To start this story from the beginning, click here.

I remain silent, trying to hold back the tears that are starting to form. Never do I cry in front of my brother. But it’s sad, and there’s nothing I can do about anything anymore except watch the tragedies unfold. I resort to looking at the picture again. I sit behind May with a helpless, forlorn look on my face. I was always looking for attention, I think to myself with disgust. Steve on the other hand, looks unusually happy compared with the rest of the group. His smile looks genuine as he taps the floor with his favorite drumstick. It’s been awhile since he’s smiled like that.

“And even senior year was tough,” Steve continues. “Remember how at the beginning of the year, that girl committed suicide? I didn’t really know her, I don’t suppose anyone did, but it still scared the shit out of me that someone in our senior class, some girl who’d been in one of my math classes, would think to kill herself. I mean, it makes you wonder what goes on inside her head, why she would do, what could be so wrong in her life.”

~~~

Okay, points time! This title comes from a line of dialogue from a TV show that I have blogged about on this very blog. It is from the last episode of the first season. The conversation that contains this line takes place on a roof.

~EJ

Next Installment: Girl Disappearing

To start this story from the beginning, click here.

“I was on the phone with her almost every night during the whole ordeal. She asked me to come home and help her, and I felt really selfish, but I couldn’t. I had my classes and stuff. Sometimes I hate myself for it, especially now that I haven’t heard from her in awhile. Her dad wanted her to get an abortion and she didn’t want to. Then the guy’s parents forbid him to speak to her or see her. They called her up screaming one night, telling her it was all her fault. I just didn’t know what to do when she called me afterward, what to say. I feel like an idiot trying to help her with this stuff and then worrying about, say, my physics grade.”

“I know how you feel,” Steve says, turning to look out the window. “I felt lost that day when I found out about Brad. I mean, I’ve told him everything since I was ten or so, you know? He was always the little angel child, the one everyone thought could do no wrong. His parents, they always said he was just going through a rough time, acting out they called it. But we all thought, especially me, that deep down he had a heart of gold. I mean, he was so sensitive, so concerned about everyone, even when he pretended not to care. I don’t get it. How could he have gotten mixed in all that? The papers said he was dealing coke.”

~~~

And the story goes on. Another installment from a story I wrote in 1999. Funny, I just realized I’m working on a fiction/non-fiction/hybrid/story/fantasy/clusterfuck right now that centers almost entirely on a conversation, and so does this story.

~EJ

Next Installment: Something Always Changes

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“It has, but there’s more to it. Everything’s become more serious.”

“Tell me about it! I mean, everything was a joke way back when, even when you thought it was important. I mean, would you ever have thought of having to see your friend get arrested for drugs?”

“I still can’t believe that happened. What was it, a week before you left that Brad got busted? We never even knew he was dealing.” Again I studied that subtle defiance he wore on his face. It still didn’t seem real.

“I think it was before that, but whatever, yeah I had no idea and the dude was supposed to be my best friend.”

“And then May got pregnant a few months back. I feel like all I do is worry about her. She got kicked out of her house when she told her dad, did I tell you that?”

“No, I didn’t know that. God, what happened to everyone?”

 ~~~

More points if you know where I got this title from. It’s a common expression but I specifically got it from an episode title for a TV show. Said episode, from the first season of said show, aired in 2004. Some great shows started that year.

~EJ

Next Installment: The Kids Aren’t All Right

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“Yeah.” I examine my nails. “Do you ever wonder where all that youthful fun went?”

“It’s been a long year away at college.”

“And a cold winter,” I agree.

I think of things, memories, those wonderfully long summer nights we spent rocking out. I don’t need to see the photo to replay the scene. They started a band, the guys did. Everyone except Steve wanted me to sing for them. Steve hated my voice, which was fine because I hated his drumming even more. So we’d argue, then one of us would tell all the others to shut up. Then we’d plug in all the instruments and crank it up. None of them knew how to play and I certainly couldn’t sing, but it was a complete blast. Of course my parents didn’t always enjoy the ambush of sludge, but that didn’t bother us any.

“Is it me, or has everything changed?” he asks quietly, breaking the silence of our thoughts.

 ~~~

Bonus points if you know where this title comes from. The album is from 1994. A previous album from the same band had a (fictional, presumably) story about a girl poisoning her parents to get to a show. Or something like that.

~EJ

Next Installment: You Think You Know Somebody