Overwhelmed

Welcome to the Spot Writers! The prompt for this month is “Is it really over?” It could refer to the pandemic, or the war in Ukraine, or anything else that lingers too long.

This week’s story is written by Phil Yeats. Last fall, he published The Souring Seas, the first volume in a precautionary tale about the hazards of ignoring human-induced climate change. The second volume, Building Houses of Cards, appeared one week ago. For information about these books, visit his website–https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/

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Overwhelmed

by Phil Yeats

Marc had always been a misfit, the smallest kid in his class and socially inept. The only child of a single mother, he led a lonely life, constantly avoiding interaction with everyone. He was useless at sports and anything the slightest bit artistic. He only succeeded in school because he could remember facts and figures and reproduce them without effort on tests.

In high school and university, he focused on acquiring technical qualifications that he could translate into a well-paying job with minimal interaction with other people. He was well on his way to accomplishing that goal when disaster struck. A fire burned down his childhood home with his mother trapped inside.

“Arson,” said the fire inspector.

The overnight fire in an enclave of tightly packed hovels spread to seven other houses and killed three small children. The manhunt for the arsonist responsible for four deaths led the police to the father Marc never knew.

Marc was an emotional wreck from the moment an enterprising reporter located him and started asking questions. He ended up blaming himself for abandoning his mother when he went away to university sixteen months earlier. Irrational thoughts he was responsible for the deaths of four people also tormented him. The realization his father set the fire was the final straw. He couldn’t take it. He couldn’t focus on his studies. His life spiralled out of control.

He abandoned his studies, took a menial job as a warehouseman to keep the wolf from the door and his mind off his torments, and disappeared from public view. Unknown address, no internet, no phone—complete isolation while he worked through his demons.

He worked eight hours a day, six days a week. On Sundays, he visited the public library and caught on the news. After six months of this self-imposed regimen, he decided his trauma really was over. Time to restart his life and re-register for the university year he’d abandoned when everything went so badly wrong.

A month later, he was still working at the warehouse and piling up the funds that would ease his next year as a student, but he was no longer as invisible. The university had his address and a phone number that would reach him, and he’d re-established his access to the internet.

That’s all it took. One day, she appeared shortly after he got home from work. A woman with a shell as hard as an armadillo’s who insisted she was his half-sister. She claimed their father had also killed her mother, and she wanted him to join with her in a scheme to benefit from their fugitive father’s notoriety.

He couldn’t do it. He didn’t possess the tough persona one needed to pull off such a stunt. He couldn’t join her crusade, but one thing was clear. His difficulties weren’t over. His demons were back. Once again, he was precariously perched at the edge of a precipice, staring into the abyss.

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The Spot Writers—Our Members:

Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/

Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/

Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/

Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/