Nicholas Young

CHARACTER FILES: Nicholas Young

Version 1 --

Nick Young loved his job. The hot desert sun of St. George was the perfect climate for pouring concrete. He worked on residential jobs, mostly, laying foundations for new housing projects and installing new patios and driveways, but he did work for the city as well, remolding sidewalks. He also loved to drink, but usually he reserved drinking for the weekends. Occasionally, he came home from a rough construction job and cracked a beer on a workday, just to help him relax, but he didn't like to make a habit of this.
On most days, when he got home on time at six-o'clock, he spent his time with Angela before she had to go to work at eight-thirty, then at nine he would put the kids to bed and stay up for a movie before going to bed himself. On rough days, he wouldn't get home until at least 8pm. Angela had to hire a sitter if he wasn't home by then, so he'd call at six to let her know it was going to be one of those days. The sitter would come promptly at eight. While Angela was getting ready for work, the sitter would send Rebecca to her room to play before bed. Carson would be put to bed by the sitter at nine and Rebecca at ten. Nick would always be home by nine, so could send her home and put the kids to bed himself when he arrived, but if it was a rough day it was a drinking day. When he got home he'd head straight to the fridge for a beer and let the sitter do her job.
Today he didn't get home until nine. The sitter was on the couch, watching a movie on low volume. He checked on Rebecca and found her asleep in her bed. He checked on Carson next and was glad to find him asleep as well. He went back to the living room, grabbed the requisite beer, and sat down in his recliner. He let the sitter know the kids were already asleep. She was prepaid by Angela, so he didn't have to do anything but watch her leave and change the movie to something he enjoyed. It wasn't long before he was shit-faced, so he never really was able to process what happened next. One minute he was watching Braveheart on the DVR, and the next minute he had a splitting headache. After that, when his youngest child, Carson, toddled into the room, he saw....

Version 2

Nick Young enjoyed his days off. While Rebecca was at school, he could lay Carson down for a nap and spend quality time with Angela. She worked in the evenings and he in the daytime, so on their days off it was important that they take advantage of the time together. Usually they would ...
Occasionally he would have a rough week and after the last workday he would come home, crack open a beer, and she would leave him alone to veg in his recliner and let him sleep off his hangover the next day. By the time he awoke, she'd have already gotten Rebecca off to school and he would find her in the kitchen, making something for dinner, Carson watching her from a post on the counter where she'd sat him. She loved to cook. It was her passion. He would watch her from the doorway until Carson noticed him and spoke up, alerting her to his presence, then he would come in and start helping her with dinner. Later, after he picked Rebecca up from school, they would eat as a family and she would head off to work as soon as the meal was through, leaving him to clean up and put the kids to bed.

[Author's note: I am still working on this, obviously. This character is one of several interwoven through a novel-in-progress and this scene is his chapter-intro. All of the characters experience a change in perception, a heightened sensory sensitivity that opens them up to the Spirit World.]