Patrick Twenty-Five: When the Tables Turn

I didn't want to make a new Sim for one of the roles I needed in this chapter, so if you read Blink of an Eye, you may see a familiar face. 

~ LateKnightSimmer ~

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It had been about two hours since Katya had left to go get the cake, and I was unsure why it was taking her so long. Even though the bakery was on the other side of town, it was not a two hour drive. I sighed, wondering if she was doing her usual pouting thing where she just hid herself away, shutting everyone and everything out. It made me mad because I knew Armand's birthday had been ruined. I had sent her a text message about an hour ago, but she hadn't replied. I was irritated that she was choosing to act so immaturely, and I could only imagine how Armand must have felt to have his own mother scream at him on his birthday, then make it so blatantly obvious that she didn't care about him. I sent Katya another text message that said 'I'm sorry. Can we please put aside our differences and try to salvage what's left of our son's birthday?' I hit 'Send' and waited for her to reply. When she didn't, after five minutes, I was even more frustrated, so I decided to go find Armand and possibly help both he and I calm down from the evening's events. I didn't know where he had gone, but I knew he wasn't in the kitchen anymore since I could see through the glass doors that the kitchen was empty.

I walked through the house, guessing that he most likely would have gone upstairs because he loved painting, and he told me once that it calmed him. As I got to the top of the stairs, I heard banging and yelling coming from the multi-purpose room. Although it sounded like Armand was tearing the room to pieces, making a mess that I'd have to clean up later, I still felt bad for him. All the doors in my house had glass on them, and I could see Armand pushing on his easel with an angry expression on his face, so I decided to knock rather than just barge in on him, especially when he had probably gone upstairs to be alone. The last thing I wanted to do was make his birthday worse than it already was. I waited until Armand came to open the door before I talked to him.

"Please don't be mad at me, Dad."

I walked in the room and saw that there was paint splattered in the room, along the walls and floor, but only in the corner where his easel was. The paintbrushes in little cups were toppled over, and both Armand's latest painting and the easel had been pushed onto the floor. Armand had paint all over himself too. It was a giant mess, but nothing was broken, and I was just glad Armand hadn't hurt himself while he was having his blow up.

"Yikes, it looks like a unicorn exploded in here."

Armand looked at me, then burst out laughing, holding his stomach as he did. I was glad to see him smile because it was the first time he had done so since I had seen him today. I sat on the floor in a clean spot, and gestured for Armand to sit down as well.

"I'm sorry for the mess, Dad."

My heart was warmed when Armand apologized to me even though he was the one who had been wronged so much today. I smiled at him and nodded my acknowledgement of his apology.

"This may be less of a comfort to you since your day's already been shitty, but happy birthday, Armand."

"No, it's comforting, at least someone said it to me."

"Mom didn't say it?"

"What do you think?"

I sighed, feeling bad for Armand, yet again. He was such a nice kid, and I really didn't understand why Katya seemed to hate him so much. Where the fuck was she, anyway? I pulled out my phone and saw that I still had no text messages or missed calls. I sent Katya another message, 'Will you please come home already?' and annoyingly placed my phone on the floor next to me.

"Where's Mom?"

"I don't know. She's been ignoring me ever since she left, and I've been sending her texts, but she hasn't replied."

"Ugh, whatever. I don't understand Mom, she always gets mad at me, and when I ask her stuff, even if it's just a small thing, she always tells me I'm bothering her. I don't know why she hates me. I want her to be here for my birthday, but if she doesn't want to, then I don't want to waste my time waiting for her. Can you just take me for ice cream or something? I just don't care anymore, my day's ruined anyway."

"Ahh, come on, Armand, we can still make it better. I have a present for you, and we can go for ice cream."

"Really, Dad? That would make it a little better."

"Yeah, of course, you didn't think that I wouldn't get a present for you, did you?"

"Well, I knew you would, but Mom... I don't know what to think about her sometimes. Do you think I'm spoiled? Or an infuriating child?"

"No. Absolutely not. Armand, do you believe those things that Mom says about you?"

"Sometimes I think I do... so I leave her alone most of the time, and let her talk to me first, but then when I answer her, she gets mad. I just guessed that her words had to be true, or she wouldn't get annoyed at me, would she?"

Armand made a face, looking towards the wall as he spoke, and I could see how much he was pained by his strained relationship with Katya. My blood boiled under my skin when I heard Armand say that he had been adversely affected by Katya's words. I didn't think that he would escape fully unscathed from her, but I had hoped my influence would have been strong enough to push the hateful words out of his mind. I also wished that Katya would have tried harder to make friends with Armand, since she had every opportunity to by being a stay at home wife. Instead, their relationship was borderline explosive, all the time, and I had seen that Katya acted like she wanted to pick fights with him. I looked at Armand, as he closed his eyes and frowned as he said the last part of his sentence.

"Armand, look at me. You are a really well behaved, amazing person. I couldn't ask for a better son. Mom's perspective of you is not true. You're not spoiled, and any time you have misbehaved, you've taken the punishment gracefully. No one's perfect, but you are definitely not infuriating, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you, Dad. I wish Mom was nice like you are. I'm going to go change. Can we still go out for ice cream?"

"Yeah, of course. Meet me at the front door."

Armand left the room to put on some clothes that weren't covered in paint. I looked around the room, surveying the mess Armand had made, thinking about how I was going to clean it up. I didn't stay for too long, shutting the lights off and going downstairs. Armand came shortly after, and just as we made it into the garage to go to the car, I heard the intercom buzz, signaling that someone was at the front gate. I closed my eyes, and ran my fingers through my hair, irritated that there was yet another thing happening that was fucking up my son's birthday, when all I wanted was to make it better for him. I went over to the intercom and pushed the button.

"Mr. Hunt? This is Officer Belcourt with the Silicon Shores Police Department. Do you have a moment?"

Armand looked worried when he heard that the voice over the intercom belonged to a police officer.

"Daddy? Are you in trouble?"

"What? No. I do have to let the officer in, though. I'll try not to have it take too long, okay?"

Armand sighed, and I could see his face fall, but I knew he wasn't mad at me, he was just disappointed about how his birthday was going. He nodded at me and went to the backyard, while I pushed the button to open the gate, and headed to the front door so I could talk to the officer. When I let him in and he looked at me solemnly, I was confused what this could be about.

"What's the problem, Officer?"

"I reported to the scene of an accident on Ventura and Cicero. When I ran the license plate, the car was registered to this address."

Oh my God. Katya had been in a car accident, that's why she hadn't been responding to me. Part of me was mad at myself for being angry at her, but the other part of me thought what the hell else was I supposed to think since Katya always ran away and avoided me when we got in a fight?

"There was a blonde woman in the car that we rushed to the hospital. Her ID said her last name was Hunt, so I'm guessing she's your wife?"

"Yes, that's correct. What happened?"

"Your wife ran a red light and was hit by a truck on the left side, then a sedan on the right side, she spun the car, and it slid, finally coming to a stop when it hit an oak tree. One of the cars behind the sedan that hit her saw the whole thing."

Holy shit, she hit a tree after already being hit by two cars? I didn't know what to say, due to being in shock from the news. I felt like I was having the incorrect reaction, like I was supposed to be having a panic attack, in a rush to go to the hospital to see if she was okay, but all I could do was stand there, frozen in place.. Maybe it was because of how she had left things before the accident that was contributing to my reaction. Maybe it was because I dreaded being the bearer of bad news to Armand, who I felt didn't deserve any of this. Of all days, why did this have to happen on his birthday?

"Mr. Hunt? Are you all right?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to tell my son. I'm sorry, Officer."

"It's okay, you don't have to explain. I'll be on my way now, I'm sorry, Mr. Hunt."

"Thank you for stopping by to let me know. Good night, Officer."

Officer Belcourt nodded his head towards me and left. I felt like shit from the news, from not rushing to the hospital, as well as dreading that I now needed to ruin Armand's birthday even more than it had already been ruined. Why was everything so fucked up today? I screamed internally before going out to the backyard, where I saw Armand relaxing on the lounge chair, looking off into the distance. Goddammit, he looks so peaceful. I braced myself on the small half wall behind me, and then opened the door, knowing I couldn't avoid this forever.

I sat down in the lounge chair propping my foot up on the chair, resting my elbow on my knee, while looking off to the side as I told Armand what was going on.

"Hey, buddy. The officer's gone now, but he had some bad news."

I heard Armand shift in the chair, and I felt his eyes on me.

"Mom was in a car accident, and she's in the hospital."

Armand scoffed, and looked back towards the sky. Without looking at me, he said some scary words, which I can't deny that Katya might have deserved.

"I guess karma got to her. Serves her right for being such a bitch to me all the time. She ruined my birthday."

The coldness in his voice and his eyes was chilling. I couldn't blame him for being upset because I knew that as much as he loved Katya, the fact that she treated him like dirt probably hurt him very deeply, especially since most of the time, he was just trying to figure out how to interact with her in a way that didn't piss her off, to no avail. I was however, surprised because I had never seen this side of him before, although I wondered how many times Katya had. I knew Armand tried to be nice for the most part, but he was only human, so there were probably times where his patience with Katya ran out.

"Um, Armand, are you... ugh, I feel like such an asshole ruining your day even more, but I had to tell you since we have to go to the hospital. As your father, I am saying don't call your mother that, but coming from the same situation as you, it saddens me to say that she does act like that."

"Dad? You're not an asshole."

"Thank you. Armand, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes."

"Do you think you would have been better off if Mom and I had split up?"

"No. I'm glad you stayed with her even though she's always crazy when she is here. The fact that she was here meant I still had a chance to try with her. I love her, even though she clearly hates me."

I wanted to tell Armand that Katya didn't hate him, but truthfully I didn't know much about what she thought anymore. Armand and I sat there for about five more minutes before we both got up and walked to the garage to head to the hospital. As I drove, I still felt wierd about my reaction to the news, and somehow I thought I was a giant asshole for not being more concerned or worried. I loved her, but I felt like my actions were not saying I did. I sighed heavily, and Armand looked over at me, smiling at me. I knew he wasn't happy, but he was just trying to make me feel better. Neither of us had a typical reaction to Katya's accident, so what did that say about how fucked up our family truly was?

When we arrived at the hospital, we checked with the receptionist, who told us Katya had just come out of surgery, so we went to her room to see her. She had some bruises on her face, and was hooked up to a bunch of machines. Armand and I stood on either side of the bed, looking down at her in silence. A doctor came in, and I saw that it was Dr. King, the same doctor who had discharged me from my hospital stay.

"Patrick. It's good to see that you're doing better, although I'm sorry for the circumstances."

"Hi, Dr. King. This is my son, Armand."

"Nice to meet you. I have some bad news concerning your wife. Her tox screen came back showing she had a blood alcohol content of 0.2 percent. That means she was driving under the influence."

The news that Katya had purposely gotten behind the wheel of her car while drunk made me mad because I was upset that she had chosen to do something so reckless, when she knew it was a bad idea.

"She caused the accident, didn't she? The police told me she ran a red light, but I didn't know she was drunk."

"Yes. I'm sorry."

"Is she going to be okay?"

"She's stable for now, but she's still in critical condition, which means there a chance she might not make it. Her initial surgery went well, but her body was too weak to continue, so we made sure to stop all internal bleeding, but she's going to need more surgery. She had a slew of injuries from the crash, which were mostly heavy impact ones. Her ribs were cracked, which caused one of her lungs to collapse when the rib punctured it, a hairline fracture on her sternum, a concussion, a broken leg, and a broken nose."

I nodded at Dr. King, and she left the room after offering her condolences to us. I looked over at Armand and he was sitting on the couch looking off in the distance with a pained expression on his face. I sat down next to him and was looking down at my feet, when I felt Armand get off the couch and walk away, causing me to look in his direction. Tilting my head up a little, I saw that he had gone over to Katya's bedside.

"Why are you like this, Mom? I am sad that you're in the hospital, but I can't help feeling like you deserve this somehow. Why did you always have to argue with me about stuff? Why are you such a bitch?! Now, if you die, that's the last memory I'll have of us talking! All I wanted-"

I heard Armand's voice start to crack as tears rolled down his face.

"All I wanted was for you to love me, instead of treating me like a stranger! What did I do to you to make you hate me so much? Huh?! What? I'm just a kid! I can't even remember the last time I heard you tell me you love me! I tried to give you your space, but it was never enough! Most of the time I feel like you didn't even want me to be born! I hate you!"

Armand fell to the floor, sobbing, pulling his knees to his chest as he did. I wasn't surprised to hear all those things he had revealed to Katya, as I suspected he might have always thought those things about her. I went over to him, extending my hand to help him off the floor, while leading him back to the couch, where he continued to cry into my shoulder, wetting my shirt as he did.

"Shh, Armand it's okay. Mom loves you, she just made some terrible life choices that caused her to be angry all the time."

After about half an hour, Armand calmed down, and decided to take a nap on the couch in Katya's room. I went over to the chair that was next to her bedside, at a loss for words. What the fuck was I supposed to say? I love you and I was all wrong, so I'll do everything you say if you wake up? I knew I wouldn't do that because that's not how a healthy marriage is supposed to work. I love you, but you make me miserable? Thanks for ruining Armand's birthday? I listened to the hums and beeps of the machines that were all around her, feeling bad for letting my marriage get like this. After a while, the guilt subsided, and I realized that it wasn't all my fault. I had gone to counseling with her, I had tried to talk to her, to ask her what was really on her mind, but all she did was shut me out and run away. There was nothing I could do when she got like that, short of tie her down against her will and force her to talk to me, which of course, I would never do because that was ridiculous.

"Katya, I'm sorry this happened to you. I wish you would have talked to me instead of driving off in rage, and acting like you're the only one being wronged. I am always here for you to talk to, and I do not understand why you constantly refuse to let me help you. I've stayed with you all these years because I hoped we could work on our problems together, but I have felt alone for a lot of our marriage. You act like I'm the problem, when all I'm doing is trying to help. I love you, and I hope you pull through this so we can fix us."

I sighed, putting my head in my hands again. Suddenly, Katya's machines started going crazy, beeping really fast. I was unsure what was happening, other than something was wrong. I opened the door and called out for Dr. King, who rushed in.

"Patrick, I'd like for you to take Armand and go outside to the lobby. Please."

I did as Dr. King said, and took Armand with me, both of us remaining stone faced as we left. I wanted to look in the window of Katya's room, but I knew that would be a bad idea, so I just sat down by the wall. I started thinking about my life with Katya, how I'd met her, how she taught me surfing, and the light that used to fill her eyes, which had since been replaced with glares of disappointment.

Before I knew it, tears were rolling down my face, and I couldn't stop them. I thought about how beautiful she had looked on our wedding day, and how much fun we had in Paris. I felt someone tug on my sleeve, and then looked up, seeing Dr. King standing there with a sad look in her eyes.

"Patrick, I'm so sorry. We did everything we could, but she's gone."