AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I started to drink. At first just a few drinks, just to relax. And then…things got a little bit worse. I ended up hanging out at a lot of disreputable parties. Rafael, who was a regular at these parties, let me go with him every time. I could see that little glint of concern in his eye, but he knew I needed to relax. So he let me. I discovered another world over which I had no control. I stepped into quicksand, and the only way out was to drink more to forget. Tonight he took me to some of his friends’ houses.
Sitting on a crappy old couch, I watch him chaining shots of vodka while retrieving a bill from his pocket. I don’t know anyone here, but I don’t care. I don’t need to know any faces to relax. The alcohol is working. It flows through my veins and helps me forget all those horrible memories that cling to my skin.
Rafael winks at me from afar and raises his next shot in my direction before letting the liquid burn down his throat. Normally he holds his alcohol remarkably well, but that doesn’t seem to be the case tonight.
He comes to me a minute later, his hazel eyes locked in mine. He staggers as he leans toward me.
“Hi, honey. How are you?”
His breath is alcoholic. Much more than usual.
A guy walks by and hands him a new bottle of beer. Rafael takes it back with a little laugh. I don’t know why, but it’s like a shock to me. A warning.
“Maybe you should stop drinking tonight. You’re bad enough as it is.”
He laughs and takes a sip. “Who cares? You’re as bad as I am.”
I try to focus on his lips to understand his words, but it’s hard. He’s right, I’ve had way too much alcohol.
Fuck…my parents would be really disappointed in my behavior. Instead of taking care of my little sister, all I can think about is clearing my head by emptying bottles, unable to face reality. They are dead. They won’t come back.
And I am weak. A fucking weak person with a destroyed heart.
I now have no desire to drink alcohol at all. I put my beer bottle on the table next to us, as if the glass was burning my hand.
“Can we go home?” I ask.
He mumbles something unintelligible and shakes his head.
Before I’m really knocked out for the next few hours, I grab my cell phone and try to call a cab. I have to try three times to type in the right number, my head is so dizzy. I feel like I’m going to throw up.
Rafael starts a conversation with one of his buddies, not worrying about me, then it starts to get out of hand. Things get heated, and Rafael grabs the guy by the throat.
“Hey!” I yell, running to him. “Stop it!”
He doesn’t even see me. His look seems crazy. I pull his arm so that he releases his grip. I’ve seen him fight before but never get violent with me. Yet, the next second, he pushes me hard on the shoulder to throw me off of him so he can keep fighting.
“Let me go, and don’t tell me what to do,” he spits in my direction.
I stand still, half-drunk and shocked by his gesture.
I know he’s a bad drunk, but this is a side of him I’ve never seen before. He drops the guy and picks up his jacket, then walks towards me with a heavy step. I move back, unable to stop myself.
“Let’s go,” he grumbles.
I frown and try to find my cell phone that I dropped while approaching him.
“Wait!” I shout at his back while following him towards the door. “I’ll call a cab, it will be here in a few minutes. We can’t drive like this.”
He stops so suddenly that I bump into him. “Hang up the phone,” he orders me harshly.
I refuse, and he reaches over and snatches my phone out of my hand before hanging up. I stand still as he leans in toward me with an angry look on his face.
“Don’t you trust me?”
“That has nothing to do with it,” I whisper, unsettled by his unusually calm demeanor. “We drank too much to—”
“Answer my question,” he asks me dryly, squeezing my right elbow in his left hand.
