Short Story - Megalomania

Jonathan waited outside his office building well past dusk. He had called his wife, Janice, an hour ago to inform her he would be working late, and not to wait up. She told him dinner would be in the fridge, the proper degree and time to heat it in the oven, and that she loved him. She trusted him, a characteristic he found in her to be foolish.

Trusting anyone, Jonathan knew, was a ridiculous and absurd action. To take anyone on their word, to Jonathan, was the equivalent of putting a bullet through your own chest and expecting the man walking by to perform emergency surgery to save your life. It’s possible the man might be a surgeon, and have the proper tools on him, the likelihood was low, however, and you wouldn't want to bank on it. It was a thing of make believe and to Jonathan it was a thing for fools.

Jonathan lifted his wrist and examined his watch, she was late. If there was something he found more disgusting than trust, it was tardiness. He had lived his life by a certain set of principles. One must never be late. If Jonathan had to wait later than expected he assumed the person did not respect him. Tardiness was rude and unacceptable behavior. There were no excuses. When the door opened and the pretty blond receptionist exited, Jonathan was beginning to fill with resentment for her. Even her smile set him on edge.

"Hello Mary."

She must have seen the aggravation on his face, or heard it in his voice.

"Sorry John, Mr. Fredricks kept me late."

Mr. Fredricks was her boss and Jonathan's as well. Meaning their behavior outside of work had to be kept quiet for more reason than just his marriage.

Mary smiled. "Shall we? I'm dying to order room service, I'm starved."

Jonathan wanted to hurt her, or at least say something awful that any normal man might regret but the alternative was going home to his wife, children, and a cold meal.

"Let’s go."

Jonathan arrived back home at around two in the morning. His wife was fast asleep, but she had left the living room light on for him. He sat down in his recliner and pulled his feet up. He contemplated turning the television on, maybe catching a sitcom rerun, something to take his mind off tonight's set back, but he knew better.

"Keep your eyes on the prize."

He picked up the framed photo on the table next to him. It was a picture of his family. In the photo he stood next to his wife with his arm around her. In front of them stood his six year old daughter Katy, and their twelve year old son, Zachary.

The photo had been taken four years ago. He was sure his wife and daughter were upstairs in their beds, but he couldn't be sure where his son was. Sixteen and a wild child, as Jonathan put it.

He sat the photo back down and stood up. He made his way down the hall and opened the first door on his left, his home office. They had bought this house three years ago when he was promoted to Assistant Director. He had insisted on the house, even though it was only a three bedroom home, and he had also insisted on a home office, even though that meant his teenage son would have to share a bedroom with his little sister. Zachary didn't understand the sacrifices needed. Yes, the house was smaller than needed, but it was located next door to the Mayor. His future political ambitions didn't seem very important to his son, which angered him. In the past three short years he had even built a solid friendship with the mayor, they had even spoken of his political future while standing over the back yard grill! How could his son act so indignant?

Just then he heard the front door open, he listened closely as he heard his son enter the house as quietly as possible. Nothing in the world made him angrier than his own son. He thought back to his wedding day. He knew it was difficult to run for office without a family so he had married the right woman. Janice looked the part in every way. As she aged she gained a certain grace about herself that reminded him of the former first ladies. He also knew she would never leave or cheat on him, reducing the chances of a scandal.

He listened as his son entered and closed his bedroom door. Things were taking longer than expected. He figured he would be much farther along in seventeen years, but busting into the political scene turned out to be harder than he thought. Things were coming together now and he refused to let anything get in the way. He picked up a brochure that lay on his desk. "Northern State School For Boys" was written in big black letters on the front. It was a boot camp more than a school but Jonathan didn't care, as long as it got his son out of his way, without damaging his image, it was fine. The school was highly respected and his son would get a good education, in all subjects, not just academic. He had his wife and sweet looking daughter to carry the weight, it would work.

The only problem Jonathan saw was the fact that his wife probably wouldn't agree to send her son away unless she felt he needed to go. He knew his son had to be doing drugs, drinking, sleeping around, and who knows what else but he hadn't had any luck in proving it. He had told his wife of his worries on several occasions but his son kept his room clean, without even a single pornographic magazine as evidence. He needed proof, and now Jonathan was left with only one choice.

He left his office and stood outside his children's bedroom door. He took a deep breath then knocked three times. It took a minute for his son to answer the door. Jonathan wondered what his son was up to but put those thoughts aside, he was on a mission. The door opened and there stood his son, possibly half asleep, more likely inebriated. Zachary had a tall black mohawk that Jonathan knew raised his blood pressure every time he saw it. His son's nose, eyebrow, ears, and tongue were all pierced which made him cringe at the sight.


"Yeah?" he son said, obviously annoyed at the disturbance.

"Listen..." Jonathan started, not exactly sure how he was going to pull this off but having enough faith in his savviness to continue.

"...Tomorrow is Saturday, and I think we should spend it together. We haven't exactly been on good terms lately and I'd like to make it up to you, son."

Jonathan allowed himself and inward giggle at the use of the word "son."

Zachary just stared at him, for what felt like an eternity, obviously sizing his father up, un sure if he should trust him. He knew he would. People are drawn to trust, their biggest downfall.

Zachary sighed,

"alright dad, sure, why not."

Jonathan spent the next morning in his office going over paperwork, knowing full well his son was not awake nor would appreciate being woke up. Finally, around noon, he knocked on his son's door. After what he figured to be an appropriate wait time, he opened the door and entered his children's room. The bed was unmade on Zachary's side of the room, but no sign of Zachary. He listened closely and could hear water running in bathroom next door. "He's in the shower." Jonathan said out loud with a small laugh. He took this surprise moment to quickly slip something in his son's bottom dresser drawer. The drawer had been empty and Jonathan knew it was unlikely to be checked before the time came. He then stood and took in his surroundings. On the right side the walls were painted pink. His daughter's bed was made, with a small plush pillow that pronounced "PRINCESS." there was a dollhouse on the floor at the foot of her bed, with dolls surrounding it. The other side of the room was a typical juvenile delinquents bedroom. The walls were painted black and covered with band posters, his desk was covered in food wrappers and empty pop cans making it hard to see a laptop computer also shared space on the desk. He took a step closer, considering taking a quick peek at his son's computer but the squeaking door hinges behind him saved him that choice.

"What are you doing in my room?"

By the look on his face, Zachary was upset at the intrusion.

"Sorry, I thought you were asleep and thought I'd wake you so we can get going."

Zachary nodded, obviously unsure about his father's intentions.

"Why don't we go tell your mother what we're doing and get going then? I have a full day planned, hate to miss out on something do to tardiness."

"Alright" Zachary replied.

Jonathan walked behind Zachary, closing the bedroom door as they left. They found Janice in the kitchen making Katy a snack. His young daughter was sitting on a bar stool playing with one of her dolls while waiting on her grilled cheese sandwich.

Janice turned from the stove, spatula in hand, are you guys hungry? I can make more."

Jonathan shook his head. "No thank you sweetheart, Zack and I are going out today, A little over due father-son time."

Janice beamed with excitement. "Really? That's wonderful! You boys have fun!"

Jonathan turned to his son, handing him his keys. "Here Zack, you can drive, go warm the car up while I say goodbye to your mother."

That did it. Using the nickname "Zack" and allowing his son to drive forced his son into full excitement and trust.

"Sure!" Zack said and ran out of the room before his father could change his mind. Jonathan then turned to his wife as she placed a sandwich on a plate for her daughter.

"We need to talk...alone" he said looking down at Katy. Janice nodded and followed him into the living room

Jonathan had it all planned out, he forced himself to look distressed.

"I'm taking Zack out today to talk to him, to see if I can get him to confide in me. Last night he didn't get home till after two in the morning, and as he passed my office I could smell marijuana and alcohol."

His wife's reaction was as he expected. He could see the water works we're well on their way. "Shh..." he said as he rubbed her arm, "I'll take care of it, I'll talk to him, we can get him help, but i do need something from you. I need you to search his room. If he's hiding drugs in there we need to find them."

He knew Janice hated breaking her son's trust and privacy but he also knew she figured there was no longer a choice. She nodded. "Alright, I'll look."

Jonathan's day with Zachary was long, boring, and extremely tiring. He took his son to see a movie, they had pizza, and finally after hours of this torture he instructed his son to drive them to the lake. It had taken him less than an hour to come up with this plan, and it was flawless.

He prided himself on is cunning and intelligence. Sometimes, when at lunch, he would sit on a park bench and just watch people walk by, thinking about how ignorant they were or about how easily he could manipulate them. Since he was a child he knew he was different, but when he became a teenager was when he realized what he really was. He was a god. Everyone around him worshiped him, would do anything for him. All he had to do was make them realize it.

After parking the car, both Jonathan and Zachary sat there in silence for several moments. Surprisingly, it was Zachary who broke the silence.

"Thanks for doing this Dad, to be honest; I always thought you hated me."

If Jonathan had been a normal man, or in his own mind; a mortal man, this statement might have been upsetting, quite possibly heartbreaking even. Jonathan only allowed a brief mental laugh before responding.

"I could never hate you, you’re my son. I love you. You know that."

Zachary nodded, "Thanks. So why did we stop here?"

Jonathan laughed, "Well your sixteen, and I don't imagine you’re a stranger to this but..." He pulled a small bag from his pocket.

Zachary's eyes widened in shock, "Dad, is that pot?!"

Jonathan was sickened, his own son thought him so stupid as to think his son hadn't smoked marijuana before.

"Yes it is, it's alright. Your sixteen, I smoked at your age and I guess it’s sort of a rite of passage. Anyway I'd rather you smoke it in front of me than somewhere else where you could get hurt."

Jonathan rolled a small amount of marijuana into a joint and passed it to his son. "There, go ahead, light it up."

Zachary took the joint from his dad, somewhat reluctantly. "Wow Dad, I never would have guessed you as a pot head."

It took everything for Jonathan not to strike his son in that moment, to call his father a "pot head”, such a disgusting title, was a huge insult to him.

Zachary lit the joint and took a long drag, then tried to pass it to his father.

Jonathan shook his head. "Sorry son, can't, this stuff is reserved only for the young."

Zachary looked at his father and shrugged, "Alright."

After his son had finished off the joint Jonathan got out of the car and walked around to the driver side door and opened it. "Alright, I'm driving now."

Zachary happily relinquished his seat and once back on the road Jonathan spoke again.

"Do you have a friend's house you could hang out at until it wears off? I just would rather your mother not see you like this."

Zachary nodded. "Yeah just let me out at the park, some friends are there, I'll hang with them till dinner time."

As Jonathan pulled up at the park he turned to his son. "Now don't tell anyone what we did, you know, don't tell anyone you got it from me. It would..."

Zachary interrupted him.

"I know, I know, it would ruin your chances of running for office." Zachary smiled. "Don't worry dad, I got your back."

Jonathan laughed as his son got out of the car, but he was laughing for a completely different reason.

Jonathan returned home and was very excited to see what his wife had found. When he walked through the front door Janice was sitting on the sofa, her face down and hair tumbled down the sides of her face. "Honey?" he said rushing to her side. "What's wrong?" trying to sound as concerned as possible.

Janice lifted her head and it was obvious she had been crying. She didn't say a word, she simply pointed at a bag on the coffee table. Jonathan knew what was in the bad, he had been the one who bought it, but he had to look to show surprise at the finding. He opened the bag, trying to act more frightened than excited. Inside the bag was another bag filled with a large quantity of white powder.

"Oh dear God." he turned away to smile, Janice thinking otherwise.

"It's what I think it is, isn't it John?"

Jonathan nodded. "Yes, but it's worse than that."

Janice stood. "Worse? What's worse than finding out our son does cocaine?!"

Jonathan sighed. "No dear, if he was doing cocaine than we would have known sooner, with this much cocaine he can only be selling it."

He waited till the words soaked into his wife's mind. He hated how thick she could be. Then it hit her. Her eyes widened and she began to sob.

"I didn't want to mention it, because I wasn't sure, but after this I guess I have to. Today at the restaurant some of Zack's friends were there. They all went into the bathroom together. They were in there for a long time. When Zack came back to the table his eyes were blood shot and I could smell the marijuana very strongly. We have got to do something."

Jonathan sat down and pretended to be thinking. After what he felt to be enough time he looked up at his wife, who was now pacing. "There's only one option, and I think you know what that is. It's either that or he ends up in prison."

Janice swallowed hard and nodded. "Northern State School For Boys."

1 YEAR LATER

"Janice!" Jonathan called down the stairs. "Have you seen my blue tie?!" He listened and heard his wife walking up the stairs. They had moved two months ago into a two story house across town. It was everything he had ever wanted and felt pride in his accomplishment, although it was nothing compared to this day. He had ran for State Senate and had won, help in part from his new best friend, the Mayor, and all this connections and friends.

Janice walked into the room, and simply pointed to the bed. Jonathan turned and seen the tie laying there. "Thanks" he said. She stared at him and walked out of the room without a word. Right around the time he bought the new house was when Janice found out about his affair. She had planned to leave him, but once Jonathan reminded her that her face would be in every newspaper if the affair became public she changed her mind. She said she would leave once Katy was in college, but he doubted that. Seven years was a long time to become accustomed to the life of the rich. She wouldn't give that up so quickly, nor would she take it with her. He would kill her before she saw a cent, and he had told her so.

Zachary, according to his new school, was a adjusting well and apparently had decided to join the military after graduation. That was fine with Jonathan, anything to further keep his son out of his hair. Zachary wrote home often, but the letters were only addressed to his mother and sister. Apparently Zachary had decided that he no longer had a father. Even better, Jonathan thought.

Jonathan was on his way out the door when he seen the mail man place a letter in their box. He retrieved the letter and stared at in surprise. It was a letter from Zachary but it was addressed to him, the father he said he no longer had. Jonathan quickly stuck the letter in his briefcase and got into his car, eager to get to his congratulatory party. Janice agreed to meet him there, along with Katy. He had to keep up appearances and she was well aware what would happen if she did not attend this event. In truth, Jonathan's anger had only increased over the past year. It seemed everything upset him. He told Janice that it was the stress, but he knew he was becoming less able to deal with everyone's ignorance, especially hers. There had been several occasions where he had struck her.

The next day, while sitting at his desk at home, he opened his briefcase and came across the letter from his son. Before he could open it the phone began to ring. He opened a drawer and tossed the letter inside. The way he figured it, the letter was most likely just hate mail. A long rambling about how his father had ruined his life...Etc...Etc. Jonathan didn't have time to read a letter written by a cry baby.

Two weeks later, when Jonathan returned from a business trip, he found his wife in the living room absolutely ecstatic. She was sitting on the sofa, Katy at her side. They were talking to someone Jonathan couldn't see. When he walked into the room he seen, sitting in his recliner, Zachary. "Hello Father." He son greeted him. It was obvious his son had taken on some changes in his time away. He no longer sported a mo-hawk, now his hair was done in a clean crew cut. Instead of his punk rock clothes he now wears military style attire, assigned to him by his school.

"And what do we owe this visit?" It was the only thing Jonathan could think to say. First the letter, now here he was in person.

"I know things haven't been great between us dad, but I'd like to change that. Mother wrote me about your political win, and I thought I should come, and celebrate this achievement with you."

Jonathan just stared at his son is disbelief. Of course he knew his son had to be up to something, but what? What was his angle? What was his game? Jonathan had to find out before it was to late. He knew his son could ruin everything he had worked for.

After dinner the newly reunited family sat around the table talking. Zachary told stories about his fellow peers back at his school. "So how are you handling military school?" Jonathan wanted to see how his son would react.

Zachary smiled. "Great. I really think it’s been the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I'm learning a lot"

Janice smiled and took her son's hand. "I'm happy your here."

Jonathan stood up, "Well I have a long day tomorrow, I better get some sleep."

Zachary shook his head. "No way, tomorrow is Saturday. I leave tomorrow night. I was hoping to spend some time with you."

Jonathan wasn't sure what he should do, but there really wasn't much he could do so he nodded. "Alright, I'll cancel some appointments, I can give you two, maybe three hours tops."

He didn't wait to see if his son agreed to this or not, he turned and went to bed.

The next day when Jonathan came downstairs he found his son at the kitchen table waiting. "I rented a boat" his son declared.

Jonathan raised an eyebrow, "A boat?"

"Well, yes, we missed out on the normal father-son stuff so I thought we could go fishing."

Jonathan wanted nothing more than to not go fishing with his son, but it was only for a few hours, and then his son would go back where he came from and everything would then go back to normal. "Alright, let’s go fishing."

It really was a nice day; even Jonathan had to admit that. Out on the water there was a cool, refreshing breeze. Jonathan pulled two cokes out of the cooler and handed one to Jonathan.
"Did you read my letter?"

Jonathan turned to his son, "What? Yeah I read it."

"What did it say?" his son pushed.

"What did is say? I can't remember word for word. Watch your pole, if you get a bite it will go right over board."

Zachary turned and looked at his fishing pole, and with a shrug he threw it into the water.

"What did you do that for?!"

Zachary smiled. "You didn't read my letter."

"How do you know that?"

"Because if you had..."

At this point Zachary produced a small hand gun and pointed it at his father.

"What are you doing? Are you crazy! Put that away!"

"No Dad, you’re the crazy one. You sent me away for reasons I don't even understand, you beat my mother, you cheat on her, and it’s only a matter of time until you start hurting Katy too."

Jonathan shook his head. "We're going home right now and then you’re going back where you came from immediately."

Zachary laughed. "No, I'm going to kill you. It's a simple fact."
Jonathan stood up. "You won't kill me, you can't or you would have already. I CAN'T DIE!"

"You’re a monster, but a mortal one, you are going to die."

"I'm a God! Your mother stays because she worships me! You worship me, admit it!"

Zachary closed his eyes and pulled the trigger; the bullet hit Jonathan in the chest and forced him over board. Zachary rushed to the side and watched his dad; eyes wide in horror, float away and slowly sink.

Zachary returned to land, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed 9-1-1.

"9-1-1 what's your emergency?"

"I just killed my father, we were on a boat, I shot him and he fell overboard."

Zachary was arrested; Janice couldn't wrap her mind around it. She couldn't believe her son had killed him. God knew she had thought about doing it so many times. She was angry now that she hadn't herself. Then at least she would be going to prison, not her son. His lawyer was hopeful though. He said because of the torment Zack could plead not guilty due to insanity.

Janice decided to sell the house and move into something smaller for her and Katy, possibly something in the country. She had almost everything packed; the only room she had neglected was her husband's office. When she finally walked into the room she had planned to just throw everything away, but not wanting to overlook anything important, she started going through the desk drawers. She found Zachary's letter in the last drawer she looked in. It was addressed to her husband and unopened. She opened it quickly and read it:

Dear Father,

I will be making a little trip your way in two weeks. I am going to rent us a boat, to go fishing, but once we're on the water I am going to kill you. I have a gun now, and I'm going to shoot you with it. You have a chance here to save yourself but I'm not worried. You'll never even open this letter. How do I know this? It’s because you don't care. because there couldn't be anything in this letter that you need. Certainly not praise, because you know I would never praise you, I have no kind words for you. So you will never open this letter, and you will never know what is to come. I know what you think, you think you’re a god, but I'm going to prove you wrong. Because gods don't die.

-Zack

Janice stared at the letter in disbelief. She knew what this letter would do; it would prove that his father's murder was premeditated. She quickly put the letter into her husband’s paper shredder along with several other unimportant pieces of paper.

"Zack was right, you’re not a god, but I do hope you burn in hell."