The Art of Hide-and-Seek, A modern horry story Options

[redsrock]

This is something I started to work on last night. Please tell me what you think, because it's really important to me. I'm still writing "Takes of Teir", but this is a side project, though just as important.

[big]The Art of Hide-and-Seek[/big]

Part One: The Calm Before the Purge

Chapter One

What’s the point in loving someone if they don’t love you back? It’s pointless, not to mention a burden. To love someone, but not be loved back, is the worst thing someone can go through. It eats at your heart and your soul until there is almost nothing left to nibble on, stopping from killing you just so you can live in misery. It’s like waking up on Christmas day, expecting to receive hundreds of presents, only to receive a mere few that you didn’t even ask for to begin with. To put it simple: love, much like life, is a umbrella seller.

I should probably tell you the girl whom I love so dearly, because if I don’t then what’s the point? I would just be rambling on, and nobody likes a rambler. Her name is Katrina Stansky. She and I are freshmen at the same college, Tinesville Community College in Tinesville, Indiana; Southern Indiana actually, just a few miles northwest of the Mississippi River, the part that flows through Louisville Kentucky. I love Katrina because I have since I can remember. It goes all the way back to my sophomore year in high school. We were taking a test in history, I think over the fifty states. I had just barely spoken to here before then, and as we took the test our eyes met. We both smiled. Or, I guess she smiled. Mine was more of an awkward stare I suppose, but that doesn’t matter. After class I asked her if she wanted to go see a movie with me. I had barely spoken to her yet I asked her on a date, something I had not been able to do with any other girl before. And to my amazement, she said yes. We dated off and on for several months after that, until we finally decided to call it quits, for several reasons that I won’t get into. I realize it was only high school puppy, but it still meant something to me.

But unlike many relationships, Katrina and I have actually become best friends. It was kind of awkward at first, and it still is to this day, but I am so glad it happened. I have a couple other friends that I like to hang around with, but Katrina is different. I don’t know if it’s cause she’s a girl or what, but I can talk to her about literally anything. I can’t do that with anyone else. And even though I’ve been satisfied with just being friends, I’ve always wanted something more. I had an appetizer of what it was to have a girlfriend, and ever since that I’ve wanted the full course meal. Some guys would want only the dessert, but not me. No, I am a proud gentleman of sorts, something Katrina likes to point out all the time. And throughout our close friendship, I’ve never once told her that I still have feelings for her…that is, until yesterday.

Yesterday was different for me. I think it had something to do with the Green Bay Packers demolishing the Dallas Cowboys and I was simply overexcited, not thinking before speaking. Anyway, I told her how I felt while walking to the park with her, and she turned straight around and headed back home without uttering a word. I was left standing on the sidewalk by myself, slack jawed and eyes wide with surprise. I didn’t even mean to tell her about it, it just slipped out. And now I’m sitting in my friend’s room, Brian Beerad.

“Just forget her, man. There’s other fish in the sea.”

Please excuse my friend’s cliché; he uses that one a lot for some reason, mostly because I think he knows it gets on my nerves. “You don’t understand, I don’t even know for sure how she feels right now.”

“Well, you said she just walked away, right?” I nodded. “That’s not exactly a good sign, man. Don’t you think she would have said something? I mean compassion, Jena is always nagging me about somethin’. To me, silent is a man’s worse nightmare. Just forget about her, dude, for real.”

Brian was the only one who knew I still had feelings for her, other than Katrina herself. He was my best friend, and he has been ever since my freshman year of high school, in which we both came from two different schools than everyone else in our small class of freshmen back then. But despite our friendship, it was still hard to talk about girls with him, mostly because he thought he was a stud, and I barely even went out with one girl my entire life. He’s more of the lady’s man, while I’m more of…well…just a man. He used to play the field, but he’s settled down with his girlfriend Jena for a couple of years now. I wouldn’t be surprised if they married. Of course, to do that Brian needs to get off of his boat and go to school, or at least get a job. I tried to get him to go to college with me, but he’s too lazy. Brian works with me at Movie-Mart, and for some reason he thinks he’s going to be manager some day, and he shouldn’t waste his time with school. I think he’s just too lazy, and so does Jena.

“No, I can’t just forget about her. It’s not easy like that.”

“Well sulking around like a goddamn baby isn’t gonna help, man. It’s depressing you know,” he said, strumming at his acoustic guitar he got for his nineteenth birthday just a few months ago. He was already pretty good. Of course, I didn’t know a think about guitars. Suddenly he stopped playing and he snapped his fingers. “I got! Come with me and Jena tomorrow night to the Forest of Fright!”

“Forest of Fright?”

“You know…that scary forest where people dress up as monsters to scare people?”

“Oh, yeah. I don’t want to go and spoil your alls’ fun though.”

“You won’t be, because Jena is already bringing Lacey. You can just sort of say you’re going with her. No big deal, man. How about it?”

I stuttered, because in truth I didn’t really want to go. I never did enjoy going to places like that, and I also don’t like Lacey. She’s nice and all, but just a little too preppy and stuck-up for my taste. “I...I don’t have a whole lot of money to waste. Gas isn’t getting any cheaper.”

Brian laughed. “And neither are your lame boat excuses. You’re going, man, and I’m paying!” he proceeded to pick up his cell phone and call Jena. He told her I was going, and that Lacey and I could go together. And that was that. I was going even though I didn’t want to. I guess I shouldn’t be too agitated. He’s only trying to cheer me up after all.

When I went home that evening, Pete, my pet beagle, was scratching at the back door; so I let him out to take a piss, and then I popped in a couple of nacho cheese Hot Pockets into the oven. After I graduated high school my parents moved to Florida, just as they had planned to once I was “out of their hair”. I didn’t care, I had been working at Movie-Mart for the past couple of years and they had bought me a small home in a not so small neighborhood filled with thugs, bugs, and people who do drugs. I didn’t care about that either because I rarely ventured around the neighborhood anyway.

After I let Pete back in my Hot Pockets were ready, so I retired to my sofa in the living room and watched Comedy Central for a couple of hours. I don’t exactly remember what happened after that, but the last thing I do remember is waking up to the sound of my phone ringing to the tone of Saferwaters, an excellent song by my favorite band, Chevelle. I answered the phone, and what I heard was the sweet voice of Katrina. It was sweet because it was her, and certainly not because of her tone.

“We need to talk,” she said before I even had to time to finish answering my phone.

“Okay…well, let’s talk.”

“No, we have to talk in person, Jake,” she replied, this time with a harsher tone than before. I didn’t quite like that.

“Okay, but umm….it’s a little past midnight right now.”

“So? It’s Thursday, and we don’t have school on Fridays. Just come over, Jake.”

“Alright, alright. Gimme about fifteen minutes, I need to…I need to let Pete out one last time. I fell asleep and-“

“Quit stalling, Jeff,” and then the connection ended.

I sat up from the couch, crumbs covering my shirt and dried up cheese sticking to my chin. I didn’t let Pete out, because all he would do is bark at anything that he thought was staring at him, which was pretty much anything and everything. I had to switch clothes and clean up a bit. I wasn’t going on some fancy date, but I didn’t want to talk with Katrina with cheese on my chin. Plus, she was lactose-intolerant anyway and I didn’t want to freak her out. On the way out the door I heard Pete whimper from behind, his eyes twitched up, not knowing what to think. He wasn’t used to me going out this late at night. Neither was I. Nor was I used to the stern voice Katrina had just given me. This will be the first time I’ve spoken with her since telling her that I still love her, even though it’s barely been a full twenty-four hours. I don’t want to talk to her right now because I am scared. I’m scared she’ll say something to hurt me. Probably not intentionally, but girls sometimes have a knack for knifing at a guy’s heart. At least that’s what Brian says.

I walked outside into the cold night. Late October was generally a cold time in Southern Indiana, and this year was no different. Just a week away from Halloween, and already that goddamn Jack Frost is nipping at my nose. And truthfully, I wouldn’t mind the cold if it weren’t for the fact that baseball season was coming to a close. But then again, football started a while back, and the weather is perfect for football. I remember playing tackle football with my friends when I was littler, in an old field with seemingly miles of open space. We had a blast, playing until it was dark, and sometimes even later when the old lights decided to come on. Katrina played too sometimes, but we couldn’t tackle her. Not that I would let anyone.

I got in my Cincinnati red 05 Grand Am, complete with a sweet looking spoiler and some nice dark silver rims to go with it. My Grandma bought it for my sixteenth birthday. Most of the other guys around town were quite jealous, especially Brian, even though he wouldn’t admit it. And it’s not because a Grand Am is the fanciest car in the world or anything like that; it’s just that traditionally, kids in Tinesville are expected to pay for their own car by means of a job, cutting grass, or something else. This isn’t to say I’m a spoiled brat, but I just got lucky I suppose. My grandma is still alive, but she moved up to Oregon not too long ago to live my ailing aunt, who has been battling a bad case of pneumonia for several months now.

After starting the car I turned up the music a bit, which is to say only consisted of Chevelle songs. I am pretty much a Chevelle super fan, which to me is pretty cool. There are some other songs I listen to, but they’re mostly old Queen songs that mostly only Brian and I can appreciate. Most people in our town like to listen to rap music, which I hate with a furious and intense passion. Everybody knows you can’t spell crap without rap, so I’m not sure why people listen to it. I bet if I did a study, I could somehow prove that rap lowers your IQ. But now I am rambling again. Back to Katrina, who thankfully doesn’t like rap.

Katrina, like me, lived in her own house; expect her house was actually a small apartment for one person. Ironically, her apartment was probably nicer than my house, but of course it does help that she lives in the richer part of town in the northwest. She’s not a snob like most of the others though, because her family wasn’t exactly the richest while growing up. In fact, her father was a drunk that died when she was eleven after an accidental drowning, and her mother passed away when she was thirteen after a horrible car wreck. After her mother’s death, Katrina’s old uncle moved up from Tennessee to take care of her. He died just about six or so months ago actually, but left Katrina a shitload of money. She used some of it too pay for college for the next two years, and then put the rest in her savings account, which she uses solely to pay her apartment rent every two months.

Once I arrived I looked up at the tall thirty-story apartment building. Katrina’s room was on the tenth floor, the last one on the right. I looked up to her room and saw light shining through the windows. That’s when I noticed she was standing at her balcony. She rose up, for one frightening moment I thought she was going to jump off. But it was just the chilly wind playing a trick on me, and she hurried inside her room, no doubt waiting for me to knock at the door. So I climbed the stairs inside and made it to her door, knocking quietly twice. Almost as soon as I knocked, the door swung open and Katrina was standing there, wearing some green pajama shorts and a pink Chevelle t-shirt that I bought her a couple years ago. It looked so sexy on her.

“Hey,” I said, trembling with fear. There was something about her tonight, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. She didn’t exactly look angry, but more…I guess more confused than anything. “Umm…what did you want?”

She never once took her eyes off of mine, and she had neither a smile nor a frown. “What do you think, Jake? What could I have possible called you this late at night for? What could have possible caused us not to talk to each other since yesterday morning?” Her tone was suddenly harsh, more than stern. I didn’t like it, and I could see she knew that. “Just come on in,” she said.

I walked inside and sat on her black leather couch, right next to her two cats, Smuffle and Sam, two sneaky cats that usually jumped out from random places just to scare me. She had the television on, watching some old show. I think it was I Love Lucy, I’m not sure. She went into the kitchen for a second, and then came out holding two Snickers bars, one that she tossed to me, which was a horrible sign. For some reason we both liked to eat Snickers while talking about something serious. I don’t know why, we just do.

“You don’t love me, Jake.” She sat down on the chair across the room, munching down on the candy bar. Usually she takes small bites at a time, but right then I just saw her munch off half the bar! She looked at me, never taking her gorgeous blue eyes off of me. And then she repeated, “Did you hear me? You don’t love me."

“Yes, y-yes I do. I told you that yesterday,” I stuttered.

“You told me that, but you didn’t mean it. You love me as a friend, not for the way you think you do.”

Not the way I think I do? What the hell was that supposed to mean? I’m pretty sure I know how I feel. Who was she to tell me otherwise? “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Katrina. You’re not making any sense. I’ve loved you for a long time now. Even when we broke up long ago I never stopped loving you.”

“Jake, we are only nineteen years old! What do you know about love, hmm?”

What do I know about love? I know what I feel, I know that! She thinks I’m acting like a child, and apparently she doesn’t think I loved her back when we actually dated. I couldn’t believe it. I tell the girl I love her, and she says I am lying! What kind of great compassion is that? I don’t deserve this. No, I don’t deserve it at all. I’ve been nothing by tremendously nice to Katrina, and now look. She’s treating me as if I’m some stranger whom she doesn’t even know.

“Well…well what do you know about love?” I yelled in defense. I wanted to lash out furiously, but I was more mature than that. I stayed calm.

“I don’t know anything about it, but I’m not saying I do. Listen, Jake, you’re taking this the wrong way. I’m not trying to be a smartass, I’m just trying to make you see the truth. You never loved me, because we were only highschoolers, Jake. We are best friends, not lovers!”

“But…” I begin, but then I stopped. After all this arguing with myself…perhaps she has a point. I never thought about it before. Maybe I didn’t like her. Maybe it was still puppy love, just as I had said it was back in high school. “But I am attracted to you, Katrina. You’re smart, beautiful, nice-“

Then she interrupted me. “So friends can’t be smart, beautiful and nice? Come on, Jake, think about it! If you really have loved me over these past couple of years, do you really think you would have been able to go this long without telling me? No, of course not! You’re too emotional for that to have happened. I am as close a friend as you have, next to Brian, but since I am a girl it is somewhat awkward to you. And that’s fine, I understand. In the beginning of our friendship I thought I liked you to. But the more and more we hung out, I realized you were my best friend. Best friends don’t go out with each other, Jake. It only ruins everything.”

She was right. She was right, and I just realized it. At that moment I no longer had any feelings for her, at least not in the way I had a mere few minutes ago. I can’t explain it, but it’s like a light had just shined through my mind or something, forcing me to see the truth Katrina was talking about. She was right….we were best friends, not lovers. “I…I guess you’re right. I, well I…I don’t know. I guess the awkwardness thing you said was true. And I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”

“Of course not,” she said, and for the first time tonight, smiled. “I hope you’re not mad at me, Jake. I just don’t want you to suffer over something that isn’t even real.”

“No, I understand now,” I said, and I really meant it. “It’s okay, I’m not mad at all. I’m just glad we had this talk tonight.”

We talked for a few more minutes about pretty much nothing. Then we said our goodbyes and I walked to the door. She patted me on the shoulder right before I left, and I turned around. “Thanks for coming, Jake.” I nodded and then turned back around. But before I could leave she called for me again. “Oh, and I think there’s some cheese on your chin.”

********************

“So you two are okay now?”

It was the next morning, and Brian had come over to my house to watch an re-run of the University of Kentucky football game that wasn’t on TV yesterday. “Yeah, we’re fine now. I realize that I don’t really love her.”

It sounds so awkward to say that. All these years I’ve loved her so much, or at least I thought I did. Now I know the truth, that she is only an extremely good friend. So strange…

Brian gave me a weird look and shook his head. “You’re weird as compassion, man. But that’s okay. You ready for tonight?”

“I guess, since I wasn’t even given a choice.”

“Ah, shut the hell up!” he laughed. “Besides, you shouldn’t even me sad anymore, right?”

“But I don’t even like haunted houses.”

“Good, because this is a haunted forest.”

I rolled my eyes and continued to watch the game. Kentucky was at 17-6 with a few minutes to go in the third quarter. Thanks to ESPN I already knew Kentucky was going to win 24-14, but it was still fun to watch. Pete liked it whenever we watched sports, because whenever we’d cheer he’d howl along with us like he actually knew what was going on.

Brian left around noon, and because I didn’t have to work on Fridays I decided to take Pete on a walk through the park downtown. I would have asked Brian to go, but he did have to work, till eight o’clock. When Pete and I arrived at the park another dog and his owner were walking through as well. It was a poodle, one of those ones that looked all fancy and whatnot, with its owner looking just as fancy. The man wore an expensive coat with expensive pants to match, and when he saw me in my raggedy Cincinnati Reds hoody and faded out gray sweatpants, he scoffed and started to walk ahead faster. What a prick…

When Pete and I got back home it was nearly two o’clock, and I realized I hadn’t locked the front door, and it was half-open. My heart stopped at first, thinking perhaps someone had broken in. I walked inside carefully and quietly, only to find no one in the house whatsoever. Nothing was broke or out of place, and the back door was locked. I chalked it as me leaving the door open, but then I heard a high shrill from my bedroom. It was Pete. I ran in as fast as I could, only to find the dumb dog barking at the mirror that was positioned right beside my door. He wasn’t even barking out the window like he usually did, but rather was literally barking at himself.

“Pete, you silly-goose! That’s you!” He began to growl a low growl, so I picked him up and took him until the living room, where we watched some Comedy Central, “The Colbert Report” to be specific. It was my favorite show on that channel, because Stephen Colbert was absolutely hilarious.

A couple of hours later I got a call from Brian, who told me Mr. Frank, the manager of Movie-Mart, was letting him get off early. He told me to get dressed, and that we were heading for the Forest of Fright at six o’clock, rather than nine o’clock. I put on a pair of jeans and a Reds t-shirt, along with the Reds hoody I wore earlier in the day. Soon the doorbell rung and I left with Brian to pick up Jena and Lacey.

[redsrock]

This is the second part of the story, and the conclusion. I plan on continuing this in the future, and I think this is a good stopping point for the story.

Part Two: The Purge

As I rode towards Anthony’s house I kept thinking about calling Brian, and telling him what was going on. Several times I even had dialed his number halfway-through before hanging up and tossing my cell phone back into the passenger seat. Part of me wanted to let him know what I was doing, and to watch out for himself, but the other part of my said to just leave him alone and let him rest. He was having a tough enough time with Jena anyway. Then again…would it really hurt to just ride by his house and make sure everything was okay? I decided to go ahead and do that, just to be on the same side.

The entire way towards his house I kept thinking nothing would be out of the nowhere. No broken windows, none of that. But in all honesty, I was a nervous wreck. Despite my hecklings to keep myself from exploding with horrid anxiety, deep down I was expecting myself to find Brian lying dead in his room with a bullet in his head. Why would I think that? I don’t know, sometimes I think crazy things that aren’t likely to happen. This Anthony guy doesn’t seem to be an insane killer, but then again, I don’t even know him other than his name. Katrina said he’s always drunk. I just hope he didn’t run into Brian while under the influence. Because one, people do stupid things while drunk. And two, Brian sure is an aggressive son-of-a-umbrella seller whenever he’s being taunted.

Finally, after pulling up into Brian’s driveway, I noticed nothing unusual. All of his house windows appeared to be intact, nor were his car’s tires slashed or his windows smashed, or anything of that sort. Thankfully my worries were for nothing. I started to back out of the driveway, but then I stopped. I suddenly had the urge to knock on the door and see if he was okay. I very well knew he was, but at the same time there was always the possibility of him lying on the floor unconscious. Anthony and his pals could have easily broken into the house by means of breaking the lock to the door. And with Brian up against three other people, who very well could have had weapons, his chances of winning weren’t very high. So I turned my car off and walked up to his door and inspect it. I tried to turn the knob and found that it was locked. I sighed with relief, but I was still wasn’t completely satisfied. What if Anthony and his friends had broken into the house with a lock pick or something, and then locked it back up once they had entered? That’s when I knocked on the door. Brian answered shortly, within a matter of no more than ten seconds.

“What the hell, man? It’s nearly midnight!” he said with a smile, but I knew I had disturbed him. I knew I had not awoken him though, because he still had his clothes on from earlier, and the TV was on.

“Hey…I, uh…I just wanted to make sure you were alright. I know today was tough for you and everything…”

He gave me a weird look. “Yeah, dude…everything’s fine. But couldn’t you have called me to say this? I mean…you didn’t have to waste gas and come out of your way to do this you know.”

“Yeah, w-well,” I stuttered. “I..I was just in the area and I thought I’d stop by. Sorry for coming so late. I’ll leave now.”

I Started to walk back to my car, feeling like a total fool. I wanted to tell him about the letter, about Pete missing, and about Anthony hitting Katrina, and that he and I could be next. But I didn’t, for his sake. Now and I felt bad for even coming, because I knew I had made too much of a fool of myself for him to believe what I had just said.

“Wait, Jake. What the hell is wrong with you, man? You’re shaking.”

“Nothing, Brian. It’s just a little chilly tonight.”

“great compassion,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Come inside, man, I just fixed some pepperoni pizza-rolls I know how much you like them. I can tell something is wrong, so there’s no point in trying to compassion with me.”

I looked at him for a couple of seconds, trying to think of something else to say. But even I knew I was eventually going to lose, so I simply surrendered and entered his house, sitting down on a very comfortable but old couch. Within minutes he came out of the kitchen with two bowls of pizza-rolls, handing one of the bowls to me.

“So what’s up, man? Why in the world did you come here so late?” he said, with sort of a forced chuckle.

I bit into one of the pizza-rolls, but then stopped after realizing that they were still hot. The Colbert Report was on, with Stephen making fun of some rich celebrity. Something about a sex scandal. Imagine that. “Well, I talked with Katrina about an hour or so ago.”

“And?” He said, keeping his eyes on me.

So I told him about the note, about Pete, and then about Anthony being a drunk and hitting Katrina. After I was done he said nothing, but rather laid his bowl on the side table beside him, and then walked through the hall into his room. After a few seconds I got up to follow, but he returned, holding a baseball tightly in his right hand. I could sense the fury in his eyes. I had really messed up by coming.

“What are you doing, Brian?” I asked, eyeing the bat nervously.

“I’m gonna kick that prick’s boat, that’s what. Come on, you’re coming with me, cause I don’t know where the honoured user lives.”

“What? Brian, let’s think about this…”

When I had first learned about Pete I wanted to beat the guy’s brains out as well, but then I while driving here I guess I remembered that I was a pitiful fighter, and that I would get my own brains beaten out. Now Brian wants to do the fighting, all because I had opened my dumbass mouth. I should have called the cops. In fact, I was going to do just that.

“NO! There’s nothing to think about, man! I bet you anything he’s the one who hit Jena with his car!” His voice was starting to stutter and slur, which usually happened when he got exceptionally angry.

“Hold on, Brian. You can’t just assume that’s what happened. You don’t know-“

“He stole Pete from you, right? Well…hitting Jena is obviously he is own way of getting back at me!”

“Dammit, Brian! They could have knives or guns or something! We can’t just barge into his house!”

“Good point,” he said, and then walked back into his room. This time I followed, and watched as he pulled a pocketknife from his top dresser drawer.

“It’s not much,” he said, “but it’ll at least level the playing field if they do have knives.”

“Holy compassion, Brian! You wanna get thrown in jail!”

“I don’t give a hamster! He hit Jena and he deserves whatever I give to him. Now shut the hell up and let’s go!”

I knew he didn’t mean to yell at me like this, but again, he was getting emotional. I can’t really say I blame him, though I don’t think killing anyone will get either of us anywhere, other than a nice cozy cell in jail. Or worse. But I wasn’t in the position to argue. I started this, and it looked like I was going to have to help finish it. I was getting so worried, I didn’t want anything to do with what was going on now. But then I had an idea.

“No, I’m going to call the police and tell them about my window and the note Anthony left me. They’ll take care of everything, and this way we won’t get in trouble.” I started to dial 911, but before I could, Brian took the phone out of my hand and slammed it into the wall, shattering it into pieces. “What the hamster!”

I looked at Brian and he had a look in his eye that I had never seen before. It was a mix between sheer anger and utter insanity. He looked me into the eye with a look of absolutely serious and said, “Look, Jake. Nothing matters anymore except for punishing Anthony, and his friends as well if they choose to get in my way. He hurt Jena on purpose, and he took your dog. I can’t believe you’re not as upset as I am.”

“I am upset, but that doesn’t make me a complete psycho! You just destroyed my goddamn phone!”

“I can’t let you get in the way, Jake, but I do need you to lead me to his house. I had been thinking about this earlier…if Anthony was somehow involved. I wanted to tell you this earlier at the hospital, but I didn’t think much of it. But now after what you’ve told me…it all makes sense. Get in my befriending my mother truck, now. I’m sorry to be like this Jake, but there’s no other way. Once we make it to Anthony’s house you can do whatever the hell you want. Call the cops if you want to. It won’t make a difference because once they arrive they’ll be too late. Now move…”

His tone was a creep-calmness that chilled me to the bone. It was like in those old horror movies where someone would go insane, yet they would take with a tone of calmness. So damn creepy. But what was I to do? I started to say something else, but suddenly he placed his pocketknife in front of him, the tip pointing towards me. “I don’t want to hear it anymore, Jake. Just move or I swear to hamster cave god I’ll cut you. I’m not going to let you spoil my revenge.”

I was heartbroken. My best friend…holding a knife so close to my body…threatening my safety…forcing me to do something that I did not want to do. I would never have even dreamed something like this would happen, not with Brian at least. We had been friends ever since our freshman year in high school. We were two peas-in-a-pod, we went together like peanut-butter and jelly, we were stuck together like white on rice, and whatever other cliché you could think of.

Before he could actually do anything with that knife –and in his state, I believed it was possible to happen; though I could easily tell he wasn’t drug, nor was he high on anything. – I turned around and walked outside, entering his truck, my body shaking as if I were suffering from Parkinson’s Disease. It was a feeling that I would never forget.




Once we arrived at Anthony’s house, in the middle of the richest neighborhood in Tinesville, Brian stopped the car and took out a pack of cigerettes from his back jeans pocket. He lit one of them and then threw the pack on top of his dashboard.

“When did you start smoking that crap?” I asked him, not really knowing if I’d get an answer from the old Brian.

“Last night after I dropped you off and left. The mental pain was weighing on me, so I cut loose. I’ve had these for months now, in case I ever needed them.”

“I thought you quit?”

“So did I. Enough talking though, I know you’re just trying to hamster cave stall. You can leave now if you want. I don’t need you anymore.”

Rather than get out of the car and leave, he still sat in his seat, smoking the cigarette and blowing smoke out through his window. I wanted to leave, and then call the police, but then again…I didn’t want to leave him alone either. Even if he was…changed…that still didn’t mean that I would just abandon him. For all I know Anthony could be inside his house with his friends, waiting with knives or guns. I didn’t want Brian to die, and I was willing to sacrifice my own safety to help him. Getting in trouble with the cops was something I didn’t want either, but sometimes in life you have to make tough choices. Ones that don’t usually have a distinct option that’s better than the other.

“No, I’m staying with you. You got another bat in the trunk, cause I didn’t bring mine,” I said with a weak smile, a last-second attempt at regaining at least part of the old Brian. The pre-purge Brian.

He gave me a warming grin and patted me on the shoulder. “Yeah, there should be a couple. Hey listen, man…..can ya’ forgive me for what happened back at the house? You know I didn’t mean nothing with the knife. I just…I wanted to make sure you at least helped me get here. You’re not too mad at me, are you?”

“No, of course not,” I lied. Of course I was mad at him, but what would be the point in admitting that? I might as well take everything in par, and deal with the consequences later, whatever they may be. One thing was for sure though, I wasn’t going to let Brian actually kill anyone. No, I couldn’t let him do something so foolish. He’d be spending the rest of his life behind bars. And for what? It wouldn’t amount to nothing. Sure, he shot off some of his anger, so what? Was it really worth it? Brian would say yes, but that’s because of the mental state he was in.

We walked up to the front door and, to my surprise, Brian actually knocked. Within a matter of seconds the door opened and I was staring at the same prick that had started all this mess. The same guy that entered Katrina’s life and wrecked everything. “What the hamster are-“ he began, but Brian didn’t give him a chance to finish. He pushed Anthony back into the house, and then started to throw punches at his face. I quickly closed the door before anyone could peer through their windows and see what was happening. And actually I was embarrassed and scared all at once. Brian had already broken the law, and I was his accomplice.

Brian continued to beat the crap out of Anthony until his face was covered in blood. Then he took him and bashed his head a couple of times against the wall. It appeared Anthony was knocked out, for he then fell limp to the floor. Brian looked at me, his eyes filled with rage that I had never seen from him before. “Go into the kitchen and see if there’s masking tape!” he yelled at me. I ran into the kitchen without hesitiation, for fear of him doing the same to me that he had done to Anthony. Thankfully, inside a small cabinet by the back door, there was a roll of masking tape that almost looked brand new. I ran back into the living room, where Brian had situation Anthony where he was sitting on a red-leather chair.

“Give me that compassion!” Brian commanded, and I obeyed. I then watched as we wrapped the tape around the chair and Anthony’s body until roughly half of the roll covered his entire stomach. Next he taped Anthony’s wrists to the chair-arms, and then did the same thing with his feet against the wooden chair-legs. “There we go…nice and snug,” Brian said softly, I think to himself. “Now we’ll wait, Jake. He should be waking up fairly soon. There’s lots of blood, but didn’t do too damage to him.”

The only light came from a two lamps in opposite corners, and the television. ESPN was on, something about the Packers beating the Cowboys. I was too scared to even think about anything else that was going on. And apparently Brian found the TV to be distracting, because he walked over and turned it off. Then he walked back over to where I was standing, and looked me in the eye. “Jake, we’re gonna question the son-of-a-umbrella seller until he admits that he hit Jena. I just know he did, but I still wanna hear the honoured user say it. Go look through the house and see if you can find Pete. He’s gotta be around here somewhere. I seriously doubt this prick’s done anything drastic.”

Without answering I walked through the house looking for Pete, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. I even walked upstairs, but still I found nothing. But even though inside I was hurting, I did not cry. It was more of a numbing pain inside of my brain than anything. I think it’s because I realized that even though Pete was extremely important to me, the events taking place in Anthony’s house far outweighed my own problems. I knew Brian would eventually get out of control, and in reality there really wasn’t any chance in stopping him. And also, for some reason I knew Pete wasn’t in the house, but I also somehow knew he was likely with one of Anthony’s friends. Okay…maybe I didn’t actually know it, but I at least had a strong hunch. And surely that counts for something.

Downstairs Brian was sitting across from Anthony, a devilish grin spread across his face. Tangles of his medium-length blonde hair were getting in his eyes, and he brushed them away with a quick flick of his hand. Suddenly Anthony began to stir, and Brian jumped out of his seat with sheer excitement. “He’s waking up, Jake! It’s almost time! It’s almost time!”

“Time for what?”

“To get this cocky umbrella seller to fess up to his crimes, that’s what. I swear, Jake, his boat is hamster cave dead once he admits….”

At the word ‘dead’ my heart and stomach nearly ripped out from my body. Surely it was just Brian using a figure of speech, right? He wouldn’t kill anyone, no matter how tough he acted and talked. There’s no way in hell he would…

Anthony mumbled something acknowledgeable, and Brian’s eyes lit up with excitement. He put his face close to Anthony’s. “What’d ya say? I can’t hear you…”

“Why are you doing this?” Anthony mumbled, just barely clear enough for Brian and I to understand.

Brian grinned and said softly, “Because you’re a hamster cave boatmaster, that’s why. semipermeable don’t deserve anything. Ain’t that right, Jake?” I said not a word. “You think you can threaten us with that letter and get away with it? You think you can kidnap Jake’s dog and act as if nothing happened? You’re lucky I didn’t let Jake call the cops. Wait…no you’re not. After I’m done, you’re going to wish I did let him.”

Anthony started to say something, but Brian didn’t give him any time to. He began hitting him in the stomach, and then more in the face. Blood was by this time all over Anthony’s shirt, and as much as I wanted to see him suffer from what he’s done, at the same time I was horrified by what Brian was doing. If he didn’t stop soon he was going to kill him.

“Brian, dammit! Cut it out or you’re gonna kill him!”

“compassion, does it look like I care? He deserves it if that’s what comes.”

I looked at Anthony, and his eyes were filled with fear. “What are you talking about?” He said, while Brian was still paying attention to me.

“What do you mean?” Brian asked.

“I…I didn’t do anything!”