Henry's Lament
T he following story was and is made by me. All characters and their players are also mine so that means Mr. Pirate if you think about taking this as your own you can expect to get a call from my lawyer. And yes you saw this print and I'm not joking around.
Henry's Lament
By,
SWSP
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Henry throttled down his car once he figured he was far enough away to do so. He was still in a bad mood from what his husband Antone had said to him and it caused his foot to mash into the gas pedal throwing the little Honda Civic back into a high rate of speed.
The tiger was headed to the big city, where, he did not know. All he knew was he didn't want to be in Illinois anymore. He found the phone number of his panthress best friend Matilda who lived in Providence to see if he could come visit her for a few days to calm down before he did anything further with Antone.
He popped open his cell phone dialing the number of Matilda. A few seconds later a deep raspy Boston area voice came on the line.
For forty five minutes Henry explained to Matilda what had happened to him when Antone told him a piece of his mind. By the time he had stopped talking he was well into Indiana and was stopped at a truck stop just outside South Bend.
Matilda let Henry know her displeasure in his actions:
"You know Henry I remember the day you took the oath to marry him and I was shaking my head the entire time knowing Antone did not want this, but you being the type of pushy person you are put him in the spot where he had no choice but to reluctantly marry you" Matilda said with a hint of anger in her voice. "It's no wonder at this point you want a divorce and after what you did to him I don't blame him for being as hurt as he is. You pretty much proved what I and every single person at the wedding that day knew about you and that is your hissy fits if things don't go your way" Matilda blurted out bluntly.
"But Matilda he brought it out of me" Henry pleaded only to get a scowl sounding sigh from his best friend.
"Honey let me tell you something, I've been married to my husband for five years and never have gone through what you did because we both understand it is us ourselves who make or break the relationship" Matilda said in a serious tone. "From what you have told me about what has happened I knew this wasn't Antone who started it, it was you and it always has been you!" Matilda seethed.
"Matilda, you don't know me at all girl, because this was building up since the day we moved in together. I knew what Antone was up to behind my back and he never let me be me!" Henry spat.
"Bullshit Henry, none of your real friends who know you well are going to stand by what you just said. I think Antone was right to slap you across the face because you need a wake up call to look at yourself in the mirror. You're lucky the police haven't been tracking you and are at your car door asking you to take a ride in the back of their car" Matilda growled with clear disgust in her voice.
"I don't give a fuck about the cops Matilda because I know Antone wouldn't be that brazen!" Henry yelled.
"This is exactly what I mean Henry, your attitude is your worst enemy and until you learn to straighten it up you'll never get the chance to love even your shadow because you don't get it and probably never will!" Matilda shouted.
"If you don't want to let me come into your place, fine, I'll just go somewhere with somebody who will let me stay at their place" Henry growled.
"And who is going to let you stay at their place after what you've pulled on Antone?" Matilda asked in a sharp tone.
"I know plenty of people who won't be like you Matilda who is always finding a way to pick me apart without seeing things my way!" Antone roared.
"I know most if not all of the people you mean and I am here to tell you they are not going to let you come to their home especially if word of this gets out to them which I guarantee it will" Matilda barked in a blunt tone.
"So what, I don't care, those friends are just as bad as you are" Henry spat. "It's very obvious to me I have a bunch of traitors on my hands who will take Antone's side" Henry growled. "You people make me sick and I hope you change your mind by the time I get to Providence" Henry threatened.
"If you do come here Henry my answer to you is no because right now I want to go to Antone's side and make sure he is ok" Matilda said bluntly. "Threatening your friends will lose you them and I hope you enjoy your time in a lonely cold nook on the side of the street praying some pickpocket doesn't mug you or kill you" Matilda yelled with clear anger tones in her voice.
"So you're taking his side too I guess" Henry said with clear hurt in his voice. "You'd rather go to the side of a two timing incompetent no account playboy" Henry cried as his voice became crackled from holding back a painful lump in his throat.
"Yes, yes I am Henry and why would I not have any reason to believe I shouldn't?" Matilda asked sternly.
"It's pretty simple Matilda, you don't know him at all like I do. He is a loser in every sense of the word. He's going to play you like a fucking harp before he takes advantage of you" Henry said in a shaky voice.
"I can tell you are not even realizing you are lying to yourself instead of taking responsibility to man up for your actions. When you lie to yourself you may as well lie to yourself in the mirror if you can even look at your conscious staring back at you going WTF?" Matilda said in a clear tone. "It's not me who has to live with her actions it is you because you put yourself into this mess and now will have to figure it out for yourself because I am done with trying to reason with a "friend" who can't even tell a good lie about the heart they lack in their soul" Matilda blurted out clearly.
Tears started welling up in Henry's eyes as he knew in the deepest darkest part of his heart his best friend was right. He could not pull the same lame antic with any of his friends. He knew Matilda would let them all know about this sooner or later. Henry felt something he had never felt before, pain welling up deep in his heart making it sink far into his chest like a five hundred pound boulder drowning in a lake forcing him to quietly whimper. He had lost both the battle and for that matter the war as the reality of Matilda's words hit him like a ton of bricks crashing through a window.
"I'm..sorry Matilda...ok..I'm sorry" Henry choked as tears cascaded down his cheeks.
"Don't be sorry with me be sorry with yourself for letting yourself get to this point. If he divorces you I will have no trouble in thanking him for doing so because he never deserved to have someone like you who was in it for the sex and the status, not the relationship itself" Matilda barked in a motherly tone.
"I'm sorry, ok, I'm sorry" Henry cried.
"Not as sorry as me for having to take an entire evening to listen to another one of your relationships going up in smoke because of your sorry ass attitude and your lack of a heart much less a soul. Until you can say I'm sorry Antone for being a jerk who put you through this and meaning it your life is going to always be lonesome for you Henry" Matilda bluntly stated.
"I have to run now Henry because I have time I need to make up with my husband who I would never do what you have done to Antone. If you ever want to call me again Henry you need to do a lot of growing up between now and when you do however long it takes you to get to that point" Matilda barked across the line before she hung up the phone with a noticeable loud click which ringed through Henry's ears.
Henry slammed his cell phone shut chunking it in the backseat of his car as the tears flooded out of his eyes as he beat his fists in anger against the steering wheel.
Henry knew Matilda and all of his friends were right. He was a flawed bad kitty with a short temper he never bothered to notice. How he still had a friend was a miracle given most if not all of them had told him the exact same thing.
Matilda was Henry's last hope for understanding but she proved real friends do not give each other much slack if they do something stupid to their loved ones.
Henry sat there in his car weeping uncontrollably tossing a hissy fit as a big bear trucker getting into his semi looked at him shaking his head after hearing most of the conversation from the bench he was sitting on across from Henry's car. He shut the door letting the air out of his rig and within minutes was gone getting on I 90 west headed back to see his wife Molly before going out with another load. He knew she probably had a tail to tell about their neighbors forcing a sigh and a shake of his head as he let the hum of his big Kenworth's engine take over his thoughts.
Henry sat there for five minutes letting his frustrations cake themselves over the steering wheel and his lap. After a few minutes his crying ebbed and he tore the door open getting out of his car slamming it so hard the glass rattled.
Henry needed a long walk and didn't care how long it was going to take him to do it. He left everything he knew behind him in his parked Civic taking only his wallet and a backpack full of the things he needed to survive.
As the cold wind knifed through his body Henry threw on a red Detroit Pistons sweatshirt to keep the wind off him as he made his way out of the truck stop. He didn't bother gong the way of the highway but instead found an old abandoned set of railroad tracks behind the truck stop going north on them..
After a half mile of walking on them Henry found a small hill beside them sitting down on it pulling out a pair of wool socks and boots to keep the impending chill off his feet. He had them on within minutes and took a minute to recount what Matilda had said.
She was right about the tiger, he needed help in the worst way but was too naïve to see the inevitable staring him in the face. He quietly sobbed as he drooped his head in shame at the monster he had become. For years the tiger had denied his conscious the wake up call it was trying to tell him and now with no real friends to turn to the tiger sat there sobbing reaching for his backpack unzipping it to look for a gift Antone had given him on the day of their wedding.
More tears cascaded out of his eyes as he pulled out a chain necklace cross with two small pictures of he on the right of it and Antone on the left of it wearing their wedding tuxedos showing both of their wedding bands off smiling happily in the photos. He stared at Antone's picture the longest as more rage built up inside him causing him to stand up and run with the chain cross necklace in his hand chunking it into the forest as he screamed out a loud "FUCK YOU" watching the cross disappear into the pitch black forest never to be seen again.
Henry made his way back to his backpack picking it up off the hill and brisk walking his way down the old abandoned tracks. As he walked he often tripped over ruts in the ties not caring if he tripped over them until one of them caught his balance sending him face first into the track tie with blunt force. His nose and his jaw bounced off the tie when they hit it at full force breaking both of them leaving him in complete agony as he kicked around feeling intense pain and blood collect in his paws.
He spat out two bloody front teeth and two bottom teeth as the pain he was in got steadily worse before it finally went to a point where his entire face looked like an inflated beach ball.
Finally after a few minutes the pain died down enough to where the tiger could get himself up off the tracks and into his backpack to find something to numb it. He rummaged around but found nothing as he shook his fist at the heavens for giving him such rotten luck. The heavens returned his gesture with a bright flash of lightning and a deafening crack of thunder followed by sheets of cold rain.
The tiger sat on the rail miserable, wet, hurt, in pain, swollen, and very alone as he shivered in the mighty storm unleashing its just revenge on him.
It was the microcosm of everything Matilda and his friends had warned him about. He figured this storm and this painful fall were their final just warning to him.
Henry got up on wobbly feet with his clothes sticking to him making his way down the tracks looking for something to take shelter in. There was nothing and he was forced to take cover under some trees until the storm passed.
The storm raged all night long giving the tiger no chance to dry off much less sleep as he shivered, sneezed, and felt his broken face throb making his already miserable night into one even misery itself wouldn't bother to take notice of.
The tiger eventually gave up and just rested his back against one of the trees letting his eyes close hoping at some point morning would come.
A couple hours later the storm had passed and was replaced by a cloudy cold damp early morning chill. The sound of birds chirping awoke the tiger who was very ill and had caught a bad version of the flu as he got up from his hiding space underneath the trees. He was running a bad fever so he had to get to a hospital. He was several miles away from the next town so he had to turn back to South Bend to get help. He stumbled and somehow by the grace of a higher power was able to make the long three mile trek back to where he had started at. He could barely hold his eyes open or keep his balance as he made his way ever so shakily toward the road.
As soon as he reached it he aimlessly made his way back to where he thought his car was as he wobbled from side to side like a drunken man about ready to pass out.
A regional trucker coming down the tiger's side of the road saw him aimlessly wandering up the break down lane and quickly pulled his rig over to the side of the road running to the aid of Henry.
The old rottweiler quickly dialed 911 as Henry collapsed on the ground. As he was talking to the operator he went up and felt the burning head of the tiger.
"Yes maim this boy needs you guys so git out here ASAP" the rottie pleaded closing his cell phone.
He made sure to turn over the tiger and winced looking at the severity of the cat's injuries. He looked like he had been in a bad bar brawl and lost it severely as his nose was jammed in his sinus cavity and part of his jaw was bunched up in his lower teeth.
"Goddamn kid thank god I found ya before the grim reaper did" the rottie said to himself. "God be with you because he's gotten ya this far" the rottie said as he kneeled down saying a silent prayer for the tiger.
Sirens were heard in the distance and within minutes an ambulance from the regional hospital came screaming up stopping right beside the fallen tiger.
The paramedics didn't need much incentive to know this tiger was in bad shape as they checked him over removing his soaked clothes leaving him only in his boxers.
Several seconds after the paramedics had rolled up the police soon followed and took a statement from the rottie and collected Henry's belongings handing them to the paramedics who quickly loaded them into the ambulance.
Several seconds later the tiger was loaded up into the ambulance which rushed him to Notre Dame Trauma Center. The paramedics measured his temperature to be an astounding 107 degrees! How the tiger was able endure it for as long as he did under the circumstance he was under was just short of a miracle.
They pumped as much fluids into the tiger as they could so he could at least make it to the hospital.. First they had to get his fever under control before they could safely do what they needed to do to Henry.
A few minutes later they arrived at the hospital and by that time Henry's fever had come down a few degrees. They wheeled him in to the emergency room where surgeons quickly wired his jaw shut and worked on getting his broken nose out of his sinus cavity.
The operations lasted a good two hours as Henry was finally wheeled out of the operating room with a rebuilt sinus cavity, a wired shut jaw, and a surgically repaired nose with several hundred stitches bulging out of it.
Henry was wheeled into a recovery room as he came out of his sedation in god awful throbbing pain as his face felt like a huge swollen beach ball with bandages wrapped around it.
The nurses put him under sedation again to make him in less pain as they prepared his ivs and his morphine drip pack.
Henry was put on high doses of morphine and fluids making him look like a science experiment rather then a magnificent tiger as lines and tubes came out everywhere there was an open spot in the vicinity of his face.
As he lay there going in and out of consciousness he saw images of Antone flashing across his mind as tears absent mindedly went down his cheeks dripping off them making stains on the sheet below them.
Henry knew he had made the ultimate mistake and knew he would have to face Antone in court when he eventually recovered from this surgery and got out of the hospital.
He knew his friends weren't going to be there this time and he knew the only one who was going to be suffering the most pain from this was him. The pain he felt on the outside was nothing next to the pain he felt on the inside. His heart could do nothing to save him now and for the first time in his life, he trembled.
.
To be continued...