HOOKED NOOK

                Damien

“Mom, I think something is wrong with dad” Damien said on their way from school where Karen went to pick him up. “I never told you but, dad has been borrowing lots of money from me for a while now. I told him it was my monthly allowance that I was saving for something important and he said he would pay but he still hasn’t paid me. I need the money back mom and what’s worse is that I don’t know what dad uses the money for.” His mom listened quietly and said nothing to her son except to tell him that she would pay him the money when they got home.

That night, when the children had gone to bed, Karen confronted Tom about his debt to Damien. She saw something in his eyes when she confronted him about it, it ought not to have been there but it was. Tom didn’t say much no matter how hard Karen probed; it was very unlike him. He was always one to defend his actions and he never backed down from an argument. He was weird indeed and what was more was the thing she saw in his eyes; it wasn’t pride or anger, it was plain guilt and shame. This shocked her.

Tom went up stairs and was pacing in the hallway. He was talking to himself again, a habit he became increasingly used to since the blue candy arrived. He was lamenting about how he wished he had never met it or ate it. He was in deep contrition and said a lot of things. Damien was up, he heard most of it and his eye lids shut itself to sleep.