A return to form.
This is the sound of a family falling apart.
Long discussions and raised voices and the lives of painkiller-addled fathers and melodramatic sisters and a mother reduced to a voice on the other end of a borrowed phone.
This is what it looks like, from the perspective of an outsider.
He watches scornfully, pretentiously. He feels better than the two currently battling. He feels like his life has potential. He looks at his father with pity, seeing a shriveled ruin of hopes and dreams, and he looks at his sister with contempt. He knows he is no better, but he does nothing to change that. He uses his humor as a shield, and deflects any bad feelings with a sense of absurdity.
These are the feelings of one caught in the middle.
He laughs at the absurdity of the situation. Something about laundry and phones and being out too late. Absurd. He sees the root. He knows the true cause of all unwanted tension in his household, and it’s the same devil that tears apart most families: money. His father has been without paycheck since January; his injury was severe, and his income is sorely missed. The mother places her hopes in the volatile world of real estate, and has not had a closing since February. Money is tight. Everyone talks about it, but no one confronts it. They all wait on the possibility of some life-saving lawsuit, and maybe after then, life can get back to normal. They all put their prayers into a vague hope of prosperity that's more gamble than reality.
He just thinks about school, and his friends. His friends provide solace and comfort.
He thinks about money, and how the cash in his pocket will only last so far.
The sister screams, the father screams, and he calmly responds to both of their shallowly-made arguments. His voice may enter the harsh realm from time to time, but the best way to describe it is condescending.
He sees himself superior, but really, he’s the worst of all. He’s inactive to the point of nonchalance. He’s cut himself off from life with the people he’s lived with for 17 years. He’s severing ties, and preparing for college.
He calls himself the only sane person in the family, but he knows it isn’t true; not at all.
The sister mocks the father behind his back as he tearfully says how much he loves her.
Somehow, I snap into consciousness, and cry.
This is the sound of a family falling apart.
Long discussions and raised voices and the lives of painkiller-addled fathers and melodramatic sisters and a mother reduced to a voice on the other end of a borrowed phone.
This is what it looks like, from the perspective of an outsider.
He watches scornfully, pretentiously. He feels better than the two currently battling. He feels like his life has potential. He looks at his father with pity, seeing a shriveled ruin of hopes and dreams, and he looks at his sister with contempt. He knows he is no better, but he does nothing to change that. He uses his humor as a shield, and deflects any bad feelings with a sense of absurdity.
These are the feelings of one caught in the middle.
He laughs at the absurdity of the situation. Something about laundry and phones and being out too late. Absurd. He sees the root. He knows the true cause of all unwanted tension in his household, and it’s the same devil that tears apart most families: money. His father has been without paycheck since January; his injury was severe, and his income is sorely missed. The mother places her hopes in the volatile world of real estate, and has not had a closing since February. Money is tight. Everyone talks about it, but no one confronts it. They all wait on the possibility of some life-saving lawsuit, and maybe after then, life can get back to normal. They all put their prayers into a vague hope of prosperity that's more gamble than reality.
He just thinks about school, and his friends. His friends provide solace and comfort.
He thinks about money, and how the cash in his pocket will only last so far.
The sister screams, the father screams, and he calmly responds to both of their shallowly-made arguments. His voice may enter the harsh realm from time to time, but the best way to describe it is condescending.
He sees himself superior, but really, he’s the worst of all. He’s inactive to the point of nonchalance. He’s cut himself off from life with the people he’s lived with for 17 years. He’s severing ties, and preparing for college.
He calls himself the only sane person in the family, but he knows it isn’t true; not at all.
The sister mocks the father behind his back as he tearfully says how much he loves her.
Somehow, I snap into consciousness, and cry.
This is the sound of a family falling apart.