Chapter 5
Chris opened up the door to Jack's house, where no light shined. It was dark and gloomy, and the sun had disappeared, giving way to dark clouds that blocked out all light. The hallway was as dark as midnight, appearing to be untouched for years.
But that couldn't be true, because Jack and his family had been living in this house for years. However, it was true the stories kids told about Jack's family. Jack Strander lived with his two parents and three brothers. Although you couldn't really call his mother and father parents. They were not the sort of role models that you would want to follow in their footsteps.
Jack's father was a drunk, and every adult in Santa Barbara knew it. Sometimes he was a violent drunk, and those were the times Jack came to school with bruises or black eyes. Jack's father never went outside, never associated with other people, or bought his own alcohol. He relied on his wife, who wasn't much better than her husband, to buy his booze.
Jack's mother was a better person than her husband, but only if she wasn't stoned or lost in one of her other personalities. In other words, Jack's mother was mentally insane, induced with a case of schitzophrenia that, most of the time, could not be controlled. When she would slip into a war widow or even a cross-dressing man, nothing could make her come out of the spell until she slipped out just as she had slipped in.
Jack had tried to go through his life without complaining about these problems, but it was hard for him because the kids would make fun of him. Chris remembered one particular time when the kids had been absolutely harsh. He could see it in his head, just as vivid as if it were yesterday. Now thinking about it and entering Jack's house, Chris could not stop the painful memory from resurfacing.