What's Underneath Timothy's Groundhog Conundrum

Submitted into Contest #101 in response to: Write a story about a character who always repeats themselves.... view prompt

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Fiction

Honestly, Timothy is what we call "a lost cause." Every morning he would have his mother wake him up, bringing coffee to his bedside table, flipping on the light switch, and gently whispering "goodmorning Timmy" as she did so. To this, Timothy would reply with a groan, flipping over in his bed violently, shoving a pillow over his eyes. His mother would then dutifully exit, so as not to disturb her precious prince, returning an hour later to complete the same routine. This time, however, Timothy would normally sit himself up, rubbing his puffy, red eyes, glaring at his mother with the utmost contempt. It was not always this easy to wake Timothy up for work, though. Sometimes it took his poor mother up to five times to coax her thirty year old son out of bed.

After he finally awakened, Timmy would head to the bathroom, taking a half hour shower, draining his mother's water bill and patience simultaneously. Despite these lengthy showers, somehow, Timothy still always stunk. And, no matter how many times his mother would spritz him with perfume as he walked past, the smell of onions and sardines never quite seemed to fade - probably somewhat due to his favorite snack of sardines, onions, and sauerkraut. When Timmy was finally dressed in his saggy blue jeans and faded blue t-shirt, his mother would drive him to work, allowing him to blast his rock music that was pervaded with profanities that she forbade him to speak. And, when they finally arrived at the McDonald's down the street, his mother would breathe a sigh of relief when Timothy finally exited the car, although he always neglected to take all of the odor of onions and sardines with him.

No outsider could ever quite figure out what was wrong with Timmy's brain, as he lived a real life ground hog day for the entirety of his adult life. After going to work, laughing with his co-workers about their last game of Fortnite together, Timmy would patiently wait on the curb outside of the restaurant for his mother to pick him up, going home to play another yet another online game with his co-workers via Xbox Live. And, after cursing out his mother with watered down curse words (frick, shoot, crap, etc.) when she pleaded with him to get to bed at approximately 2am every night, he would close his eyes for all of five hours, repeating his disrespectful sashay with his mother in the morning.

Timothy's mother took Timothy to doctor after doctor, hoping for some medication to alleviate her son's ground hog day conundrum. Multiple Gofundme accounts assisted in this search, as almost everyone in town hated to see Timmy's mother weighed down by the failure of her thirty year old son. The neighbors were especially concerned, bringing Timothy and his mother home cooked meals every Friday evening. Of course, Timothy's mother didn't see Timmy as a failure. Instead, she was pleased that her son would most likely live at home with her for the rest of his life - especially after the death of his father, a tragic event that occurred around 15 years earlier. This death, not so coincidentally, was when Timmy's life started to become so utterly predictable - something that everyone but Timothy's mother failed to see - although she feigned as if she had no idea why Timmy was so odd. Although no one else but her knew that Timothy had been the one to accidentally shoot his father with a hunting rifle, causing his untimely death. She only kept up her search for a cure to his repetitive routine, or, at least she pretended to, as a coverup for the true events that occurred on that detrimental hunting trip, for it was she who had cocked the gun that caused her husband's death. And, playing the part of the innocent, concerned mother, allowed every last drop of his money to fall right into her grasp.

It's not like Timothy's father was a good man, though. He used to leave both Timothy and his mother for months on end - without explanation. Timmy's mother assumed that he was cheating, whilst Timmy never stopped to think twice about his absence. The jealousy stirred up in Timothy's mother by her husband's absence probably prompted her murder of her husband - that and the fact that he had made millions whilst climbing his way to the top of an international chain of banks.

Anyways, it wasn't until Timothy's mother was arrested that he was finally given the chance to break free from his mundane ritual. Although, for some reason, he refused to sever his routine. Maybe it was because it was suspected that Timothy was actually the one to rat his mother out to the cops - for everyone else in town was caught like deer in the headlights when it was revealed to them that sweet Marie Lea had plotted the death of her husband. Nevertheless, Timothy proceeded on with life as normal - except, instead of yelling and grunting at his mother every morning, he did so to his neighbors, as the sweet old couple next-door who brought him food every Friday couldn't bare to see poor Timmy without his mother -who was now on trial for murder. And, no matter how much his neighbors - Janice and Charles - urged him to quit his job, get up right when he was awakened, or even try a different snack (the sardine, sauerkraut, and onion combo was a little too much for their noses to handle) Timothy refused, telling them that they were "going insane" if they thought that he would ever change.

At first, when Marie Lea was caught and arrested for her wrong doings, the town suspected that Timothy's behavior was the result of a sort of PTSD, for he was well aware that he had been the one to actually doing the killing of his father, and it was assumed that this had caused him major trauma. But, as time went on, they began to suspect that nothing was wrong with Timothy's brain at all. You see, the only reason the judge pardoned Timothy from the murder trial was because almost everyone around him vouched for his innocence, saying that because of Timothy's strange mannerisms he had to have been either tricked into pulling the trigger or he had to have done it by complete accident. But, after years of investigation, it was found that Timothy was anything but innocent, and that the only reason that he had begun to repeat himself every single day was to feign a mental illness - that would save him when he decided that it was time to call the police on his mother - who was only half of the guilty party. After even further investigation, it was found that Timmy had been involved in multiple murders, obtaining his askew lifestyle to cover his hind. Because of this, "Groundhog Day Timmy" was deemed an evil genius and sent to prison without bail, joining his father on the other side around 20 years later when the judge decided that he was too dangerous to even be around the other prisoners, sentencing him to the electric chair.

July 06, 2021 18:59

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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