All you do is sit around all day doing Lord knows what while I break my back for you and the baby!

The sound of my plate crashing into the sink shut me up real quick. My wife braced her hands against the edge of the sink. She held on to it so tightly, so aggressively, that I could clearly see the white of her knuckles.

THE ABSENCE OF LIQUOR BY DEJA-N WILLIAMS 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 34

It broke my heart. Watching her lie in bed like that, wailing and moaning and gulping down any liquor that she could get her hands on. But knowing the reason why she was all crumpled and destroyed, broke my heart the most.

My wife was a vibrant woman. Her personality was polished, and her broad smile stole my heart back when we were eager sophomores in college. The reason we met was because her car caught a flat one dark and stormy afternoon.

I saw her struggling with it, you know, trying to fix it herself and all. I had the intent of helping her and then being on my merry way, but she was all smiles and had no problem with the rain drumming on the top of her pretty little head. I distinctively rem…