Breaking Point

The rusty bell chimed as the door opened. The man wiping down the table glanced over his shoulder. He stood up, put his rag in his apron pocket as he wiped his hands, then nodded to the disgruntled figure at the door.

“Fancy seeing you here, Huck. Especially at this hour. What can I do for you?”

Huck quietly took off his sunglasses and tucked them into his shirt pocket. Huck’s eyes were sunken, the red cracks of wariness hidden by his shades. He glanced around the pub, and just as expected, the place was barren. Made sense, no right-minded individual would be drinking before noon.

“Ev-morning, I suppose. The bar open, or are you still prepping?”

The bartender scratched his chin. “Eh. Go pick a spot, I’ll be there after this table.”

Huck quietly lumbered over to the corner seat and awkwardly balanced himself on the uncomfortable stool. He leaned his arms on the mildly moist countertop as his brain turned to static. He couldn’t forget the face of the kid. The kid didn’t cry, but the soft tremble in his shoulders spoke in a deafening roar.

‘Why? Why couldn’t I stop it? I did everything I could. Why did I still fail?’

“So, Cola?”

Huck flinched as the bartender strolled over to him across the counter. Huck took a slow breath as he lifted his head and acknowledged the voice. The bartender looked into Huck’s eyes as Huck shook his head.

“No Cola today.”

“Pepsi?”

“No, no Pepsi either.”

“...Sprite? Water?”

“Get me a beer, Gustavo.”

Gustavo stood there as he slowly chewed his lips. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, Gustavo cleared his throat.

“Sure. You have any brand preference in mind?”

“Get me the brand Vic’ always gets.”

Gus nodded, turned around, and pulled a bottle of prepackaged beer from the fridge behind him. He put it over the counter in one hand as he absentmindedly slapped his apron with the other.

“Ah, beans. I left the bottle opener in the back as I was moving crap around. Give me some time to find it.”

Gus left before Huck even acknowledged him. As Huck sat there, he glanced at the bottle. According to Vic’, the thing carried a 26% alcohol level. Probably why she liked the brand so much. Maybe it would do the same magic to him as it did to her.

Ten minutes passed, but time lost its meaning. It felt like an eternity, but the wait could’ve gone by longer and Huck wouldn’t have realized. Huck sat there, twirling the bottle with his fingers. After eternity had passed, the rusty bell chimed once more as an out-of-breath figure stood at the entrance. Huck flinched, his hand moved away from the bottle instinctively as he turned around. There stood a woman in jeans, flats, and a white t-shirt with a jelly stain on the side. She looked over at Huck and grinned a comfortable smile. She began to walk over to the countertop where Huck sat.

“Huck? Odd seeing you here.”

Huck said nothing, and instead lowered his head. The woman glanced at the beer at the countertop. Her eyes sunk for the slightest moment before she blinked. She smiled as she picked up the bottle.

“Guess you really are the greatest in the business, huh? How’d you know I was craving a drink? Nothing quite like a beer after a morning run.”

She began to twist the cap before Huck stopped her with a firm grip on her elbow. She looked down at him as his head still hung low. Her smile lowered just mildly as she spoke.

“ If you’re worried about my hand, don’t worry. It’s a twistoff.”

Huck shook his head as his head sunk even lower. He began to speak in an incoherent whisper, cleared his throat, then spoke up into a barely audible whisper.

“That isn’t yours, Vic’. Put it down.”

Victoria’s heart sank. She slowly swallowed what felt like a golfball as she looked down at the shrunken shoulders of the juggernaut. She sniffed, then quickly pulled away her arm as Huck nearly fell off his stool in the moment of imbalance. The hand holding the drink lowered to her side as she watched Huck struggle to regain balance.

“Then who is it for, Huck? You have a date that you’re waiting for? If that’s the case, then it's kinda stupid to pull a drink out of the fridge before she gets here, no?”

She glanced to the door and saw Gustavo quietly lowering the blinds on the window of the door. She nodded in approval as he made a locking motion with his hand. She looked back to Huck, whose head still hung low. An eternity of silence passed, with the only sound being the soft footsteps of the wooden floor as Gustavo quietly walked back to the kitchen.

“It doesn’t matter who it’s for. Put it down.”

Victoria looked down at him before twisting off the cap and downing the entire bottle. After the bottle was drained, she coughed as she began to fan her face with her free hand.

“...Fuck, that was a bad idea. I thought I would look cool but now my throat hurts”.

Huck looked up, his eyes narrowing at her slowly reddening ears.

“What the hell, Vic’? I told you to put it down.”

Victoria grinned at Huck. “Aw, what a damn shame. It ain’t the end of the world though, just wait for your date to get here, and then buy her the drink when she arrives.”

“That drink was for me.”

Victoria’s body felt warm, but her heart froze up as chills made her fist clench around the empty bottle. She put down the bottle and took a shaky breath.

“You did what you could. You can’t control everything, just accept that. You do far more than what’s expected for anyone. Just go home and get some rest.”

Huck swallowed dry air before speaking his next words. However, his tongue was weighed down by sheer guilt alone, and it took a second before he was able to utter his thoughts.

“What if…what if everything I did was wrong? I can’t help but think that I could’ve done something for Billy. I…I…”

Huck’s voice petered out. He just felt… frustrated. Confused. Everything had a solution, everything had a fix. Flat tire? Check air pressure even before you leave your house to ensure that it doesn’t happen, and pack a flat just in case there’s a nail on the road. Hostage situation? Find out everything about where the hostage is being kept, who the kidnapper is, what the demands are, what resources are available to defuse the situation, etc. Someone asks you to plan a party by Wednesday? You draft up the plans and funding by Monday, and finish detailing/decorating by Tuesday.

But… what about a flawed system that protects your close friends? A system that is absolutely biased that many depend on to live? It would be wrong to knowingly continue, but even more wrong to stop. How would one fix a problem, in which every solution has another problem attached?

This was a problem that needed fixing, but Huck didn’t know the fix. Huck just wanted to escape it all, and he didn’t know how to escape. The closest thing Huck knew to an escape was being in a drunken stupor. That, and well, an irreversible solution… but Huck knew that the latter solution was unacceptable for any Christian.

He shook his head. This absolutely wasn’t the best solution, but nothing could be done. He turned back around and knocked on the wooden countertop.

“Gustavo, bring me anot-”

Suddenly, Huck felt a sharp pain on his left cheek as he was thrown off the barstool and onto the mildly dusty floor. He cupped his face, then looked back up to see Victoria standing over him with a calm rage in her eyes. She took in sharp breaths, nostrils flaring as her brow furrowed. She bent down, grabbed Huck by his uniform, causing the sunglasses in his shirt pocket to clatter onto the floor. She then proceeded to half throw, half drag Huck and slam him against the counter. The impact made Huck wince as his head smacked against the backboard of the countertop. There were multiple responses Huck could have given. Anger, confusion, disappointment. However, the first words stammered out his mouth were the equivalent of an automated voice message.

“You can’t assault an officer.”

Victoria hissed and reeled her hand back to punch Huck in the face. Huck did nothing to block or move out of the way, and let the punch connect square on his nose. He winced, and the spigot of blood spewed a small stream past his mouth. Victoria clutched her hand for a second, then wiped the few drops of blood from her knuckles. She then kneeled down on the floor next to Huck.

“ I dont give a damn what your occupation is, Sheriff Whittleson. If you’re gonna arrest me, you are more than free to do so. However, my younger sister is attending kindergarden. She’s made friends. Can you even imagine that? The sister of the whore of Blackard has a future now, thanks to you. Its fine if you call me a mistake, because I’ve come to accept that. However, my sister deserves nothing but excellence. Don’t you even dare of taking back the hope you gave us.”

Huck clutched his nose. “...But-”

“But what? You’re tired? Stressed? Sad? News flash, Huck: we’re all sad about Billy. You did absolutely everything you could for him while protecting the town. Would you sacrifice us all for the kid? No, we know you wouldn’t. Billy wouldn’t want that either, and neither would Johanna. If Johanna knew that you were going to break your promise to her just to forget your sadness for one evening, she would be rolling in her grave. I-”

Victoria’s voice caught on her heart. She coughed, and wiped her eyes.

“Damn it, I really miss Billy. I really fucking miss him. The damn kid almost found his way.”

Huck lowered his head. To say his heart was broken would be an understatement. It had been peppered, stitched together, drowned, torn, stitched once again, burned, then remade with the remaining ashes. Billy gave him a new purpose. Billy was family. Huck did everything he could to save Billy, but it still wasn’t enough. A smalltime sheriff could do nothing against law. If Huck had proceeded with Billy’s case, then the entire town’s sins would have been uncovered.

His head hurt and his heart ached. This was the first time he felt so lost and ashamed of his failures. Who could he even go to for guidance? The throbbing in his nose couldn’t overshadow the pain in his heart. He hung his head.

“...What should I do then? I spent all night scouring addresses, laws, loopholes, and plans. Nothing worked, everything fell apart. Every solution I found would involve sacrificing someone else. There wasn’t anything I could find that resulted in a happy ending.”

Victoria pulled Huck’s head into her chest and squeezed tightly. His eyes began to dampen from the pain, both physical and emotional.

“Cry. Scream. Be frustrated. It isn’t fair, I know, but what else can we do? You aren’t invincible. We all have limits… and you far exceeded yours. Stop trying to bear the weight of the world. Put it down for once and rest. We’ll do what we can to pick up the pieces and make sure the place doesn’t fall apart while you mourn. It might take a while, but when you recover, we’ll think of something so this doesn’t happen again in the future, alright?”

Huck didn’t say anything, and he didn’t need to. Victoria just quietly held him on the dirty barfloor, cradling him as tears threatened to break from the corners of her eyes….but they didn’t, and they never would. There would be a time for her to mourn, but not now.

Right now, Huck needed someone to lean on, and it would be utterly stupid if the person he leaned on began to bawl.

Some time passed, but it was unclear how much. Eventually, Gustavo appeared from the kitchen holding a rag and napkin to Victoria. She looked up, smiled a quiet “thank you” as he placed the items on the countertop, and retreated to the back once more.

Eventually, Huck pulled away. It was evident that he still needed comfort, but he leaned away regardless. He awkwardly pointed at her shirt, to which she looked down and saw small droplets of blood accompanying the jelly stain. She rolled her eyes and smiled.

“It’s fine, I have to wash this anyways, what's a few more drops of blood to match the jam?”

“Sorry.”

Victoria laughed. “Sorry? I punched you, dumbass. Don’t apologize.”

“No, I mean for-”

“Don’t apologize, seriously. It's fine.”

Victoria got up, brushed her legs a bit, then extended a hand to Huck. Huck took the hand as she helped him up. She then grabbed the napkin from the counter and handed it to Huck, who graciously accepted. Victoria then grabbed the rag to wipe off her hands, then dabbed at Huck’s mouth as he stuffed the napkin up his nose.

“Feeling better?”

“No.”

“Eh, that’s expected. Rest up before you leave.”

He nodded as he walked over to a booth. Huck lay down and let weariness take his conscious.

As she heard the soft breathing from the booth, she slumped down into a barstool and sighed. Gustavo slowly appeared from the back, handing her a glass of iced clear liquid, to which she grabbed and downed immediately. She then frowned at the empty glass, and looked up at Gustavo.

“This is water.”

“Did you seriously expect me to serve you vodka? I’m surprised you aren’t even mildly tipsy from downing that beer in one go.”

She winced as she clutched her forehead. “Nah, not tipsy, but fuck. It’s like my throat has catapillers crawling up and down.”

Gustavo nodded, and gestured to the empty glass. She looked at it, and it clicked.

“Ah.”

“Yep. You’re welcome.”

She put an ice cube in her mouth and slowly crushed it between her molars. After a minute of thinking, she opened her mouth.

“Thanks for calling me.”

“Yep. You’re welcome.”

“Never seen him this bad before, or bad in general.”

Gustavo nodded and resumed cleaning behind the bar as he nodded to the fallen over barstools.

“Push those back in for me, will ya?”

She scoffed as she got up from her chair. She leaned over to clean up the mess made in the scuffle she and Huck had gotten into.

“You sure are a lousy bartender. What bartender makes their guests clean up their bar?”

“The same bartender who serves you three bottles every night. By the way, you should get ready to pick up your sister. She gets off soon.”

Victoria glanced at the wall, her face paling at how much time had passed.

“Crap, thanks for letting me know.”

She pushed in the last barstool and turned to leave. Right as she reached the door, she stopped and turned to face the booth where Huck slumbered. She hesitated, and turned back to Gustavo.

“Uh…”

He waved her off dismissively. “Relax, I’ll make sure he gets enough rest. Go pick up your sister. If you want to stop by here after making sure she gets home safely, just knock.”

“Gotcha. Thanks Gus.”

Victoria smiled and turned to open the door, only for it to clatter in her hand. She frowned as she heard a voice call from behind her.

“Door still locked, hun. Get out the back, it’ll draw less attention.”

. . .

The first thing Huck felt was a cold fuzziness in his head. He wanted to sleep more, but he couldn’t muster the tiredness to sleep more. Still, when he sat up, the ringing in his ears made him blink rapidly. The sofa was a lot stiffer than he remembered.

…Sofa? Wait…

“Morning, or evening, I should say.”

Huck glanced over to see Gustavo walking over with a glass of water. He handed the glass to Huck, and Huck gingerly took the glass. He sniffed the liquid before sipping the water with a refreshing sigh.

“Thanks, Gus. How long was I out?”

“Long enough. It’s night.”

Huck stared at Gustavo, then glanced out the window. The sun was already setting and the first streetlights were already flickering on.

“Huh. So it is. Well, I best be going then.”

As Huck swiveled out of the booth, he flinched and fingered at the back of his head. There, he felt a small bump. Gustavo nodded.

“Yeah, seems like she threw you around hard. Surprised she could even move a big guy like you, though.”

Huck stayed silent, and stared at the glass in his hands. He collected his thoughts, then looked at Gustavo in the eye.

“Sorry, and thanks.”

“Yep. You’re welcome.”

Huck got up and strode over to the door. Gustavo silently watched, a small smile growing on his lips. As Huck turned the doorknob, the clicking of the lock prevented the door from turning any further. When Huck turned around confused, Gustavo let out a small chuckle.

“Funnily enough? Victoria did the same thing. Head out the back, it’ll draw less attention.”

“You were closed the entire day?”

“Well, yeah. Can’t have the town come in to see their hero all battered and beat up in the pub, right?”

Huck stood there awkwardly as he grabbed his wrists. Gustavo waved him off.

“Seriously, Huck, it's fine. I’ll just say a raccoon broke into the kitchen and I spent the day trying to find out how to get it out and how it got in the first place. No biggie. Now head on out, she’s probably freezing out there.”

Huck furrowed his brow, then his eyes widened. He immediately gave a small bow, and headed out the backdoor as Gustavo chuckled. As the backdoor closed, Gustavo muttered.

“Seriously, I told her she could come back in. Why’d she sit outside for that long?”

. . .

As Huck entered the alleyway, he saw Victoria leaning against a crate as she sipped from a can of cola. When she looked up, her eyes screamed relief and her mouth curved upwards.

“Mornin’, sleepyhead.”

“It’s evening.”

“So it is. Mornin’, sleepyhead.”

She stood up, chucked the remainder of her soda into a garbage can, and stretched. She had changed from her outfit into something for befitting of her occupation: a hotpink dress with heels and hoop earrings. As fashionable as such a simple outfit looked, it did nothing to prevent the elements, and Huck couldn’t help but notice a mild shiver in her shoulders as she looked him up and down.

“Damn, you look bad.”

Huck shrugged. “The booth isn’t comfy to lie down in.”

Victoria laughed. “God, I wouldn’t dare to put my face down on those seats. Imagine how much piss and farts those cushions contain.”

Huck stared at her for a minute before approaching her. Victoria’s eyebrows raised, but didn’t say anything. Standing directly in front of her, he leaned in for a hug, to which Victoria flinched at for a brief moment before leaning into. After five seconds had passed, she pulled away from him, winking and tapping his nose.

“Sorry sweetie, but that's just a sample. You need to purchase for the full experience.”

Huck sighed and stepped back. “Yeah, yeah. Come on, lets go.”

Victoria grinned. “So…you finally gonna sleep with me?”

“I’m hiring you as company, not for favors. Don’t twist my words.”

Victoria pouted. “Boo. I hope you at least have something else I could wear. This dress sucks.”

“Yeah, we can stop by my house, then swing by your home for the night.”

“Can we stop by the store then? I promised Ally that I would buy her some gummy bears if she behaved until I got back.”

“...That dress doesn’t have pockets.”

“Hm, so it doesn’t. Are you gonna make me a liar?”

Huck sighed and patted his pockets. After confirming that his wallet was indeed inside his pants, he looked over at Victoria, who was batting puppy dog eyes at him.

“Fine, but not in that dress. We can go shopping after you put on jeans and a coat.”

“Hell yeah.”

-end