Mark changes his clothes that are fitting for the home and goes downstairs towards the kitchen. He arrives at the kitchen and meets a greeting from his father.

“Ohh, hello kiddoo. How’ss schoool todayy?”

Mark looks at him and sees him looking elsewhere, without focus. He’s in a daze as a drunk would, but he keeps on chugging the bottle of beer. Mark is saddened by this and tries to restrain his emotions in front of his dad.

“I’m fine, dad. We don’t have school today, not until a couple of weeks,” Mark starts to smile telling his dad how his day has been. “We only went to Sam’s house in the morning. And by noon we ate barbeque chicken wings and pancit, it’s delicious. Finally, in the afternoon, we had a basketball practice. And there’s this one kid who is a seventh-grader who is six-foot-nine, dad. He can shoot, dribble, and pass, virtually he can do anything in the court. I’m sure we’ll win the tournament championship this time.”

George, his father, jolts slightly back with a smile, “Woww, kiddo. You reaaally had a WONderful day todayyy. I wishhh… I wishhh that could be saiiid with miiine.” And that, he chugs another one from the bottle.

For a moment, there is silence between them. Partly because Mark is thinking of having a conversation concerning his dad’s habit.

‘Should I tell him the elephant in the room?’ he thinks. ‘I should.’

“Hey, dad?”

“Yeaah, kiddo. Youu want moneyyy? Heere, I’ll give you sooome.”

“No, that’s not what I meant, dad,” Mark pauses. “I… I want to talk about your alcoholism.”

And immediately, George’s gaze falls on him and gradually his smile grows bigger into laughter. He cannot control himself from laughter, so much so that he puts the bottle on the table and maniacally laughs from where he’s sitting. Eventually, he calms down and points at his son.

“LIISTEN, youu pathheetic foolll. You stayy out of myy BIZZZness, I can doo what Iii want to do because God is deaaad.”

“Dad, you’re destroying yourself.”

“I DOON’T CAAAAREE!!! GET OUTTA MY FACE!!!” George stands and wobbles until he falls to the ground.

Mark rushes towards him to help him get up, “Dad, are you ok?”

But George swats away Mark’s hands as he tries to help his father.

“Iii don’t neeeed your SYMpathyy or eeven HEELP,” George says while laying down on the floor. “It’ss your God’sss fauult, heee let yourr MOTHERR DIIEEEE!!”

Mark is just silent but eventually he speaks up, “Dad… don’t you miss God?”

For a moment, Mark sees in his father’s eyes the broken soul that he has been. But it soon is gone when anger and bitterness overtake him.

“I doon’t misss your God, he took EEEVERYTHING fromm mee. EEEEVERYTHING! What maaakes you think I misss himm?”

And by that, George struggles to get up and on his feet. He staggers away from the kitchen towards the stairs. He stops in his tracks and gives his son a slight glance.

“Ooh. I’vve cooked youu some dinnerr. Eaat up, Kiddoo,” George staggers away and up the stairs one step at a time.

Mark looks at the food his father cooked.

‘Buttered Chicken, just as Ma would cook it.’

He gazes at it pensively but immediately he gets a plate and a spoon. He scoops up some rice and sits on a chair by the table. He grabs a piece of chicken and puts it on his plate. He just stares at his food for quite a while, he neither touches nor moves his food. He then closes his eyes and bows his head.

“Lord Jesus, thank you for the food you’ve given me today.”

But suddenly, there is a tug at Mark’s heart and a voice says to him, “Pray for your father to be saved.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Mark’s heart is squeezed so much so that tears stream down his face.

“Lord God, please save my father. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. Guide my father, Lord. Lead him back to you. He’s hurting, Lord. Heal his heart and show him your love. Please show him that you have taken care of Ma in Heaven so that Dad would not hurt himself for something he couldn’t control. Lord Jesus… please… save him.”

And by that he sobs horrendously while suppressing his voice, crushing his heart even more.

The night is cold

And a heart is torn

The loss of a parent

The other’s absence

His hope is in the Lord

The Lord of the horde

Who makes kingdoms fall

And answers his people’s call

His hope is not in vain

For sin he refrains

His faithfulness attracts

The Lord’s glorious acts

Nobody knows when

The Lord would send

A bountiful favor

For the glory of the Savior

And so concludes the night of sorrow and hope. Mark sleeps peacefully through the night, leaving all at the feet of the Savior.

At the dawn of the morning, Mark wakes up and kneels down by the side of his bed.

“Thank you, Lord, for this day. Give me grace to live for your glory today,” and then he prays the Lord’s prayer.

He gears himself up to jog with a Manjaru pair of shoes, basketball shorts, and a white T-shirt. He also brings along with him a black sling bag so that he can put his phone in it to play some music.

He gets out of his room, down the stairs, and out of the house. He stretches first before he jogs. He then plays a song in his playlist and starts his timer. He walks first before the timer tells him it’s time to jog.

‘What a wonderful time to jog. So quiet and peaceful, few vehicles ever pass by at this hour.’

Mark’s timer signals to him to jog and he jogs.

Fresh is the morning air

He remembers the maiden fair

Whose heart is not his

Who makes his heart fizz

His jog allows him to forget

That she already has her heart set

To whom he’s indebted

For the sport of the basket

He wants the maiden fair

But it should be fair and square

She can’t let him go easily

Whose heart she loudly screams

If it is the will of God

If the Lord would gladly nod

She will be his for the taking

But if not, then God must be lying

The sun has risen and Mark comes back from his jog. He sets a timer so that he can bathe after he takes a rest. He enters their house and smells food. He goes to the kitchen and sees his father cooking spring rolls or lumpia’ in Filipino.

“Hey, dad.”

His dad turns to him and gives him a smile with a hint of weariness in his eyes, “Oh. Hello, kiddo. I see that you jogged, how far did you jog?”

Mark smiles back and says, “I jogged as far back as Looc, dad. It’s good to keep my body exercised, I feel refreshed.”

“Wow, that’s pretty far. That’s good, kiddo. Keep your body healthy and you’ll have a better future ahead of you.”

Mark looks at the ground and then at his dad, “Dad, don’t you want to be healthy? I mean, would you give up alcohol? I’m worried about you, dad.”

His dad smiles at him, “I know you’re concerned for me, Mark. I always do. But this is my decision.”

“Dad, why would you destroy your body?”

“I don’t like to blame, kiddo, but this is because of God. If he would just not give me the dream he gave me that your Ma would be well, I wouldn’t have to destroy myself.”

“But don’t you hear what Pastor John said? Maybe it’s not in this world she would be healed, maybe she would be healed in the next life, dad.”

George sighs, “I don’t know what to think anymore, kiddo. Deep in my heart at that time is convinced that she would be healed in this world, I think God lies sometimes, kiddo.”

Silence falls over the kitchen with only the frying of the spring rolls interfering with it. They don’t look at each other eye to eye and George resumes to his cooking.

“I’ll just drive you to the church,” George says. “I’ll wait outside.”

“Ok, dad.” Mark goes to his room and rests for a while.

He first changes his clothes to a cleaner one and then he rests. During his rest, he reads his Bible on his phone.

‘Let’s do Psalms, in where I last read from it.’

He taps his phone to the book of Psalms Chapter 12. He reads the word of God carefully and attentively while playing a voiceover of it. There would be times when he can’t catch up to the voiceover so he pauses it and reads the words which he’s left behind. And then he would play the voiceover again when he catches up to it. After he reads the whole chapter, he reads it for the second time, making sure he understands every word and meaning. Now he may not understand it the second time, and that’s when he leaves it to God to reveal to him the words. After reading the chapter again, he reflects on what he had just read. Looking at the verse that stands out to him.

“The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times. Wow, I never thought it that way. I guess the Bible is more than a book written by man, but it is also inspired by God.”

He puts down his phone and lays down on his bed with his feet hanging by the side of it. His timer sets off and he goes to the bathroom to take a bath.

He bathes in cold water, perfect for his warm body to cool off. After he bathes, he goes to his room. He lays on the bed again with his feet hanging by the side of it. Just as he lays down, his father knocks on the door.

“Come in,” Mark says.

George opens the door, “Kiddo, breakfast is ready.”

“Yeah, dad.”

And by that, his father closes the door and leaves.

‘Just as we were talking downstairs, his eyes were weary. That must be a hangover, I hope God would change his heart. If Ma was here, he wouldn’t be doing this to himself. But God is sovereign, He can do what he wants.’

Mark sighs, “God will take care of it. And I… have to take care of my stomach.”