Corey's Dilemma-first line challenge

"Have you ever wished you could go back and change an event in your past" Corey asked with a cocked eyebrow.
Jerry the bartender at the White Horse Inn wiped glasses as he listened to the stranger. He had come into the Inn to get out of the miserable weather and had at first sat in a corner alone, drinking rum. Then he moved and sat at the bar and ordered a few more, slowly getting drunk. Jerry studied him as he threw the towel he was using over his shoulder. He looked rugged. His long hair was untidy and his clothes were rumpled and smelt like they hadn't been washed for weeks.
I said "have you ever wished you could go back and change an event in your past?" Corey repeated
Jerry sighed and faced him. "Not that I can recall. Why? Is there something you'd like to change?"
Corey took another swig and ordered more rum. "Maybe…yeah sure as hell have…"
"What's your name?" Jerry asked
"Corey"
"Well Corey, don't you think you've had enough to drink. Don't you have some place to be?"
Corey shrugged his shoulders and nearly fell of his stool. "How long is this rain going to last?"
"Could be days. We're expecting floods so if you got somewhere to be then maybe you should sleep a bit and get going. Once the river floods there is no way out of town"
Corey fiddled with his glass and looked at Jerry through eyes that held a lot of sorrow. "I'm where I should be at the moment. Fill her up!"

                                                                     ***

Corey couldn't remember the rest of the night but he was surprised to wake up in a bed. It was the first time in over ten years he had slept in one. Ten years he had been on the road, going neither here nor there and sleeping wherever he could find shelter. He picked up odd jobs to sustain himself and yet he often wondered why he didn't just end his life. He had left his wife and two year old son Joshua. He was afraid of being a failure to them. He didn't like failure and he had failed terribly. A deep urging inside kept driving him and after so long, he thought he had found the courage to face his demons and had arrived back at the town where it had all began. The weather had been the same back then, the rain thundering down, unending.

He raised himself up and his head throbbed. "I have to face this once and for all. I can't go on" he told himself. Boozing every night had taken a toll on his body and he was not yet forty. He had lost so much and knew there was never going to be a way to change that. He often wondered what Joshua looked like now. Was he good at school? Did he excel at sports like he had once done? He had rung home a couple of times only to hang up when the phone was answered, then one day the phone number had been disconnected. They had the moved out and Corey had no idea where to find them.
He became aware of knocking on the door and Jerry poked his head in. "Morning. How are you feeling this morning?  Here are your clothes all washed and dried"
Corey nodded his thanks and watched as Jerry placed his clothes on a chair.
"Come down to the kitchen for some breakfast when you're dressed" Jerry said as he left Corey to get dressed.

Ten minutes later Corey made his way to the kitchen. The rain was still thundering down and it didn't look like it was go to ease up anytime soon. Entering the room, the aroma of bacon and eggs made him realise he was really hungry. Jerry placed a plate on the table and told him to sit and eat. Corey crossed over to a window and looked out at the river that ran behind the Inn. It was a raging torrent as flood waters started to rise and debris was floating down the rapid current.
"The rain never stopped all night." Jerry said "won't be long before the river bursts its banks"
Corey turned from the window and took a seat at the table. Memories flashed through his mind as he toyed with a fork. That day had been so long ago and yet he couldn't let go. It had destroyed him and eventually his marriage. He wanted to fix it, but knew deep down there was no way it could be rectified.

                                                                     ***

"There's a boy in the river!! There's a boy in the river!!" Corey heard the urgency in the voice and raced outside. Impulsively he raced toward the river and scanned it for any signs of the boy. Then he saw him being tossed in the current like a rag doll. Corey raced downstream keeping a close eye on the boy and then he dived in.

Two days later Corey woke up in a hospital bed. He opened his eyes slowly to find Jerry standing at the end of the bed. Beside him were two boys, one was about sixteen, the other a couple of years younger.
"Good. You're awake at last" Jerry smiled as he pushed the older boy towards the bed "I'd like you to meet my son Harry"
Corey felt a pain, the same pain he had felt for the last ten years. How could he tell this man that he couldn't save his other son? That he had failed to save him from drowning all those years ago.
"I'm…sorry…. I couldn't save …"Corey muttered
Jerry stepped forward and smiled. "You don't understand. This is my son that you saved years ago. He never drowned, but you were so seriously injured you were moved to a hospital that had better facilities to look after you. By the time I was able to leave here and visit you, you had been discharged. We never knew where you went.'
Corey was bewildered. He was so sure he had lost his grip on the boy that fateful day. It had haunted him for years.  He looked at the other young boy beside Jerry. He reminded him of someone, but whom?

It took a while before Corey realised he was looking at himself at the age of thirteen. The boy left the room and came back holding the hand of a tall red haired woman. Jerry stepped a side to let her in. "They've been coming here every year hoping you would return"

The boy smiled and walked over to the bed. With tears in his eyes he murmured "Hi dad"