Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

Present Day…

      After Bobby finished telling his story, we sat against the hood of my car in uncomfortable silence. Though, due to my shock and disbelief of what Bobby had told me, I wouldn’t have been able to speak even if I’d wanted to. A million thoughts rushed through my head. He had to be lying. I mean, there was no way that’d I would do any of the horrible things he described. I didn’t want to believe it, I couldn’t believe it. Besides, I didn’t remember doing anything he said I’d done. I wracked my brain for a memory of what happened, for anything to help me understand, but it was no use. You can’t find something that simply isn’t there.

      “Well, are you gonna say anything?” Bobby asked impatiently. “I told you what happened like you asked. Now, why’d you do it?”

      “I don’t…” I began, but he cut me off.

      “Are you still pissed about the prank? I mean, I said I was sorry, Joey. What the hell else do you want from me?” he demanded, turning his head to face me. A flash of worry crossed his angry expression. “Hey, man you’re bleeding.” He pointed to my nose.

      I wiped my nose with the back of my hand and sure enough, it was smeared with blood. “That’s weird,” I noted. “As I was saying…Bobby, this is not me trying to get you back, I swear. I don’t even know what happened. It’s all a blank. I’m sorry, I don’t know what else to tell you.”

      The worried look on his face had vanished. “Fine. Then in that case, go f**k yourself, Joseph!” he snapped, before storming up the drive.

      “Hey, wait up!” I called, chasing after him. When I caught up with him, I grabbed his shoulder. He didn’t like that.

       He wheeled around and wrenched his shoulder from my grasp. “Get your hands off me!” he growled, pushing me away.

       I lost my balance and my a*s landed, hard, on the cement. “Ow! Dude, that f****n’ hurt!” I said indignantly as I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the throbbing pain issuing from my tail bone.

      “Good! You deserve it!” he roared.

      “But I didn’t…”

      “I have proof!” he shouted, pointing to the bruises on his neck. “Right here! You did this, Joseph! You tried to kill me! Stop trying to deny it and just fess up!”

      I felt like ripping my hair out. “I don’t know how many goddamn times I have to tell you, Harris! One minute I was at the wheel, the next, I was standing in the middle of the road. Jackie was crying and you looked pissed. The rest is a blank.”

      “That’s bullshit, Joe!” he growled. “That’s total f*****g bullshit and you know it!”

      “What the hell do you want me to do? Admit to something I didn’t do? Is that what you want, Harris?! Fine, then! I did it. I tried to kill you and then I went second base with my ex-girlfiend while she screamed for me to stop! There! You happy now?!”

      “Well, that’s a start,” he sneered.

      I stared at him. “I swear, if you don’t cut the snarky little attitude, I really will strangle you!”

      He advanced on me. “Try it, Joey. I dare you!” he said menacingly.

      I pushed him back. “You know, I don’t remember trying to kill you, but I sure as hell wish I did. Who knows, maybe I had a good reason!”

       Bobby’s eyes widened, before his expression morphed into a deadly glower. “You son-of-a-b***h!” he said, before throwing another punch at my face. I dodged and returned the gesture with a nice upper-cut. Bobby groaned and stumbled back. He recovered quickly and retaliated with a left hook to the side of my head, before pushing me back. I saw stars as I fell to the cement. I blinked a couple of times, waiting for my vision to return.

      “All you had to do was tell the truth, Joey,” Bobby said softly, offering a hand.

      Grudgingly, I took it, and got to my feet. “No,” I said, letting go of his hand.

      “What?”

      “No, all you had to do was believe me. Then this all could’ve been avoided. We could be trying to figure what the hell’s going on, but no, I guess sixteen years of friendship means nothing to you.”

      He shook his head. “First of all, you showed how little sixteen years of friendship meant when you tried to strangle me to death, so don’t even try guilt-tripping me. Second of all, I know what I saw, Joe. It was you. There’s nothing to figure out.”

       I felt like he’d just punched me in the gut. “I see how it is…so, after everything…this is it?”

      He didn’t look me in the eye. “Yeah, I guess so.”

      I sighed angrily. “In that case I guess I should probably head home, then.”

      “No one’s stopping you,” he said stonily as I walked away.

      I opened the driver’s side door, and looked up at him. “Just so you know, if our roles were switched, if you had been the one to attack me and you said it wasn’t you, I would’ve believed you.”

      He didn’t look phased by my comment.

      “You know, I wish it hadn’t been a prank!” I shouted harshly.

      His eyes widened as if I’d slapped him, but I didn’t stay long enough to see how he would react. I climbed in my car and as I drove away from his house, I couldn’t help but think back to the events from the previous month…

      One Month Ago…

      The identity of the body was undeniable. “Bobby,” I cried, running over to him, nearly tripping and falling a dozen times on the debris scattered all over the entry-way. I kneeled beside my fallen friend and ripped my own shirt off and pressed it to the alarmingly large bloodstain on his chest, hoping I wasn’t too late. Continuing to hold my shirt to his chest, I held my hand around an inch from his barely parted lips. My heart sank when I didn’t feel him exhale on my hand. He wasn’t breathing.

      “C’mon, Bobby,” I begged, not even bothering to wipe the tears from my cheeks. “Don’t do this to me, man, not now. I’m begging you, man, you gotta hang on for me, okay?”

      Just as I was about to check his pulse, I heard a loud click from behind me. My blood turned to ice. Slowly, I turned my head and found myself staring down the barrel of a Glock 9mm pistol. The person carrying the gun was tall, probably around my height. He was dressed in a black leather jacket, dark pants, a black ski mask, and a pair of black gloves, both of which were closed tightly around the Glock’s handle. I was petrified as I felt the cold metal of the barrel on my forehead. I wanted to scream and beg for my life, but deep down, I knew this was the guy responsible for…hurting my best friend, and I’d be damned if I gave this murderer the satisfaction of watching me scream and cry like a little b***h. I saw his finger tighten on the trigger and braced myself for what I knew would be the end.

      I closed my eyes and thought about all the times I’d come over to Bobby’s house over the years. I remembered the Harris family dinner nights on Fridays, when Bobby’s mom invited me over for her world-famous tuna fish casserole. I remembered her kind green eyes, radiating warmth, and love, her soft, sweet voice when she used to sing as she cooked, and her bright smile that could light up a room. I thought back to chasing Bobby through his giant back yard when we were kids, playing hide and seek or video games all day, not having a care in the world; back when the only thing that mattered to us was each other. I was vaguely aware of the tears sliding down my cheeks.

      I opened my eyes to see the man in black still standing above me. I could’ve sworn through his mask, he was smiling. “Just shoot me you sick b*****d,” I croaked. “Get it over with.”

      At this, the man burst out into laughter. The laugh was one I’d recognized, one I’d heard a million times thought high school. My eyes widened. The man, still laughing, pulled off his mask, confirming my suspicions. “Brian?” I asked, horrified.

      “You should’ve seen your face,” he laughed, using the overturned coffee table for support, dropping the gun to the floor. “Bobby, all right, man. We’re caught.”

      I looked back at Bobby’s fallen form. I couldn’t believe it when I saw him sit up, except, unlike Brian, he wasn’t laughing. I felt relief to see that he was okay, but that relief soon gave way to anger. “Alright, Brian, that’s enough,” he said seriously after looking at my face and seeing the gun in my hand. “Look at him.” He pointed at me. “He’s pissed…”

     

Present Day…

       I was pulled out of my thoughts by loud honking from a car behind me. I looked above me and saw that the light was green. “Sorry,” I said aloud, waving my hand to the driver behind me in apology, before continuing down the road, my fight with my best friend replaying in my head. I remembered the bruises around his neck. Right here! You did this, Joseph! You tried to kill me! I felt a pain in my chest. I couldn’t have tried to kill him, right? Something had to be up. Bobby and I had been best friends for sixteen years…you showed how little sixteen years of friendship meant when you tried to strangle me to death…I shook the harsh words from my mind. No, I couldn’t let him get to me. I had to prove that it wasn’t me, I didn’t know how, but I had to find a way. And when I found out who or what tried to hurt my friend, I was going to end it. You know, I wish it hadn’t been a prank…I shuddered, guilt washing over me like a tsunami. “I’m sorry, Bobby,” I said, wiping the gathering moisture from my eyes. I’ll fix this, Bobby, I promise.

      Just then, my cell phone buzzed. Sighing, I pulled it out of my pocket and put the phone on speaker. “This is Joe,” I said as normally as I could.

      “Hey, bro,” a familiar voice answered.

      “Oh, hey, Brian, what’s up?”

      “You get the memo about the big party tonight?” Brian asked.

      “Yeah, Bob-Bobby told me about it in English.” I said, trying to keep my voice even.

      “Well?” he asked. “You coming?”

      I sighed. “I don’t know, man. I’m not really feeling in the mood for partying tonight,” I replied.

      “Aww, c’mon, man. There’ll be a bunch of cute chicks there.”

      “Nah, man, I’ve got a lot of stuff on my plate. I don’t think I’ll be able to make it this time. Sorry, man.”

      “Are your parents at it again?”

      “No…well, yeah, but what else is new? My dad’s moving out on Sunday and apparently they’re finalizing the divorce sometime next week.”

      “Oh, I’m sorry, man. That sucks. Well, if you change your mind, hit me with a text.”

      “Will do.”

      “Oh, is Bobby coming?”

      “I don’t know, Brian, you’re gonna have to ask him yourself.”

      I could practically feel him rolling his eyes through the phone. “Are you two at it again?”

      “No, I just never asked,” I lied.

      Brian sighed. “Alright, whatever, bro, I’ll talk to you later.”

      “Alright, later, Brian.”

      I hung up and put the phone back in my pocket, my mind fixed on what Bobby had told me. Suddenly, there was this horrible, throbbing pain in my temples, as if someone had driven an ice pick into my skull. Squinting my eyes against the pain, I put on my hazards and pulled over on the side of the road. I cradled my head in my hands and willed the pain to go away, but it didn’t. Instead, it got more and more intense to the point where I cried out. Suddenly, a random word popped into my head. It was a name, not one I recognized or remember using. Seth…

      As quickly as the pain had come, it was gone, leaving behind no trace of it being there. I wiped my watering eyes and when I looked at my hand, what I saw shocked me. Blood was smeared all over the back of my hand. In a panic, I pulled down my sun visor and opened the mirror. I stared at myself in horror…Seth…

      Drops of blood slid down my cheeks like tears, I could taste blood in my mouth, and out of nowhere, my nose started to bleed like a faucet…Seth…

      Frantically, I grabbed a couple of napkins from my ash tray and held them to my nose, but when I pulled them away to see how badly I was bleeding, the napkins were clean.  I looked at myself in the mirror again. Nothing. I just looked like me. No bloody tears, no nose bleeds, just me. I looked a little on the pale side, but otherwise, I was fine. I sighed in relief. It was okay. Probably just the head ache making me see things…yeah, that’s gotta be it…

I looked in the mirror once more, but the reflection I saw wasn't my own. In the reflection was a hooded figure. I opened my mouth to scream, but I was drowned out by the sound of horrible, deep, booming laughter erupted..Seth...I blinked and the the hooded figure was seated right next to me. It turned it's head and it barred it's teeth, revealing a row of razor sharp teeth...Seth...It opened it's mouth and with a flash of scarlet, my vision went black...Seth…SETH…SETH! SETH! SETH!

Author's Note

Please review, guys, I really do want to become a better writer. I'd love feedback from you guys, so i can know that I'm not totally sucking...or even if I am sucking for that matter. Thanks guys. Also, if you know anyone who'd be willing to look at this, don't hesitate to tell me