Date: Fri, 04 Oct 2002 21:28:03 -0400 From: Jeff Wilson Subject: W.A.R. Chapter 7 Wow! I never expected the response that you dear readers have given me when I wrote this story. You have humbled me with your words of kindness, and I thank you sincerely. Your Word of Warning: There's a little bit of swearing in this chapter. To answer a question, the title of the story is based on Billy's initials: W for William, A for Aaron, and R for Roberts. The real "war" in the story is taking place in Billy himself, and that war is just getting started. W.A.R. Part One: Black Summer Chapter Seven -- What Happened to Your Eye? I woke up in my bed. I don't remember going to bed. Those must have been some strong drugs! My shoes were off, but everything else was the same as I had on yesterday. I started to get up and the pain around my eye immediately came back full force. I collapsed back onto the bed. I finally got the will to get off the bed. I looked at myself in the mirror. The left side of my head was perfectly normal. But the right side was swelled up and the skin around my eye was dark purple and blue. The house was absolutely quiet. I checked the clock, 12:30. Wow! I really overslept! My hair was messy and greasy and I smelled funky, so I decided to take a shower. The water felt nice and cool and I began to feel better. I left the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around my waist. I walked to the living room. It was empty. If my dad would have been there, instead of at work, I would have forgiven him. But he didn't stay to take care of me, so screw him! My book bag was still on the floor where it had caused my fall. I found the porno tape inside. Good. No one found it. I put it back in the safe. I ate a sandwich, then sat down on the couch to watch TV. It was nice to sit around the house basically naked. Only the towel was covering me. My mom came in about 1:30. "Oh good, you're up!" "Yeah, I've been up for about an hour." She walked over to me and examined my eye. "Did you put the cold compress on it yet?" "Nope." "Well, you need it. The swelling will go down some if you keep it on there. It's in the freezer, I'll get it for you." After about an hour of keeping the ice on my eye, I decided it was about time to get moving. I put on my shorts, t-shirt, and baseball cap, then headed over to Grandma's. "Hi Grandma!" I kissed her on the cheek. She didn't seem to notice. She was watching TV. Mom gave me a pain pill. I hate to take pills. Give me liquid medicine over pills any day. I laid on the couch over there for a while with more ice on my eye. Finally, I couldn't stand to sit around anymore. "Mom, I'm going to go tell coach that I can't play ball anymore." "That's good, dear. Be careful! Don't let anything hit that eye." I gave mom and grandma a kiss then headed out the door. I walked across the town and saw a few people that I knew. Every time, I had to explain how I got a black eye and tell them that I broke my eye socket. I made it to Coach Donaldson's house and knocked on the door. "Will!! Good lord what happened to you?" "Hi Coach. Hey, I'm sorry I missed the game yesterday." "Well now I can see why!" "Oh no, I skipped the game. I told you that there was a family situation, but there wasn't. I just wanted to skip the game, so I lied to you. I'm sorry." Coach got a puzzled look on his face. "Well, I accept your apology. Now what's with the black eye?" "That's the other thing I needed to see you about. See, I tripped and fell at home and hit my head off the coffee table. And when I did, I hit so hard that I cracked my eye socket." "Oh my god! That's horrible! What did you trip over?" "My bookbag. Anyway, I can't play baseball anymore." "Okay Will, give me a straight answer. Did you really fall, or did someone hit you?" "I fell. That's the truth. No one hit me, no one pushed me. I just tripped." "Okay, Will. So what are we going to do with you? I want you to stay involved with the team. We all like having you around. I've got it! You're pretty intelligent. I think you could be our score keeper." "Score keeper? Do you think I could do that?" "Sure! It's difficult, but I think you can handle it. You've got a good head for the game. I won't have to have my wife do it. Do you want to?" "I guess." "Good! I'll be at the game early tomorrow so I can show you how. You don't have to wear your uniform. Wear whatever you want." So now I was the team scorekeeper. That was okay, I guess. It would be kind of fun. At least I'd be busy, instead of bored at home. I didn't have any idea what I would be doing. Heck, I didn't even know everybody's name. I walked over to Brett's house. I knocked on the door and waited. This would be interesting... Brett opened the door and his jaw dropped. I smiled at him. "Guess who?" "Oh my god! What happened to you?" We walked into his house and sat in his living room. "Well, you remember yesterday when I said that my dad never shows up to watch my ballgames? Well, yesterday he actually did. And when he saw that I wasn't there, the coach told him that we had a family emergency. So my dad goes home all worried that something happened to grandma, only to find out that everything's fine. So he starts calling all over town. Remember when the phone rang when we were playing around? Well that was him. Anyway, I walk in after 8:00 and he was pissed! He started yelling at me and I yelled back. He told me to say I'm sorry and I told him to make me. So then he jumped out of his chair and I thought he was going to kill me. So I tried to run, but I tripped over my bookbag and fell and hit my head off the coffee table. Then my mom came in and I spent half the night at the hospital. So now I've got a black eye and I cracked my orbital bone." "Holy shit! It's all my fault!" "It's not your fault Brett, it's my dad's fault." "No dude. If I hadn't have told you to skip the game, then you would have gone. Then you would have seen your dad at the game. And then you would have been happy because he was there for you and everything would have been great. Wonderful! Not only is my family screwed up, now I'm screwing up other people's families!" "Brett! It's not your fault... Actually, it's mine. It was my decision to go with you. My decision to skip the game, and my decision to talk back to my dad. I'm the one to blame." "Billy, I'm so sorry... Does it hurt?" "It hurt like hell last night. It felt like a hammer hit me in the face. It still hurts, but I've got medicine for it now." "How long is it going to be like that?" He was examining the damage. He was staring at my swollen eye, inches from my face. He was really concerned about me. "The swelling is already starting to go down. I'll need to go home for more medicine pretty soon. I'll have the black eye for a couple of weeks." "That just sucks... You had such a nice face too. Shame you had to go and fuck it up." "You think I have a nice face?" "Well, you're not ugly." "I don't know about that..." "Dude, look. I don't want to sound like a dork or anything, but you're a good-looking guy. Everybody says so. Even the guys think so. I mean, you're not some super-stud, but you've got a body that's pretty nice, I know, I've seen it. And you're a great friend. You're actually a very great friend and I'm glad you're my best friend. You just need to stop looking down on yourself." "But I'm..." "No! Quit doing that! Every time somebody gives you a compliment, you turn it around and put yourself down. You're a good person, Billy. You've got to start believing in yourself like I believe in you." "Brett... Do you really mean that, or are you just trying to make me feel better?" "Billy, there's no one else in the world that I'd rather have as my best friend. I mean that." "Wow... thanks." He had me cheered up so much, that I did something I hadn't done in a long time. I hugged him. He hugged me back and we stayed that way for a little while. He felt so warm and comfortable, I didn't want to let him go. But I eventually did. "What was that for? You haven't done that in a long time." "I know... I just needed to do it. I'm sorry if you..." "No, no! It was okay. I liked it... thanks." "Yeah, me too. Well, I have to get home. My head's starting to hurt again. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" "Okay, buddy. See you later." I left Brett's house and walked home. I wondered if I had stepped over the line by hugging him. After all, it did make things kind of awkward. On the other hand, it gave me that feeling that I had had when our arms touched the other day, only better. There was just something about touching him that made me feel... good inside. I took my time walking. I had a lot of things to think about. Brett, like my dad a few nights before, had left me feeling like a million dollars. When I made it back to my street, I noticed that my dad's car was parked at the house, so I went to my grandma's. My mom fed me and gave me my medicine. Then she sent me home to go to bed. "Mom I don't want to go over there. Can I sleep over here tonight?" "Billy, what is it? Are you still mad at your father?" "No... I'm not mad anymore. It's just, I, I don't want to go home tonight." "Billy, go home. Talk with your father. Tell him how you feel. He'll listen. He does love you, you know. He wants to be there for you. You have to let him in." Mom kissed me on the forehead and sent me on my way. Alone, I walked across the street and prepared to face dad for the first time since the black eye incident. That's it for Chapter Seven. Don't think of that ending as a cliffhanger. I had Chapter Seven and Eight together at first, but early on I decided to split them up. They just have different themes and issues to deal with and needed their own space. I promise you won't have to wait long to see what's next, okay? So what do you think? I'll never know if you don't tell me. The email is pretty easy to remember: vicioussquirrel@hotmail.com Let me know what's on your mind!