As Mike stepped out of the house on this bright and warm morning, his heart was only at one place, Charlie's. He knew they could not afford to postpone their job again, if not they won't have any customers again. But Charlie has been miserable for the past few days, refusing to leave the house for anything and allowing only his best friend and business colleague access to his house.
It's been three months since his mom was buried and before he could fully recover from that, both financially and emotionally, his girlfriend ended things with him. "I'm sorry I can't continue with you" she had told him, and when he pressed on to find the reason for her change of heart, she had just blurted out "I've outgrown you Charlie, I've moved on to someone on my level".
Those words still pierce through his heart anytime he remembers them. Since that time, Charlie had lost the courage to face the world,and he had reverted into solitude.
Upon getting to Charlie's place, the place was still locked as usual. After knocking for some minutes without getting any response, Mike turned round to the window where he knows Charlie's bed is and just as he guessed, the window was open.
Lifting the window blind with one hand, he sprinkled the water in the small bottle he was holding on the bed hoping that it will some how wake his friend from his slumber.
"what the..... who the heck is that?" Charlie barked
"come and open the door my friend" Mike barked back
Mike could hear some swears, mumbling and staggering inside the house. Few minutes later, the door was opened and Mike was greeted by the stench of alcohol and other things he didn't understand emanating from the room.
"shit man, do you poo inside this place?" he queried as he stepped into the room.
Charlie was still staggering along with one outstretched hand looking for his bed. That was when Mike noticed that the room was in a complete mess. There were dirty clothes littered all over the place, a dirty underwear hanging loosely on the single rubber chair in the room, and a bottle of beer lying by the bedside with liquid droplets dripping from the tip.
"it seems the motor of your brain has lost control" Mike chided as he bent to pick the clothes and dump them in the laundry basket.
"How can you be living like an animal?" he asked incredulously
"animals don't drive bro" Charlie replied drunkenly "don't be contradicting yourself" he added
"that I can see" Mike snapped "especially when they're drunk" he added as he snatched the beer bottle from his friend who was licking up the last particles of content from the bottle.
"now get up and get prepared, we've got work to do" Mike started as he dragged his friend to the shower "if not, we'll be starving for a long time" he added.
"how are we going to get there since I've lost control of my motor and you have none?" Charlie joked
"you can produce another motor" Mike decided to play along "if you can generate the right energy" he added as he threw him the towel.
"she took away my energy generating device when she drove off with my heart man" Charlie replied. "I've truly lost my drive, cos there's nothing propelling me, and nothing seems to interest me anymore" he concluded in a distant voice as he entered the bathroom.
"is that what you would've told your mom or dad if they were here?" Mike began as he strolled to the bathroom door. "would you have told them that you've lost control of your destiny and is ready to drive yourself into destruction because a woman dumped you? Think about it man. Even if you don't do it for yourself, do it for the memory of your parents". Mike ended
That was when Charlie realized how selfish and myopic he's been, thinking about only himself and what he feels, without giving a thought to his late parents' legacy and his siblings. He knew his friend was right and he had to put his life in order.
