Negative Positives

4: Crumbling

Damien

Monday, February 5th, 2024

2 days sober

I sit on my front porch, cigarette in hand. The familiar taste isn't soothing today. I thought about contacting Marcus for a tinny but I can't very well afford that now. Smokes are dear enough. Anyway, no sense in repeating the stupidity that landed me jobless in the first place. Besides, I might have to do another test for pre-employment screening.

I'm so angry at myself. I'm 28. Time to grow up, man.

Kelly is due home shortly. She only worked three days a week at a shoe store. I never saw a cent of what she earned. Most of it went back on shoes. It was her "spending money."

I scoff, nice for some.

The pay from my driving job is decent though —or it had been. I didn't even know if I was entitled to any of my holiday pay after being fired. I'll call Wayne tomorrow.

Kelly's car comes into view down the street and I stub out my cigarette, throwing the butt in the tin can we keep on the outdoor table for that purpose. I groan and scrub my hands down my face then back up and through my hair.

Time to face the music.

The little blue 2008 Mazda MX 5 pulls into the driveway with the top down. Kelly has a scarf over her hair like some try-hard movie star. Her hair is bleach blonde and her nails a sparkly pink. Her big boobs are pushed up, half hanging out the low-cut top of her sundress, which barely covered her cute round arse. She's s*x on legs.

Pity about her attitude.

"What the f**k are you doing home?" She demands before she even gets out of the car.

"Hello, Sweetheart. Nice to see you too." I snark back.

"Why aren't you at work?" Kelly asks. I swallow around the anxiety constricting my throat. No putting this off then.

"I got fired." I admit.

"What the f**k? Are you serious?"

"Yeah." I grimace, hands in my pockets.

"What the f**k, Damien?!" She shrieks. "What for?"

"Failed the random drug test, this morning."

"Oh my god, Damien! You f*****g loser!" She yells at me.

"Gee thanks, Kelly. Tell the whole f*****g neighbourhood why don't ya?"

I turn my back to her, stomping inside. Kelly follows, continuing to berate me with a string of screamed insults. I try to ignore her until I feel a sharp pain in my bicep, her pink, sparkly talons digging into my skin.

"Ow! f*****g cut it out! That hurts." I begin to push off her hand but the other one swings around and smashs into my face, splitting my lip open.

I barely have time to react to the shock of her violent outburst before recieving another blow to my face, followed by scratches and kicks.

"Kelly! Get the f**k off me, you feral b***h. Are you crazy?!"

"Don't you f*****g speak to me like that, you dumb piece of s**t. This is your fault! You've f*****g ruined my life!" She shrieks, pulling my hair and attempting to knee me in the groin.

I grab her hands and pull her toward me, trapping her arms behind her back.

"Stop!" I growl. She screams and squirms, stomping on my foot and trying to bite my face.

"LET ME GO!" She yells.

I turn and shoved her onto the couch.

"Psycho b***h. What's wrong with you?"

Kelly begins to cry. Not just cry, wail, as if I'd been the one attacking her and not the other way around.

"f**k this. I'm out."

Keeping an eye out to make sure Kelly isn't following, I storm into our room and start packing a gym bag with my clothes. I shove things into the bag in a haphazard way, glancing out the door periodically.

Kelly is still crying loudly. It sounds like she's on the phone, probably to her dad who would be telling her to get rid of me. We'd never seen eye to eye. Well there wouldn't be any more sucking up to that uppity bastard. I wasn't putting up with Kelly's s**t. She'd be getting rid of me all right. I was gone-burgers.

After grabbing my stuff from the bathroom, I stride angrily through the house. Kelly isn't in the living room anymore.

My lip is still bleeding and my face stings where Kelly had scratched me. I hadn't bothered to clean up.

A familiar face appears at the door when I open it.

Meridith, the lady from next door.

"Goodness, Damien! What happened to you? I heard screaming." The small grey-haired woman exclaimed.

Fucking great. She'd probably call the cops after Kelly twists the story around.

"Meridith, everything is fine. Kelly is really upset with me because I lost my job. She lost her s**t and attacked me. I did nothing but restrain her hands and push her onto the couch. Now she's screaming blue murder and I'm moving out. That's my side of the story. Good luck with her side. She may be crazy but I won't ever lay hands on a woman, so I'm leaving. Can you please keep an eye out for Jellybean? She probably ran off with all the yelling and I'm worried Kelly won't feed her. She's never liked her. I'm sorry about the yelling." I burt it all out in a hurry. I just want to leave.

"Damien! Oh you poor thing. Of course I'll feed your precious kitty. If I see her I'll shut her in my house for the night. When will you be back?"

"I'll come get her Wednesday when Kelly is at work. I don't want to see her again if I can help it." I try to calm myself. f**k I need a cigarette bad.

"Understandable. Those scratches look nasty. You need to disinfect them."

"I will, as soon as I get to my friends house." I throw my bag into the backseat of my double cab ute. "Thank you, Meridith. I'll see you Wednesday, maybe."

"Take care, dear." Meridith says in her lovely-little-old-lady voice. She's a treasure.

I shuffle my feet, anxiety gnawing at my gut.

"Will you check on Kelly for me? She was really upset. I hope she doesn't hurt herself."

Reality was, Kelly needed therapy. That s**t wasn't normal.

"Of course." Meridith disappears inside and I jump in and start my truck.

I drive without direction, smoking my fag out the window.

Kelly and I had only been together for eight months, living together for five. Christmas had been a wake up call when I met her family. I was just realising now that she was only with me for my money. God, I barely had any left after lavishing her with gifts at Christmas. All gifts she had demanded and pouted over until I'd caved.

Why I had put up with that s**t I didn't know.

Well, yes I did. She was arm candy and a nymphomaniac. Now I thought she was an actual maniac.

"I'm such a f*****g idiot." I mutter to myself. I don't even know where to go. It's too far to Hamilton, where my brother lives. My parents are still down in Otago where we grew up. I'd moved up here with my older brother, Chris, on a big adventure 7 years ago, looking for better jobs. Then Chris had found Mikaela and they got married. They moved to Hamilton and had 2 kids now.

Marcus would just get me stoned.

I'd have to see if I could crash at Jason's. At least that guy had his life sorted out.