Oedipal Homecoming

"Now, you wish I was a good college student, get a degree, find a job...so, you can brag to your friends. Maybe," he paused and drew a deep breath, fighting with his hiccups, "you just want to see your broken dreams fulfilled through me.

"After all," his cruel laughter a stab through Dan's heart, "you've fucked up big time, haven't you? Mortgaged the house, your business, everything! And...for what?

"I remember, you see, all the trips we took, when I was younger. All the things you bought; the new TV's, the expensive furniture...was all that paid through loans? Loans you could never pay back?"

"I did this for you! To provide a good life for you and your mother, to..."

"Bullshit!" Rick yelled. "You did it for you, to show the world you are successful! You are not, dad! Your business never really flourished, did it? Just a middle-class guy that...envisioned himself a big shot!

"What's gonna happen now, dad? Now that the bubble's burst, the dream's fucking dead? You'll lose the house, your business...instead of a better life, as you called it, you're gonna live on the fucking streets!

"Tell that to your friends, to whom you loved to brag about your new cars and our trips to Europe!"

"Rick," Diane intervened, her heart in her throat, "stop it. You're drunk, you're..."

"No, mom," he said, his voice abruptly turning mellower. "Some things have to be said; and...I don't get it, really I don't. Why in the hell did you stay with him all this time?

"I mean...you've got so much to offer, so much...you could have done so much better!"

"Enough!" Dan erupted; Rick wiped his bloody lips with the back of his hand and glared at his father through the corner of his eye.

"Dan!" Diane cried and rushed to Rick. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, I just..." Dan sighed heavily.

"It's all right," Rick chuckled dryly.

Without a forewarning, he landed a headbutt, sending his father flying backwards and flat on his ass

Diane, speechless and breathless, took a step back, unable to choose whom to help.

"Never thought I'd fight back, huh?" Rick grinned, rubbing his forehead. "Always thought of me as a wimp, a nerd you couldn't be proud of. Well..."

Diane's eyes almost popped out of their sockets, when Rick thrust his tongue in her mouth. At first, she tried to push him off, unsuccessfully; however, still lightheaded from earlier, she succumbed and reciprocated—while feeling as if watching herself from a bird's eye view, not in control of her actions.

"What the fuck?" Dan gasped, still seated on the floor and rubbing his throbbing forehead.

"You failed at everything, haven't you?" Rick guffawed harshly.

"Rick," she slapped him on the shoulder, but, without attempting to escape his embrace.

"I'm sorry, mom, but...it's the truth; and you know it, too!"

"Diane," Dan got up slowly, visibly in pain (both physical and psychological), "what's going on? What..."

"We fucked, dad," Rick replied calmly—his rage and potentially the strikes having minimized the effects of alcohol. "It's your own damn fault, to be honest; you paid too much attention creating a beautiful façade, you forgot to notice the beauty next to you.

"If you hadn't been so obsessed with living the high life, you'd be a happy man now; without fancy shit and memories of trips and all that, but, far happier nonetheless.

"It's your own vanity that fucked you in the ass." He shrugged and sucked on his mother's lips. "By the way," he said, staring dead into Diane's eyes—who was petrified and still with no control over her actions and thoughts— "I'm dropping out of college; I'm not going to take a student loan and won't waste my savings in order to get a worthless piece of paper.

"Come with me. We'll find a small apartment, I'll get a job...we'll start over. And let him rot in the shithole he dug. We'll pack a few things, go to the station, board the first train to...wherever!

"As long as it's not here!"

"You're talking crazy!" Dan shoved him. "Go sleep it over, we'll talk about it in the morning, when you're sober!"

"Fuck you," Rick said all too calmly and punched his father squarely on the nose. "Well?" He asked his mother, mellow and hopeful.

"Rick, it's...not that simple, it's...perhaps, we should sleep on it, on...all this..."

"Mom," he protested, his heart suddenly falling to the floor. "I swear, I'm not that drunk; I'm just drunk enough to have the balls to speak the truth; the truth that ought to have been uttered years ago."

"Honey, it's...not that simple; I mean, what we did...earlier, and now, and...everything..."

"Forget all about right and wrong!" He wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "Everyone's looking for true love, everyone have their hearts broken searching for the elusive true love...isn't that what we have?"

"Not...not as...I don't know," she resigned with a moan, burying her face in his shoulder.

"You want it," he said with a wishful smile. "Deep down, you know you do."

"Maybe," she admitted, with a heavy sigh. "But, still..."

"This is sick!" Dan protested, holding his bleeding nose.

"Shut the fuck up!" Rick yelled at him.

Diane's heart fluttered, when Dan just whimpered. She stared deep into her son's eyes and saw nothing but adoration.

"Okay," she said, catching even herself by surprise—and did her best to ignore Dan's dumbfounded gasp and expression.

"Brilliant!" Rick exclaimed with childish excitement.

Holding hands, they went to the bedrooms and hurriedly threw clothes in two suitcases.

She just couldn't stop thinking about it; was it the right or the wrong decision? What should she do?

No answer descended from the heavens, no assist from anywhere but her heart, which insisted she was doing the right thing—for reasons she failed to comprehend.

They walked past Dan, who remained petrified on the floor, and climbed into the cab.

She stole a last glimpse of the house she'd spent most of her adult life in, fearing she was way too old for a fresh start, for beginning to heed her innermost impulses.

Rick took her hand in his and the warmth that rose within every fiber of her being assured her things would ultimately turn out alright.