Hazard Lights

Trigger warning: This story contains physical violence, child abuse, and mentions of death.

Liam's life was supposed to be the stuff of every little kid's dream. His parents were high school sweethearts who married just a year after graduating. Everything seemed to be looking up for him. He was going to be born into a loving household to two bright-eyed, ambitious young newlyweds who were ready to take on anything that life could throw at them. Liam was supposed to have a life full of love and laughter, he was supposed to want for nothing. But things don't always happen the way you want them to. Liam’s mother had a difficult pregnancy. After five months, her doctors mandated strict bed rest, which caused her to lose her part-time job. Because of this, Liam's father doubled his workload. He picked up any shifts that he could with a smile on his face, knowing that he could do this one thing for his small family. Midway through his second double shift of the week, he received a call from Mercy Regional Hospital.

He was told that his wife had taken a turn for the worse and was in premature labor. He didn’t care about the slick roads or the pounding rain that hit his windshield. He had been speeding to get to the hospital, blasting through traffic lights and hydroplaning. Liam's father couldn’t think about himself in that moment. He could only think of his distressed wife and unborn child. He had been driving too fast when he was rounding a sharp bend in the road. He couldn’t see the hazard lights of a parked car in the middle of the dark road.

Liam’s mother, unable to cope with the death of her beloved, fell into her bottle. She was never able to give Liam the love he deserved. She wasn't able to give him love at all. She saw him as the reason why her husband was gone. Before she could think of nothing but bringing her sweet baby into the world, but after the accident, she saw him as nothing but a parasite that sucked the happiness out of her life. She wouldn't tell him about his father; Liam didn't even know his name. She abandoned everything she owned and moved to a different state, taking baby Liam with her. She wanted to forget about that night, about the life that she had lost. To help her forget Liam’s mother would spend her nights hopping from bar to bar trying to drown herself in their cheap liquor, hoping to find something that filled the gaping hole in her chest. That’s when Gabe, Liam’s new stepfather, came along.

Growing up, Liam always wanted to be just like his father, even though he knew nothing about him. Liam would spend hours imagining what he was like. He thought that his father had been smart, kind, and hardworking. Gabe was the complete opposite. He was harsh and mean; he spent too much, and he brought in nothing. One of Liam’s earliest memories was his mother and stepfather screaming at him. He had been about five or six years old, and he spilled bright red juice all over the carpet. That was the first time Gabe had ever hit him. Liam remembered crumbling to the floor, his eyes filled with tears. His mother had a sinister grin on her face. That day had marked the start of years of never-ending punches, smacks, and bloody lips.

Liam never understood why his mother hated him so much. No matter how many times she had seen Gabe strike him, she would never intervene. On the contrary, she would encourage Gabe to continue his escapades. She would say that corporal punishment was the best way to instill good values in a young man. By the time Liam turned 15, he'd given up on hoping that his mother would come to her senses and rescue him from his abysmal life. He resigned himself to thinking that he had no one in this world who was willing to care for him.

But those thoughts changed when a boy with bright green eyes and dark curls spoke to him for the first time. After an awful day of reprimands from a drunken Gabe, Liam had made an unlikely friend by the name of Cas. Cas simply marched up to him and started talking. He never explained the real reason he walked over to Liam. He would just say that he wanted someone to talk to and Liam was the closest. Liam had seen the boy before after walking past his house on the way to school. Cas was the popular kid; he was always surrounded by a crowd of eager children, boys and girls alike, each vying for his attention. He was the complete opposite of Liam, where Cas was loud and bold unafraid to speak his mind. Liam was quiet and timid. He had always been somewhat jealous of Cas. Liam thought that if his father hadn’t have died, Liam would be living his life just like Cas did.

Liam was so shocked when Cas first spoke to him that he couldn't form words of his own. He just stared up at him and intently listened to every word that he said. The more they talked, the more Cas’ presence had become a beacon of light in Liam’s dim world. It was like that for months; they didn't speak about anything of importance. It started with shows and sports that they liked. However, as time passed, Cas opened up about what was going on in his home life. Liam had learned that Cas was the youngest of four siblings and, because of this, his parents didn't care for him as much as their older children. He explained his siblings were years older and most had already left home when he was born, and his parents weren’t expecting to start over again. So,they didn’t. His parents gave him anything he wanted but Liam could tell that they never gave him what he wanted most.

Liam started to spend more time at Cas’s house since his parents didn’t seem to care. Cas learned about Liam’s stepfather after he showed up to his house with a bloodied lip and a blackened eye. With Liam covered in blood and tears, both boys vowed that they would find a way to live the life that they deserved. Liam had bided his time as he dealt with Gabe’s relentless attacks excused under the guise of discipline and ignored his mother's smirks of cruel satisfaction at his pain.

Years later, on his 18th birthday, Gabe and Liam’s mother had spent the day as they did any other drinking away their problems. That had become somewhat of a birthday tradition for Liam. They had never celebrated his birth, but he was fine with it. He and Cas would do something small each year. That year, however, they had something big planned. That night, Liam waited until the sounds of hyena like laughter died down before he quietly maneuvered his way into his mother's room. He went directly to her closet, knowing that what he was looking for would be there. When he was younger, he saw her pull out a small box that held what he thought to be the last remains of her old life… of his old life. After minutes of sifting through her and Gabe's junk, he found the wooden box shoved in a small corner of the closet. His hands shook when he opened it. To Liam’s dismay, the box only had a small stack of papers. He sagged into himself with that realization. After everything he went through, a small part of him foolishly expected his mother to have something of his father. He picked up the paper that had a stamp from Mercy Regional Hospital. In his desperate attempt to find answers, Liam shuffled through the pages. He ripped through each page savagely until a small photo caught his eye.

Liam froze when he realized he recognized the woman in the photo, though she might as well have been a stranger. It was his mother… or the person she was before. Liam never meant this woman, the girl in this photo was smiling so hard it looked painful, and even though he knew she wasn't dead, at least not in the literal sense, he still mourned for her. The man that stood next to her with his arm wrapped around her waist had Liam’s bright blue eyes and wavy blonde hair. It was like looking into a mirror for Liam for so long he had wondered if he would ever know what his father looked like, what his father had been like and in that moment, Liam felt like a missing piece snapped into place. He flipped the small picture over and found words that read William and Sarah 1999. He allowed for tears to roll down his cheeks as he takes in every detail of his father. Unfortunately for Liam, he was so deep in his grief and newfound realization he didn’t hear Gabe stumbling up the stairs.

The first birthday present his parents had ever given was half a bottle of cheap vodka poured down his throat. Liam tried to fight back but that just spurred Gabe on pouring more alcoholwhich missed his mouth and spilled into his nose and eyes. Hours had passed, and Liam’s mother and Gabe hadn’t let up on their assault on Liam. Their slurred words made it impossible for Liam to understand, but that didn’t matter. Her voice became high-pitched borderline screeching when she saw the photo Liam had clutched in his hand. She made a grab for it, but Liam fought back. He refused to let her take anymore from him. Maybe it was the alcohol that brought on Liam’s newfound courage or maybe it was the hours he spent with Cas, but he kicked Gabe away from him. He finally fought back for the first time in his life and ran.

Liam rushed to the front door as fast as his shaky legs would carry him. He could still hear his mother's screams of hate as he saddled his bike and raced away from his old run-down home. Rain pelted his face, and his eyes stilled burned from the alcohol, making it hard for him to see, but he didn’t care, he just kept going, his wheels almost a blur. His head swam from the alcohol but he couldn't bring himself think about it—to care. He could think of nothing but running as fast as he could from the torment that he dealt with his whole life. He could think of nothing but the life that he should've had the life he was desperate to have. Liam had always wanted to be just like his father and, turns out he was. Like his father, Liam couldn’t see the hazard lights of a parked car sitting in the middle of the road.