Bzzzzt.

Bzzzzt.

Bzzzzt.

The sound of his cell phone vibrating against the hard oak was enough to stir David from his slumber. His eyes look over and he sees a name on the screen. Samantha. He groans as he sits up in bed and sends it directly to voicemail. His conscience proceeds to yell at him, but he simply does what he does best; ignore it. David contemplates returning back to bed and as he looks over, he sees the fire-red hair of Mary-Lynn laying there. As he looks at her, a flood of memories comes back to him of the night past, his loss to Henry Keyes, Mary-Lynn in his locker room, her desire for one last night of drugs.

All it did was remind him of the times gone by, the memories that haunted him now. He screwed up and he screwed up tremendously. David had his chance at happiness, he knew it, and he blew it. Mary-Lynn was that woman for him and he just threw it away like a hamburger wrapper. As he sits there looking at her, he can remember the way she felt against his arms, the softness of her lips. Thankfully, he had been able to resist the urge to take things further, knowing that it would only take them two steps backwards.

David moved his legs to the edge of the bed and he stood up. Slowly, he stretched out, his body feeling the effects of the hellacious battle just hours ago. He took a few steps in his tiny apartment and found the table with a litany of drugs on it. Cocaine, pills, some other stuff that he didn’t know where it came from. Regret starts to creep into his mind and it takes all of his might not to slam his fist against the table. Drugs had ruined him before, had put him in the position he was in now, and if he wasn’t careful, he would lose it all again.

As he walked over the desk, he saw the picture of Alexandria there. David desperately wanted to tell Mary-Lynn last night the truth about Alexandria, the truth as to why he was the way he was. David sat down in a chair and could feel the pain hit him squarely in the face. The truth of the matter was that he was wrecked every single day by a daughter that wasn’t his, trying to drown those very sorrows and not able to do so thus he had to turn to drugs.

David wanted to tell her, but he didn’t want her sympathy. Worse though, he was afraid that he would tell her and she would look at him like he was pathetic, like he should have moved on from this so long ago. The truth was, he knew it shouldn’t impact him as much as it has for the last few years, but something was still holding him and he couldn’t let it go for the life of him. Thus, he turned to drugs, the only thing that numbed the pain in his heart.

Bzzzzt.

Samantha left a voicemail. David looked across and still saw Mary-Lynn laying there, her body half covered by the comforter. A smile crept across his face as he saw her tiny frame laying there, wearing a white tanktop and a pair of black panties. In that moment in time, she was so peaceful, happy even, and he would do everything he could to keep her that way. David walked over to his phone and unplugged it before tapping on the voicemail Samantha left. He listened to it much like he did to every single one his sisters left him.

“Hey David. It’s, um, Samantha. It feels weird saying that, as if you may have forgotten about me or the way that my voice sounds. I know, ridiculous, but at the same time, what else am I supposed to think after all of these years. I don’t even know why I’m calling you. Well, I guess I do actually. I’ve been drinking. Surprise, your baby sister can drink now. Legally, anyways. I learned from the best, you would be proud of me. Anyways, if you decide that you still love us, call me. Because, well, fuck it, I miss you like crazy and I could use my big brother. We all could. I love you,” her sweet voice extolled.

He put the phone down on the table and the tears started to flood out of him. He was so tired of letting the people he loved down; tired of disappointing the people he cared the most about. David walked away from the bed and towards the table with the drugs on it. He grabbed as much of it as he could and tossed it into the trashcan. Furiously, David opened the door to a small cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels and took the top off. He started to pour it down the drain, but then stopped and took a swig from it before he emptied the rest.

This was the moment he wanted, no needed. The chance to make change, to start over, to let go of the past. As David looked across the way, he knew he had to make this change or else he would lose everyone forever. He couldn’t live with that reality.

David walked back over to the bed and wrapped his arms around Mary-Lynn who pushed into him, finding comfort in his embrace.

“I’m going to change Mary-Lynn… I’m going to change,” he whispered to the sleeping woman, knowing he couldn’t hear her. That was fine to David though, words were just that.

His actions would speak volumes.

More Propaganda | View David Noble's Biography