Daylight

As the sun came up John could feel his pain coming in full force, it had been bad last night but this morning he was no longer drunk. To make matters even worse he was hungover, badly. And to top it all off he was still covered with the piss of his attackers.

He attempted to get his feet under him and begin walking home, it was a struggle just to get up. He had no idea how he would make it home. Fuck, I need some aspirin he thought to himself.

He leaned up against the brick wall in the alley to check the contents of his pockets, well at least they didn't rob me he thought. I still have the $38.00 I had when I left my house last night. Too bad it smells like piss too. He also had his wallet with his ATM card and a couple of credit cards. Well at least these don't smell 'as badly' he thought to himself in hilarity.

He tried to check his cell phone to get the time, but it was either dead or no longer working after being soaked with piss, it sure smelled like piss.

Oh well, I guess I'll just head home and charge it. Take a shower and some aspirin and find out the time, many birds with one stone he thought.

He began the long walk home, bleeding from many wounds, missing teeth and attracting the stares of many and not in a good way.

Oh well, go ahead and stare you fucks. I don't even care. He thought about how uneventful their lives must be to waste their time staring at him. While in truth, if he seen himself walking down the street he would stare too.

It wasn't a long walk back to his home at 208 Winnie street, but it was hot. Which made the walk even more painful, the sweat running into his open wounds constantly. He had many cuts on his face, his left eye was swollen partially shut and his top lip was a bloody mess. He had a multitude of small cuts and bruises littering his face.

By the time he made it home it was 11 AM. He barely managed to stumble into the door, he walked straight to the fridge and grabbed a beer then swallowed 4 aspirin and chased them down with the beer. He tore off his clothes and walked into the bathroom.

Looking into the mirror he didn't recognize himself, he had 2 front teeth missing, his top lip was just a gnarled mess. Barely even still on his face, ripped in several places by his own teeth and the many heavy blows suffered. His left eye was fully swollen shut at this point, upon opening it with his fingers he could see it was so bloodshot that he couldn't even tell the color of it. He had a gash over his right eye, still bleeding profusely, nearly half an inch wide. Seeing for the first time the damage done to his face by his so-called best friend was devastating. Thinking about his admitted betrayal, how he had manipulated his entire marriage and had screwed up his life so much was enraging. How could he do this to me he thought, was I such a bad guy that I engendered this kind of treatment. From my wife and best friend? How could this happen? Why would this happen?

Those were his thoughts as he poured rubbing alcohol on his head and gargled it in his bloody mouth. "God dammit!" he shouted, "fuck that hurts!" What the fuck he thought, I don't even recognize my own voice anymore. Just one more thing that has changed in my life I guess. He scrubbed his face with a sponge and rubbing alcohol, trying to clean any dirt or leftover urine out of it to avoid infections. He also scrubbed his body and hands and elbows and knees with it in all the places where his flesh was exposed. Then he gargled with rubbing alcohol a second time and brushed his teeth, his mouth felt like it was on fire but he knew it was necessary. He had never been so focused in his entire life, he was a man out for blood. In order to spill that blood he would need to heal properly, recover his strength and train his body. That would take time and careful planning. It would take a plan, a real plan. John Carlton had never been a man who made plans, he usually just lived life as it came to him. It had worked out for his thus far but now he was seeing the fruits of his labor. He didn't like what he seen. So he had began to make a plan, it had started with him walking home.

After taking a shower he made himself a large meal, he had never been much of a cook but he could make a decent steak. He made the biggest ribeye steak he had on his charcoal grill and cooked some vegetables and noodles on the stove in butter. He continued to eat aspirin like they were candy, he sorely needed them. After stuffing himself so full he could barely move he began to drink. He went straight to the freezer and got his bottle of whiskey out and began to drink shot after shot. He was careful not to drink too quickly or to drink so much that he would get sick. He only wanted to make himself pass out. By 4pm he was feeling very lethargic, he stumbled to his bed and managed to put his phone on the charger before passing out.