Like Any Other Night.

Pt. 1 of 4

     Now that you have an extremely vague nugget of who I am from that lousy excuse of an introduction, we’ll start to dive right into the raw journey of my last four years. Ready or not, here I go!

March 25th, 2012.
This was a Sunday. I regrettably fail to recall what happened throughout the sunny part of the day, but I know sometime before sunset that Dad and I had dinner at the truck stop a mile from our home. As we got in the truck to leave the house, I texted my older brother where we were going so he could meet us there. We sat in a booth next to one of the windows where we could see the rain outside. Paul never did show up to eat. Dad and I went back to the house and everything was like any other night. Paul lounged on the couch with our new puppy, while Dad and I raced to the bathroom. All of us sat in our living room and watched Jay Leno together like any other night. I ate some chips, and at some point Paul got up to take a shower. After a while the commercials came on and Dad took his signature deep breath that told Paul and I he was going to head to bed. We followed Dad into his room and I forget exactly what we talked about, but like any other night, we probably covered what had happened that day, our different plans for the upcoming week, and laughed too hard about something that wasn’t even funny.

 I was fourteen and Paul was nineteen; but still, we both gave Dad our separate hugs, a kiss, and told him we loved him a few times before walking  into the hallway. By that time, Paul had moved from his upstairs bedroom to the basement so, like any other night, we gave each other a hug in the hallway before he went downstairs. I vividly remember the next few seconds in slow motion. His hug had turned into a tight squeeze that popped my back and took my voice hostage. I wasn’t able to beg for mercy verbally so I straightened my right arm and with precise technique slapped his bare back as hard as I could! He let me down and we both laughed, just like any other night. We then exchanged a nonviolent hug, told each other goodnight, and that we loved one another. Nothing was out of the ordinary and it had been just like any other night, or so I thought. 

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