Chapter 12: Welcome Back

The sound of retching echoed through the bathroom walls.

Theo stared helplessly at the back of her neck.

He stood behind the toilet, one hand gently massaged her back, while the other held up her ponytail. Her face was pressed up against the cold porcelain. She leaned over the bowl, her face sickly and pale. Drool ran down her chin.

The scent of alcohol intermixed with the stench of bile. Theo unconsciously wriggled his nose, while she lurched forward and vomited. After a few seconds, she sputtered out a wheezy cough and tilted her neck back. She stared up at him with hazy eyes.

“Theo, you… you… when did you—” Just as she was talking, her cheeks suddenly inflated. Half a second later, she was once again hovering over the toilet bowl, the sound of her vomiting reverberating loudly through his ears.

“Alright Aunt Lynn, don’t say anything now. Just get it out of your system first.” He stated, as he gently massaged the knot in her shoulders. He didn’t know whether she had heard him or not, but that didn’t really matter. A weary sigh leaked out from his parted lips.

I also have to clean up the mess on the front porch after this… He briefly thought to himself, as he looked over at his distressed aunt.

It’s been so long that Theo almost completely forgot, but living with his aunt was never easy. She was a handful in more ways than one, but… for all the trouble that she caused him, he did not really mind.

Plus, it wasn’t as if she went out of her way to make life difficult for him. This was just normal for her. Lynda Nighting; the kind relative and the raging alcoholic.

In retrospect, their relationship wasn’t as clear-cut as simply calling them aunt and nephew. The two looked strikingly similar, enough to pass for siblings, but truthfully, the two were actually unrelated.

Lynn was originally the younger sister of Theo’s now deceased step-mother. Over the years, he grew accustomed to calling her ‘Auntie’ or ‘Aunt Lynn’, but in reality, he treated her more like a big sister than anything else. Besides, their age difference only consisted of five years. Theo had trouble viewing someone like that as part of the older generation, especially when said someone grew up right next to him.

Since his earliest memories, he’s lived under the same roof as her.

Lynn’s parents died when she was ten. Since then, she went on to live with her considerably older sister, who at the time, also happened to be Theo’s step mother. Basically, she became the fourth member of a three-person family.

As for Theo himself, his real mother died shortly after giving birth to him and his father remarried when he was four. Not even a year after he got a new mother, some strange older girl suddenly started living with him. Having grown up together like that, even if they weren’t really blood-related, the two possessed a relationship even closer than actual relatives.

No, it was even more than that.

Although the two were already pretty close during their childhood, it was only after the accident that their relationship truly transformed into what it was today.

Five years ago, Theo’s parents died in a maritime accident.

It was their anniversary. The two traveled all the way to the east coast, arguably the country’s biggest tourist destination. They were supposed to go sailing around the nearby islands, a rather popular activity within the area. Unfortunately, they met with misfortune. Their ship got caught in a massive freak thunderstorm.

Even after the coast guard sent out search parties, they never did find them; only the remnants of a destroyed sailing boat.

With nobody to lean on but each other, it was only natural for Theo and Lynn to grow closer.

Actually, he found it kind of funny. Shortly after the accident, Lynn started putting on this sort of motherly persona. Maybe she was just trying to comfort him in her own special way, but… it didn’t work. Her actual status was that of an aunt, but Theo normally treated her like a sister. The change was simply too jarring for him to handle, especially with all of her various hiccups and personal quirks.

That was especially the case for her alcohol problem.

Theo shook his head, but inwardly, he felt a bit guilty.

Lynn tended to drink whenever she was under a lot of stress, anxiety or some other kind of emotional distress. In fact, the first time she drank in such a way was on the night of the funeral.

He couldn’t help but wonder, was her current state due to his absence?

“Why are you he—” She tried to speak, but her attempt was interrupted by another round of dry heaving.

“When did you—”

“Where di—”

No matter how often she tried starting up a conversation or attempted to ask one of the millions of questions jiggling around in that head of hers, she would always interrupt herself.

“Just get it out of your system first and then we can talk.” Theo consoled.

Her chin was covered in a mixture of sweat and saliva. Her originally beautiful appearance had been smudged out and replaced for the one currently in front of him.

“But I—” Just as she was about to protest, something rose from the back of her throat, and Lynn was once again hunched over the toilet bowl. After a few seconds, she finally nodded her head. “Alright, I’ll wait…” was all she could muster out, before her head slumped down onto the cold porcelain.

Theo sighed once more, his breath lingering in the room like stale perfume.

****

After twenty minutes passed, Theo cleaned her face up with a towel, before he helped her out of the bathroom. Lynn’s arm was draped over his shoulders, while her feet dragged along the floor.

He practically carried her over to the living room.

Along the way, he asked, “Have you been drinking outside again?”

Lynn, whose face was practically pressed against his neck, quickly shook her head. “No, aren’t I inside now?”

“I mean, do you go out drinking a lot.”

“I drink a lot, yes.”

He found her surprisingly stable for a drunk person. At the very least, she was still able to talk in coherent sentences.

“But do you drink outside?”

“Nuh-uh.” She paused for a moment, before she suddenly twisted her waist and threw her arms around Theo’s neck. For a moment, he almost lost balance. Luckily, he was able to stabilize himself at the last second. He shifted his grip and supported Lynn by her waist. Their bodies were intimately pressed together.

“Someone told me that I can’t go outside drinking, so I didn’t.” She purred out like a drunken street cat. She lifted her head up and brought her lips close to his ears. “Even though you were gone, I still did what you asked. Aren’t I such a good girl?”

Hearing her words, and feeling the hot breath of airbrush up against his skin, Theo involuntarily shivered. This was something he noticed a lot, but when she was drunk, Lynn tended to act a bit unrestrained. Calling her childish wasn’t quite right, but it was something similar.

Sometimes, he wondered if she really was the older one and not the other way around.

If it was the him from before, Theo would have just brushed aside such comments, but the current him had changed. He decided to play along.

His grip around her waist tightened. One of his arms snaked its way to her thighs, and before she could react, Theo suddenly lifted her up. He held her in what was essentially a princess-carry.

Although his current body wasn’t all that strong, luckily, Lynn was a light girl. With a half-smile on his lips, he looked her directly in the eyes and asked, “Then, what does a good girl like you want?”

“I…”

She was a bit dazed, caught off guard by the way he was acting. The Theo she knew wasn’t unreceptive to her teasing, but rather, the way he reacted to it was a bit different. Usually, his face would redden, or he would stutter something incomprehensible, before making a hasty retreat. Now, although she could still see the redness in his cheeks, he was a bit more confident, and had developed quite a glib tongue.

Still, for all of her thoughts and emotions, she did not dislike the change.

For a moment, she did not know how to respond. Seeing her blank face, Theo’s cheeks reddened. Saying something like that was a lot more embarrassing than he originally expected. When the target of such a comment remained silent, he grew even more flustered.

The shift in Theo’s expression brought Lynn back to her senses. She let out a laugh, before she lightly kissed his cheek. “To think that you actually have the guts to say something like that. This Aunt of yours is even more curious, just what exactly happened to you?”

Theo let out a dry cough, as he looked over at Lynn with an aggrieved expression. “Let’s talk about that after we get to the living room, alright?”

Instead of responding, she simply giggled.

“Alright, then get down so we can—”

Theo remembered that he was still holding her in such an intimate pose, and reflexively wanted to let her down. Unfortunately, just as he was about to loosen his grip, Lynn suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and vehemently shook her head.

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“No way! You were the one who thought it was a good idea to carry me like this, so stick with it through the end! Didn’t I teach you it’s important to take responsibility for your actions? Take responsibility for me!”

“But Auntie, your heavy.” He begrudgingly complained. While Theo was able to carry her temporarily in his arms, he couldn’t do it indefinitely. What’s more, actually walking around with her like this was another challenge in of itself.

Still, no matter how much he complained, Aunt Lynn would not listen. Left with no other choice, he gritted his teeth and carried this clingy drunk of an aunt all the way to the living room.

After what felt like a painstakingly long eternity, he finally placed her down onto the couch and wiped the sweat off his brow. He took a moment to catch his breath, before his eyes scanned through his surroundings.

The first thing he noticed was the mess. Empty wine bottles and beer cans littered the floor, while glasses of whiskey, scotch, and other hard liquors covered the coffee table.

He shook his head. “These aren’t all from today, are they?”

Lynn snorted in response. “Do you think this little aunt of yours is a god? If it was all from today, then I’d be long dead from alcohol poisoning.”

“No, well, this place is just… it’s a whole lot messier than I remember.”

“That’s because a certain someone wasn’t here to clean it all up.” She spoke provokingly. “Plus, I’ve been busy. Work and… personal issues. The loss of a relative is a pretty heavy thing to deal with, you know?”

She tilted her neck up and smiled at Theo, her eyes hinting at the hidden meaning beneath her words.

Theo could only scratch his head awkwardly. He did not dare refute her.

He shifted his gaze and stared at the quilt blanket strewn across the couch. For a moment, he frowned. “Have you been sleeping in the living room?”

“Huh?” She stared blankly at him for a second, before she looked over and saw the blanket. “Oh, yeah. I have. This is your blanket by the way, I love how it smells.” She sniffed the blanket as if to prove her point. Lynn tilted her head and frowned. “That’s weird, it only smells like alcohol…”

Theo directly ignored her mumblings and asked, “What’s wrong with your room?”

“Well, my room’s um, it’s no good.” She responded incoherently. “You get it right? It’s uninhabitable, like a desert or a trash heap.”

Theo was quite curious as to why she would say something like that, but right now, he had something else he wanted to say to her.

“Well that’s fine, but you really do have to stop drinking so excessively. Imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t come home today.”

“Same thing that always happens. I pass out on the couch and wake up in the morning. What are you so worried about? It’s not like it’s my first time drinking.” She patted her chest self-assuredly.

This woman can argue so well, is she really drunk?

Theo’s left eyelid twitched, before he let out a sigh.

She liked drinking. She liked drinking a lot. It was to the point, where every time she went out to drink, she would always, always go overboard. Lynn was the type of person to not know restraint.

Luckily, she doesn’t drink often.

Even she had some self-awareness of how bad of a drunk she was. As far as Theo knows, she only drank whenever she was under a lot of stress, or feeling anxious. She used her reckless, without-restraint drinking in order to relax and calm her nerves. Usually, these binge sessions of hers happened once every three months or so.

Because she a would always end up in such a vulnerable and unstable state, it’s become an unspoken role between the two of them that she was only allowed to drink at home, and while he was present. It was during times like this that the position of guardian switched between the two of them.

He let out another sigh, before he went into the kitchen, pulled out a garbage bag, and started collecting the empty bottles and crushed beer cans. All the while, he asked, “Shouldn’t you go to sleep soon? It’s a Friday today, right? Don’t you have work on Saturdays?”

Lynn worked as a trainer at a nearby fitness gym. Her job was the main reason why she was able to keep fit. Lynn was quite popular. On top of being beautiful, she was the poster girl for the gym. It was no coincidence that her working hours corresponded with the gym’s busiest times.

“Job?” She tilted her head for a moment, before laughed. “Oh, I quit that a long time ago.”

“Quit? Why? For what reason?” He asked in confusion.

She let out another chuckle. “There’s still a lot you don’t know.”

Theo frowned. I’d know it if you actually explained it.

Lynn paused for a moment. She stared into Theo’s eyes, before she broke out into a huge grin. “I did it.” She said. “Theo, I finally did it.”

“You did it?” It took him a moment to understand what she meant, but after seeing the sort of happy expression scribbled all over her drunken face, it clicked. “Really? Did you really do it?”

She vigorously nodded her head. “Let me tell you, Theo, nothing feels better than achieving your dream.”

It was that. A dream. Her dream. Ever since she was a student, ever since she was a child, she had that sort of dream. She talked about it a lot too. How she was one day going to take the leap and finally do it, but… whenever she spoke of her dream, it was always in the future tense. Her words were always filled with somedays and eventuallys, but today was different.

“You actually did it!” Theo couldn’t hold back any longer and rushed over to hug her. At first, she was caught off guard, before a boisterous laughter echoed through his ears.

“I actually did it!” She replied back.

After a while, the two eventually separated. He sat next to her on the couch, and couldn’t help but ask once more, “So, you’re finally an author?”

“That’s right, that’s right. I told you I could do it.” She smiled with that trademark drunken smile of hers. “Heh, I’m not just some little old gym instructor anymore. I’m a real-life, honest-to-god author getting paid the big bucks. I’m also pretty popular too, hehe.”

“Then, let me read it.” Of course, he had to read it. Why wouldn’t he read it?

“Huh?”

“Your debut book, let me read it right away.”

“Yeah, sure. Hehe, I’ll get you a cop—” She abruptly stopped. For a moment, a rare trace of sobriety flashed through her eyes. She seriously looked at Theo for a long while, before she resolutely shook her head. “You can’t look at it. There’s no way I’ll let you look at it.”

“Eh?” Theo widened his eyes in surprise.

What’s with her sudden change in attitude?

“Come on, what’s with you? Let me see your precious first debut, Auntie. Don’t you know, your dreams are also my dreams. It’s only natural that I share in your glory.” What he said was the truth. Right now, he felt genuinely happy for her, as if her achievement was his own.

“No!” She shouted back. “Idiot. Theo, you idiot, I’ll never show it to you. If you have the ability, go look for it yourself.”

“Then, maybe I will go look for it myself.” He responded back with confused, furrowed brows.

Lynn’s face morphed into a drunken sneer. “Idiot, even if you do, you’ll never find it. I used a pseudonym.”

“Then tell me the pseudonym.”

“If I told you, then it would be the same as letting you read it.”

“At least tell me the name of the book.”

“No way, you think just because I’m drunk, that I’ll turn into an idiot? I’ll never tell you.” She spoke in a drunken slur, before she suddenly leaped over and hid underneath the blanket.

Staring at her wriggling form, Theo couldn’t help but wonder. What sort of thing was she hiding? Don’t tell me she’s writing something she can’t openly share? Could it be smut? Is that why she’s so secretive?

Peeking in from underneath the blanket, she saw the sort of expression on Theo’s face. Lynn could only guess as to what wild fantasies filled that head of his. She did not want Theo to delve any deeper into the topic, so she reached out a hand and forcibly pulled Theo under the blanket.

For a while, the two struggled with one another. Lynn bit Theo like a rabid dog. It did not hurt, but it certainly did leave a few marks on his body. Of course, this wasn’t anything new. During her especially bad sessions, Lynn was prone to biting.

Theo resisted against her relentless assault, while Lynn did her best to distract him.

Eventually, the two somehow ended up falling off the couch. They had long since discarded the blanket. Despite the chill of the AC, Theo felt hot. His back was sweating and he was a bit out of breath. He let out a bitter smile and limply accepted his defeat.

She’s a lot softer than I remember… Such a thought floated to his head.

Theo’s heart thumped erratically, while a cold sweat dripped down the side of his cheek. He greedily gulped down mouthfuls of air and exhaled out loud bellowing sighs. As he slowly regained his calm, Theo was suddenly aware of how ambiguous their current position appeared.

The two of them were practically pressed against one another. Right now, they were no more than a mass of limbs and torsos.

The back of his head rested on top of her chest. Soft and inviting, plump and amiable. He felt as if he was floating on a swollen cloud of physical happiness. Of course, that was just an exaggeration, but he was indeed feeling a bit joyful. Lynn’s chin rested on the crown of his skull, sort of like how a puppy holds its favorite tennis ball within its jaws. She had her arms wrapped around his neck, not in a way that hurt or suffocated, but just firm enough to keep him from moving.

She held him tightly, intent on never letting go.

Theo was suddenly brought back to his childhood, back to the time when his parents first died.

She used to hold me like this too…

Warmth, comfort, and the undeniable feeling of security, those were things that he could only reminisce and dream about. Today, he had felt those faraway emotions not once, but twice. Once with Shirley, and now with Lynn.

“You know, these past few months should have been the best time of my life.” She whispered softly. From this distance, he could smell the alcohol in her breath. “I finally accomplished my dream. I got away from that place, filled with all those wandering eyes. My book turned out to be quite popular. I finally bought that really expensive brand of liquor that I’ve always wanted… I was supposed to be happy, but I’m not. I wasn’t. You know why, right?”

Her question lingered in the air. He wanted to answer, but he hesitated.

“There was one person missing.” She eventually continued. “During my happiest moment in life, one important person was suddenly gone.”

After a brief pause, Theo mumbled out, “I’m sorry…”

“Will you tell me where you went?” She asked.

“Even if I tell you now, you won’t believe it.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“You really won’t believe it.”

“Then do something to make me believe.”

“I… I will. Just wait a few days.”

A long silence. Neither one of them spoke. The only thing he could hear was the sound of breathing; her breathing. After a while, Theo felt her body slightly shift.

“Alright.” She whispered. “I’ll wait.”

“You’re awfully understanding,” Theo commented.

“The alcohol does that. If we were having this conversation while I wasn’t drunk, then I’d be a lot more violent.”

“You mean, disagreeable, right?”

“No, violent.” She paused. “Like the leg-breaking kind.”

He let out a hollow laugh. Although he did not think that she would actually do something like that, her threat was all too real. Only he knew just how capable this little aunt of his was.

“I talked to Shirley about it, she was a lot less, um, agreeable than you.” He couldn’t help but say.

“You visited that girley before your precious aunt? You really are an ungrateful child, I thought I raised you better than that!” She exaggeratedly spoke out in a wronged tone, before she slightly tightened her grip around his neck. At the same time, she ground her chin into the crown of his head. Theo grimaced and reflexively wriggled his body in agony.

“Uncle, uncle, I give up!” He frantically called out.

After a few more seconds, the two finally separated. Theo sat up, while Lynn crawled along the ground, looking at the remaining bottles that he had yet to pick up.

As he carefully massaged the crown of his head, he couldn’t help but stare at her with suspicion

“What are you doing now?”

“Looking for something to drink.” She responded lightly. “All that mushy-mushy stuff made me thirsty.”

“You’re doing that even though I just got back?”

“It’s because you just got back that we should drink some more.” She reasoned.

“But you never let me drink,” Theo grumbled.

“Then just watch. I’ll just drink twice the amount tonight!” She laughed happily, as she continued to rummage around the bottles, looking for any that she might have missed the first time around.

Theo let out a helpless sigh, but inwardly, he smiled. It was times like this that he was thankful that Aunt Lynn wasn’t an angry drunk, but a happy one.

Just as he was quietly reminiscing, Lynn suddenly stopped. She sat up and stared blankly at the carpeted floor. “Ah, I can’t drink.”

“What? You have no more alcohol left?”

She shook her head and looked up at him with an expressionless gaze. For a moment, silence, before she suddenly threw an empty wine bottle.

“Hey, what are you doing?!” Theo barely managed to catch the bottle that had been aimed directly at his face.

“I’m just venting my anger.” She answered as she moved to pick another bottle up from the floor. “I’m an angry drunk right now, so accept my anger.”

She threw another bottle.

“What?” He barely avoided the bottle. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“It’s because you came back.”

“Because I came back? What the hell? Aren’t you happy that I came back?” He asked in confusion.

“That’s right, I am happy, but at the same time, I’m not.” She looked at him with a serious expression and seriously asked, “Why did you have to come back today?”

“I don’t understand?”

“I didn’t think it would actually happen. I said it out on a whim, but to think that it would actually happen…” now, she was mumbling to herself.

“Auntie, if you don’t explain it, I won’t understand!”

“I made a promise today. I promised to myself that if you returned today, then I’d stop drinking. Since you actually returned, I can’t drink anymore. So, since that happened, I’m now angry.”

“Ah… well, sorry?” Theo was at a loss for words. He did not know whether to laugh or cry. How was he supposed to know that she made that sort of promise during today of all days?

“Sorry’s not going to cut it!” She once again threw an empty bottle towards him. “At this rate, I’ll never be able to drink again! Take responsibility!”

“That, that seriously has nothing to do with me!” Theo’s aggrieved voice echoed through the house.