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Seeing Cobb writing about his family reminded me about what I left behind...I tell people I didn’t know why dad started drinking, but I knew why, after all, he told me himself that night..

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For starters, everything was ok, just your average family. My father was a fisherman, he worked down at the docks, when I was little I used to go down there to meet him when he was finished work. He even taught me how to use a fishing rod. Even though the thing was nearly twice the height as me. I had more then a few accidents where I fell off the pier because the rod got snagged on something. Being a kid I thought this the funniest thing ever..

It wasn’t long after my 12th birthday that I noticed my mother seemed to smile less and less. She always seemed to be sleeping, and there were doctors in the house most days after I got home from school. She said it was just a cold, shed be fine in no time. But she never got any better. She stayed in bed all the time, she was so pale and thin she could hardly get up.

One evening she asked me to bring my schoolwork to show her. Normally my father yelled at me until I finished it, but this time, she said she wanted to see it. I Didn’t think anything of it as I read through the English writing wed been told to do, about something we enjoyed the most..

"You’re a good kid, do your work and be good for your father OK?" was the last thing she said before I left. I was a bit confused, but told myself it was just the medicine the doctors were giving her. She wasn’t going anywhere right?

The next day seemed like the rest, I ran home from school to see her. But my father's friend was waiting outside the house. He wouldn’t let me go see her. He tried to steer me away from the house, but I pulled free and ran inside before he could stop me. There were a pair of white coated doctors talking to my father in the front hall;

"im sorry mr. Wilkins, we couldn’t do anything more for her.."

"The illness was too severe, im afraid her death was inevitable.."

Dead?

"YOURE LYING!! SHE CANT BE DEAD!!" before I could stop myself I shouted at them. They all turned quickly to look at me.

My dad went white as a sheet "kiddo, im sorry, your mother is..she was.."

"I DONT WANNA LISTEN TO YOU!! YOURE LYING!!" I refused to believe she was dead. I ran out the front door again, dodging dads friend as he tried to stop me. Behind me I heard dad yelling after me;

"PEACH GET BACK HERE NOW!! RUNNING AWAY WON T HELP-" but I put on a burst of speed and managed to lose him.

I wandered about the streets until it was past dark, all I could think about was id never hear her again, never see her smile when I showed her the progress reports from school.

I ended up at the pier where dad worked, where I was instantly spotted by his work friends, who called him right away. I didn’t bother trying to escape, I was too tired and cold..

I didn’t go back to school for a long time after that. Even when I did I started to hate it, id been there all that time my mother was dying, I should’ve been with her. I began avoiding going to school. My dad got mad, shouted at me, even had a truant officer escort me back there on occasions.

Years passed. At first home life continued as normal, my dad tried his best to take the place of my mother. But then work started getting harder to find and he started drinking. It started off as a small amount, then he was at it most days.

He started gettin' mad at me about everything, used to yell at me for making too much noise when he was having one of his drunken hangovers.

One day I noticed he’d taken all of moms pictures away, and hidden them in a box in his room along with the revolver her always kept. I asked why and he smacked me hard enough to make me dizzy.

"Don’t you question me you little shit," he hissed "just do as yer told and keep out!"

Then he stormed out. I was startled, but somehow not surprised. He’d started drinking, so i figured getting angry came next. Id seen drunken people in the streets, seen the old bill throwing them in jail for the night.

He was drunk most days, he would begin as soon as he got home from the docks. He still hung around there even when he wasn’t meant to be working, getting drunk with his friends. If i was doing something he found annoying he’d start in on me, shouting and shoving, as if somehow id made his life hell.

Sometimes his friends came by during the day, usually to see if he was coming drinking with them. If they noticed the messy battered state i was in they didn’t say anything. Dad' probably start on them too if they did..

Then he came home with the grim news he’d lost his job, they’d fired him for being drunk. I stupidly said maybe he ought to stop the drink, and that made him furious;

"DONT YOU DARE TELL ME WHAT TO DO YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BRAT!!" My head hit the corner of the table and i felt dizzy and sick.

"I’m sick of the sight of ye, why did i have lose Marie, she was my life, She’s gone, and every day im reminded of her, seeing her pictures all over the house. So i locked them away. But that’s not enough, there’s still YOU-" another blow to the head, more fuzzy vision, "you look just like her now. Your eyes, your hair...you’re ALL like her...why couldn’t YOU have gotten sick, why my Marie?"

He took a swig of the vodka bottle he was holding. He looked at me with a disgusted look on his face "you worthless brat, she doted on you! cant think why, you’re a damn nuisance...even your name is because of her!! Did ya know that huh?!" he grabbed my arm and shook me "i used to see her every day in the grocers store, she always loved peaches, why else did she name you that? You were her favourite thing, shed always wanted a child..."

He shoved me away from him and glared at me "every day i have to look at you, and remember that the woman I loved more than anything, is gone...if you weren’t 'ere I could try and forget. But every day you bring it back!!" he dragged me to the door and shoved me out of it, I landed on the cold ground outside, "stay outta my sight." was the last thing I heard before he slammed the door.

I knew then he’d probably kill me if I didn’t move it. I crept to the shed in the near darkness, broke the lock and grabbed some of his fishing equipment. A couple of fishing rods, bait, hooks, everything id need.

Then I ran, I knew the way to the docks, from there I could find somewhere to go, anywhere but home...

Eventually I found a new home, a town a long way from home, I walked, sometimes hitchhiking, but got there in the end. It was a big place, with a huge port. I got a job cleaning the boats there, they let me sleep in the office since I had nowhere to stay. They were good people. Eventually they let me start fishing there.

Several years later, I had a decent job supervising the fishing operations with a team of workers to oversee, and a little office overlooking the wharf. I never heard from my father. He never bothered looking for me, not that I expected he would. I didn’t care, I had a good enough life without ever seeing him again..

Then, some time later, a letter showed up on my desk. From someone called "Andrew Ryan", some fancy engineer guy. It offered a chance to set up a business in his "utopia" underwater city. Keep all the profits I could make, no tax hassle. I was curious. It sounded good, and this guy must be rich as ya get.

How he’d found me at all was a mystery. But I figured it must be worth a go, business was good here, but perhaps it could be better...

Figuring I had nothing to lose I packed the little amount of possessions I’d kept over the years, and left late one night, leaving only a note saying I was going for a new job. I didn’t say where. Didn’t think id be coming back.

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So that’s the whole story, as much I remember of it. im glad I ran away, even if things have gone downhill now, at least I left that old drunk behind me..