#FictionFriday’s Prompt: Where your character is committed to a drastic or extreme change

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“You cannot spend all of your time and money like that! It isn’t healthy!” Laura screamed at James, not for the first time this week on this subject alone. She stood at the doorway, watching him.

“It is not that bad,” he said, as usual. He completely disregarded her opinion on this subject.

“You missed work twice this week, and you forgot to pick up Billy from school!” she said. Technically, she had lied. He had missed two full days and left early on a third, but who was counting.

He said over his shoulder, “I have been feeling under the weather, and Billy needed the exercise anyways.”

“It was twelve miles!” August in Oklahoma was not the time for such insane exercises.

“A lot of exercise.”

“He had just finished football practice!”

“Fourth quarter conditioning.”

“No. No. Do not give me that bull shit. You fucking forgot your son!” She had heard this line of illogic many times before. Some kind of macho uber practice technique. She did not buy into it.

“I did not forget him.” Billy’s feet would disagree.

“You completely forgot him. And how about Sarah? Did you not forget to feed her all day yesterday? Did you not forget to change her diaper? Did you not forget to talk to her so that she knows you love her?” She clenched her hands into fists. She fought the urge to pulverize him.

“So I didn’t change a diaper. She didn’t complain.”

“Cuz she can’t talk!” Sarah was not even two months old.

“Are you just going to yell at me?”

“Will it do any good?”

“Probably not, but I need to know before I sign up for this next round.”

“You have to be kidding me. After all that, you’re still going?” She threw up her hands in frustration and spun on her heels to leave the room.

“Heck yeah. We’re gonna clear Flame Leviathan on hard mode!” James called after her.

Laura pretended not to hear him. She left the house. When she returned later, she had signed divorce papers and a sledge hammer, and James was already asleep. She left the papers on the smashed remains of the computer and took her kids to her parents’ house.