Facing Consequences
David saw Nick, and saw what his vengeance had wrought. He likes playing out the nasty games he thinks up in his head but doesn’t imagine how serious the consequences might really be. He saw his brother all bashed up, in critical condition after brain surgery. All because it had seemed reasonable in his little head to exact revenge for what Nick and Kylie had done to him.
His game didn’t go according to plan. The outcome was far worse than he had intended. He might end up without a brother, he realizes.
It is always about David for David. He’s like a cat with a mouse; the cat’s fun is over when the mouse dies. Seeing an unconscious, battered and bandaged Nick made him realize his Nick-baiting days may be over. And he has the problem of avoiding questions about “what happened”. He may be sorry for what he caused, but he isn’t about to take responsibility for it.
Someone else’s fault
Leanne presses him about what caused Nick to drive erratically, as David said he had. He says Nick’s phone rang and that must have distracted him. Oh no, Leanne realized, she had phoned Nick.
My husband thought that David’s choice of that explanation was an innocent clutching at straws, finding some reasonable sounding excuse. But I don’t trust David as far as I could throw him. I believe he well remembers that Leanne called Nick as they sat by the side of the road arguing. He knew full well, I believe, that saying maybe it was a ringing phone would shut Leanne up and make her stop the questioning.
I do feel sorry for David in the same way I feel sorry for children who are upset after they pull the wings off flies and then see that the fly will die. He is truly distressed about what he has caused. But, unlike children who learn from their cruel mistakes, I’m not sure that David will ever stop holding a grudge against Nick, Kylie, his mother and the entire world for anything that ever goes wrong in his life, regardless of whether he has caused it.
