Life carried on and Lex got worse. He was getting into trouble at school and hanging out with some of the kids from the rough side of town. Tim and Rose were constantly visiting the Principal of the school.
Just after Lex’s 14th birthday, Tim’s mother, Lex’s grandmother, died. Things started going down hill pretty fast.
It hit Tim hard and he started wondering what he was even doing in this world. Was it shallow to be an actor? To pretend to be other people all your life? He had a lovely wife and a confident son but things weren’t perfect. His son was a bully and causing trouble, and his wife didn’t seem as interested in their relationship anymore. He guessed that being together for so many years takes it’s toll and being in love doesn’t last forever. Was he having a mid-life crisis?
Tim started drinking. It used to be a glass of wine with dinner but now it was 4 or 5 over the night. Rose didn’t really notice at first but then it got more obvious that he was actually getting drunk. He would order cases of wine and they wouldn’t last as long as they should have. Lex was also helping himself to a few bottles every now and again and sharing them with his mates. He would come home late at night drunk as a skunk. But Tim hardly noticed.
Tim would drink his way through four glasses and then start getting depressed. He would consume another bottle and he would ramble about life and how things just weren’t what he wanted them to be.
Rose was in despair. What had happened to her loving family? What had happened to her bright, confident son and her loving husband? She used to pride herself on having a normal happy family and now it had turned into the type of family she never wanted to be a part of.
Next the violence started. Tim wasn’t just depressed anymore, he was angry. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was angry about but that didn’t stop him hating everyone and everything. He would fly into a rage at work and cause more drama than was in the scripts. Then he would get home and start an argument with Rose. The tv remote would fly around the room and Rose would jump in her car just to escape the constant barrage of insults and abuse.
Lex would come home and find his father in a heap on the couch. He would also get a load of abuse and they would scream and yell until one of them left the room in despair.
It all came to a head one Saturday night. Lex arrived home to find his mother crying, his father yelling and the house looking like a war zone.
Lex just couldn’t handle it anymore. He lunged at his father screaming that all this was his fault. The drinking, abuse, the family was breaking apart! Tim stopped Lex in his tracks, with a backhand to Lex’s face.
Lex stumbled back in astonishment. He laid a hand on his hot red cheek. Rose look dumbfounded.
Rose was about to say something when Lex just turned and walked out the door.
Lex had had more than enough. He would be back, but only to get his mother.
When they all thought things could get any worse …. the virus hit. It stopped just being their family in crisis – it was every family.