Chapter 2- Sore throat

Chapter two:

Sore throat

Jack's eyes slowly opened. He immediately started coughing. His hands clawed at the rope around his neck and eventually tore it off .Leaving some purplish bruising around his neck. Sitting up with his back against the couch he rubbed his very sore neck. After checking the time on his cell phone he figured he had been unconscious for two hours. As he looked up at the broken support beam a long sigh left his lips. With the thought of “now what” echoing in his head, he slowly tried to figure out what was next for himself. Jack ran his fingers through his hair to get some of the wooden chips out. He winced as his fingers found a large bump on the back of his head where the wooden beam had hit him. Jack quickly looked at his fingers, there was some dried blood on his finger tips, “ f**k me.” He slowly rose and wobbled to the bath room. Just before he reached the tub he fell over and vomited right in the tub. a large groan echoed through the room as he turned on the cold water for the bath and put his head under it hoping it would help with swelling and clean the tub at the same time, even though he knew he was going to have to clean later any way.

He stood up and left the bath room hair still dripping with freezing water. As Jack walked into the living room his eyes ran over the mess of rope and debris left by his failed attempt to leave his meaningless existence in this world. As he studied the scene his mind raced for other ways to do the job. Pills? What if that doesn't work? He would only be left really sick. Slitting his wrists? No to much of a mess for the next guy. A gun? Same problem as the second idea he had. As all these thoughts covered in oily darkness ran through his mind a ball of anger formed in his stomach. Anger directed to him self for not being able to do it, but there was a second anger far deeper than the that. Anger of an instinctual level. It said “ Live” Jack's eyes started to burn with tears and hate at the scene. His close encounter with death had stirred something inside him. He didn't know what the point of his life was, but he would be damned if that stopped him from living.

As a new sense of life was breathed into Jack, his stomach remembered that it needed food for Jack to realize his new ambition of living. When he realized he was hungry Jack marched to the fridge with only one intent, to eat as much as he could. If he was going to continue living, he felt he should do it right.

With saliva already starting to form in his mouth Jack swung open the door to the fridge. Almost instantly his mouth went dry, for all that lay in front of him was turkey bacon, boneless skinless chicken breasts and every sort of green vegetable that humans have discovered. “ How did I live this way for so long?” Turning his back to disgrace that he once called his “way of life”Jack found a garbage bad and threw the entire contents of his fridge inside. Garbage bag still in his hand his stomach growled with impatience. Before he knew it he was typing “ Greasiest pizza in the city.” into his computer and in one fluid motion he clicked on the first link to appear on the results page. Within moment the number was dialled. Saliva was forming in his mouth once more, as if with greed for what was to come. “ Hello this is Dave at Bill's pizza, how may I help you today?” Jack's mouth broke into a smile full of gluttony. “ I want an extra large pizza with every kind of meat you have, double the bacon and cheese. Oh also a large cola! David took a moment to respond, the man on the other end sounded more energetic about this pizza than he was used to and it threw him off his game a little bit. Letting out a half laugh David asked “ and how will you be paying for that sir?” “ cash” after he finished telling David his address Jack put down the phone.

Jack went and took off his suit and put on his comfiest sweat pants and his favourite hoodie, transforming him into one giant grey blob. Forty five minutes to an hour later his door bell rang. Almost sprinting to the door Jack opened it. With the anticipation of a child on Christmas morning he was reaching for his wallet before the delivery man could even say hello. “ That will be forty five fifty please.” said the man holding Jack's soon to be stomach ache. Jack handed the boy a hundred dollar bill and said “keep the change.” The boy whose name tag read “Jeremy” almost dropped the pizza when those words left the customers mouth. What a lucky day! He thought. This peaked his curiosity about the man. Looking him up and down made Jeremy question the hundred dollars in his hand. This man was wearing stained sweat pants and a old tattered hoodie. Jeremy's throat went dry as he saw the mans neck. On it there was a large purplish bruise that seemed to go all the way around, and just above that were eyes of a broken man. “He-heres your pizza sir” With trembling hand he handed over the pizza. Turned his back and walked away pretending not to of seen anything. The world was nicer when it was quite.

As he lied down in his bed back against the wall, the entire pizza box on a pillow on his lap, he exhaled in relief. Quickly surfing the channels for anything good to watch he came across “Killer ants from outer space! Number 2” with a smile he flipped over to that. Half way through his third slice Jack took a swig of the pop that had came with his mountain of meat and cheese. When it hit his tongue he knew it wasn't right, there was something off about it. He took a second swig, and a third. Every time it touched his tongue it tasted worse. Looking down at his pizza he realized what was wrong. It had been ten years since he touched any form of alcohol. Today was the first day of his new life, he was sick of the strict way he used to live. There was no point in exercise , or health. From now on he would eat what he wanted and drink what he wanted.

Grabbing two slices for the road Jack picked up his car keys and left. His destination? The closest liquor store.

Time to start living.