At thirty, it finally seemed like the right time to sort my family life out once and for all. I sit in the Challenger for a good five minutes staring at the mansion before me and listening to Alice in Chains. “Rooster” somehow fitting right now. I had so many good times and so many bad times here. It was where I learned my grandfather was not the overbearing monster my mom had sold him as, but later discovered he was worse. My life seemed to develop and fall apart inside that stucco exterior. I was going one direction and then… and then everything changed. I sucked as a son and everything that my mother had wanted. I excelled at rebellion, so that’s what I did to save my sanity. Now I’m back sixteen years later to face the demons that plague me. Gage walks out, his head down as if he’s already disappointed in me. Leaning his hand against the door of my car, I hear his wedding ring scrape against the metal, messing up my paint job. No fucking respect at all. “Dexter. You’re two hours late.”
