It was quiet, incredibly quiet, so quiet you could hear a pin drop, so quiet you could hear the entire house creak just a little. It was a silence that was welcomed graciously by Roy Gribbleston as it calmed his pounding head ache and sickening hang over after a night of sorrowful drunkenness and stress drinking. It had been a tough few months for him since the loss of his dear Helena and the child he never got to meet, he hadn't left his room unless it was to eat and even then he ate the bare minimum, sometimes missing out on dinner for weeks on end, he didn't care if he starved, it didn't matter anymore. He was lucky he had an en suite otherwise he wouldn't make it to the bathroom in time during one of his drunk rages, his stomach could handle liquor but even he went over board sometimes. Speaking of, he felt the room lurch a little as a spell of dizziness hit him, the hangover attacking his head and stomach as bile rose up to his throat.

"Ah shit..." he thought, quickly getting up and throwing up in the toilet in the en suite.

His throat and mouth burned as he threw up the small amount of food in his stomach until it was empty, leaving him dry heaving over the bowl, his muscles cramping up as he knelt uncomfortably on the floor. When he was finally done, he used the rest of his energy to push himself away from the toilet, knocking him over, sprawled out on the floor. He didn't even care about the sick on his face or the tears pouring out of his eyes, he had little hope left for this world now that the shining pride that kept him going was gone, Helena...

"Fuck," Roy hissed through clenched teeth as he broke down into tears.

This time he couldn't help it, the intimidating and stoic facade was finally being ripped away to reveal a broken and insecure man who couldn't live without someone to lift him up.

It was even worse as the new life of his daughter had been cut short before she could even see the light of day, they had been planning on calling her Kelsie, after his honey's grandma who had passed before she could meet her great grandchildren, she and Roy had always gotten along well. She didn't make it out alive and took Helena with her.

Now the only two left in the family were Roy and his little son Manny who had been born a few years prior and was now a bouncing 6 year old, optimistic and just... happy. Roy hated happiness, it was a such a foreign emotion to him and feeling it now wouldn't fix the emptiness he felt inside, it was fake, just another facade that he would mask himself with. Nothing could be accomplished with an emotion as complex holding him back so he actively rejected it, unable to let go of the past and the horrible things that have happened, it was selfish but so what? Everyone was selfish, even those who deny any wrong-doing, it was always there, feeding on innocence and guilt, ridding the human mind of it forever.

Roy suddenly felt a small burst of anger bloom inside of him, that anger gave him the energy to get up and clean himself up. He gripped onto the sides of the sink to stop himself from falling over again and looked up at his reflection in the mirror, almost startled by the drastic change in his appearance. A few months ago he looked young and full of life, he was even a little handsome though he would be bragging if he admitted it... god, time really does go by when you're an alcoholic, huh? Due to the lack of food and therefore nutrition, Roy was stick thin, bone sticking out at each joint, rib cage poking through his skin, face sunken and devoid of any emotion, eyes squinting yet also bulging out of his head. The stubble on his face had been slowly growing and only made him look worse, so bad in fact that Roy actually felt the need to shave it off, he never really liked the idea of having a beard anyways, he carelessly shaved it off, wincing a little when he managed to cut his face at a wrong turn of the razor, blood dripping down his neck and staining his clothes. He didn't even go to stop it or clean it up, he just let it be, let the drops spill down as he stared back into the mirror and noticed how thin his hair had become, before it was thicker and fell down in long waves that Helena always liked to play around with, tying it up in many hairstyles. Now it was wispy and bunched up in single strands, leaving patchy parts of yellow scalp exposed, he was tempted to shave it off too but he knew he wouldn't look good bald, he couldn't be bothered to cut himself again anyways. He trudged back into his room and sat down on his bed, reaching for a nearby wine bottle, he needed to numb the pain in some way, whether it be by the smoke of a cigarette or the gun hidden in his bedside drawer, the sweet nectar of alcohol that made him forget for a little while or the small candy pills in the bathroom cabinet that made him forget forever. Roy wasn't scared of death anymore, he was so close to experiencing it first-hand and he didn't give a damn about who it hurt, who the hell cared anyways?

He didn't bother getting a glass, he just drank the wine straight from the bottle, he didn't like to look at the amount of glasses he would guzzle, he just knocked back the entire thing to get rid of his guilt and any regrets he may have later, being mindless was better than being aware. As he felt the drink pickling his brains again, making his headache much worse, Roy lay back on the bed to ease himself just a little and stop himself from throwing up again, it didn't help much but it did something, settling his whining stomach for just a little while, stopping his crave for food. Things were slowly deteriorating for him, he was lucky that he was still alive as he was on the verge of breaking down and destroying himself in the process, he wasn't safe anymore and he knew it.

The business had still been booming without him, they obviously didn't need him there to run everything. Pat knew what he was doing and had been the employees favourite for over the past few months maybe even year now, he wasn't the creepy boss that Roy was, he was a fun and excitable man who took charge when Roy was unable to, got the company up and running again. Roy despised Pat, a man whom he had once called his friend, a man whom he had once trusted, he detested his optimism and his up beat personality, his all American touch to everything. When they had been younger lads, he hadn't minded it as much, the accent was a bit annoying and the correction of certain spelling really got on his nerves but other than that they were fine but now he hated the happiness radiating from that... man, he couldn't call him his friend anymore that's for sure. Helena had always liked Pat, she always commented on how nice and helpful he was, she was faithful though, she was wonderful and Roy loved her for that which made the pain of losing her intensify even more, eating at him as if he were something delicious. He hated that company with every inch of his being and he made it, his name was on the brand in big letters, every product was emblazoned with his title but he put in the minimal amount of effort, leaving the remains for others to sweep up and fix. He didn't know how he managed to start it up in the first place, those memories were long forgotten by then, it was a stroke of luck and it used him in a shitty way, the luck ruined him, it was luck's fault, not his. At least it bought him a big house, an empty house.

The business of course wasn't his only burden, the final burden was the only family he had left, Manny, the fucking brat. Roy remembered how exciting he had been during his wife's first pregnancy, he had felt so energised and so ready for the challenges that were to come, oh how naive he had been back then, back in the days when he wasn't afraid of much, when he was only young. Part of him missed those days, he remembered when it was only him and Helena together, they spent most of their days talking and having fun, most of their nights they spent dancing, filling both of their needs and desires in intimate exchanges whether it be by actual dancing or something a bit more frisky. He loved his wife a lot, she went above and beyond for him, took care of him when he needed her but he could never give all that back to her, he tried but once Manny was born, he lost his charm as he suddenly moved to fit the role of dad rather than husband. He didn't know if that disappointed Helena at all, he didn't know if she missed those nights alone with him, all he knew is that she loved seeing him be dad even though he felt like that wasn't enough for her, he wasn't good enough and the cunt playing with his toys downstairs wasn't either. Manny never showed any sadness when his mother died, he just continued carting those small cars around with a goofy smile on his face, Roy couldn't even look at the boy without feeling a burning hatred inside him, he wasn't ashamed of the feeling but it became unbearable at times. In his eyes, his own creation disgusted him, he was whiny, demanding, selfish,arrogant and rude, he expected too much of his father, the greedy little shit wanted more and more and more. Roy was dishing out more money than he would like, money to buy things for someone who doesn't care about his family.

Roy sat up again, his grip on the wine bottle tightening, his brows furrowing in a big frown. He wasn't strong enough to break the bottle, he had gotten weaker, so he instead threw the bottle across the room and watched it smash against the wall, splashing the remaining contents of it on the white paint, staining it a deep red, just like blood. As he huffed and puffed from his rage, he heard a muffled wail come from downstairs, no doubt the bloody bugger being scared by the loud noise, Roy felt nothing though, nothing except anger. He needed to teach him a lesson, teach him to be less pompous, that nanny he hired obviously wasn't doing a good enough job. Rhiannon had been here since Helena had died, she was only there to take care of Manny seeing as Roy couldn't, from what he knew she didn't like the boy either and tried to stay away from him as much as she could. Roy didn't blame her much but he found her rather pathetic, only there to scrounge money off of him using childcare as an excuse to do so. Maybe he should fire her, she was doing a shit job and he also needed to gain the trust of his son once again if he wanted this to work, Roy was scheming and planning something big for his little lad, a surprise that would surpass his expectations and teach him to not be a greedy brat at the same time, it was all coming together perfectly in his head. He smiled with devilish delight and in his slightly drunken stupor fell to the floor with his hands together, as if in prayer.

"My silly boy has allowed his eyes to grow arrogant and rude, for this I will take him on a trip to punish land," he murmured, his eyes gleaming with evil intent.

He reached over and snatched an almost empty glass of gin that he hadn't managed to finish the night before. He took a swig, relishing in the slightly bitter flavour, lay back on the floor and stared at the ceiling as his plan started to formulate in his head. No one could stop him now...