Sheesh. Yesterday was rather taxing. It started out okay, what with classes and all. Lined up like ducks in a row: Accounting, Literature, History. And that's where this story takes off. That's the calm before the storm, because from here my actions set off other things that spiraled out of control.
I was waiting in line to speak to my history professor at the end of class. Needed to give him a paper topic, since we have a paper due in that class before spring break. As I was in line, I noticed a friend of mine stick his head in the door, scan the room, and then leave. Thought that was kind of odd, but I stayed in line and gave my professor my topic. Didn't see him outside the room, so I started walking towards the main building. I soon realized that I was walking right behind him and went to catch up with him when I saw he was on the phone. Then my phone began to ring, and I started laughing to myself. I picked up and he was like, "Hey Gene!" and I said, "Dude, I'm right behind you." Funny awkward moments provided to you by me, your narrator.
This guy didn't mind though. His name's Josh and he's rather laid back. He's a bit older than I am, and he's a philosophy major. Really good listener, this guy, and because he's into philosophy, he usually has an interesting view on things. We decided we should go get lunch together, so he drove us to Jimmy Johns across the street from SWIC. And we just talked for a while, two friends catching up and the like. Nothing wrong with that, right?
Anyway, I had texted my mom asking if I needed to pick anybody up that day. She said no, so I took that as her saying, "No need to hurry, have fun." So we hung out for about 2 hours, and he took me back to my car at about 3:45, and I got home around 4.
When I got in the door, my mom was on the phone with somebody, and my brother was headed out the door to go get his haircut. When she got off the phone, Mom got mad at me because she needed to go get my dad and was running late. Wish she would've told me that before, but I apologized and she left. My sister then called, asking for Mom, telling me that drama tryouts were going to end early and that she could be picked up before 5. I told her how to contact Mom and then texted Mom myself, telling her that my sister would need to be picked up early. Meanwhile, I had a killer headache, so I went upstairs to go take a nap.
At about 5:10 or so, I woke up from my nap to the sound of two people shouting and dishes being slammed into the dishwasher and onto the counter. My room's upstairs, so I have no idea if any dishes were thrown or anything, but it sounded like quite a mess. It was my dad and my brother, fighting over pretty much everything. I guess they were trying to do the dishes while fighting, with very little success. No idea how it started because I was asleep, but the part I caught was that my brother was accusing my dad of being lazy and a slob and expecting the rest of us to do all the work around the house while he just sat around and watched tv all night. He said some other things too, but that was pretty much the main gyst. Dad, meanwhile, was livid. I guess he was pissed about Mom being late to get him because of my lunch thing earlier, and when my brother lit into him for God knows what, he pretty much exploded. Went off on how the three of us kids are ungrateful for everything he does for the family, and how he spends ten hours at the office every day, and how we just sit around and do nothing, and that's why nothing ever gets done around the house, and why we haven't been able to move on from that tornado, and how he was going to just bulldoze everything in the house and then what would we have to complain about. It was fun stuff.
This entire time, I'm hysterical. I'm hiding up in my room, afraid to come out because I've never heard them fight this badly before. I was pretty much a coward, paralyzed by fear and not knowing what to do. I had no idea where my sister was, and Mom was downstairs trying to calm them down, but good luck doing that. A quick temper is one of those things that gets passed down in my dad's family, and it's near impossible to stop once it starts. My dad has it, his dad has it, my brother has it. Even I have it, but not nearly to the degree that they do. 999 times out of 1000 I just get moody and pouty. I try not to let it out, and for the most part I'm successful at that. But I was probably as scared as I've ever been in my life. Another one of those hereditary things is high blood pressure, which I'm sure I'm going to have to deal with at some point, and coupled with my dad's diabetes, I was seriously scared he was going to keel over.
So, in my panic, I sent out an SOS to my friend Kenzie. God bless her. She told me to hang tight while she told Jenny I needed to talk to her, and Jenny helped me figure out what to do. I finally broke out and drove to Burger King and just hunkered down for about an hour. Got back, and Mom and Dad were gone, out to do God knows what in order to help him calm down. My sister seemed okay, but I didn't really say much to her, and my brother was in the basement in his room. At that point, I just went up to my room, where I stayed the rest of the night. Nothing else really happened. Mom and Dad got home and everybody just went to their rooms, not really doing much. I couldn't really sleep, so I spent the next couple hours texting friends. It was pretty trying, but I had no idea what else to do. Finally got to sleep around 11, and even that was sporadic, but I think I'm okay.
How long am I going to be able to keep up with this? I've backed myself into a corner. There isn't a place where I can just relax and be myself, other than maybe my room, and even that's dodgy at times. Tension is everywhere. I'm trying to hold up, but my back is just about broken. Oh, even better, literally, as I'm typing this, Mom's mad at me because she just asked me for the change from my brother's haircut that he apparently gave me yesterday. Yeah, he gave it to me, and told me to buy myself some food with it. Thought it was a nice gesture, so I did. Now I've got to pay the balance. Just great. Screwed over by what I thought was a nice gesture. Little jerk. Gah, I can't type anymore right now. But a thank you again to Josh, Kenzie, Jenny, and RJ for your help yesterday. I have to go. I just wish people would realize that I have thoughts too, you know.
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