Finally Peace

“Hey Johnny, are you coming this weekend?” she asked.
         “I don’t know, my dad is in town and...”
         She cut him off before he could finish. “It’s at the Richardson’s farm, and you know how crazy they get out there.”
         “Everyone knows how those parties turn out, even people who don’t get out know.” From the corner of his eye Johnny could see Nick strutting their way. I hate this prick, he thought.
         “Hey, Cara, we had better get going or we’re gonna be late. Hey Johnny, how’s it going?”
         “Good, Nick,” until you got here, “You going to the Richardson’s tomorrow?”
         “I’ve got a two-a-day Saturday, and an early on Sunday.”
         “Sounds like coach is workin’ you guys pretty hard,” Fucking football jocks, you can never count on them. I don’t know why she dates him.
         The minute bell rang and the remaining students in the hall scrambled to get to class. “See ya guys,” Johnny said.
         “Later man,” replied Nick.
         “My brother will pick you up tomorrow, so be up the street at eleven,” Cara said as they walked away.
         After the two turned their backs on Johnny, they started talking about the games going on that night. All Johnny caught was Nick wanting Cara to come to his game, and she wanted to watch her brother play in the J.V. soccer game. Johnny really didn’t see what the big deal was, she had to cheer at the Varsity game anyways.
         “Hey, Johnny,” said Whitley rushing up to his side.
         “Hey, Whitley.”
         “Did you do the homework last night?”
         “Yeah, here you go. You’ll have to copy your half.”
         “What would I do without you?”
         “Fail math.” Why am I so nice? Well, she IS kinda cute. As the two walk to their next class they ran into Josh. “Hey Josh, can you give me a ride home before the game?”
         “I don’t know man, coach wants us there for warm-ups.”
         “What’s he going to do? You’re the captain, and I’m well, I’m the best bench warmer we’ve got.”
         “Hey man, just be happy you are a freshman on varsity.”
         “Your brother is starting.”
         “Yeah, but he’s been playing since he was five. You’ve been playing for what two, three years?”       
         “Something like that. So how ‘bout that ride?”
         “Sure man. Be at my car when the bell rings, I want to be back ASAP.”
         “Alright man. See ya after class.”
         “Later man…”

         Johnny stood looking at himself in the mirror trying to decide if he should wear a sweater or not. He slept downstairs, and the noise of his dad crawling into bed seemed to echo, just like everything that happened in the house. He could also hear his stepbrother, in the other room, talking on the phone.
         “… How can you be cold? I’m sweating…” he heard and decided that he didn’t need to hear anymore so he blocked out the sound of his stepbrother talking to his girlfriend.
         “Girls are always cold, dumbass,” Johnny said to himself as he looked back to the pair of green eyes glaring back at him. “You’re going crazy, man. You just need to relax,” he said to his reflection. 
         Johnny looked at his phone to read the one word text message he had just received.
         “Here,” is all it said.
         Johnny grabbed his sweater and walked to the window. He placed a refrigerator magnet on the cheap alarm his dad had installed so it wouldn’t wake up the whole house when he opened it. He crawled out.
         When they arrived at the party, like usual, everyone was already there but it hadn’t started yet. When it finally got rolling Johnny, just like most every other party, didn’t drink that much. He enjoyed watching people get drunk and make fools of themselves. After looking everywhere for Cara, he finally ran into her. Noticing that her eyeliner was smeared, he asked what was wrong?
         She screamed, “Nick broke up with me! I’m going to kill him!”
         “You’re drunk. You are not killing anyone. Let’s get you outside so you can cool down.” The two set on a bench that seemed randomly placed in the middle of a field. She talked and he listened. She cried, and he reached for her hand. He told her that everything is alright, and she leaned towards him and threw up turning her head just in time to miss his leg.
         “I’m so sorry,” she cried.
         “You missed me. Let’s get you cleaned up.” As they walked, or more stumbled, into the house they ran into Nick.
         “What do you two think you are doing?” he yelled.
         “What does it matter? You dumped her!” Johnny answered. His heart pounding ever faster. Before there was time to react Johnny found himself on the ground with a hundred and seventy pound beast wailing on him. An eternity later Johnny heard a bottle break and felt glass and beer splatter him as Nick fell to the side.
         “Get up, man. He only hit you three times,” laughed Dominic.
         “I thought you guys had a shit-load of practices today and tomorrow,” said Johnny kicking Nick in the side.
         “We do, but Rob talked a few of us into coming.”
         “Remind me to kick his ass.”
         Dominic laughed. “Do you want me to take you home?”
         “Yeah. I have a terrible headache.”
         The closer Johnny got to home the more time seemed to slow. His headache seemed to be getting worse. He had small cuts on his face from the glass. They weren’t bad, just irritating. His eye wouldn’t stop bleeding. It wasn’t gushing blood, but again, it was just irritating. He also needed a story to tell his parents. Johnny’s head was cloudy, and he couldn’t think. He looked at the clock, 1:42. His vision started to fade.
         “Hey man, don’t worry about Nick or any of his pussy friends. I’ll spread the word and by Monday he won’t even look at you,” Dominic said in a confident voice pulling to a stop a hundred yards from Johnny’s house.
         Johnny looked at the clock, 1:58. “Thanks man. I owe you one,” he said opening the door.
         “Na man, I think we’re even.”
         Johnny laughed closing the door. He spent his walk talking to himself. “Dominic, we're not even. I’d love to take that trade; but, hooking you up with your girlfriend isn’t equal to saving me a hospital trip…” he trailed off into a mumble. Stumbling up to his window all he could think of was what to tell his dad when he noticed his eye. Finally getting his window open he fell through landing on his bed.

Ô                    Ô                    Ô
         Johnny woke up to his phone vibrating. He read the text, “Can u come ovr.” Slowly, the events of the night revealed themselves to him and like a freight train the pain hit him. He looked at his phone, and it read 2:43pm.
         An idea hit him so fast that he just sat there trying to process it. Johnny looked out of his window and instantly understood his plan. He remembered that his parents had planned to take his step-brother to his girlfriend’s. “Cara, you saved me,” he whispered to himself as he dialed his dad’s number. In a thirty-second conversation he told his dad he was going out to play football with some friends. After closing his window and hiding the magnet he made his way to Cara’s house. She only lived a few blocks away, but he always hated the walk because for some reason it always upset him. Johnny and Cara sat talking for hours until his phone rang.
         “Who’s calling you?” Cara asked.
         “My mom.”
         “You going to answer it?” she asked with a cat-like curiosity in her eyes.
         “I’ll call her back when we get done.” A couple minutes after his phone finished ringing it rang again but this time it was a text that read, “CALL ME.”
         “You should probably call your mom.”
         “Yeah,” he sat there playing with his phone thinking about whether or not he should call her or wait until he got done talking with Cara. His phone rang again and before he looked at it he thought, it must be important.
         “I guess she really needs to talk to you.”
         Laughing he looked at his phone, “It’s my dad,” he said answering it.
         “Where are you?”
         “I busted my eye so I went with Cara to her house so she can doctor it.”
         “Alright. I want you home soon. I can pick you up on our way home; I can be there in about five minutes. Or you can walk.”
         “I’ll walk.”
         “I want you home in thirty minutes.”
         “I’ll leave in probably fifteen then.”
         “Alright, bye.” 
         “Bye.”
         “Wow, that’s a good excuse for your eye.”
         “I thought of it earlier when you texted me.”
         Ten minutes later, Johnny said his good-byes and started walking home. On the way he read the message his mom left him. “Johnny I have some bad news and need you to call me so we can talk.” So he decided to call his mom and see what she had to say.
         “Hello?”
         “Hey mom, you wanted me to call you?”
         “I have brain cancer,” Johnny tripped and about fell over his feet. “The doctors gave me two years.” Johnny stopped in disbelief. “And I’m moving closer to my brothers so they can help take care of your brothers.”
         “But you hate your family.” Johnny just stared ahead not quit comprehending what was going on.
         “Yeah, but, I’m going to need some help.”
         “I’m going with you.”
         “No, you’re not.”
         “You said you needed help.”
         “Alright, I’ll need to talk to your dad.”
         “I’m on my way home now. Let me talk to him first.”
         “Ok, I need to go. Bye.” She hung up before Johnny could say anything else.
         Johnny entered his house still in disbelief.
         “What’s wrong?” his dad asked.
         “My mom is moving to Texas and I am going with her.”
         “What? NO you’re NOT!”
         Good, she hasn’t talked to him yet. “I’m not asking. She’s got brain cancer and I’m going. She’s going to need help.” He sent the already written text message to his mom. How can my voice be so emotionless? His father’s phone rang and Johnny excused himself to his room knowing that it would be awhile before his parents stop discussing what was going to happen. But he already knew what was going to happen. I’m moving to the place I hate most, and every time I go there it rots  a little more of me away. Soon, so much will rot away that I’ll be dead to myself. He sat down and looked at his reflection in the mirror, which he had found himself doing recently when he needed to think. He hated the ocean, the smell of the salt, and the filth it left everywhere. He hated the people, low-life scum in his eyes, always causing trouble and causing him to get into trouble because they never knew when to stop. At least she’ll be down there. He laughed to himself, “She always brought you trouble,” but it was always worth it.
         He decided to call Cara and let her know what was going on and that he would be moving in a few days. He just couldn’t make himself pick up the phone. The racket upstairs seemed to stop. A small sniffling sound seemed to sink through the vents. What a fucking pussy, he’s married to another woman and he is crying. Before he exploded in rage he picked up his phone and dialed Cara’s number to cool down.     

Ô                    Ô                    Ô
         Johnny found himself three days later sitting in the back of a car wondering if he had made the right choice or not. He had always hated the twenty-four-hour drive home. Or at least it was where he was from, pretty much the border of Mexico. But with their grandmother helping drive a vehicle it was likely to take up to thirty-six hours.
         The three months after the move seemed emotionless for Johnny; even though there was an endless supply of drama. It all just seemed fake. Like he was in a void. He just couldn’t comprehend what was going on. Everything that happened seemed to hit an invisible bubble and slide across the surface. He couldn’t keep his emotions hidden forever.
         The day Danielle walked back into his life; like a hurricane, it all hit him at once. It was more than a summer fling that they shared the year before. She was the one person he felt he could talk to, and she would listen, truly listen. The meeting wasn’t as Johnny had hoped. It was in a Wal-Mart. Everything seemed to come out, why he had left and not said good bye. Why he was back just as quick. He told her how he felt and how he wanted them to be more than a summer get-together. He started to tell her about his mom. She invited him to dinner at her house, and there they could finish what they couldn’t in the store.
         That night at dinner it was as if another hurricane had hit Johnny and all the emotions that he had been hiding came out at once. “It’s ok,” she assured him. For hours he cried and she soothed.
         The next day Johnny spent in front of a mirror thinking, and realizing it was starting to happen. He was decaying. The next few weeks he started spending more and more time with the wrong people. He found himself addicted. Not to drugs but the adrenaline he got when he was in some sort of danger.
         A year passed and finally he realized that what he had predicted had occurred. He was dead. Every morning he woke up and the war started - the war with himself. His mind was spinning in a pool of chaos. His life was becoming out of his control. His mom was spending more and more time in the hospital.
         Two years had passed since the move. Johnny found himself in an argument with a guy that had looked at Danielle wrong. The argument grew more and more fierce. Without thinking Johnny channeled all the anger he had felt the last two years and broke the guy’s jaw. Instantly he regretted the punch. As the guy fell to the ground Johnny noticed a lump around the guy’s belt line under his shirt. The guy was slow to rise. When he did, he pulled out a simple 9mm.
         Peace at last. Johnny charged. All he heard was Danielle scream. He lay looking at the ceiling. Finally, peace.