Looking the Other Way

The Rules
Make sure your entry does not have a higher rating than 18+
You must have the proper word count for each prompt.
Follow the prompt theme, if there is one!
To qualify, you must enter your submission below. I need to be able to find its static item.
You may enter more than once, but will only be awarded one place if you are a winner.
Content must be new for the prompt to qualify.

Round Two's Prompt
I want to see what everyone's got. Write at least 400 words (no more than 600 words) about a single moment in time that means something to you. The moment in time should not be a long moment; it should only be a few seconds at best. Good examples of this are trauma incidences, but there are much more pleasant things you can write about too. Be creative.
The deadline for this round will be December 20th, at 12:01am WDC! (Breaking for a week due to the holidays!)
Prizes will include a "Attention to Detail" Merit Badge for all three placements, plus a Gift Point bonus or Awardicons!

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Looking the Other Way


by Indelibleink

Mom was destined to die soon enough. I understood that part. Rather early in life, most reasonable people acknowledge the mortality of a human being. Certainly, the handwriting had been on the wall for Mom for some time at that point: breathing tube, feeding tube, kidney dialysis, COPD, heart attack. I just never anticipated being asked to have a hand in the termination of the life of a loved one - particularly my own mother. Even with the conditions spelled out in her living will clearly enough that there was no doubt that I was simply "carrying out her wishes," there remained a nauseating feeling of "playing God" that haunted my soul as I signed the consent form for the removal of Mom's breathing tube. But when they removed the ventilator exactly at noon on November 1, 2009, I was conflicted in other ways, as my brother and I tried to ease her transition into eternal rest. As I looked into Mom's expressionless morphine-induced stare, it triggered a roller-coaster ride of memories that had been suppressed for many years. I quickly drifted back in time...

Into my early teens, I held Mom responsible for leaving my brother and myself vulnerable to the tirades and abuse which emanated from my father, a hopeless alcoholic. I could never understand her tendency to "look the other way" when Dad would go on one of his drinking escapades and start in on my brother and myself (which centered on me because I had the misfortune of being the oldest). My father was one of those who took a lot of abuse at the office, and every night at the dinner table Mom, my brother, and myself had to listen in silence as he yelled back to his boss through us. He yelled at the neighbors through us. Hell, he yelled at the Communists through us! And if we dared speak during one of his tirades, he yelled directly at us. There was anger 24/7; the only exception being the relief brought on by his frequent encounters with his eternal savior: alcohol. Interestingly, my brother went on to become a psychologist, motivated by his desire to understand what made my father the way he was. All I wanted was "out."

Because of the nature of his verbal assaults, and my wish to avoid confrontations of any sort, I grew up trying to avoid eye contact with my Dad, so I was always looking down. I mean, my head was literally facing down all the time. School teachers were forever telling me to keep my head up, and Mom tried encouraging me to keep my head up,  My feeling was that I wouldn't be in the predicament I was in had she spoken up against the demon. Instead, she had chosen to just "look the other way." Some words of encouragement after the fact were of little consolation for me. In my mind, she was guilty of treason. I just wanted to be left alone.

In later years, Mom was always quick to mention that the wedding vows stated "for better or for worse" as if those words entitled her to an automatic "pass" regarding her responsibilities as a parent...

My trance-like state was interrupted by the sound of the heart monitor flat-lining, accompanied by sobbing coming from my brother and my wife. I immediately noticed my head was facing down. I tried to look at Mom, as if wondering whether or not we could patch things up. But I couldn't look at her.

I could only look the other way.



595 Words