Her Substitute Groom

Connor Hughes

Dad stopped pacing and slowly turned to face me when I got to the lobby. Mom, Dad, Chase, Claire, and Janice were all together when I got there. Seeing the disappointed look on Mom’s face made me feel bad.

“Why did you do it, Connor? Why did you do that to your brother?” Dad yelled at me, enraged. He didn’t care that we were in a public place where many people were present. He didn’t care that his anger may end up getting our reputation messed up, but I guess this was all my fault. Only if I had controlled this emotion I called anger, then maybe this would’ve been avoided.

“You don’t keep mute on me when I’m talking, Connor. Why the hell did you do that?” Although Dad was a temperamental man, I have never seen him so angry before, and I understood that it was entirely my fault.

“Dad…”

“What are you going to say? You are sorry? Will your sorry turn back what you have done? What the heck has come over you? How could you do that to your brother?” Even though Carl has hurt me beyond forgiveness before, they felt what I did was extreme. I didn’t feel pity for him, I didn’t regret what I did. I mean, I kind of regret it, but it wasn’t because of him. I only regretted doing that seeing how it has hurt my family, I only regret thinking about myself alone and not also about what my family will feel if I did that. That was my only regret. If my family wasn’t involved, I would destroy his eyes over and over again if it was the only thing I could do to him.

“I’m sorry, Dad. I’m sorry, Mom,” I mumbled, turning my face away, but Mom scurried up to me and sent two hot slaps across my cheeks angrily. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she stared at me with pure disgust written on her face.

“Am I the one that gave birth to this monster?” Those words hurt my heart, and I slowly clenched my fingers tightly, staring back at her. She looked at me with resentment.

“Mom…”

“Don’t you dare call me that, you monster!” She yelled at me as more tears streamed down her cheeks. She didn’t mean to tell me that, but I pushed her beyond tolerance. I convinced myself.

“What the hell did he do that you could never forgive him? I have pleaded with you on his behalf, I did everything just so you could forgive him and leave everything behind in the past, and this was all you could do?” She yelled at the top of her voice again, and I swallowed hard.

“Mom… It might just be a mistake. You didn’t have to call him a monster,” Chase chipped in as he came to stand in front of me.

“Stay out of this, Chase. Get the hell away from my sight!” She growled with more tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Stay out of this, Chase…”

“How can I stay out of it when she is being harsh on you?” He looked at me sadly, and I huffed.

“I’m being harsh? Are you for real, Chase? Are you not aware of what he did?” Mom snapped at Chase, and this time, Claire chipped in.

“Even so, Mommy. Connor is not a monster, so you should stop referring to him as one. I believe he did that because he was angry, and who knows, maybe Carl started it in the first place,” Claire defended me, mumbling the last part of it, and Dad glared hard at her.

“Don’t glare at me like that, Dad. We all know how troublesome Carl can be. Maybe he was the one that…”

“Just shut your mouth! You all are so unbelievable!” Mom snapped before she walked away, and Dad followed her.

“You didn’t have to say that, guys. Mom and Dad are still angry,” I said to Chase and Carl, and they sighed.

Glancing over at Janice, I found her sitting on the bench and burying her face between her palm, and I sighed.

“I know Carl can be one hell of an annoying bastard, but you should’ve controlled it, you know? Even if you had to punch him, it shouldn’t have been his eyes. You should’ve aimed at his nose instead. Having a broken nose wouldn’t have harmed him,” Chase uttered and sighed. After what happened between me and Carl in the past, Chase and Claire’s relationship with him slowly faded, because they hated him as much as I did. If you know what he did to me, then trust me, you would hate him too.

“Yes, you shouldn’t have hit his eyes. Maybe kicking his groin lightly would’ve done the job,” Claire suggested, and I scoffed.

“You are worse than Connor, you know? That is as good as killing him. How could you suggest he kicked his groin?” Chase huffed and shook his head. My family was filled with weirdos, and they are the perfect example of it.

“Sister-in-law is angry too. You should go talk to her. Who knows, maybe she can talk to Dad on your behalf since he likes her,” Chase suggested, and glancing over at Janice, I found her still in the same position. She seemed to be crying, and not that I was expecting less reaction from her before, anyway. I mean, they were going to get married before I sabotaged everything, so there must’ve been little attraction between them, who knows? Not that I cared about how she felt about the situation, anyway. Why the fuck should I give a damn about her?

“I will handle it myself,” I replied to Chase flatly.

“But…” He was going to object when the doctor came out of the ER where they have been operating on Carl, disrupting us.

Mom and Dad whom I wasn’t aware were still around, showed up looking all worried. At this point, I prayed silently that the doctor doesn’t end up saying he lost his sight. I wasn’t praying because of him, but because of my parents that would live with the nightmare of their son going blind.

“How is he, doc? Will he be fine? Is he ok now?” Mom asked desperately, searching the doctor’s face as if the answer to her question was written on his face.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“I’m sorry, Madam… But there is a slim chance of him ever getting to see with that eyes ever again. The surgery went well, but his eyes were already destroyed, so he won’t be able to see again,” Mom staggered back and her jaw dropped when she heard that. Everywhere went silent for seconds, and I guess she was trying to process what the doctor just said.

“Wh… what did you say? You should do something, doc. You can’t just let my son go blind like that and not do anything. You need to do something,” she pleaded with the doctor, her body quivering, and Dad? He was just standing there like a log of wood, staring at me with resentment in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, but we tried our best,” The doctor said before he finally left, and Mom broke down. I stood frozen on the spot, it felt like I should just disappear from here, I felt like a disappointment, and that’s what I really was, anyway. Hurting my mom was something I never intended to do, making dad miserable was the last thing I would ever do, but with just one action of mine that was triggered by my emotions, I did the two things I never wanted to do in my entire life.

“Are you happy now, Connor? The doctor said Carl won’t ever see again with his eyes… He is going to go blind because of you… Are you happy now?” Mom yelled at me as she grabbed my collar and shook me, a pool of tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Mom…”

“How does it feel now? You have finally done what you have always wanted to do. How does it feel to know that he lost his sight now?” She yelled again.

“It feels good. I would’ve killed him if he was not my brother,” those were the replies I wanted to give her, but hurting her more than this was the last thing I could think of.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, removing her hands from my shirt. I wanted to stay back and comfort her, I wanted to tell her how sorry I felt, but it was pointless, so I just turned and walked out of the hospital, not sparing anyone another glance…