The Intervention #AtoZChallenge

Thad leaned forward from his lounging position on the tattered black leather sofa. He muted the TV as his two brothers came into his home without knocking. Chad, the oldest of the three, picked up the remote, clicked the TV off, and placed it back on the wobbly coffee table as he sat in the recliner at the side of the room.

"Thad, look, it's not good."

"Whoa. Dude." Thad raised his scotch to his lips and took a steadying gulp. "Bad news? What's up? Is it Mom?" He looked back-and-forth between his brothers. Brad remained standing, leaning against the entrance to the living room, his left hand on his hip, the right hidden around the corner of the wall.

Chad and Brad exchanged a look and Brad, standing against the wall, shook his head grimly. Chad was doing all the speaking. "Not Mom, you."

Thad's eyes narrowed and he held his arms out in an open gesture. "Me? What's the problem?"

Chad lifted the nearly empty bottle of Johnnie Walker. He raised his eyebrows in a question.

"What? I'm not driving. I'm not allowed to enjoy myself in my own home?"

"Of course, but we're worried about you. You're not healthy, you've missed work..."

"Whatever. I like my life." Thad lifted his glass to his lips to make the point. "Just 'cuz you're unhappy with your life choices..." He drained the glass and reached to pour another, but Chad pulled the bottle out of his reach, shaking his head.

"We've been through this, over and over. It has to end." He raised his chin to Brad, who turned the corner toward the kitchen area. "It's for your own good."

There was an awful CRASH, accompanied by the sound of glass breaking. Thad was already moving to the kitchen as Brad swung his sledgehammer through the glass-encased corner cabinet. Another crash and tinkle of glass followed, and a steady dripping began as the broken liquor bottles spilled over the counter onto the linoleum floor. "What the hell?" Thad was reaching for Brad's sledgehammer but Chad caught his arms from behind.

Brad's sledgehammer had already shattered and splintered the upper cabinet housing liquor and glassware. He opened the lower cabinet as Chad held their brother out of the way. The lower cabinet was loaded, too, and Brad swung his sledgehammer along the shelf, knocking bottle into bottle as they broke and sloshed into the growing mess on the floor.

"You bastard!"

"It's for your own good."

Brad checked the other cabinets, sledgehammer dangling from his right hand. While Chad held Thad's arms behind him, Brad made a quick search of the other rooms, returning to the kitchen with three more bottles including the one from the living room. He set them on the counter, then swung the sledgehammer one final time.

Thad was slumped in his brother's grip, but his eyes were raging. Chad turned him around and wrapped him in a bear hug. "Come on. You can stay with me and Chrissy tonight. Tomorrow the three of us will make repairs. Maybe a good construction project is just what you need."

Thank you for visiting my #AtoZChallenge! My theme is "Audience Participation" (read about it, here) and now it is your turn. Each day will be a new story based on suggestions from your comments. Suggest anything: a word, scenario, character, location... I will be keeping a list of suggestions, so if yours isn't used tomorrow, it may show up later. 

Today's post was inspired by the prompt "sledgehammer", suggested by Jz (of A Reluctant Bitch), given in comments on my B post (here).APOLOGIES: I have never been a part of any intervention. I'm fairly certain they're not supposed to be violent, but, you know, "SLEDGEHAMMER"!