Caught in the Act – A Short Story

Gently, Alex pushed the key into the lock and turned it. Slowly, he opened the door. It made a faint squeaky sound. As quietly as possible, he entered the house and locked the door behind him. The house was dark, but he knew it layout. He didn’t need the light to show him the way, he knew the way me. It wasn’t his first time sneaking into the house. Or sneaking out.

Tiptoeing noiselessly, he made his way from the door to his bedroom. With the same carefulness he had demonstrated with the front door, he opened and closed the bedroom door. It was until then that he released the alcohol laced breath he had been holding. He groped for the light switch on the wall and turned it on. Orange fluorescence light flooded the room, momentarily blinding him. When he refocused his vision, he saw her. She was sitting right in the middle of his bed. Waiting for him. All his precautions not to wake her up had been unnecessary.

The look his mother gave him said it all. This confrontation was long overdue. She knew he had been sneaking in and out of the house for the past couple of nights. But why now? Why had she chosen this moment to catch him in the act?

Rosemary gave her teenage son a disdainful once-over before glaring at him. It was the look of condemnation. It never failed to make him feel guilty. No sooner would she glare at him that he would begin to confess and apologize for his wrong doings. Tonight, he looked neither remorseful nor apologetic and neither has he said a word. If anything, his posture was defensive, and he was staring at her as though he expected her to initiate the conversation.

She was taken aback by this behavior. But she did not let her surprise show, as she rose up from his bed to confront him face to face. She glared at him a second time. He met her stare levelly. Before, he would have avoided her gaze. Fear clutched at her heart. When exactly had this transformation began? Since when was he able to defy her stare?

Her husband had often teased her about her venomous stare. He had said one look from her could get a murderer to confess to his crimes. It was her most effective weapon in training her only son from becoming wayward in a world so perverse and sinful. But it has lost its power. For the first time since he could recite the ten commandments, the boy standing in front of her was looking her back in the eyes.

He was breaking the fifth commandment, but he did not care. Alex could almost hear his mother’s mental monologue as she grappled to make sense of his behavior. She should have let things be. Didn’t she know that the only reason he has been sneaking in and out of the house was not to disturb her sleep? It was not because he cared if she finds out about his newly found habit. Why did she have to force this confrontation on him? He did not want to confront her yet. He was not ready to. Every time he thought about what she had done, he still felt enraged.

“Alex,” Rosemary began authoritatively.

She was never the first to open her mouth when chastising her son. She was the one always in control. It seemed as though, he was in charge this time around. The role reversal rankled her, but more specifically, it scared her. Her son thought the sun rises and sets on her, since when had that changed? Even though she had not paid much attention to him in recent times, she was sure this rebellion was very new. It was best to nip it in the bud.

“Have you been out drinking?”

Standing this close to him, she could smell his breath. It was a redundant question. The look he gave her said as much.

“I know I have been really busy lately, but if you are doing this to get my attention, you got my attention now.”

“What exactly have you been busy with mom? You are a full-time house wife.”

She looked taken aback by his response, but she recovered quickly.

“Alex you know I am the leader of the prayer group at church, my duties_”

His snicker prevented her from completing her statement. The very idea that her son would ever mock her had never crossed her mind. She tried to keep the panic away from her voice.

“Alex, you know what the bible says about that kind of behavior.”

“But that’s not my problem mom, I don’t believe in the bible.”

If he had raised his hands and slapped her, she couldn’t have looked more stricken.

“I rebuke the devil in Jesus name!”

“Save it mom, I don’t believe in Jesus. Neither do I believe in the devil.”

“Alex Robert Pierce, have you lost your mind!” Rosemary shrieked, her eyes widening in self-righteous indignation. “How dare you speak such blasphemy. I should have known something was terribly wrong when you walked out on pastor on Sunday. What has come over you?”

She peered at him as if looking for physical evidence of what has indeed come over him.

“Your father must hear about this. I must inform pastor too. The devil is trying to take over heart.”

“As for informing dad, you can save yourself the phone bill and let the man work in peace. He has more important things to do than hear about his seventeen-year-old son drinking.”

Alex had never challenged his mother. He was just as amazed at his newly found boldness as she was. She made a shocked sound and gaped at him. He continued.

“As for telling pastor, what’s he going to do about it?”

“Alex, what has come over you? You used to fear and respect pastor.”

 Yea, that was before I found him with you!

There, he said it and there was no taking it back. Except, he had not actually vocalized the words. That was what had been nagging at him since last Saturday. And when the pastor had smiled at him in that pretentious manner he did on Sunday, Alex had made sure to wipe that smile off his hypocritical face before walking out right in the middle of the service. He had not been back to church since then.

Alex had never missed a church service. He was often teased as the pastor’s protégé. But this week, he had not attended Tuesday bible study, Thursday prayer meeting, Friday vigil and Saturday choir practice. Every night, he had gone drinking instead.

There was no hell fire or heaven, it was one big lie invented by pastors and religious leaders. If there was indeed a place called hell, like pastor usually preached, didn’t he fear that he would go to hell for fornicating with Alex’s mother? And what about his mother, if she truly believed in hell, would she have wrapped her legs around the pastor’s waist like she did in his office when Alex had been looking at them from the broken window?

The image he recalled made him shudder. The alcohol he had drank earlier came up to his throat and he ran to the bathroom to throw up. His mother followed him in alarm, but he shut the bathroom door in her face. She called his name several times, but he ignored her. Bitter tears stung his eyes as he retched out his gut.

He felt betrayed by his mom and the man he had respected and idolized. His mother was right, Alex had adored the pastor. When every other kid talked and raved about their favorite superheroes, his had been pastor Simon. Spiderman and Superman had nothing on him. Pastor Simon was God’s special messenger navigating between the world, heaven and hell to bring peace to those who follow God’s commandment, and rain down fire and brimstone on those who did not. Every Sunday from the pulpit, standing in his white and royal blue robe, Pastor Simon promised that the good people will go heaven and the bad people will go to hell. He was the appointed one to lead the way to heaven. God himself chose him for that special mission. How could Spiderman top that?

Alex had believed every word pastor Simon said since he was a child. He had worshipped the man. Whenever the pastor spoke to him, Alex felt like God himself had spoken to him. But now his faith was crushed. He wasn’t even sure he believed in God anymore. Maybe he too was a figure made up by the so-called men of God to hoodwink the congregation, while they live secretly in pleasure and lasciviousness.

Alex wiped his tears and washed his mouth and face in the bathroom sink. When he returned to his room, his mother was gone. He heard her speaking on the phone in the living room. He didn’t have to guess who she was speaking with.

“He’s acting so strange. It’s so unlike him. I think the devil is after my son.”

His anger resurfaced at the hypocrisy. He marched into the parlor and snatched the phone from her hand. She gave him a dazed look, which soon turned into an appalled look when he said into the phone, “I saw you with my mother you phony hypocrite!”

But he was wrong.

The person on the other end of the line was not pastor Simon.

It was Alex’s father.