Memoirs: Epiphany

For my 217 class we are discussing Epiphany Writing.

The point of this assignment is to tell a story where a realization is made at the end.
This is the unedited version of what I'm putting together thus far:

When I first arrived to find an unfamiliar car parked out front I didn't think anything of it. Until I reached the front door and found lights on I had not recalled leaving on. I thought maybe he got up and turned them on, but he usually isn't one to turn on too many lights in the morning. As I entered the living room I could hear water running in the bathroom.  I could see the lights were still off in the bedroom and but there was a glow from the bathroom light.  There was a pair of purple shorts folded neatly on the arm of the sofa.  Then there was her. A girl with dirty blonde hair bangs swept to one side with a toothbrush in her mouth came out and shook my hand. Startled.  I did not know what to do or say. She proceeded to say "My name is Natalya and you are?" I told her my name. She told me he was still sleeping then attempted to call him saying, "there's a girl here" Of course he didn't dare to get up.  I took a peek into his room to see him asleep exactly how I had left him.

I had then asked her, "so how long have you known him?" She said "Oh about a month." How curious I was at this, she asked me the same with shame and regret I said "about eight months." She grabbed her things and said "I don't have time for this." She left. I stood there, not knowing what to do. How to feel. What to think.  And then..he emerged hair wild and everywhere, in his boxer briefs holding a pillow against his waist and a smirk on his face.I could not find the words at that particular moment for the feeling inside of me.  I just stood there looking at him and he just was looking at me with a "pretending to be sleepy-ish" look on his face.  All I knew was that the day was already planned and we had things to do and that I would choose not confront anything for the time being.

He knew we had things to go do so he proceeded to get dressed but first..a heineken. At 10 something in the morning.  And the drinking continued.  His drinking habits always tipped me off when something was up or bothering him.  I assumed it was this mornings incident that had him started so early.  Then 2-11 steel reserves.  We had to go to Arrowhead mall that day which was much farther than I expected.  By the time we arrived he was drunk.  Yelling and acting belligerent. We were walking past a sunglasses kiosk, the employee was around on the other side he casually put a pair on and kept walking.  There was a kiosk in the food court selling "splat backs" the very item he sold in our mall, he thought it would be funny to make a mockery of the guys selling them there by telling them about the product and how to use it.  After the fun was had I wanted to go have a "sit down" meal.  I always love "sit down" meals.  We went to Chevy's.  He was acting a fool. Screaming and laying sideways in the booth.  Just acting like a big child. We continued the rest of the day as planned. When it was time to head back I told him to go to sleep.  I was tired of his drunk rambling.  It was a long drive back.  He had left a song on repeat and I could not get to my ipod while driving so it just played. Over and over.

That evening I began to drink.  His cousins saw me finish the drink I had and urged me to drink more because it was only 7pm and so I did.  I remember being outside in the parking lot pushing him.  Angrily pushing him. Funny thing was now he was sober and I wasn't. We went inside and he started cooking.  I remember crying and being so upset thinking about my morning discovery.  He stood there while the meat cooked and just looked at me, spatula in hand. Sobbing. I remember how hard I was crying. And how ashamed I felt to be crying like this in front of him.  He then wrapped his arms around me.  Coaxing me to stop crying.  What was this? The person who had hurt me was the one comforting me.  It made no sense but at the time was what I needed to feel okay.