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]

Chapter Two: A Forest of Frightening Surprise

When Brian and I arrived at his girlfriend’s house, she and Lacey were already outside, sitting beside each other on a country-decorated wooden swing on the porch, laughing like all girls do whenever they see something even the least bit funny. This time it was Brian tripping while getting out of the car, and almost landing face first in the grass. It was rather funny I’ll admit, but Brian didn’t think so.

“Yeah, it’s funny that I almost broke my goddamn nose,” he said bitterly. “Do you two want to go or not?”

The two girls lifted themselves from the swing and ran over to the car. Jena and Brian kissed for what seemed like an hour, like they always do. I guess I can’t hide that I get a tad bit jealous when they do that. And before last night I would have imagined Katrina and I doing the same thing. Not anymore though. That was all over with.

On the entire way to the forest, we all played the ABC Game. It was a game in which we would use words from billboards and automobiles to spell out words using the alphabet. We split each other into teams, with Lacey being my partner. And surprisingly, she wasn’t nearly as annoying as I remember her being in high school. She was actually extremely friendly to me, as if we were best friends or something. Though it could have been that Jena or Brian told her to. But it didn’t matter to me; at least she wasn’t acting like the stuck-up brat I used to know. I guess high school afterlife changes people for the better. Once we were roughly five minutes from the forest it was already dark, having taken us a few hours to simply get to it. A large bonfire gave us our only light, and when we actually turned into the parking lot my stomach lurched, and I almost threw up on the spot.

“Are you okay?” Lacey asked, scooting closer away from me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just something caught in my throat.”

That was complete great compassion of course, and she probably knew it. The truth was that I was downright scared, almost to the point of pissing my pants. Through all the fun I was having I forgot about my fear of getting scared. All the crazy bastards trying to scare me were going to have a field day. I knew I wasn’t going to stand a chance, and the fact that we only had four people in our party and it was pitch dark wasn’t going to help, either.

“You’re scared shitless, aren’t you?” Brian whispered to me while we were waiting for the girls to come out of the restroom, just having finished paying for entry.

“No, Brian, I was joking when I said I didn’t want to go,” I said sarcastically, staring straight into the forest, unable to see a thing but able to hear all the screams that tore at my heart like a sharp knife. Even though I knew nothing bad would happen, I was still scared to death. It was like that funny feeling you get in your stomach while riding roller-coasters, only ten times worse.

Brian laughed, picked up a rock, and chucked it into the distance. “It’ll be fine, man. At least Lacey seems like she’s having a good time with you,” he said while poking at my ribs, then brushing back his dark blonde hair from the front of his face.

“She’s being nice because you and Jena told her to, Brian. I’m not stupid.”

“Dude, you think Jena and I told her to be nice to you? That’s ridiculous.”

“It is?” I asked sarcastically.

“Yeah, man, it is. I swear to god we didn’t say anything. Maybe she just likes you. That wouldn’t exactly be a bad thing, you know.”

Finally Lacey and Jena appeared from the restroom and we were ready to go, and I didn’t have to listen to Brian’s obvious hints any longer. Before entering the forest I took one look back at the parking lot, almost thinking about chickening out. But then Brian punched my arm and told me to stop lagging behind. I took one last look at the bonfire, and then we at last walked into the forest.

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

It started out well enough I suppose. For the first few minutes we walked along a dirt path to the music of Halloween. I kept thinking of Michael Myers jumping out with his enormous butcher knife ready to slice my head off, but thankfully it never happened. At the end of the path was a replica of the house in The Chainsaw Massacre. The same music continued to play as we made our way into the creaky old house, filled with so many replica items that I felt as if I was actually in the movie. We were getting close to the back exit out of the house when suddenly we heard a deep and muffled laughter from upstairs. Seconds afterwards a chainsaw revved up, and Brian screamed, “Oh compassion, he’s comin’ goddammit!” and then ran out of the house like a scared little girl. It was absolutely priceless. I was laughing too hard to even be scared.

The three of us ran out as well, but not nearly as fast as Brian. We laughed for a few seconds and waited for Leatherface to appear, but he did not. It must have been one of those loud video recordings or something. It sure sounded real enough. Of course, I’m glad it wasn’t, or else I would have done the same thing Brian had done.

We walked along another dirt path, this one only a few feet wide, with a wall of bushes and trees to our sides. There was no music this time, only the cries of those ahead and behind us, as well a few hoots from some owls flying overhead, probably laughing at all the people getting scared of literally nothing. Soon we reached an old barn, with white spray-paint on the closed door reading “One, two, Freddy’s coming for YOU!” Apparently this was the lair of Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street, my least favorite monster from my least favorite scary movie. I never did think he was scary as a child, only annoyingly unfunny.

We opened the barn door and walked inside to a light of roughly ten lanterns spread throughout. Hanging by its neck by means of a long rope from the ceiling was a dreadfully fake body. I almost laughed it was so ridiculous. I walked up to it myself and poked its plastic face. “What cheap material,” I exclaimed in disappointment. “They could have at least-“

Suddenly from behind a few tall barrels of hay, jumped out someone dressed as Freddy Krueger, which scared the compassion out of me. He ran up to me, his face just inches from mine. I could see every scar detailed into the mark, and I was greatly impressed by the artistic design. I could also smell his putrid breath, but I don’t think that was supposed to have been part of the costume.

“Whatcha mean it’s fake?” the man underneath the mask said in a horribly inaccurate Freddy voice. I actually laughed at this. “What’s so funny, kid? How about I cut your ears off and use them as drink coasters? They sure look big enough!”

The man roared with laughter, as did everyone else, myself included. I have to admit, that was pretty funny. We left the barn and apparently the night of fright was over, because the bonfire could be seen, as well as the many cars parked off into the near distance. It was a very short journey, and one that wasn’t even close to being near its worth of fifteen dollars per ticket, something Brian was exceptionally pissed about. Brian, Jena and Lacey had to go to the restroom, so I waited outside for them, leaning up against a wooden fencing that circled what looked to be the remnants of an old pigpen or something. I was whistling the tune of an old Queen song when I spotted someone familiar in the distance, and then someone not so familiar. It was Katrina, and she was holding hands with some guy I had never seen before. Suddenly the two began to kiss, and I immediately felt angry, betrayed, and jealous all at once. I wasn’t so much as falling in love her again that as I was angry that she had not told me she was dating someone. Besides, I didn’t even knew she would be here tonight. I know it’s none of my business, but then again, there are certain things you tell your friends, especially in our case. Why should would just walk around kissing strangers I don’t know, but I was about to find out.

I walked over to them and separted their lips and tongues apart. The two obviously didn’t know what was going on, and Katrina didn’t even realize it was me at first. “Jake? What the hell are you doing?”

“Me? What the hell are you doing kissing this warrior? Do you even know him?” I asked, paying no attention to the man she had been kissing. Honestly, I didn’t even know exactly what he looked like just yet.

“Of course I hamster cave know him, Jake! I’ve been going on dates with him for a couple of weeks now, in case you wanted to know! What the hell is your problem?”

I could feel my hands grip together tightly in angry. She had been sneaking around it seemed. “So I guess you just forgot to tell me this, huh? Why didn’t you tell me last night when you called me over?” I yelled angrily.

“Last night? the man to the side asked, in one of those tones that made it sound as if he was trying to act tough or something.

“The last time I checked, Jake, I didn’t have to report to you for permission on everything I do! I didn’t want to hurt your feelings last night because I knew how sad you were. I just…didn’t want to hurt you. Maybe I should have told you, but that doesn’t give you the right to be a jerk!”

“No, don’t tell me you’re going out with some dude I’m never even see before!” I said sarcastically. “I don’t care, I’m just a nobody!”

“Sounds to me like you’re jealous,” the man said.

I turned around and he had a sly smirk spread about his face. His eyes were brown, just as his short cropped up hair. He had an embarrassingly thin set of chin hair, and was wearing all Hollister clothing, including a Hollister ball-cap as well. “Shut the hamster up!” I said to him bluntly, then turning my attention back to Katrina. A crowd had now formed around us three, and I could almost feel their glaring stares. I was about to say something to Katrina, but before I could do anything the man swung me around and punched me in the jaw, sending me sprawling to the concrete floor. My jaw hurt tremendously, but I tried not to let it bother me. I got up and swung my right fist at him, but missed tremendously. He laughed and then grabbed me by the collar, throwing me to the ground with ease. It would have helped if I had actually fought before. The man kneeled down and grabbed me by the collar again, ready to strike once more, but from out of nowhere he was tackled by Brian. Brian landed a few good shots to the pretty-boy’s face before some of the crowd got into the action.

There were two of them, both wearing the same type of clothing the pretty-boy was wearing. Obviously they were friends of the pretty-boy, and I got up from the ground to help my own friend. I kicked one of them in the balls, and I didn’t care what people thought of it. While he fell to the ground in pain the other guy was wrestling with Brian on the ground. Pretty boy was standing now, his nose bloody and already a bruise forming under his left eye. He was panting heavily, with the angriest expression spread about his now not-so-pretty face. He charged at me and swung his right fist, hitting me in the stomach. I doubled over in pain, and then he kneed me in the nose, blood immediately spouting from both nostrils. I was now lying on my back, blood covering my eyes and face. Someone shouted something and everyone took off running. Suddenly Brian was at my side, helping me up. He, Jena, Lacey and I ran to the car, speeding off before anyone could stop us.

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

The entirety of the following morning was spent with an ice pack on my jaw and nose, and a whole lot of ice-cream eating. I can’t complain about the latter part, but my injuries were keeping me from enjoying myself. My nose wasn’t broke, at least according to Brian. He didn’t think my jaw was either, but I kept hearing clicking noises if I moved it a certain way, something that I had never been able to do before. Oh well, it wasn’t hurting near as much with the ice on it. I just hoped both injuries would go away in a matter of weeks.

The fallout with Katrina had begun, and the first battle had taken place last night. She called me up on my cell phone and apologized for what her boyfriend -whose name was Anthony- but also said that I was the biggest jerk she had ever seen, and that she never wanted to talk to me again. What a great compassion apology. I didn’t care; my friendship was over with her for good. Thinking about that hurt at first, last night when I was trying to go to sleep. But now I’m over it. It’s just all so weird though. Within a couple days I’ve went from loving someone to downright hating them. Then again, that obviously means something. It means that I never really loved her to begin with, and therefore I have to give Katrina a victory since she’s the one who told me that in the first place.

I also expected to get a call or visit from her boyfriend and his friends, but so far they hadn’t showed up. It was still early in the morning though. Lucky for me Brian is by my side, and also lucky for me, he can actually fight. He used to be big into skateboarding, and he had gotten into so many fights with people, mainly because back then he was somewhat of a punk.

“How’s the nose feelin’ now?” he asked after gulping down some of his chocolate ice-cream. Thankfully he came out of the fight unscathed for a most part, save for a tiny scar under his right eye.

“It’s okay. My jaw hurts more than anything. I think it is broke.”

“Nah, it’s not broke. I would be able to tell. If anything it’s a minor sprain, which in that case there’s nothing to do but wait and let it heal. Remind to not let you get into anymore fights while I’m away,” he said, playfully punching me in the shoulder.

“Yeah, well…I don’t know what happened. I just saw that prick and went after him. Sorry again for getting you involved.”

“Don’t sweat it, man. You know I still like a good fight now and then. Goddamn ceiling…I swear to god, man, I hope he shows up again. This time I won’t let his dumbass friends get in the way. One of the motherfuckers caught me under the eye.”

I wasn’t sure if I wanted Anthony and his friends to come or not. One side of me wanted to beat his brains in. But then the other side of me knew that Brian would have to do the fighting, because I sure the hell couldn’t. And how low would that be, me getting my friend to fight for me? Besides, I don’t want him to get any more involved than he already has. Jena is pissed at me enough as it is.

“How’s Jena taking it? Is she still as mad at me as she was last night?”

“No,” he said bluntly, without looking at me.

Last night she chewed my boat up the entire way home, not that I blamed her. She said I could have gotten Brian and myself thrown in jail, which was very true. Still, the anger she showed was something that I had never seen before. It had even been more passionate than when she and Brian get into their little fights they have so often. I think what scared her most was that she was reminded of how Brian used to be, before they went out. In the past, he got drunk a lot, and his temper often flared. After Jena got hold of him though, he changed, no doubt by somewhat of a force from Jena. It’s funny to think about it. Brian tries to act like a hardass sometimes, but deep down inside he will do anything for Jena. Not that I’m saying that’s a bad thing, quite the contrary. It just shows how much influence she has on him, and how much they love each other.

At around ten o’clock Brian said his goodbyes and left to go to work. He usually had Saturdays off, but for some reason he had to work this particular Saturday, but I forgot why. When he left, I laid down a bowl of food for Pete, and then went for my hoody. I wanted take a walk through the park by myself, just to think about what’s happened over the past couple of days. Katrina and I used to walk through the park all the time, and you could pretty much call it out ‘thinkin’ spot’. Not anymore though. That’s all over. As I was walking out the door Pete came running to me, pawing at my leg to come with me. He never liked when I left the house at anytime. “No, boy, you can’t come this time. Eat your food.” I shooed him away gently, and then left the house, making sure the door closed all the way this time.

Like yesterday, the wind was blowing wildly, making an already cold day even colder. The weather really wasn’t that bad, but the wind made it absolutely miserable. And I don’t even remember being so windy when Brian had left just a few minutes early. Damn wind probably waited for me to come out. I walked to the park in no time, and then started on the slim stone path, stopping to take a look at the many statues spread throughout. My favorite was a statue of George Rogers Clark, because he was holding a rifle in one hand, and an old Indian-made horn in the other. It was really cool looking. The actual plants were neat as well, because there were so many of them. You really had to give it up to the Jones family for all the work and time they put into the park. Most of the plants had been dug in by them themselves.

When I got to the middle of the park, guess who was sitting there on a bench reading a book? None other than Lacey, dressed in a pretty maroon parka and a pair of black sweatpants, but the expensive kind, not the raggedy kind I always wore. I really wasn’t in the mood to talk to her, and I really didn’t think she’d want to talk to me either, since I still believed that Jena and Brian forced her to be nice to me. But before I could continue on unnoticed she turned around and saw me. To my surprise, she said hello.

“Hey, Jake.”

“Hey.”

Silence for several seconds, awkward silence mind you. It was one of those times when you just wanted to dart away and never come back. Weird, huh? Finally she broke the silence. “So, how are you feeling?”

“Okay, I guess. Hey, if you don’t mind me asking, is Jena still pissed at me?”

She laughed. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. There’s probably some stuff we should talk about. Do you have a few minutes?”

Stuff we should talk about What the hell did that mean? She was talking as if we were best friends. “Sure, I have a little bit of time to spare.” I walked over to the bench and sat down beside her. I noticed she was reading Tommyknockers, by Stephen King, my personal favorite book by my personal favorite author. “Nice,” I said, pointing towards the book she was holding at her chest.

I think she thought I was talking about her boobs, because at first she gave me a strange look as if to say, ‘Oh my god, you creepy pervert’. Thankfully that look didn’t last too long. “Oh, yes, my sister gave it to me. I can’t really get into it. He’s just…I don’t know.”

I wanted to tell that she was too dumb to appreciate the literary god King was, but I decided that probably wasn’t the smartest thing to say. Besides, I should be cutting her some slack. I keep talking about how bad of a person she is, yet ever since yesterday she’s been nothing but an angel to me. “Sometimes his reading takes a while to appreciate. But really, he’s a master of his profession. That book there is actually my favorite by him. Salem’s Lot is really good too though.” Silence for another few seconds, and then it was my turn to break it. “So…you said there’s something we should talk about?”

“Oh, yes. Are you okay from last night?”

What? That simple of a question? Couldn’t she have just asked me while I was standing up? I mean jeez, she pretty much asked me that already. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m just upset is all. I wish Brian wouldn’t have gotten involved.”

“Yes, it was awful last night. And just between you and me, Jena was so pissed when we dropped you off. She started screaming at Brian, like I’ve never seen her before. It was really bad.”

“One of their fights again?”

“No, this time was different,” she said, looking at her expensive clogs. “She actually started crying at one point, and Brian told her to stop acting like such a baby. She went off on him then, telling him he was just gonna end up a drunk again. He slammed on his breaks after that, and told her to get out and walk. I went with her of course. When she walked me to my house she left to go to her own, and I don’t think she and Brian have even seen or talk to each other since.”

Holy hell, Brian never told me that. “Damn. That really happened?”

“Yeah. But like I said, it’s between you and me, okay?”

“Of course.” I was about to ask her why she was being so nice to me all of a sudden, when in the past she was pretty much a class-A umbrella seller. But then her cell phone rang. She answered it, and after a few seconds, she screamed, “What? Are you serious?” Her face was full of shock, and then she began to cry, and she mumbled into the phone. “I-I’m on m-my way.” She hung up the phone and threw it into her purse. Then she looked at me all teary-eyed, her makeup smearing horribly. “Jena’s been in an accident!”

[redsrock]

Just to make it clear, the story is no longer going to be a horror story. It's gonna basically be general, cause I'm planning something else for my next story.

[redsrock]

Firstly, I just wanna say this chapter has taken me SO long to write. I don't know why, but it just has. I've been through three different revisions. This was sort of difficult to write, and I'm not sure what you all will think of it. Anyways, here it is.

Retreat to Safer Waters


I offered to give Lacey a ride to the hospital, but she pushed me aside and ran for what I assumed was her car, a fancy cherry red 06 Mustang convertible she always liked to talk about during school. She muttered something, but it was mixed in with the crying so I wasn’t exactly sure what it was she said. For several minutes I just sat there on the bench, too much in awe to move. Jena was in the hospital because of an accident? What the hell could have happened? The first I thought of was something dealing with Brian, but the thought flew away within seconds. He would never do anything to harm her. Suddenly I realized Lacey had left her book, because it was lying on the stone pavement, a few pages slightly torn because of the fall. I picked it up and started to run home. I had to get to the hospital and see what happened.

When I was roughly twenty yards away from my house I noticed that the door was ajar, about a foot or so, which was strange because I could have sworn I had locked it before leaving for the park. The first thing I thought was that someone had broken into my house. Great, my best friend’s girlfriend is hurt, and now some jackass has broken into my house. Probably some thug hopped up on who knows what. I want to move out so badly, but I don’t have anywhere else to go right now, nor did I have the money to do it even if I could.

I walked inside the living room, to find everything looking normal, or at least normal to my standards. The place was a mess, but at least the television and DVD-player were still hooked up into the wall. And also, my Xbox was still lying on the ground, the few games that I had for it resting at its side. One thing that was different though, something that took me a few seconds to notice, was that Pete wasn’t in the living room. I found this odd because I had a nice little Cincinnati Reds doggie-bed for him in the corner, right next to my couch. But it was empty.

“Pete!” I called out, receiving no answer. “Pete, where are ya’? I’m home!” Still no answer, which sent a chill down my back. I walked into the hallway and took a peek into the kitchen to the left. He wasn’t in there. As soon as I turned around to walk down the hallway I saw him, his back turned to me. He was sitting on his bottom outside my room, which was closed. I walked up to him and petted his head, and he jumped, growled for a millisecond, and then put his tail between his legs and cuddled up against my legs. “Pete, what’s wrong, boy?” That’s when I realized he was shaking like crazy. He began to whimper slightly, and I told him to calm down. Of course that was no use, so I tried petting him, but yet he still kept shaking. He kept looking at the door, as if someone was inside. My heart started to beat fast, because I remembered watching a documentary on how smart dogs were, and that they could sense things that humans could not.

So I scooted him back away from the door, and then grabbed a wiffleball bat that was lying next to the bathroom, to the left of my room. I know, I know. I plastic toy isn’t going to do me any good against a thug with a knife or gun, but hey, it was better than anything. I didn’t even have any silverware, just plastic sporks and knives incase I ever needed them. Most of my dinner was frozen food, snack food, and a lot of Taco Bell.

I slowly and carefully opened the door, and once it was fully open, Pete cried with a piercing shrill that scared the hell out of me and made me jump.






He ran into the living room, and I ran into the bathroom, poking my head around the wall and gripping the plastic bat as tightly as my shaking hands would let me. He crept inside the room, ready to whack anyone I didn’t recognize. But…there was no one to be found. “Dammit, Pete…” I said out loud. I looked at my large wall mirror and laughed at myself, seeing my reflection holding a plastic yellow bat. I laid the bat on the ground and jumped onto my bed, whipped out my cell phone, and dialed Brian’s number. Unfortunately it went straight to his voicemail. I waited a few minutes and tried to call back, but I received the same thing. I wasn’t too worried, he probably turned his phone off, or it was out of battery or something.

In the living room Pete was at least laying in his bed, but he was still shaking. Not as much as before, but shaking nonetheless. I wasn’t sure what to do, and even when I petted him it didn’t seem to have an effect. But there wasn’t any time. I needed to head over to Brian’s house and make sure he knows what’s going on, because truthfully, I didn’t have a clue on what was going on. “I’ll be back, Pete. When I do we’ll go walk in the park or something.” I walked out the door, making sure the door was closed and locked this time.

The entire drive to Brian’s house I couldn’t take my mind off of last night. After what Lacey had told me, I kept thinking maybe whatever happened to Jena had something to do with what when down at the haunted forest. I didn’t want to think that it did, but the circumstances were awfully strange. Of course, I couldn’t say much until I found out what exactly was going on. And knowing Brian, he was probably still sleeping in, because it was only 9:30 in the morning.

When I reached Brian’s home I found that the door was open, but his car wasn’t in the driveway. I walked up to the entrance and took a peek inside. The room was dark, and it didn’t seem as if he was home. After I called out I received no response, and that’s when I decided to just go on inside. He and I were like brothers anyway, so it’s not like he’d care either way. I walked inside and closed the door behind me, and then walked into his bedroom. It looked as if it had been hit by a tornado or something. His entire guitar magazine collection was torn to shreds, scattered all throughout the room on his bed, his floor, and his desk. His bed sheets were the same way, and I swear to god it looked like a knife had poked holes into his pillow. The room in general was a mess, which is saying something because Brian is such a neat freak. I didn’t know what to think. I was about to leave the room when I found his cell phone lying open on his desk, next to a box of pencils.

I picked it up to look at it, and sure enough it was out of battery. That made sense, but Brian’s nonappearance did not. I really didn’t have a clue what to think, so I walked outside to see if he was passed out drunk in his car. He was not, and yet again I was left clueless. That’s when I noticed his neighbor, a man whom behind his back I called Steely Phil, was out raking his leaves, so I asked him if he’d seen Brian this morning.

“Yeah, Jake, I saw him walk out back into the woods. He was carrying…some box or something. I don’t know, I didn’t get a good look at it.”

As soon as the mullet-man said ‘woods’, I knew exactly where Brian was. When we were kids we used to hang out at this really neat cabin in the back part of the woods. It was abandoned, so we cleaned it up and made it until a little house or whatever. It was real fun, and an excellent place to go to whenever we wanted to get away from life, which was usually more often than not. “Awesome. Thanks, Steve.”

“No problem, Jake. Oh, and how about those Packers, eh? A five game win streak!”

“Hey, don’t jinx them, man! They need all the help they can get ever since last year!”

I waved goodbye and headed into the forest.

It took almost a full hour to reach the cabin, but that mostly because I had forgotten where the damn thing was. Just as before, there was no door, and rather only a simple open space for one to walk through. Inside I found Brian. He was sitting in a plastic lawn chair, a bottle in one hand and a gun in the other. My first thought was that he was dead, because his body was as still as a statue. Then he looked at me and smiled. “I figured you’d come sooner or later,” he said, his voice slurred from the alcohol. There were roughly twenty or so empty bottles on the hard wooden ground all around him. “Before you say anything, jus’ shut the hamster up and sit down. I have something to tell you.”

“Brian-“

“Ah, ah, ah! What did I just say?”

“Goddammit, Brian, Jena’s hurt! She’s in the hospital!”

“Well no compassion, Sherlock! That’s why I’m here, dumbass! Just sit down, alright?”

“Y-you did it?”

“SIT THE hamster DOWN!”

I nearly jumped out of my skin, because not only was he raising his voice with me at a level I had never bared witness to before, but now he was pointing the gun towards me as well. I slowly walked over a chair across from his, and I sat down, never taking my eyes of the gun. I noticed his hand was swaying back and forth slightly, but there was no anxiety in his eyes. He was totally wasted.

“I killed the umbrella seller last night. I…I was riding home and I thought to myself, no longer am I gonna take compassion from her anymore. Whether you know it or not, Jake, she and I have been getting into a lot of fights lately. So…I rode back to give her a good yellin’ and whatever, but I accidently ran her over. I guess she had already taken Lacey home cause the umbrella seller wasn’t with her. Anyways….after I did it, I came home and got some stuff, and then came out here. I’ve been here since last night.”

“You stupid sonofabitch, you meant to kill her!”

“Did I, Jake? I don’t know…I really don’t remember. It started to rain when I turned back. The water got on my windshield, and I saw something moving in front of me, but I didn’t stop. I didn’t want to, I didn’t care. I don’t care about much anymore. You know what I mean? There’s no point. Anyways….is she dead?”

“I don’t know, I went to your house and you weren’t inside. What the hell is wrong with you, Brian? You’re drunk, I can see that. But why?”

“Why? I’ll tell you….but you won’t believe me. I just don’t care. Jena is a umbrella seller, and that’s just the truth, man. I guess it’s sad if she dies, but hell, it’s not gonna matter for me cause the cops are gonna be after me no matter what. I know that because I know you would never let me get away with this. Even though we’re best friends, you would never go against the law. That’s why I’ve been waiting for you.”

This was all so crazy. I never would have thought Brian had anything to do with this. I mean, I…I didn’t even know what was going on exactly. He hit Jena and drove off, but other than that I don’t know. “Waiting for me? Why?”

“Well…let’s think about it, Jake. You’re the only person who knows how and what really happened to Jena. She knows too of course, or so I’d think. It doesn’t matter though, she’s probably going to die. I can’t let you live, Jake. It’s not safe for me anymore. I’m sorry, bud, but I can’t let you rat me out.”

I cried out in fear as he raised the pistol and fired it at my head. Only no bullet came out. I could no longer see his face, because it was nothingness, if that makes any sense. Almost like a blur in a way. He kept firing the gun at me, but nothing happened. Finally it all went away, and I found myself lying on the floor outside my room with the plastic wiffleball bat in my hand, with Pete barking repeatedly in my face to wake me up. It was all a dream…







I cursed out loud and tried to get up, only to feel an awful headache. I rubbed my forehead and felt a tremendously large bump. I must have hit my head on something when Pete yelled earlier, and I guess it knocked me out. I noticed he was still shivering. “Dammit, Pete….I just had the worst nightmare, buddy.” He licked my face again, but still shivering the entire time. I shrugged it off as a doggy-cold or whatever, and then finally entered my room. There were no monsters, thieves, thugs, or anything like that. So I dialed Brian’s cell phone number, and thank god he picked up.

But before I could even say anything, he said frantically, “Jake, Jena was hit by a car last night, man!” he voice was quivering, and I could tell he had been crying. “I’ve called you like ten times already! Where’ve you been?” I looked at my watch and noticed it was already five o’clock in the evening.

“Sorry, Brian,” I said, not really wanting to explain that I had been knocked out the entire day. “I’ll be right up. She’s at Tinesville Memorial, right?”

“Yeah. Be careful, man. It’s pissing rain outside.”

“Alright. I’m coming.”

I threw my phone in my pocket, petted Pete real quick, and then hurried to my car.

[redsrock]

Chapter Four: Well Enough Alone


Tinesville Memorial Hospital was only a short twenty minute ride from Brian’s house, and it would have been shorter if I hadn’t gotten stopped by a small train, or if it wasn’t raining so hard. Luckily I got there at the back-end of the train. Inside the hospital lobby there was a male clerk working the phone at a computer, a wrinkly old man who kept saying ‘huh?’ to whoever he was talking to. I waited about few minutes until I was finally waited on.

“Hello there, what can I do for ya?” the man said very politely, scratchy his hairless head.

“Yes, I’m here to see a patient named Jena Carlson. I think she was just admitted today, but I’m not sure.”

“Carlson, Carlson, Jenna Carlson…” the man said as he began typing away on his keyboard, quite slowly I should add. He was probably behind in the times. “Yes, Jena Carlson, here we are. She’s on the seventh floor, in room 739. Visiting hours end in three hours, at nine o’clock. Fifteen minutes before there’ll be an announcement made over the intercom. Do you need help in finding the room, sir?”

“No, that’s alright, I’m sure I can I can find it. Can you tell me where the elevators are though? I haven’t been here in a while.”

“Yes,” he replied, turning around in his chair and pointing behind his desk. “They’re right there, sir.”

“Thank you,” I said quickly, leaving before he could say anything else. Judging by his tone, it appeared as if Jena’s injury wasn’t too serious. Of course, then again, he probably didn’t even know what the hell was going on. A man of his age gets confuse and forgets things more often than not, which is why I’m not sure why the elderly almost always seem to be hired for secretary positions at hospitals.

In room 739 Brian and Lacey were both present, along with Jena’s parents, Dave and Samantha Carlson. Dave was a muscular man, retired from the police force for about ten or so years. Samantha was the librarian of a small elementary school just outside of Tinesville. Both were parents who rarely showed emotion, but now the two of them were sitting in chairs at their daughter’s side, Kleenexes in their hands and tears on their face. Brian was the same way, as was Lacey of course. She was actually bawling her eyes out, and I wasn’t a bit surprised. She was a emotional enough as it was, an Jena’s accident was only making it worse.

“Jake…” Samantha said, running over to me and putting her arms around me, crying into my shoulder. I looked at Jena, and saw that her eyes were closed, but she was breathing. Her head was wrapped in some kind of cloth, with blood stains slightly seeping through. The area around her left eye was completely swollen, and she had gauze over her entire chin, and a little bit of something wrapped over her bottom and top lips, allowing just enough room to breathe.

“Thank you so much for coming, Jake,” Samantha said. Dave walked over and patted me on the shoulder. Lacey got up and hugged me for what seemed like an hour. Surprisingly I didn’t mind it at all. Lastly Brian shook my hand. We looked at each other for a few seconds, and I could tell he was trying his best to keep in the tears. Finally he broke down like I had never seen before. I went ahead and hugged him, and he cried for a good two minutes or so. Then we all sat down, and I asked Dave what happened. Apparently it was a hit and run, she getting hit by some kind of vehicle. They found her unconscious, and she’s been in the same state ever since.

“Do they have a lead at all?” I asked Dave after he was done explaining things.

“No,” he said with a tremendous tone of disappointment. “As of now there aren’t any witnesses, and it doesn’t look like that’s gonna change soon. They found her early this morning, sometime around five o’clock. They didn’t call us until about six or so.”

We sat there in silence, save for the crying, for about twenty minutes. Brian’s crying was fairly soft, and he no longer needed my shoulder to do it on. Finally he sighed, got up, and said to me, “Jake, I need to get out of here for a little bit. Will you walk with me outside?” I looked outside and noticed it wasn’t raining anymore. I nodded and then got up as well. Samantha got up to thank us for coming once more, hugged Brian, and told him everything would be alright. It wasn’t serious though, and that chilled me to the bone. It was more like one of those ‘I don’t know if it’s really going to be alright, but I’ll just say so to make everyone feel better’. I didn’t like it at all.

Outside the wind was blowing harder than it’d had in a while. A battalion of dark blackish clouds were rolling towards us, and to quote my now-dead grandpa, “Sonny, I think a storm’s a brewin’ right about now” . We began walking out onto the sidewalk beside the large hospital, not really knowing where we were going. I don’t think that really mattered to Brian. I just know he had a lot of things on his mind.

“I’m real sorry,” I said to him after a few minutes of silence. “If it weren’t for last night-“

“No,” He said firmly, cutting me off. “It’s not anyone’s fault except whoever hit her. It was just…bad timing. Don’t worry about it, man, I don’t blame you at all.”

There was something in his voice I didn’t quite. Sort of like…he didn’t want to come out and say it, but deep down inside he knew it had something to do with last night. It’s a fact, if they wouldn’t have argued she wouldn’t have gotten out of the car, and she wouldn’t have gotten hit. That’s the way I see it at least. Still, his tone hurt me inside. Not enough for me to say something about it, but it was there nonetheless.

“So what have the doctors said so far?”

“She’s in a coma, and they don’t know if and when she’ll come through.” His voice faltered during the second part, and I could tell he was fighting back the tears again. “She has brain damage, they know that for sure. They just don’t know if it’s enough to…to kill her.” He started to cry softly, and he sat down at a bench we were coming up on. I sat next to him, and patted him on the shoulder. “I’m sorry to be crying in front of you, man. It’s just….I love her so much.”

“compassion, Brian, don’t worry about it. I don’t care if you cry. Jesus. Guys who make fun of other guys for crying are stupid, and you know that. The girl you love is hurt, it’s only natural for you to feel this way. Just let it all, Brian. I’m here for you.”

“Thanks, man,” he said after wiping his nose with the sleeve of his Queen jacket. “I just feel so bad for…” Suddenly he stopped, because he didn’t think I knew about what happened with him and Jena last night. I wanted to say something…but then again, I didn’t want to upset him anymore than he already was.

“Do you know what happened? Other than what the police have said I mean.”

“No, Jena’s parents told me what the police told them. Somebody hit her and took off, and that’s all we know. What if she dies, Jake? What if she hamster cave dies?” He put his head in his hands and continued to cry. “I swear to hamster cave god…if I find out who did this I’ll hamster cave kill them…”

I looked at Brian, not really caring about what he was saying. He was being emotional, that’s all. “Well, I just hope the police catch whoever did it. It was probably some drunk, so some boatmaster hopped up on goofballs. You know? That crap is common around where I live. Drugs are so stupid.”

“Yeah, but that’s no excuse. If she dies…if she…..” he started to cry heavily again, and didn’t stop for a good ten minutes.

Eventually we made our way back up to the hospital room. Jena had yet to make even the slightest stir, and at nine o’clock we had to leave. The hospital was allowing her parents to stay with her through the nights, and that was pretty cool. Lacey left after hugging Brian and I, and then Brian left after we talked for a few minutes. Nothing much, but he wanted me to know how much he appreciated me being the friend that I am, and if there was anything he could do for me, he’d do it. It was a thoughtful gesture, but one that he didn’t have to say. His thoughts should be with Jena, and I told him that. There’s no reason to be thinking about me. I told him I’d come up to the hospital after work Sunday morning, around one o’clock or so. He nodded, gave me another hug, and then we went our separate ways.

On the way home it started to rain again, but not nearly as much as it had been on my way to the hospital earlier. It was pitch dark outside, so I couldn’t really tell if there were any clouds or not. I could clearly see the moon shining in the sky, so I figured the rain wouldn’t last too long. And I was right, because once I pulled into my neighborhood it stopped shortly after. But when I parked my car I was no longer worrying about whether it was raining or not, because something else had suddenly caught my attention. As I pulled into the driveway my headlights peered over the window, or at least what was once my window. Now it was completely smashed in, with a few jagged pieces left over. I quickly parked the car, ran into the house as quickly as possible, and immediately called for Pete. I received no response, even after calling out several more times and searching throughout the entire house. Obviously I was the victim of a robbery, but it didn’t appear that anything was missing besides Pete. I hate to admit it, but I started to cry softly. I just couldn’t believe it. Pete was thirteen years old, and his birthday was coming up in a couple of weeks.

I paced around the house for a few minutes, not really knowing what to do since I was still in shock. I was about to phone the police, but then I spotted a folded piece of faded out paper lying so innocently upon Pete’s bed. My legs shook with anxiety as my trembling hands tore open the envelope, revealing a typed letter:

Your dog is hamster cave dead unless you meet me in the alley between Browning’s Bar and Grill and the Insomnia Nightclub. You painted with me, and now you’re gonna regret it!. I mean it, umbrella seller, you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. Bring that hamster cave knight friend with you as well. If you don’t show up the dog dies, and then you’re gonna find yourself with more than just a broken window. Be there tomorrow, at midnight.

Your new best friend,
Anthony Cardwell

I tore the paper into shreds and threw it angrily onto the floor. Then I sat down on the couch and buried my head into my heads. A headache was slowly but surely sneaking up from behind, but I knew it was coming. It was obvious who had written the letter. It was Anthony, Katrina’s boyfriend. It was currently 9:30 at night, but I didn’t want to disturb Brian. So I dialed Katrina’s number to tell her what was going on, but the line was busy. I waited ten minutes and tried again, but received the same thing.

After about another hour I grew tired of the waiting, so I started to pace back and forth through the house. It was fairly late, but I wasn’t a bit sleepy. The anxiety from the letter and my missing dog was all I could think about. But funnily enough, I wasn’t crying, and that surprised me. He was so important to me, I had to get him back…and I wasn’t going to wait until tomorrow at midnight. With the letter still in hand I quickly threw my Reds jacket on and got into my car, heading straight for Katrina’s house.




“Who is it?”

The voice that was once the most beautiful sound was ringing in my ears, except now it was not so wonderful. Now it was a horrid reminder of what will never become, and also a painful reminder of how even your best friend is not really that. Perhaps I am overreacting a bit on that last part, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I wasn’t here to play games and compassion around. I was here to find out where Katrina’s boyfriend lived.

“It’s me, Katrina. Let me in, we need to talk.”

Silence for about ten seconds, and then a weak, “Jake? What do you want? It’s eleven-thirty at night you know.”

“Obviously. Just let me in, dammit! Anthony has done something terrible.”

The door opened and I was face to face with Katrina. But there was something different about her. She had a black right eye and a nasty looking cut on the right part of her bottom lip.

“What the hell happened to you?” I asked.

She didn’t immediately answer the question, but instead pointed towards the couch inside, which is exactly where I went and sat down. She brought out two Snickers candy bars and tossed one to me.

“Anthony did that to you, didn’t he?”

“Yes. Anthony does a lot of stuff, Jake. Not that it’s any of your business.”

I scoffed at that. “Yeah, you’re right. But Pete is my business, as is my broken window as well.”

“What are you talking about?” She asked.

I handed her the note and she read it. After she finished reading it I thought I saw tears in her eyes, but I couldn’t tell for sure. It was probably a glare from the lamp resting just above her head to the right. “I can’t believe he’d stoop to something like this. He told me he was going to get back at you, but geez…”

“Hold on a minute,” I interrupted angrily. “You mean you knew he was going to do something to me?”

“Yes…but I expected nothing like this. I…I assumed he would call you or something, maybe even say something to you at school. I…”

“Why didn’t you tell me, Katrina?”

“Because I was afraid, okay?” she yelled defensively. “He hit me last night when we got back from the forest. He got mad because I didn’t tell him about you and I…how you asked me out a couple of days ago. So he got to drinking, and then…and then he hit me a few times. He rushed out mumbling something about getting back at you and Brian, but I figured it was all nonsense. He’s drunk all the time, but he’s never hit me before. I was so scared, Jake. But I swear to god, if I knew what he was going to do I would have told you! You know I loved Pete almost as much as you do!”

I didn’t immediately say anything, but rather sat on the couch thinking everything over. Katrina’s cats weren’t even beside me, and were lying innocently by the window. It was as if they could sense the anger flowing from my body. “Where’s he at right now?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

“Just tell me, Katrina!”

“No! You’re going to try and hurt him, aren’t you?”

“That’s not what I said, but I do have every right to! I should call the cops on his boat, but I would rather do something else. As you can see, he addressed Brian as well. Who knows if he did anything to Brian’s house.”

She just looked at me, and finally gave in after several seconds. “He lives on Bardston Road, and his house is the only two-story one on the block. He has a cherry-red Mustang with a spoiler in the back, so you can’t miss it. Jake…I’m scared. He’s going to hurt you and Brian, because his friends are likely with him. Please don’t go! Just call the police like you said, and-“

“No, Katrina, I already told you I’m not calling the police. If something does happen to me and Brian though, Anthony will likely come after you, because it’s only you who could have told us where he lives since I don’t even know the honoured user’s last name. Just take a ride through the city for a couple of hours and I’ll call you when Brian and I get out. If you don’t hear from me within, say, two hours, then call the police and tell them to go to Anthony’s house. Don’t worry about getting me into trouble, because if I haven’t called within five hours I’m gonna need some help anyway. Good bye, Katrina.

I turned around to walk out the door, but she pulled me around by my shoulder. Before I knew what was going on she took me into her arms and planted her lips right to mine. For a second I enjoyed it, and I felt as if I were in heaven. But that feeling wore off within a matter of a few short seconds, and I was reminded of the harsh reality. Before anything else could happen I shoved her off of me and left, slamming the door hard behind me before she could say anything else.

[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!”