Short Story

 The Security Guards

It was a cold summer’s evening with the clouds covering the sun as Mr Thomas arrived to work with his son, Ryan. He works at the museum as a night guard and Ryan has been hounding him day after day for him to bring him along for a shift. Ryan skips as he holds his father’s hand, preparing himself for a night of fun with his father. His dad turns and warns him.

“Now Ry, I’m only a night guard so you might get bored tonight but I can’t have you getting into anything because then I’ll be in trouble.”

Ryan replies, “Got it dad, I don’t really mind though because I still get to spend the night with you!” 

“Oh… alright then bud” says Mr Thomas, puzzled.

Mr Thomas grew up with a dad that tossed him aside and only thought of him as an afterthought so he took it on himself to break this cycle and raise Ryan how he wanted to be raised, but it’s hard to deny one’s father. As they go through the doors Ryan looks around in awe.

“Wow… you get this whole place to yourself every night dad? I would play with everything if it was me” he says as he suspiciously eyes the statue of a Tyrannosaurus.

“Ryan! What did I just say?” Mr Thomas says in a harsh tone, “Come on now, we have to go to my office”

“Oh sorry dad.”

There’s a moment of silence between them as they pass under the archway leading to the security office. Mr Thomas immediately regrets raising his voice to Ryan but is unable to get the apology out of his mouth. Whenever he tries his lips won’t open, as if they’re stitched together to stop him from voicing his feelings. 

They arrive in the office and Mr Thomas sits silently in his chair and reluctantly starts his work for the night. Ryan finds a space in the corner and sits down with his snack and chess set that he brought to play with, but now realizes that probably won’t happen tonight. He knows his dad will probably ignore him for the night now that he pushed him. Ryan blames himself whenever his dad acts like this because he said something out of line or disrespectful, but deep down he wants his dad to forgive him for it, because he’s only a kid and sometimes his words aren’t filtered before he speaks. He opens up the chess set, the one his dad got him for his latest twelfth birthday party, and starts playing by himself. He reluctantly accepts that tonight is one of “those nights” where he’ll have to find something to do without getting in his dad’s way, While he plays chess in silence.

Mr Thomas keeps stealing glances at him, the whole time wishing he could get the words out of his mouth. As he turns back to the computer, his phone rings and he begrudgingly picks it up.

“Hello? Hello hello?” says the voice on the phone.

“Yes? Who’s calling the museum this late at night?” Mr Thomas asks, clear suspicion in his tone.

“Oh finally. Evening Thomas, it’s boss man Charlie. I was just calling to let you know that we just got a new chess section in the museum that you and your boy can check out tonight. You beat me too many times during break time so think of this as a little prize. Have a good night Thomas, and tell Ryan I said hi will you?”

“Oh man, thanks boss! I’ll head over and check it out soon. How about you gimme a little raise along with said prize though?”

“Hahaha good one Thomas, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll be seeing you”

Charlie hangs up the phone, leaving Thomas with a grin on his face and gives him that push he needed to break free from the stitches and apologize to his son.

“Hey Ryan?”

Ryan looks up, a clear surprise on his face, “Uh yes sir?”

“That was Mr Charlie and he said that he just put in a new exhibit for the museum and since we’re both night guards” he says as he walks over and slaps a security hat on Ryan’s head, “It ought to be our job to make sure everything’s up to code, officer Ryan.”

“Oh of course officer Thomas. We better go make sure the area’s clear.” Ryan says with a giggle.

“Well with that being said. Race you there!” Mr Thomas says as he immediately bolts out the door and sprints towards the new exhibit with his son close behind him.

“You better pick it up if you ever want to beat your old man” He says out of breath.

“Says the guy huffing and puffing” Ryan says with a grin on his face.

As they enter the new exhibit they both slow to a walk in order to look around at the room. Everywhere they looked they saw that white and black checkerboard pattern or the symbolic image of the 6 different pieces of the board. They eventually reach a table in the middle with a normal everyday board. Without a word, both security guards sit down and shake hands and start to play. Throughout his childhood, Ryan’s been playing against his dad every chance he got, it was the one thing they could truly connect through and talk about. Mr Thomas felt the same way about it as he was raised with it being his only escape from his dad, who caused him much pain at a young age and until he moved out. Thomas now looks at his son as they are playing and realizes that he hasn’t been looking at Ryan all these years. He’s been looking at a self projected image of himself and never took a moment to stop and truly get to know this young boy. As he realizes this, the stitches blocking his mouth completely vanish.

“I’m sorry about earlier Ryan, I shouldn’t have lashed out at you. I was aggressive for no reason and you didn’t deserve that” Thomas says as he takes a pawn.

“Huh?” Ryan says, stunned that his father is opening up now.

“Your move Ry. Everything okay?”

“Yeah I was just a little shocked is all. Is everything okay with you? You don’t usually apologize or anything when you’re like this.” Ryan says as he takes a knight in retaliation.

“I’m sorry about all those other times too, Ry. I have a bad time with saying what I want to say, but I want you to know that no matter what I love you and I want to be involved in your life.”

Ryan stops playing for a second as he processes what his dad is saying now. His whole life he assumed his dad wasn’t willing to apologize simply because Ryan was the one in the wrong, but now his whole life has been turned upside down as he hears that it wasn;t his fault. Ryan smiles and bites his lips to hold back tears as he continues playing.

“Thank you dad, that means a lot. I always thought that I was a mess up and hearing you say that makes me feel a lot better”

Mr Thomas shivers as he realizes what he’s done. He has finally broken the cycle. He lived through the hell his father took him through and lived on to create this beautiful creation in front of him. He has cast off the burdens his father left him with. His issues with expressing his emotions won’t go away immediately but this conversation is a big step in order for him and his son to talk more and understand each other. Having realized this, Thomas shivers again at the thought of himself becoming a new man entirely. He is happy of course, but terrified at the thought of leaving his old self behind. Change is never easy, but in order to break the cycle of trauma passed down from father to son, Thomas must be vulnerable with his son and wear his emotions on his wrist. This is a lot to ask from a man such as Thomas though, as his whole life he was raised to push down his emotions and keep them bottled up, unable to surface in normal situations. However, now he was given that push to make the first step from his boss, and will not let this go to waste.

“Checkmate old man!” Thomas is snapped back to reality as he sees a big grin on his glossy-eyed son.

“Psh I was just warming up in that game. Reset. I’m gonna show you my wisdom on the board.”

“I know all your tricks dad.”

“Oh no no no. You KNEW all my tricks. I’m a new man now.”

The End