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Shattered Perceptions
Topic Started: Jun 29 2017, 07:16 PM (222 Views)
Brian Stryker

The door to the room opens as Brian walks into the room where his father sleeps….or did. It’s been barely 24 hours since his father passed away and Brian had to unenviable position of having to go through his father’s things. It’s a job that is never fun nor easy for the most part. It just keeps wounds open and reminds you how much you just miss the person.

Brian volunteered to do this as his stepmom, Brandy, just didn’t want to deal with it. He hasn’t really talked to her since it happened, and that was okay with him. The two were never gonna be eye to eye on anything, but he promised his dad he’d look after her, at least for a bit.

Brian flipped the switch on as he just sighed deeply. He walked over to his dad’s closet and opened the door. Various dress shirts and jackets hung there. His dad was a more skinny than Brian so none of these were gonna fit him. He started taking the shirts out and laid them on the foot of the bed, being careful not to wrinkle them too much. He then moved to the suits, placing them on top of the shirts.

BRIAN: Guess I’ll donate these.

He went back to the closet when two things caught his eyes. First there was a tshirt hanging in the closet. It was covered in that protective plastic you put over suits. The other was a box with the name Brian written on it. He decided to check the shirt out first and for the first time since he got the news, Brian smiled. It was a small smile and almost barely noticeable, but it was there none the less

Hanging in his closet, protected from the other clothes was a Dark Horse Protection shirt. The brand new ones him and Hunter debuted just a few weeks ago. He checked the back of the shirt and sure enough there was the DHP logo and beneath it was the name “Dougherty”. His dad bought their shirt and instead of wearing it, he saved it almost like a souvenir. Brian was NOT gonna let this get donated. He went over and placed the hanger on the armoire handle. That was staying in his own closet not. Next was that illusive box.

He grabbed the cardboard box and pulled it out. It was a decent sized box as he walked over to a chair his father kept in the room and sat down. He placed the box on his lap and opened the lid. Inside was full of magazine clips, photos, and letters. He took a photo out and looked at it. It was a photo of him back when he had to be about 18. It was a photo of him that was used for a flyer back in Philadelphia to promote the show. Brian remembered because he had to street team that day and put up 200 of those flyers.

Brian put that photo back and this time pulled a magazine clipping out. It was an interview he did. Asking him about why he became a wrestler and what not. He sees his mother mentioned but nothing about his father. How much did that have to hurt his dad? How much did that hurt him knowing his own son probably didn’t care about him. Brian rubbed his tired face.

He put the clipping back and that was when what he saw next made his heart stopped. There was an envelope with his dad’s name written on it. He recognized the hand writing almost instantly. The way the S swooped. The way the P curved into the H. That was his mom’s hand writing. He took the envelope and opened it up. There was a note inside. He pulled it out and unfolded as he started to read.

THERESA: Dear Stephen, I know it’s been a while since I last wrote but things aren’t well here. I was told by the doctors that the chemo isn’t working as well as it should. The cancer is spreading and I don’t believe I have much time left. I don’t believe I’ll make it through till Christmas this year sadly. The days grow more difficult. It's harder to do even simple tasks like sitting up and even breathing. Brian has been such a good son through it all. Never once has he cried seeing his mother like this. He has your resolve. He works part time down at the grocery store down the street. All the moment he makes from it, he gives to me to help pay for things like bills.

Brian had to stop. This was written a few months before his mom died. At this point she was bed ridden the entire time. Brian wiped his eyes as he forced himself back into reading.

THERESA: I don’t regret anything in my life now that I have time to reflect on it. I feel sadness that you and I couldn’t work things out. That we couldn’t be the family that Brian so deserved. He still doesn’t know the truth sadly. Once again you were right. Telling him that his father just after he was born because he couldn’t be a dad was much easier for him to handle then it would be learning that his mother was the one who left.

A mother who was selfish enough to take a child and raise him without a father because I couldn’t handle the meager means we were living. You so willing became a horrible man in the eyes of my parents and our friends just to save me that embarrassment. I didn’t deserve you as a husband, and I don’t think I ever would.

That is why I ask one more favor from you Stephen. When I have finally succumbed to this wretched disease and leave Brian all alone, please take him into your new family. I know those new little girls Brandy just had would love to have an older brother as they grow. That is my last wish from you. Please give Brian the life I was so unable to provide because of my own selfish reasons. Thank you for the best years of my life my love and I’m sorry for all the heartache I have caused you. With love, Theresa.


Brian let the box fall to the floor as the contents fell out onto the carpet. What did he just read? That can’t be true…can it? He recalled how in the weeks after his mother passed away, he as in the hands of child services. Just a week before his 17th birthday he got a call from his dad, asking if Brian wanted to come live with him. Brian just cursed him out and told him to die…

But according to this, his dad never left. His mom was the one who did and she took Brian with her and his dad took the fall so willingly. Why? What was going through her head? Why did he let himself become so hated by Brian? Everything he thought he knew about not just his dad, but his own mother was no shattering right before him. He was left with ten thousand questions. And now he was left with no way to answer them.

A man Brian thought was selfish, who only wanted to reconnect with Brian after so many years just to ease his conscience, was a man who as willing to do anything to help his son, even if it meant becoming a scapegoat for his son’s frustrations. Brian grabbed his head as he couldn’t control himself anymore. Stephen Dougherty wasn’t a selfish man. It was Brian who was selfish. Brian was alone. Alone with no way to achieve any form of closure. His entire perception of his father was now just one big regret. A regret he will never be able to get rid of.
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