Regis is fourteen when he finds their mother weeping on the tile floor Christmas Dinner. She grips Stella close to her as if she was oxygen and their mother needed to take a calm breath and breathe. The phone rings. It’s the third time today. Unknown calls keep coming asking for their father. They listen to one weird voicemail from a lady talking about their father. The woman claims she loves him. That they cannot take her away from him. Their mother screams in a fit of rage, shocking them both, as she rips their phone out of electrical cord and throws it to the ground. She stands still, and Regis sees from the corner of his eye as Stella reaches for her, and just like that, their mother falls to the ground, her body convulsing in laughter. …show more content…
And he likes it. He enjoys how his eyes roll back in his head as the smoke in his lungs swirl into his throat, like nails clawing at the edge of the curl of his lips and he breaths it out of his nose like steam from a relaxing shower. Dalton and Jared watch him transfixed as he does it again. They all take turns as Stella stays to the shadows of the background. Her eyes holding a downcast expression as she fumbles a silver lighter. 2011 Regis is at a summer house party thrown by the Parker brothers where he's rolling his head back and forth, moving his body around a couple of girls, and all his problems vanish away for the night as the vibration of the music and the lights blinds his senses. Sometime when they were all playing pool, Regis loses his cell phone and he misses Stella’s phone call. Later, when Regis is about to leave, they cannot find Jared. Dalton’s only response to him is, “Rewgie mawn, he sewret.” Whatever that means, he’ll get it out of Jared later. Regis arrives at his house where sirens blare through his ears and flashes of red and blue lights surround him in a dizzyingly frenzy. He has police officers flashing their badges at him as his mind twirls in a turmoil as the repeatedly ask him questions on where he was and what he’s been doing. The next thing he hears are two words “Stella” and “Emergency