[Felix Foley stands in front of the Maxwell family home, looking at the lights on inside. He walks up to the door and knocks it.]
“James?”
[There’s no answer.]
[Foley walks up to the door and sits with his back to it.]
“Families, huh? You can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them. They always seem to hurt you or let you down and just went things seem to be going okay, they leave.”
[He sighs.]
“My mom was far from perfect. She’s always been overbearing, you know?
I think that might’ve been what my dad hated the most. She was always doting over her precious little baby boy.
But that didn’t make things any easier for me.”
[He looks down at the floor, playing with some of the dirt.]
“It was always her way. It was always what she wanted. She always knew best. No idea I had was ever good enough or right. We always had to do what she wanted to do because that’s what she believed was best.
Even if it wasn’t.
I mean, I begged and pleaded with her to take me away from my father, James. I did. She thought it was best we stayed.”
[Foley shakes his head.]
“Look how that’s turned out. The problem with history is how often it becomes the present. Things seem to go in cycles, don’t they? I wanted nothing more than to escape my parents throughout my childhood, and not just because of the abuse of my father but because of the overbearing nature of my mother…
And what did that do?
It ran me thirty years later into the arms of Stubbins Doom. I traded one overbearing figure in my life for another.
Because with Stubbins, it was exactly the same. It was little nuggets of love sprinkled amongst his way, his ideas, and his designs.”
[Felix turns to put his ear to the door, hearing that James has taken a seat on the other side of it, listening.]
“The Odyssey Pool? His idea. I didn’t want any of that, James – you’ve gotta believe me. I know I didn’t protest enough, and I know I didn’t stand up to be counted, but I never wanted you or your father in that Pool. I knew what it did to me. I knew what it did to him.
But Doom’s way is Doom’s way. It’s the only way. It’s his way or the highway, just like my mom.”
[Foley takes a deep breath and stands up.]
“When I hit you with that chair last week, it wasn’t personal. It wasn’t because I hated you or wanted you to hate me. It’s because I tried to get through to you. I tried to be the good guy and look where it got me. That chair signified a change in my mentality, James. I’m not being pushed around anymore.
Enough is enough.
No more moms. No more overbearing figures.
I can’t be your father figure and I won’t be.
But I can be… your friend.
If you let me.”
[Foley waits for a minute and receives only silence. He goes to walk away until a voice calls out.]
“Wait…”