“C’mon Gee! Let’s go! “Ughh Mikey let me sleep!” “Nope. Mummy’s waitin outside with grandma!” “Fine!” I groggily betted open my eyelids and proceeded to literally roll of the bed and get ready in my sleep deprived state.“Sweetheart, be quick or you’ll get left behind.” Came a sweet, sin-song voice from my doorway. Mom? I turned my head slowly and saw a huge smile, radiation from a beautiful brown-haired woman. “Mummy?” “Hurry up Gerard, I’m not kidding.” And with that, she disappeared behind the door. I finished dressing in record time and sped outside. I ran straight to the door and flung it open only to be blinded by the sunlight, but instead of squinting, my eyes opened wider and wider with every passing second, gradually getting accustomed to the light.
“G-grandma? Mummy?” I could feel the tears running down my face. I watched, taken aback as Mikey skipped along in the middle of them both, holding our mother’s hand on his left, and our grandma’s hand on his right, laughing and skipping. Everything was just perfect. But wait…why was Mikey a little kid, he’s 16 years old! “C’mon big brother!” Mikey squealed as my mum picked him up and planted kisses on each cheek.
I smiled in my heart, dried the tears on my face and began to run. “Wait on me guys!” I yelled, smiling as I did, but for some reason, I couldn’t seem to catch up to the,. “Maa!!! Granny!!” I called, but they all juts kept walking away into the picturesque scene in front of me. “Guys come on wait up!” I screamed while running as fast as my legs would take me, occasionally tripping up and out of breath. They eventually started looking darker and smaller and I realized that they were all now so far away that they seemed to be fading into the scene. “WAIIITT!!” I was screaming and completely out of breath. “P-please don’t….go.” my place slowed down and I felt my body get heavy. Tears came again. ”Don’t go, Mikey.” I allowed my body to fall to the ground and once again, my pupils were being consumed by this bright light.
I slowly looked around, my body aching and my clothes soaking wet. There was a rope across my chest, strapping me on to the most uncomfortable thing that I had ever slept on. I tugged at the rope until I came to the realization that it was a safety-belt and I was sleeping in a car seat. I WAS SLEEPIGN IN A CAR! I shot up and hit my head on the window. Guess you shouldn’t react suddenly when you now wake up. I looked and my watch. 12:59….1:00. ‘where the fuck was I?’ I wondered while glancing around the almost empty car-park. I looked at my reflection and saw that there was blood stemming down the middle of my face and dotted across my cheeks. Also, my eyes were red, puffy and wet and I was breathing heavily.
As quickly as it faded, the memories of what happened last night and in my dread returned. I felt my chest tighten as I inhaled the hot air that was circulating inside the car. I need some fresh air. Quickly I opened the car door and stepped out into the sunlight. This feels so good. I stretched and decided to take a little walk. It may help. I grabbed my cell phone, a little change and strangely enough, I picked up the Pencey Prep CD that Frank had bought for me the day we met, and began to walk. As nice as this was, I was still feeling sad. My mind hurt from over-thinking everything. About two blocks away from the car-park I came up to play ground.
It was more or less empty, except for the few couples and children here and there. I sat alone on on of the swings and observed these two young boys, obviously brothers, running and skipping and laughing at each other, throwing a ball back and forth. The younger one, at least 3 , lost his balance and fell. The older one, no older than 5 or 6 began to laugh, but when the kid started crying, he immediately dropped the ball and ran up to him, making a pitiful attempt to lift him to his feet. I was reminded of me and Mikey in that little moment when I felt a tear trickle down my cheek. I got up and walked to where I came from, quickly glancing back to see the boys ’ mother retrieve them. This day was just going to suck, well the rest of it at least. It was now 42 minutes past 1. I didn’t realize how much time I’d spent in the park.
By the time I got back to the car-park, it had about 4 cars there. Let’s see where on earth did I park my car. Oh there it is! Hmm, I don’t remember leaving it there. Oh well. While walking I felt a small shift in the weight of my hoddie pocket and I turned just in time to receive a punch which sent me to the ground. “Fuck! What do you think you’re doing motherfucker!” I said, already picking up on what was going on.
I got up and made a few weak, feeble steps, watching painfully as two men hopped into my car. I tried to run, but the dizziness of the lash sent me tumbling to the ground. That fucker had one heavy hand. “Motherfuckers ever know how much I saved for that fucking car!” I screamed in frustration. I got up slowly and cautiously and found my footing before trying to walk again. I’d need to get to the station as quickly as possible. I felt around in my pocket for that spare change when I felt something sharp and square. I pulled it out…Frank’s CD. I sighed to myself. “Guess I’m gonna have to foot it.” I said to no one in particular. I headed straight to the police station after asking for directions.
About five minutes into the walk I felt something wet hit my head…then my arm, then my face, and soon enough I was being drenched in rain. Could this day get any worse? “Fuck!” I spat out. Feeling even more frustrated and knowing that I was a helpless case…I began to cry again.
So everyone is pissed off with me, my car’s stolen and I’m drenched in sweat, tears and rain. I’m such a screw-up. I fucking give up. Just then a car coming from the police station, sped past me, soaking my feet in the mucky road water. “Hey bitch watch where you’re fucking driving, you lil pussy!” I yelled. The car stopped, then began to reverse. Oh he wants a fight, it’s not like my day can suck any more than it does.
The window rolled down. “I’m really sorry dude, I’m in a real hurry to fing…Gerard!” “Ray! You’re in a hurry to find who?! Did you fuckin….” “get in!” I glared at him. “Just get in the mothafuckin car! Can’t you put our differences aside for ONE SECOND!” I wouldn’t lie, we’ve fought a lot of times, but right now his tone scared me a little, so I didn’t question him. I just opened the door and got in “Umm….”
“Where’s your ride?” he asked with a shaky voice. “Stolen.” “does that explain why your left cheek is swollen?” I simply nod. “Was on my way to the police when you…” “no problem. My dad’s the chief, we’d go after. I was looking for you.” I stared. “Well?” he seemed to be composing himself. “Uhh..Frank called. He said that umm..” he paused and swallowed, seemingly unsure of his words, which made me even more nervous. “Gerard…Mikey’s in the hospital.” My heart almost stopped and my breath got caught in my throat. “F-for what?” Ray’s shoulders fell and he focused intently on the road. “Overdose.”