Page 32 of Working Out West

Today just could be the day, because I knew I didn’t want to see them again, even in this small amount of time. I’d grown. I was happy, to an extent, and had a life. I didn’t want them to tarnish it by their bullshit.

“You may sit up front,” Mom said at the car, which had me stilling. She never let me before, why now? Suspicion dipped my brows. However, I was probably being an idiot. Maybe they were trying to change.

“Thank you.” I smiled and slipped into the seat that Dad held the door open to. He closed it and walked around the front to the driver side. I wanted to be anywhere but here. Shit, I’d even take a dentist visit or a waxing over being there.

Dad started the car and backed out of the space while I strapped my belt in. “There’s a nice restaurant not far from here. I could give you directions,” I suggested, since they’d never come to visit me before.

“I don’t need it,” Dad replied. He gripped the steering wheel. “You didn’t call your mother for the monthly check-in.”

Shit. I hadn’t even realized it had passed.

“I’m sorry. Study and work have kept me busy.”

Dad grunted.

“We were worried,” Mom said from the seat behind me.

“I really am sorry. I promise it won’t happen again.” I could have slapped my own forehead for forgetting. I should have known they would come to see me when I didn’t check in. It was my own damn fault they were there, and now I wanted to kick myself as well.

“You’ve been a bad boy, West,” Dad said.

I laughed. “What?”

“Do not laugh,” Dad bellowed. His hands kept gripping and releasing the wheel over and over again.

Shit, he was beyond pissed.

“It was one time I missed,” I said, suddenly annoyed.

His upper lip raised, he sneered. “I’m not talking about that.”

Fuck. “W-What are you talking about?”

Dad said nothing; instead, Mom did. “Your father and I have been in town for a while, West.”

I stilled. My stomach churned, and I wanted to throw up. “Really?” I managed to get out through a breath.

Mom hummed, then said, “Yes. We have witnessed a lot.”

Bile raced up my throat. I cleared it and swallowed thickly. “Like what?”

“Your sins,” Dad snarled.

No!

“It’s time for you to be cleansed, West,” Mom said.

A sharp pain touched my neck. I tried to turn, but Dad’s hand shot out to hold my head in place.

“What are you doing?” I slurred. My limbs, I couldn’t lift them. I couldn’t fight. Terror filled me as fatigue like I hadn’t experienced before washed over me. “W-What’s happening?”

“We’re going to purge your sins out of you, West” was the last thing I heard before sleep dragged me under.

Groaning, I went to roll over but realized I couldn’t. My body ached and my knees hurt. I shivered from the frigid air, and a headache pounded in my head.

Had I been out drinking?

I blinked again and again. Slowly, I lifted my head, waiting for my eyes to focus. When they did, I gasped.

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