Chapter 6 - The Motel Room Breakdown
On the outskirts of Stamford, miles away from the manicured lawns and marble foyers of Greenwich, sat the Sun-Rest Motel. Its neon sign flickered weakly against the gray November drizzle.
Inside Room 114, the air was thick with the smell of stale fried food and cheap carpet cleaner.
Vivian sat on the edge of a stained queen bed, her once-immaculate designer clothes rumpled and dirty. On the floor sat four plastic trash bags containing the few clothes they had managed to retrieve from the Stamford storage unit before their access was revoked due to unpaid fees.
Daniel sat at the small laminate desk, staring blankly at a cold cup of instant noodles.
He had been released from jail two days ago after signing the initial plea agreement and the divorce papers. He was currently on supervised probation, required to report to a court officer every Monday morning.
His phone chimed on the desk.
It was a text message from his bank:
ACCOUNT BALANCE: $14.32 OVERDRAFT WARNING: PENDING FEES $35.00
"Daniel," Vivian whined, her voice raspy from days of crying and smoking thin cigarettes outside the motel door. "We need to order dinner. Call that takeout place across the street."
Daniel slowly turned his head to look at his mother. His eyes were hollow, sunken into dark gray sockets.
"With what money, Mom?" Daniel asked, his voice dead and emotionless.
"Use your credit card!"
"I don't have a credit card!" Daniel suddenly roared, slamming his fist onto the laminate desk so hard the plastic cup overturned, spilling lukewarm broth onto his lap. "My cards are canceled! My credit score dropped three hundred points in two weeks! I have fourteen dollars in my checking account!"
Vivian flinched, clutching her thin coat around her chest. "You don't have to raise your voice at me! I'm your mother! I did everything for you! I raised you to be a gentleman!"
"A gentleman?!" Daniel laughed hysterically, tears streaming down his hollow face. "You raised me to be a parasite! You told me I was too good to work hard! You told me to marry Emma because her father was dying and she would inherit millions! You told me to lock her in that room!"
"She was disrespecting me!" Vivian shrieked defensively. "She didn't want to fund my decorating studio! She complained when I used her credit cards!"
"She was paying for our entire lives!" Daniel screamed, stepping over the trash bags, standing over his mother. "She bought my car! She paid for my suits! She paid for the food you ate every single day! And you told me to lock her up without a phone while she was nine months pregnant!"
He fell to his knees on the dirty motel carpet, grabbing his hair, sobbing uncontrollably.
"I lost my wife..." Daniel choked out. "I lost my daughter... I don't even know what my baby looks like, Mom... I don't even know her name..."
Vivian stared at her son, her lip trembling, but even now, her narcissistic mind couldn't accept responsibility.
"She’s a cold, vicious monster," Vivian whispered bitterly. "She planned this. She set us up."
"She didn't set us up!" Daniel yelled, looking up with pure hatred in his eyes. "We did this to ourselves! You did this to me!"
He stood up, grabbed his thin jacket from the chair, and shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Where are you going?!" Vivian panicked, standing up. "You can't leave me here! I don't have any money!"
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"I’m going to find a job," Daniel said, his voice flat as ice. "I’m going to work night shifts at the warehouse down the road. And as soon as I make enough money for a bus ticket, I’m leaving this state, and I am never looking at you again."
He slammed the motel room door behind him, leaving Vivian standing alone in the flickering light of the neon sign outside.
