with our perfect lives, lying to our wife about who we are and still being accepted.”

Daniel downed Carl’s beer and stormed out. Carl sighed and put his head down on the table.

Daniel left the sports bar but didn’t go home. He went to the nearby playground. The last memory of his happy family played in his head. 

Charlie was scared to go down the slide. Tess tried her best to convince him to come down but he clung to one of the attractions at the top. Tess giggled to herself and asked Daniel to help. Daniel offered to go down with him. Tess cheered them on as Daniel put Charlie on his lap and slid down, laughing all the way.

Daniel felt himself tearing up as he thought about it. “Where did it all go wrong?” A whisper echoed in the back of his head. “As a father?” Daniel felt the air from the whisper fill his soul.

“A father is supposed to protect his family. What did you do right?”

Daniel began to walk.

“A father never wavers. A father proceeds with his goals. Doing what’s right for his family. Not himself. Never questioning what’s left but what more need to be done. Charge ahead to be everything your children need. Charge ahead for your wife. Let nothing stop you from being your best self. Let nothing delay you from getting to your ultimate goal. Make the right choices.  Be the right and left wing that uplifts all those that you are responsible for. Leave no door unopened as you adventure. And that means you have to step into the depths of Hell…”

The voice became one that Daniel didn’t recognize but felt compelled to obey.

“Unchain the man that you need to be, in order to be, the Father you have to be.”

Daniel blinked and saw chains in his hands. He looked up to see a figure in torn clothes standing to its feet as chains fell off it. It stood at 7 feet tall, watching with its light green eyes in the darkness of the basement they were in. Daniel stepped back. The figure took notice and apologized for scaring him. The figure approached, coming into the light. Taking on the form of a very pale man with low cut brown hair, blue tattoos all over his torso that Daniel didn’t recognize, black nails, and a bodybuild that of a slightly large swimmer with very detailed definition. His light green eyes turned brown. 

“Thank you, Daniel. I am Charles Ithan Yellowstone. I am in your debt.”

“How… How did you do that? How did I get here?!”

“You must have known the pain of a father who lost his family. The sheriff of this backwards town thinks I killed them, so he locked me down here and was interrogating me for months now. You must understand how I feel since you found me.”

“I… I do…”

“For releasing me, I will help you with anything that you may need.”

Daniel looked at his hands, seeing the half drunk beer can in his hand. He crushed it and looked to Charles with determination. “Help me find my son.” Charles’ eyes flickered light green. “You have my word.”