Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Pop: Chapter 21c

    Jim begins to say something, then stops.  He starts back.
    "Ray was my best friends, partially because he didn't have anyone else.  Scrawny, quiet, kinda ugly to be honest.  I could be around him and not be attracted to him the entire time.  Some of the other boys, I had these strange feelings for, almost as bad as those to Chris." Jim nods towards me as says this. "But with Ray, none of that mattered.  With him, I could be me.  Our friendship started to fall apart when he asked me about doing something similar to what he was planning to do to you, bro."
    "Wait, what," Will chimes in.
    "It was a few weeks into senior year. Ray never had brought up with what happened with you Will. During one of our, 'sessions' together, he suggested that we might want to try something different.  Now, we had being doing our own thing since eighth grade, every few weeks.  Just watching and working it off. Out of nowhere, Ray wanted us to try 'that,' just to see what would happen.  Now, I would never consider doing that, not ever.  I just find the idea unpleasant.  When I said 'no,' Ray got all weird.  He may have thought I would go for that, I don't know.  Anyway, he got his clothes and left.  I tried to talk to him the next day, we had four classes together that year, but he avoided me.  After awhile, I stopped trying and hung around with you guys for the most part.  It wasn't until spring that Ray and I started to talk again.  We started to make plans for college, together, but when he disappeared that summer, I just gave up one him.  I still wanted to see him, at least one more time, just to tell him what he meant to me, you know."
    Yeah, I know, all too well.
    I try to look at the other guys faces in the darkened restroom.  In the soft glow of our phones, I can just make them out.  
    Pete's on my right.  I have been holding a grudge against him for no reason besides taking over my old friend's house.  Now, he is so beyond me.  The big lug, a jock all this time.  He could have had so much. 
    Rick is just to my left.  He's keeping quiet, probably trying to guess how to help out Jim, if he's done what we suspect.  I knew he had been keeping quiet on something and that it was starting to gnaw on him.  I was just so far away.
    Will is tending to his brother's wounds.  I had noticed how timid he had been yesterday, and this evening, but I would never had guessed what had happened to him.  He's going to need therapy himself to get over all of this guilt.
    And Jim.  
    "I hope Sam hasn't cost you your family.  What he did was wrong." I say.
    "Don't worry too much.  I called over to my sister-in-law as soon as you left, Jim.  She is going to make sure that your kids are going to stay where they are.  Your wife isn't going to take them.  At least not tonight." Will responds.
    "I knew you would be looking out for me not-so-little bro," Jim adds as he reaches up to mess up Will's hair.  "As to Sam, I think I'll be able to forgive him, in time."
    "Thank you."
    "Chris, I think I saw Sam on my way here."
    "What, Jim?"
    "Yeah," Jim answers.  "I think I saw him ducking his head out the ladies' restroom.  I can't be sure, but he's the only male around here that tall.  You might want to check on him."
    "I've got to check on Sam.  Be back soon."
    I rush from the restroom to find Sam.

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Pop: Chapter 21b

     Will immediately jumps up and closes in on his brother.  The rest of us slowly rise and shine our phones on Jim.  He looks a mess.  He is soaking wet, a puddle forming at his feet as water is running down his clothes.  Pete rushes to grab some paper towels while Rick and I just look on.  Blood is running down Jim's face from multiple spots.  Nothing too serious, but then I'm not one of the two doctors in the restroom.
    "Jim, what happened?" Will asks, as he starts taking some of the towels from Pete and starts examining Jim's face.
    "It was horrible out there.  Can I sit down, first?  That storm took a lot out of me." Jim starts heading to the back and sits down on the first stall.
    Jim takes off his left shoe and pours the water out onto the floor, where it runs towards the back of the stall.  He puts it back on and takes off the other one before he starts talking again.
    "It took me a minute to go after my wife.  I guess she slapped me harder than I thought.  Anyway, she had already took the elevator down by the time I reach it.  She must have punched the buttons for every floor, because the elevator was taking forever to come back." Jim puts the shoe back on.
    "It took me a minute to find the stairs and start down.  On the second floor, I could see her running through the parking lot.  I should have realized something was up.  It shouldn't have been that bright.  I ran down to the first floor, winded.  I barely noticed bumping into some short, bald guy as I raced through the door.  That's when I finally noticed that all of the lot's lights were on, way too early.  I looked up, and the sky was almost pitch black.  Dark gray clouds were just flying by.  I didn't think about them as I hobbled my way across the parking lot."
    Jim is taking off his jacket and trying to shake some of the water off, to little effect.
    "I'm really out of shape, and those dress shoes weren't helping, either." Jim continues, rubbing his large belly through his drenched shirt.  "You know, I could piss myself right now, and you couldn't tell, these clothes are so wet.  In fact, I think I may have a little while the worse of the storm came though.  I made my way to the street, almost going the wrong way.  I had ran a few yards before I turned around the right way and saw the storm coming.  That's when the thunder started in earnest, as well as the tornado sirens.  I might have heard one thunderclap when I left the center, but now it was revving up.  I could see the sheets of rain approaching.  I ran back to the hotel, crossing the street just as the lights went out.  Fortunately, there were no cars out, or I would've been trouble."
    "The hotel's doors were locked, or broken, or something.  I banged on them, but they wouldn't open.  Because the power was out, I couldn't tell if there was anyone in the lobby to help me in.  That's when the first raindrops started.  I quickly decided that going back to the center was the best option, as opposed to staying at the main door or finding another entrance to the hotel. The hail and the wind started before I got back to the parking lot.  At least these extra pounds helped keep me planted to the ground."  Jim rubs his belly again, before reaching down to take his shoes off again, and then takes off his socks.  He starts to wring them before stopping and just placing them on the tank behind him.
    "I stayed away from trees and poles, due to the lightning.  I weaved through the few cars left in the lot, trying to keep out of the worst.  I made it back to the door, but it was locked too.  I tried to huddle up behind one of those huge planters by the door, but it barely helped.  I kept getting hit by hail and debris.  I moved after I realized I was by one of the drains.  Finally, a large hunk of something flew by and hit the door, shattering the glass."  Jim was looking right at Rick when he said that last part.
    "Very lucky that you were able to finally get in," Rick responds.
    "Yeah, it was," Jim answers.  "I knocked out a few last pieces of glass, before I was able to make my way in.  The storm was mostly over by then.  I must have been out in the rain for about twenty minutes. I made my way down the hall to the men's room."
    "We heard a hard crack of thunder a while ago.  That must have been you coming in."
    "Yeah.  I guess I through open the door a little hard.  I shuffled my in, and I heard Will talking about what happened to him.  I kept quiet to listen to the story.  I am so sorry Will.  If I only knew.  You should have told me this sooner."
    "I know.  It was just.  Well, Ray was pretty much your only friend, and you were his.  I didn't know what to do." Will begins to shake. "I didn't know."

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Pop: Chapter 21a

     Will takes a breath before continuing.
    "Jim and Ray hung out over the summer a few times, but I made sure I was never with them.  Shortly after school started back, the two of them had a falling out. Jim didn't really have any other friends, so he hung our with us much of the time.  It wasn't until the spring that the two of them reconciled.  They were going to be roommates in college, even with Ray's poor grades.  After graduation, our family went to Florida to visit my uncle for a few weeks.  When we got back, Jim couldn't find Ray anywhere.  Ray's mother said he just went to work somewhere, but she didn't go into any details.  Jim could tell that Ray was still around somewhere, but he was never able to contact Ray before college started.  When Jim came home that first weekend, he told us that Ray never even enrolled, even after being accepted.  Jim gave up trying to find him, but he would still be on the lookout if anyone else had."
    "Will," I ask calmly," what happened to Ray?"
    "I found out from my girlfriend that year, Bobbie Sue, that Ray had been kicked out of his house by his stepdad a few days after graduation, with barely more than the clothes on his back.  Ray wound up shacking up with Bobbie's cousin, ten years older than him.  She kicked him out a year or two later, after they had a baby.  I never told Jim, though.  Not even when he wanted Ray to be the best man at his wedding, and I had to take Ray's place.  About a month after that, when I was helping out at a rehab center, I saw Ray.  He had been with another woman, got her pregnant with twins, and left her.  I found all of this out from a co-worker.  None of this is confidential, by the way.  That information, I was never privy to. Still never told Jim, not even when he named one of his own twin boys after him."
    "Why didn't you tell Jim about this?" Rick asks.
    Will squirms.
    "I felt that Jim was better off without him.  Ray almost did something to me that was disgusting.  I kind of enjoyed keeping them apart, if only to save Jim from finding out how bad his best, and only, friend was."
    "Only friend?" I ask.  I was sure Jim was more popular than that.
    "The two had known each other since just before kindergarten.  Jim was always well-liked, but he kept most people away.  He barely dated, never anything steady, and it shocked me when he announced he was engaged.  In hindsight, it makes sense.  He was unsure of who he was, and I kept him from the one person who he did feel close to."
    Pete starts to open his his mouth, but a quick press on his arm from Rick stops him.
    "A few weeks ago," Will continues, "some workers clearing out a local cemetery found Ray's body, right behind his father's gravestone.  He had been missing since just after Christmas, about the anniversary of his father's death.  Overdose.  While growing up, his stepdad wouldn't allow Ray to visit the gravesite.  Ray's cousins tried to help, but that monster was stubborn as all get out.  The cousins just managed to pay for the funeral, as the stepdad wouldn't.  I don't think Ray's mother and sisters were allowed to go, although I think the sisters are almost eighteen now.  It was through one of them that I managed to find out about Ray. If only I had spoken up sooner, Ray could have gotten help.  Now, five children from three different women will grow up without their father, even if wasn't that good of a man.  He was just trying to, I don't know,  escape somehow."
    Will starts to cry, deep heaving crying.
    "So, that's why you've been so nervous around Jim lately." Pete says.
    "Yeah," Will whimpers through the tears. "It has been so hard keeping these secrets from him for so long, especially since I found out about Ray's death.  I should have told him so long ago, and now it is too late."
    "If you didn't want to keep this a secret for so long, why did you decide to apply to the same medical school your brother got into?  If it were me, I would have picked anywhere else." Rick wonders. "At the very least, you should have tried to get into UK."
    "I did.  I was accepted.  Easily." Will responds.
    "No you didn't.  We kept pestering you, but you always said you never even thought about applying."
    "Well, I did, and I got accepted.  Virginia was only one of my backups.  I only went there because of my parents.  When Jim got married, my mother talked to his bride and found out that he didn't seem to have any friends.  This got my parents so worried, that they begged me to go there too, to make sure that Jim had some extra form of support.  They were getting ready for the move toFlorida to be with my uncle, and they were afraid that Jim would need someone else in his life.  It wasn't the best position for me, but I would do anything for Jim." Will says.
    "You didn't have to that for my account."
    "JIM!" we shout.

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Pop: Chapter Twenty-One

     "What do you mean be 'almost assaulted?!'" Rick exclaims as the echo from the thunder finally dies down.  "What happened that you never told me about?"
    "Don't blame yourself.  At the time, I didn't think it was as big as I'm making it out to be.  Maybe." Will stops chuckling.  "I shouldn't even bring it up, but it has been driving a wedge between me and Jim lately. I barely tell my own therapist this stuff.  I guess it's just the nature of being a psychiatrist."
    "Will," I start, "tell us what happened."  Everyone else is.
    Will inhales a few times before he starts.
    "It was the week after I finished eighth grade.  Rick was in Lexington getting his operation, but I didn't know that at the time.  Jim had just started a job volunteering at the hospital.  Dad was driving him, as Jim wouldn't get a car until just before school started back.  I had gone to a neighbor's house to swim.  They were just about the only ones around who had a pool, so they let many of the local kids use it.  As long as there was someone old enough around to make sure no one drowned or anything like that.  That afternoon, it was only me and Jim's best friend Ray.  He lived over a mile away, but he always seemed to be around.  He and Jim used to let me hang around with them, on occasion.  They never got me into any trouble, but it was kind of weird, now that I think about it."
    "I had been swimming for, like, half an hour.  There had been others around when I came by, but there were only me and Ray left.  The woman, Mrs. Rogers, maybe, had just went back inside for something.  Well, I felt that I had to pee.  They had facilities just inside their garage, just off from the pool.  The Rogers were very strict about anyone going in the pool, so I quickly got out, put on my sneaks, and ran to the garage.  As you know, swim trunks don't have flies, so I had to pull them down far enough to go.  I was just standing there, when I heard someone come into the garage and open the door.  I was in such a rush, I hadn't locked it.  I yelled, 'Occupied!' but they still came in."
    "It was Ray.  I was just about to yell at him to wait his turn, when I noticed that he already had his trunks down, exposing his, excitement to me.  This was the first time I ever saw it, and I was scared.  Ray then tried to grab me from behind and push me down."
    "Wait, wait. Will how come you never said anything about..." Rick sputters.
    "Let me finish.  Now, Ray may have been almost eighteen, all but an adult, but he was short.  Maybe five six or so.  I, however, was in the middle of a growth spurt, and nearly as tall as he was.  Sure, I was bone skinny, but I had some leverage on him.  I was able to shove him off of me before anything happened.  I pulled up my trunks and ran out of the garage.  I grabbed my towel and stuff from the pool and ran all the way home.  It wasn't that far.  Ray never came after me.  After I had been home for a while and calmed down, my Mom came to my room and told me that dinner would be late.  There had been an accident on highway, and Dad and Jim would be held up for some time.  They would try to find a detour, but that might take them longer than just waiting for the accident to be cleared."
    "Since I had the time, I decided to go over to Ray's house and beat him up." Will simply states.
    "What?  Beat him up?  That's so not like you.  I don't remember a single time, in all the years I've known you, that you got angry. Especially not to the point of hurting someone." I chime in.
    "Well, I guess it was hormones and almost getting violated.  Anyway, I walked the mile plus to Ray's house.  I had been there enough time with Jim to know the way.  I snuck around back to his bedroom window.  I was just barely tall enough to see into in; the curtains were fully drawn.  No one knew I was there.  That's when I saw Ray.  He was lying on his bed, without any clothes on.  And there was his step-father, about ready to do to Ray what Ray had almost done with me."
    "Will, if this is too much for you, you can stop any time.  If this secret is this bad, then maybe you should stop." Pete tries to calm Will down.  I can just barely tell that he's shaking.
    "No.  I need to say this.  Ray's father died in a mining accident when Ray was only two.  His mother remarried a huge hulk of a man.  Well over six four, two hundred thirty, easy. She had twin girls, but that really took a lot out of her.  I guess that step father needed something he couldn't get elsewhere, and he wasn't going to look for it outside of the marriage.  I ran back home, and I never told anyone at the time.  Not about what happened to me or Ray.  In hindsight, I should have, and maybe this story wouldn't have such an unhappy ending." Will goes on.

Pop: Chapter 23b

    Of course, we called Dad immediately.  He didn't sound too concerned over the phone, but with him, one can never be that sure.  He w...