You're relaxing, sitting on the brown sofa, and start to think about your dad. All the great memories start to hit and run through your brain like an old-school movie projector. You begin to realize you miss him. You remember the times when you were once happy with Dad. Throwing the ball around in the backyard was a pretty special thing. You would do anything for Dad to come back, it’s too bad you have no clue where he could be. After all these years with Mom and yet not a single peep about him. You don’t know about his disappearance or anything, It’s all kept hidden. Alright, that’s enough, you can’t keep doing this forever, time flies by. So do people, including you, Alexander.
It's the year of 2022, Christmas day. Alexander, you are a young teenage boy celebrating with your loving Mom and a little brother named Hunter. You guys live in the bright streets of a Milwaukee neighborhood. The house contains two rooms and a bathroom. The front of the house has no lights/no decorations. The inside though is filled to the brim with decorations. Your mom was feeling the Christmas vibe. She was also able to buy you three gifts this year except for two like last time. You’re somewhat appreciative and share a bright grin. Mom is excited watching while wearing the Grinch pajamas she’s been wearing for the past four days. The Christmas spirit is through the roof. In your head, you already know they're going to be awful, but at the same time you can’t look ungrateful. For your first option, you choose the small pillowy-shaped present. Right when you grabbed the present you already knew exactly what it was. You played it off and went along with the opening. “Let's go, you can never go wrong with Fruit of the Loom socks!” Alexander said sarcastically.
“They were on sale at Costco for like a dollar, such a steal,” Mom explained. Suddenly fury began to rise through your body after realizing all your gifts will be from Costco. You were obviously joking, you didn't want any Costco socks. You mumble to yourself, “It’s not fair.” Mom can see your facial expressions and feels as if she failed you. You were too busy looking at the ground and weren't able to notice Mom’s feelings being hurt. You go along the night with your family opening presents and celebrating, your mom wasn’t too happy.
The next morning your mom is making breakfast for you and Hunter. You just want to eat while watching Davante highlights in your room. Your mom will never allow it though, she says it’s not always about television, it’s about the time spent with your family. You didn't seem to care and ignored her. Meanwhile, your mom fills your plate with her famous chocolate chip pancakes and gives you the bottle of Aunt Jemima’s syrup. The table consists of a minimum of four chairs and only three are ever used. Your mom said eating together is about family while the dinner table isn't even filled with one. This leads you to think, why did Dad leave for no reason? Where is he? Is he even alive? Out of curiosity, you ask your mom a question about Dad. Nobody has ever spoken a word about him, not even other relatives. “Mom, where’s Dad?” Alexander muttered. Mom stopped her step in complete shock. She stood still nervous about what to say. Hunter on the other hand was blinded by his tablet eating. Your mother was speechless. She took a big deep breath and finally gave out an answer. “He’s somewhere else… just don’t worry about it Alex. I'm right here,” She exclaimed.
Alexander shouted out, “I don't care, I care about Dad. Is he dead or something, give me answers right now!” Your mom felt devastated.
“He's a bad person who you don’t want to see, trust me honey,” Mom cried.
Alexander snapped, “No he’s not! You´re just a manipulative person who only cares about themselves. He loved me and I loved him.” Tears start to fall out of your mom’s eyes.
Mom yelled, “Go to your room right now Mr, and no TV!”
Alexander grumbled, “Whatever, I could care less.” You begin to storm to your room and slam the door closed. You stay locked in there for many hours and decide to hit the hay.
Your mom goes to bed and has thoughts that are making her overthink. Does he even love me? After all I do, it's always not enough. She later falls back to sleep.
Your mother was a young teenage girl when she had you. She was about sixteen years old while your father was seventeen. Your father was popular back in high school and used to play varsity football. Your mother would drop out so she could watch you. Your dad wouldn't follow his dreams but instead follow your mom. They were both in love and would take care of you and life was great. You loved your dad and would spend every living second with him. Anywhere Dad went you went. You never really acknowledged your mom though, but deep down you loved her. She would love to spend time with you, but you never find anything fun that she did. Your mom was affected by this but knew she had a loving family right by her side. It would all sadly take a spin for the worse. You were about six years old when they would split. Your dad left you and your mom because they were in big debt, he was tired of being poor. He felt embarrassed being seen with your mom and didn't want to be known as a loser. Every Saturday night was a night with Becky at her house to make himself feel better. He would start doing drugs and do horrible things that affected the family. Your mom had enough when she found out but was so in love that she gave him a second chance. He could have cared less and officially walked away. Your mother was heartbroken and went through a lot of pain. She thought she had no point of living anymore. But she knew to keep pushing because of you. That's the story of your mother and father.
It’s the morning, birds are chirping, and the sun is out. You and your mom are both still a little irritated at each other from yesterday but go along the day normal. Your mom made her traditional breakfast, chocolate chip pancakes. After you finished your plate and cleaned it you're sitting on the brown sofa in the living room watching TV with Hunter. You're not paying attention and feel like you almost forgot something. It doesn't come to mind though, so you call up your friends and ask them if they wanna hang out. You all agree to hang out at Tyler’s house and screw around the whole day. You start randomly thinking again and realize you forgot something. You have to go to the movies with mom today. You haven't been to the movies with your family in ages and you even made a deal to go. You can’t believe that you almost forgot about that, sheesh. The movie you guys are going to watch is the brand-new Star Wars movie. That’s Mom’s favorite movie franchise. It's too bad though, who cares about Star Wars, you’d rather hang out with the boys. So that’s what you did. You paused the show, went to the kitchen and told her.
“Hey, uh Mom, you know about the movies today right,” Alexander said.
“Yeah of course, we're gonna see the Star Wars movie tonight, yay!” She cheered.
Alexander insisted, “You know instead of going to the movies, I could hang out with my good old friends.” Mom already knew this would happen and prepared not to be emotional. Your mom agreed and said she could reschedule it anytime. The reason why your mom was emotional is because you haven’t spent any actual time with your mother in years. Her mood changes and you can tell from her face. You don’t think too much of it and go to your room to pack and head out. In reality, that's what your mom thinks. You're actually about to meet your dad for the first time in seven years at a random Walgreens. You’ve been working and tracking down your lost dad the whole night yesterday. Thought it would have been much harder, guess not.
You leave the house and stroll on your bike down to a Walgreens twenty minutes away. You walk through the doors like a normal customer and pretend to shop for some snacks. After a couple of minutes gone by, you finally see him. Your body starts shaking as if you're a ghost. At first, you start questioning yourself if that's even him. Hopefully, his Facebook posts aren't edited. You stick to your gut and tell yourself that’s him. You're anxious and almost wanna cry but you stick to the plan and act normal. To be honest with you, theirs not even a plan. You take some steps forward but can't seem to do it. He’s standing around in the cookie/chip aisle, and when you are about to make your move you then see a family of two walk in and hug your dad. It’s a lady who seems to be in her late thirties and a young blond, blue-eyed little girl. You realize he’s not your dad anymore, he’s someone else's. You start to feel emotional but don’t end up crying. Instead, you take it all in. You give up on your journey, hop on your bike, and head home. You open the door to your house and see your little brother sleeping on the couch. Hunter was watching television in the living room, but no sign of Mom. You walk through the hallway and can see your mom reading in her room. “Mom!” Alexander cries. You come up, run into your mom’s arms, and hug her. You can tell she was a hundred percent confused. You explain everything to her and what happened. She was in full disbelief. She then became a little jealous and sad that you did all that. Your mom kept her feelings well hidden and finally told you the story of your dad’s disappearance. All of your heart that was towards your dad slowly left each second. You couldn't believe it. As you were about to apologize for not listening, your mother went all out and expressed her feelings. She began to say she’s been feeling depressed and having thoughts no person should ever have. After your mother said that sentence your heart sank. The whole time she was… Were you, Alexander the problem? She questioned your love for her and if you care about her. After hearing this, you couldn’t believe it. You questioned yourself, what kind of kid are you? After looking back at it, you finally notice your mistakes. Not appreciating what she’s done. Especially not spending time with her. You thought to yourself, what would happen if she was to pass away right now? But it’s too late to ask that question again. A week later she died in a car accident. You regretted it all.