Whiskey in a paper bag, it’s cliche, but not for Tyler. Tyler is the “town drunk” according
to everyone else in town. To most people he seems to be a terrible and disgusting person, but no
one really knows the true story. He used to be a nice guy, clean cut and respectable. His sister
died in a fire two years ago and that was just the start of his descent. He got married to a
beautiful girl, Maria, 4 years ago. Everyone in town wanted to be with her, but Tyler was the one
that stole her heart. She had that fiery red hair that could light up any room and blue eyes the
color of the clearest skies. Ever since his sister’s death, he’s been on a downhill spiral. He picked
up drinking to numb the pain and that caused conflict between Maria and him. They would get
into fights and argue over the smallest things. He couldn’t help himself because alcohol was the
only way to remove the pain, but it only made him worse. Maria was more upset because he was
a bad influence on Alex, their daughter. She was four years old and quite the handful. She has
more energy than a battery itself. Every morning she makes train noises to wake up everyone in
the house. Her nickname is “Rooster” because she is like the one you see on those stereotypical
farms back in the day.
One night after staying at the bar past midnight, Maria and Rooster were worried about
Tyler- he was always home before midnight. He stumbled in at two-thirty. When he walked in,
Maria was sitting on the living room couch, arms crossed. All the lights were off besides the
side-tables. The light illuminated on her face like a ghost story at a campfire. The yellow beamed
off her skin - her facial expressions were clear as day, though they weren’t good. Maria softly
said “Where have you been, I’ve been waiting for you for three hours.” Tyler began to mumble
but, then out came “None of your business.” Tyler has never been snarky or rude to his wife. He
was a good and honest man who cared about his family a lot. When alcohol got in the mixture it
ruined his shining personality just like any other person. Maria was pretty startled by his remarks
and stormed off, slamming the door behind her. Closely followed by a stumbling Tyler, he took
off his belt and opened the door. Maria was on the other side of the door but Tyler’s strength just
overpowered Maria and she stumbled to the ground, hitting her head on the bedside table. Tyler
snapped the belt a couple times and hit Maria in the leg. She began to cry and scream. Tyler
quickly gathered the little sense he had left, picked her up and put her on the bed. He grabbed a
blanket out of the bedroom closet and walked into the living room. He knew what he had done;
drinking has always been his downfall. When he woke up the next morning all the pictures of
Maria, Rooster and him were gone. He woke up groggy from the brutal hangover that he had
acquired and thought he was just out of it. He finally got up out of bed after just laying there,
gathering his thoughts ...
