TWENTY TWO

JORDAN

I walked into a bar with my friends to see a woman sitting alone at the bar, an almost empty bottle of liquor in front of her. I can't help but feel a sense of dread as we approached the bartender to order a drink. I tried to focus on my drink, but I couldn’t help but glance over at the woman every few minutes.

She's muttering to herself and looked like she's having a hard time staying upright. Until I realized with a sinking feeling that the woman is my stepmother, causing my fist to tighten against the glass cup in my grasp.

As I'm watching my stepmother, I noticed my two friends, Nathan and Rodney, watching her as well. Their expressions are grim, and I know they're feeling the same sense of regret that I am. I had a slight bad feeling about this bar, I shouldn’t have entered.

"Let's get out of here.” Palming my face embarrassingly, I motioned to my friends.

"We can't just leave her here like this." Nathan and Rodney looked at each other, then back at me. Guess they wer