Chapter Thirty-Six: Lost Purpose:

I don’t know what I am doing anymore. Sure if I got my money back, then what? I don’t have anything else. Thanks to some scummy bastards, I have to start over again. I can’t stay at my childhood home forever. (My mother would love that though. But I am about to be thirty-five in a couple of months.)

“I’m home,” I said as I wandered back into the living room. I looked up when I heard the TV playing. Mom must be watching her Westerns.

“Mom?” I asked as I walked further into the living room. I found her sitting in her recliner staring at the TV. Her eyes looked so empty. She couldn’t be mistaken for a mindless zombie. I walked up to her.

“Mom?” I whispered. “Mom? Mom? Mom?” I shook her on the shoulder. She jumped in her seat.

“Huh?!” she asked. She turned and looked at me, blinking.

“Oh, it’s you,” she said.

“Sorry about that,” I said, shrugging. Mom waved me off as she shook her head.

“No, no,” she said. “Did you want something?” I dropped my shoulders with a sheepish look on my face.

“I just want to talk,” I said. I sat down on the floor next to her.

“What’s the matter?” she asked. What’s the matter? Where do I even begin?

“I don’t know what to do with my life now,” I confessed. I looked into mom’s eyes.

“What brought this on?” she asked. I shook my head.

“I have no job and nowhere to go,” I said.

“Stay here,” mom said. She took me by the hands, but I drew them back.

“I’m sorry, I can’t,” I said. I noticed the hurt look on her face. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Now I’ve done it. I had to try and fix it now.

“Look,” I said. “I don’t picture spending the rest of my life here. I want so much more than that.”

“So… are you going to go back to teaching?” she asked.

“Honestly, I don’t really know,” I said. “My principal took the fun out of it.” I sighed and looked at the TV. There was a man in a suit advertising life insurance. His teeth looked so white.

“What do you want to do?” mom asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I mean, I am going to join two lawsuits.” She gave me a puzzled look.

“Lawsuits,” she said.

“I can’t go into too much detail,” I said. “But I am suing my former school and boss.” I couldn’t read her face.

“He’s kind of why I lost my job,” I mumbled.

“What?!” she asked. I should’ve expected that to come out.

“It’s a bit of a long story,” I said. “Have you been watching the news?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Then you know what’s going on,” I said. I didn’t want to explain it to her. She’s just too pure for that. Mom slowly nodded. We sat there in silence as I dug in my brain to find a topic to change the subject.

“So…” I began. The words died in my mouth. I had it, but I lost it. I hated when that happened. Mom turned her head and looked at me.

“Hm?” she asked. I put up my hands and shook my head. My phone buzzed in my pocket. Thank god!

“Excuse me,” I said. I jumped to my feet and walked into the dining room as I took out my phone. It was my former students again. I had never been so happy to hear from there. I might need to thank them later. They didn’t have much to add to the endless text chain. I didn’t even bother to scroll up and look. I’ve got better things to do with my time. (I might go back and look later.)

I scrolled down and saw it.

Spoony sent me a text. Oh. I had a good idea what this was about. Somehow, I didn’t have much of a choice at this point. I opened the text.

“You still in?” Spoony wrote. I pressed my lips together. The choice was already made for me. I tapped the screen.

“Sure, what the hell?” I wrote. I hit send. Already, I started to regret. But what else can I do? I’ve got nothing else.

Oh boy…