Part 2

Context: It's Christmas Eve and your family and your husband's family are together, at long last, and getting along! It seems like an honestly perfect evening... until your husband asks you a single question. A question that has made you wonder about your marriage to your high school sweetheart and if it has a future... or not.

Setting: Home - Listener's Parents

Tags:[MM4A][Intensely Stupid Husband Speaker][Overprotective Brother Speaker][Heartbroken Listener][Highschool Sweethearts][Drama][Angst/Hurt][Open Marriage?][Christmas Script][Family Drama][TW: Mentions of Abuse/Dysfunction/Addiction]

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Note: I heard the "He's a useless man" meme song in my head about seventy-four times writing this

[K] = Ky, your useless ass husband

[J] = Jack, your protective big bro

[Scene opens at your parent’s home]

[SFX: General Christmas party ambiance/dishes being done]

[It’s Christmas Eve and you, your family, your husband, and his family have just finished supper. You’ve offered to do the dishes with your hubby while your brother finishes setting up furniture]

[Pause <3]

[K] “Heh, Merry Christmas to you, too… Almost a decade together, huh?”

[Pause <3]

[He gives you a kiss on the cheek and you laugh. You couldn’t imagine a nicer evening]

[Pause?]

[K] “...Yes, Jack and I are getting along… Even though he makes it damned near impossible…”

[Pause…]

[Your husband frowns]

[K] “I know you’re close with your adopted brother-”.

[Pause.]

[He sighs]

[K] “Sorry. Just ‘brother’. I get that you two are close after everything you went through together, but he was an addict, hon. He put you through Hell and back, and he hates my guts! He acts like I’m not good enough for you…”

[SFX: Plates being put up]

[Pause…]

[K] “We’ve dated since we were in high school… He acted like I was the scum of the Earth for dating Chelsea before you.”

[...]

[He sighs again]

[K] “Actually, that made me remember something I wanted to bring up to you… Would you ever, maybe, consider opening up our marriage?”

[SFX: A plate shattering]

[His words hit you so hard that you drop every single plate in your hands in stunned silence. He jumps a bit, eyes wide as his parents, your parents, and your older brother run in]

[J] “What happened?!”

[K] “I spooked them by accident… My bad, I’ll help pick up…”

[You brother stares him down and then looks to you]

[J] “Yeah, uh-huh. What really happened, PJ?”

[...]

[J] “What do you mean, ‘Apparently your own husband isn’t happy with just you’?”

[You watch your husband squirm and writhe on the spot and… don’t care]

[Pause.]

[He back pedals so hard you’re surprised he doesn’t do a backflip]

[K] “No, no, no! I AM happy with you, I promise! It’s just… You know, you weren’t my first pick and I figured, if we opened our marriage up, I could get over that resentment, you know??”

[...]

[SFX: The music and chatter dying harder than Batman’s parents]

[Your entire family… HIS entire family stares at the two of you in abject horror. You know your husband, you know the expression he makes when he realized he’s fucked up]

[...Pause]

[He stares at you, horrified. You stare back at him, broken]

[K] “Baby, wait, I don’t want a divorce, I promise!”

[Pause.]

[K, breathless] “You do…? W-Wait, we can talk about this!”

[He reaches out for you but your brother swoops in like a damned ninja, blocking his path]

[J, growling] “You touch them, you’re a dead man, Ky, you hear me…?”

[K] “Let go, man!”

[The beginnings of a brawl are stirring and, quite frankly, you want nothing to do with it]

[SFX: The Listener calmly leaving the house. Before you go, you hear your brother snap a quick:]

[J] “Good fucking job, asshole-!”

[SFX: The front door shutting calmly and the Listener walking away into the snow]

[Pause]

[You walk… or, your body does, rather. Your mind doesn’t really respond as it writhes and screams and shoots agony through your chest like you haven’t felt in years]

[SFX: Walking in the snow - VA’s discretion on the [Pause] length]

[You walk and walk, eventually veering toward the creek you grew up near. The snow must be severe because the normally meek trickle of it sounds like a stampede of angry lions]

[SFX: Rushing water, gradually getting louder/footsteps and a truck gradually rolling up through the snow]

[...]

[Why is the creek so loud?]

[SFX: More footsteps]

[...]

[Why does it sound like someone is shouting after you at this time of night…?]

[SFX: More footsteps, joined by a new set of desperate boots running through the snow]

[...]

[Why weren’t you good enough for him?]

[...]

[J] “PJ! HEY!!!”

[Pause???]

[How fast he’s running startles you. There’s a desperation in it that’s terrifying]

[J] “DON’T MOVE!”

[He grabs you around the arm and yanks you back. You yelp, alarmed:]

[Pause???]

[Your brother looks at you, terrified and panting for air

[J] “What? No! Your stupid, piece-of-shit husband is fine! Don’t you realize what was about to happen?!!?”

[...]

[SFX: The sound of powerful, rushing water]

[J] “...That’s not the creek, PJ… You were about to walk into the river, in the dead of Winter…”

[...]

[He holds you tightly as it sinks in. What was about to happen... At long last, you’re allowed to break down and cry]

[J] “Shh… C’mon, come back to the truck with me… You’re freezing cold…”

[...]

[SFX: The two of them meandering back to his truck/the doors opening and shutting]

[...Pause?]

[J] “What happened after you walked out? Well… Do you remember that one time Mom lost her cool? Literally, the one time we saw her freak out? It was the time that Dad finally realized he was in the wrong… It was that powerful…”

[Pause…]

[J] “Hoho, yeah… She RUINED your dumb hubby. When his dad tried to jump in, Mom dressed him down so much that HE started sobbing like a little boy. His mom tried to pull the usual shit in the interim and Dad simply told her that he wasn’t afraid to taze a woman, crazy or not. She shut up real fast when she remembered he was an ex-police captain. Ky just sobbed and sobbed, pleading and begging and groveling…”

[Pause…]

[J] “...You know I’ve never liked the guy, so I am biased in saying this. Heavily so… He didn’t settle for you, he got extraordinarily lucky with you… But you absolutely settled for his sorry ass.”

[...]

[J] “I am NOT being mean. I’m asking you, my younger sibling, who has fought through Hell and back with me, to ask yourself a question. What does he bring to this relationship? Sure, he works, but you make twice what he does. You’re a respected member of the community and he’s the embarrassment that forces you to explain to others why your husband is such a judgmental prick…”

[...]

[J] “...He knows you know this, too. That’s why he’s insecure. Why he has his dumb fuck parents bully you so often. To keep you feeling like you need him, like you can’t do better… Do you know how many times people have asked me if you’re single? How many MEN, WOMEN and all the stuff outside and in-between have asked me if you were single? The look on their faces when I told them who you married? They felt bad for you… Why won’t you just let him go?”

[Pause.]

[J] “... You really want to open your marriage up… and you don’t think that’s going to cause you pain?”

[Pause.]

[Your brother’s eyes widen and he gives you a devious smile]

[J] “...True… If so many people have asked about you… then maybe you can have some fun, too… Maybe you can find someone to fill the ‘Number One’ spot for you, seeing as it’s been vacated? Ooooh, I love how evil you are, sometimes! Hehe…”

[...?]

[He eases a little, offering you a thermos of coffee]

[J] “I do respect you, still… When I was an addict, when… I was the golden child and we were all struggling, you came to bat for me every time. Your heart is a good one, PJ… but not everyone is deserving of it, you know? I still don’t feel like I was… I was just a jealous, mean adopted brother who made everyone miserable, but you still treated me like I was your big brother and you were happy to have me in your home with you.”

[SFX: Delicious, delicious coffee being sipped and an old car heater rattling]

[...Pause]

[J] “Oh, shut up… Love you, too, even if you have terrible taste in men.”

[Pause <3]

[He grins a little]

[J] “Hey! I don’t count, I’m a brother, not a man!”

[Pause?]

[J, teasing] “Moms aren’t women, they’re moms. Everyone knows that, dummy.”

[Pause <3]

[He laughs and you give each other an awkward, truck-abated side-hug]

[J] “The idiots have probably fled by now, assuming they’re still alive. When I went to come find you, your phone was already blowing up so… good luck with that. C’mon, Mom and Dad are worried sick, we should get back.”

[SFX: An old truck miraculously turning over and on]

[Pause <3]

[J] “Yeah… You’re welcome, PJ. C’mon, let’s go home.”

[SFX: Fade out on the truck crunching through the snow]

[To be continued]

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Note: Wanna see me torture a bad husband for a whole series? WANNA SEE ME DO IT AGAIN???