Good Intentions

MEGHAN’S POV

I wake up as with any other morning but the heaviness from previous days remain. My usual routine, shower and get dressed then head down the hall to the kitchen for breakfast. I slow down as I walk by Harry’s room and peek in to look at Dad. It kills me to see him like that, restrained to the bed, asleep, sedated. I feel for him because he is my dad but I know this is whats best. If Harry is ever going to get back to his life, this is what must be done. He doesn’t belong here.

I greet Mom in the kitchen and help get breakfast on the table as Harry makes his way back in. We all sit down and eat in silence just as we would any other day, old habits are hard to break I guess. I notice he is dressed to go out to work and I admire him for that. I still get butterflies sometimes when I look at him but quickly swat them back down, its not right and it never will be. I watch him as he puts his coat on and slides his boots on, tells Mom what he has to do and he will be back for lunch. He takes the keys to the truck and is gone.

I set about doing my chores, the same as with any other day. The knot in my stomach will not go away.
I step into Harry’s room to retrieve the dirty clothes and hear Dad stir and look to him, making my way over to him slowly. I stand far enough from him, reminding myself just how scared of him I truly am. I step into the bathroom and do a quick wipe down, grab the clothes and leave. I don’t realize until after I step out of the room, I have held my breath probably the entire time.
Mom sees me exit and the expression on my face, I nod to her, letting her know I am all right, sort of.

After starting a load of laundry I start my school work, this time, I welcome it, a distraction. Within minutes I am lost in it and don’t realize how fast time has flown until I hear the back door open and Harry appear for lunch.
He removes his coat, gloves and boots and leaves them at the door. He makes his way over towards me and takes a seat.
“Do you think you can go to your friends house for the night maybe? I feel like I’m supposed to be somewhere”
I look to Mom and she thinks it will be fine. She gets the phone and makes a call, everything is set. As soon as I finish my work, I’ll go get my things together.

I get in the frame of mind to get it finished and work at a steady pace.

I listen as Harry goes about getting cleaned up and his usual routine. I’ve come to know his schedule, his steps and movements pretty well. I’ll definitely miss him, I’ve enjoyed having him around.

I get up from the table and put my things away. I make my way back towards my room to get my things together to go over to Zoe’s. I reach in my closet and pull out the magazines to return them. I smile a little at how the corners are pulled up from the amount of times they have been looked at. Harry probably has these memorized. I keep the poster, since she did give it to me. She told me I could have the magazines but I just don’t feel right keeping them. Maybe she’ll let me trade them out for some later issues.

I walk to the front with my things and let Mom know that I’m ready.
“Harry, want to go?” I ask him.
“Maybe” he says looking up from something.

“Harry, why don’t you take a jog down to the mail box, its been a couple of days since its been checked.” I hear Mom tell him.
I watch as he slides on some shoes and his jacket, go out the door and see him start to jog down the driveway.

“We’ll leave when he gets back.” Mom says as she is finishes up putting dishes away. I step into the the front room and watch Harry as he disappears down the driveway. I look at the landscape at just how pretty it is. I am reminded of my dream and my tattoo. How warm that weather seemed. I really need to ask Mom about it but for some reason I’m scared to. Maybe it’s a life she doesn’t want to remember. Maybe it was really hard times and that is how we ended up here. So many possibilities so I decide to keep it to myself. I think about it a little more and decide I’ll speak to harry about it and see what he thinks. And yes, come clean about the tattoo.

I wait for what seems like an eternity and wonder if something has happened to him. I make my way to the back towards my parents room to express my concern that he had been gone so long. I find her tell her and she looks at her watch, then shows concern on her face.
I follow her to the front and she stops at the window not far from where I had been standing and looks towards the driveway as if she could will him to appear.

A few more minutes and she heads to the door, taking keys and goes to the truck. I’m one step behind her. She backs out and puts it in drive, slowly making her way down the driveway. We near the mail box, Harry is no where in sight.
A look of panic crosses her face and I‘m sure I have the same one. Where could he have gone? I jump out of the truck to see which way he footprints might lead and I see none. I see his footprints but none leading away going in either direction.

I stand in the cold and look in both directions. Nothing. In the distance I see a vehicle approaching us and notice it slowing down.
I look back at Mom in truck and the tears flowing down her cheeks. I don’t understand why she would be crying but I feel sorry for her.

I look back down the road towards the vehicle making its way towards us. I feel paralyzed or frozen in place as it stops, a door opens and Harry steps out, a huge grin on his face.
He comes to me to wake me up from the trance I was in. I wrap my arms around him he tells me he is fine.
“Ask Lily to turn the truck off and come get in the vehicle so we can all talk.”
I turn and walk to the truck and look up at her as she wipes her cheeks. I step to the window as she rolls it down and I tell her what Harry told me to say to her. She reaches down and turns off the ignition and steps out of the truck, we both make our way over to the other vehicle. Harry steps to the side and helps us enter.

We each take a seat in one of the captains chairs as Harry makes his way to the back and takes a seat. I almost zone out as they start speaking and asking questions one right after the other.
I listen as Mom gives the short version of the story and from the looks of it, matches up to what Harry told them.

“So, if I understand correctly, Jim is in the house restrained to the bed?” the man in the passenger seat asks.
“Yes” Mom and I say in unison.

I look to the back as another vehicle pulls up behind us and pulls around to the side. The man in the passenger side gets out and speaks with the driver of the other vehicle then returns. I watch as we follow them up our driveway, our truck left sitting there.

I feel as though I’m about to get sick when we pull up to the house, Mom reaches over and takes my hand.

We watch as men in bullet proof vests with guns drawn enter our house. Not five minutes later return and make their way around each side of the house.

I hear Harry sit up quickly and make his way to the front. Doors are locked, we cant get out.
We see them back around the house and make their way slowly back to us and get in.

“Ma’m, he might have been there when you left,but he isn’t there now.”

Notes