Married at twenty. By twenty-one, I was up before dawn and collapsing after midnight, caring for his paralyzed parents.
Ten years.
The Lionel from ten years ago slowly merged with the accomplished Director Dickerson standing before me now.
I pulled myself back to the present, stone-faced, and shoved away the hand Lionel extended to help me. I pressed my palms flat against the floor and forced myself upright, then walked out one slow, agonizing step at a time.
I stopped at the office door and looked back, saying goodbye to the Lionel from ten years ago.
I dragged my battered body home.
The moment I stepped through the door, my father-in-law's voice hit me like a wall:
"I knew a worthless thing like you was nothing but trouble! How dare you stay out all night? Where the hell did you crawl off to?!"
"Your mother-in-law soiled herself! It reeks in here. Get in there and clean her up!"
"You can't help Lionel with his career, fine. But you can't even handle the house? Are you trying to drain him dry?"
I pushed open the door to my in-laws' room. The stench hit me full in the face.
I covered my nose and mouth and stood in silence, staring at the two of them on the bed.
Not even a full minute passed.