Power Games

I head back to my place so pissed off after hearing about what my Uncle did and the fact that this house conveniently fell in my lap just infuriates me so damn much. This was meant to be all about making a second chance for myself and proving that I wasn’t just a self-centered brat. It was something that I was enjoying but hearing what Adam had to say makes me so upset and angry because I was trying to prove to everyone that I wasn’t a “spy” or a “plant” but ultimately, I was.

Going back inside, I slam the door and just get on the bed and cry because, after all the disappointment and anger that I had about losing everything I had in town, it actually felt good to be able to prove to everyone and mostly myself that I could do this and prove everybody so wrong. I look around my room and realise that I was never here to prove myself to my parents and family, I was really here so that my Dad could keep tabs on the town for not just the election but to be damage control for the Keppel name going forward after what my uncle did. I don’t know who knows what but the worst thing is the fact that I was never meant to be here to prove myself but to just be a pawn in the political game that I never wanted to.

I head down into the town and get a bottle of Vodka and crack it open back on the way home because I’m feeling that annoyed and upset that I’m not thinking straight. I drive out to Yellow Peak lookout and just sit on the hood of the car drinking so angry at everything right now. I cry about what I had and what I lost and just learn that it wasn’t what I did that caused all this but it was the fact that my Father needed a spy on Yellow Peak on trying to help his campaign.

I sit there drinking well into the night, my phone going off with Adam calling me to see where I am but I just ignore it because I can’t face him. After all, I know why he is annoyed with my family as well and even though I’m trying to be different, I quickly realise that the stench is going to be around me forever and that every comment about me is going to be right.

The night rolls on and it’s dark and I just sit in the car until a set of headlights comes around the bend and drives away before I see the brake lights come on and the car comes back around the corner and pulls up next to me. I sit there as I see the car pull up right behind mine and see someone get out of the car. My head isn’t in any state to reason with anyone and I don’t want to talk to anyone, I see a big burly guy come towards me in the car “Sac?” I hear the voice say as it walks towards the car.

I turn around and see Danny walking towards me “Sac you alright in there?” I don’t respond as he walks up and taps on the window “Oh hey man, come to join the party” I say trying to grab the vodka bottle but spilling it through the car.

“What the fuck is going on here?” he says to me as he opens the car door and gets me out “You told Adam you’d be back in half an hour and you never came back and when he went inside your stuff was gone,” he says angrily at me because he thinks that I have abused Adam’s trust. “Adam was willing to give you a chance and then you just come out here getting yourself wasted after he promised to help you”.

I sit there “Fuck you Danny and fuck everyone in this town and this fucking whole country… nobody is going to trust me because you were right everyone is right, I am a plant or a spy, I wanted to prove myself but ultimately everything everyone in town has said was right, you were right”. Danny slaps me across my face and grabs my collar “You’re wrong, somebody trusts you… Adam trusts you and he cares about you”. I sit there as he grabs me out of the car and uses his muscles to pick a slim but muscular frame up.

“What are you doing?” I scream out “Just leave me here to go” I start trying to punch Danny in the back “Will you fucking stop that I am taking you home alright?” I say looking worried “Don’t take me back to Grantham, I’d rather just stay up here.

Danny trying to do the right thing but not in the right way puts me into the trunk of his car and closes it and gets in the car and drives. I fall asleep not long after so I have no idea where he is taking me but I assume it’s out of town for good. A few hours later I wake up and the brightness of the sun coming through as I hear voices.

“Morning sleepy” I hear as I can’t see who the voice is but don’t instantly recognise it as I wake up and slowly realise that I’m not back in Grantham but instead I’m on Adam’s couch as he puts a cup of coffee in front of me, black and extra strong.

“Adam?” I say looking confused “What am I doing on your couch? How did I get here?” I mumble trying to deal with the splitting headache from the hangover I’ve got. “Danny found you last night and dropped you back here so that I could look after you because we were worried about you”.

I look across at him “What do you mean we? Nobody here is going to care about me ever” I say taking a mouthful of coffee which knocks some sense into me. “Danny and I care about you, well at least I admit that I care about you because we both believe that you knew nothing of what your family was planning”. I sit there and look at him “You do honestly?”.

Adam nods “Yeah, I do and after talking to Danny I convinced him to give you a chance and he said that he would, and honestly, he took it pretty personal because I like you and trust you and he felt that you were throwing that in my face because everyone was right,” he says sitting down next to me and patting my leg, “You’re not perfect Isaac and you never will be but the point is that you don’t need to worry about what people think because if you just go about your daily business everyone will start to believe you and in all honesty, your family will realise that you can do this on your own”.

I sit there my head too sore still to think any of this through in a well thought out but reasoned manner “Yeah I guess so Adam, it just hurts because everything that has been said about me was 100% true” I say thinking about things “I am here as a plant and spy, there was a reason why Yellow Peak seemed conveniently available and cheap it was because it had all been planned out well in advance to see what was going on” I say starting to stand up but sore all over from the car trip in Danny’s trunk not helping “The fact that it’s true what everyone says means there will always be that stench of being a plant in town spying on everyone and telling my family what’s going on”.

Adam pushes me back to the couch “As I say to the kids in my class the only person you can be is you” he says rolling his eyes and muttering “Never thought I’d have to use it on an adult” before lifting his voice “Ok, so you just do what you want and by doing that you get to show everybody what you want them to see you as because that’s all you can do and once you start showing the person that you want to be then as I said, people will believe you and your family will believe you and if it comes to it, you can leave them behind”.

I smile as Adam talks and hug him for helping me out this morning and talking things through because without his guidance and sending Danny to come to look for me then I wouldn’t have known what I did and, in all honesty, I didn’t know if I could deal with it anymore.

I get up still head sore and head back to my place and get showered so that I can finish building some more furniture and most importantly take some Panadol and just take a long shower. In the shower, I just take a few moments to relax and just let the pressure out with an almighty scream of anger and just hit the shower wall and wanting to get it all out.

Instead of building the furniture and I head out to the gym where I see Danny just setting up some boxing drills for him to do, I walk over to him “Hey man, thanks for last night, I was a total jerk” he just nods “Yeah kinda but I can understand it, you had a lot put on you last night” I nod and start to walk off “If you want to let some more frustration out, we could some boxing training together because it might do us both a world of good”. I look at him and get worried about how good a punch he can throw “You know what, that sounds perfect because I get some frustration out and we can try to get to know each other so much better for Adam’s sake” I smile as Danny agrees and takes off his shirt which shows a well-tattooed body but somewhat surprisingly smooth and soft skin that belies his rough exterior and I just stand there stunned for a moment assessing a chest that is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.