Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 21:07:08 -0500 From: Jeff Wilson Subject: W.A.R. Part V- Chapter 4 W.A.R. Part Five - Secrets Chapter Four -- Rebuked and Rebuffed by Jeff Wilson I walked out to the lobby and kept walking right past my mom and out the door. I walked to the car, opened the door, sat down, and slammed the door. Then I opened it back up and slammed it again. After a few minutes, my mom arrived at the car and sat down in the driver's seat. "I don't even want to talk about it." I said angrily, folding my arms and looking out the window. "Oh, Billy! You didn't..." Mom said. "Stupid fucking questions!" I growled. "William Aaron!!! I rebuke that in Jesus' name!" Mom said. "What?" I asked. "You watch that mouth young man! You may be sixteen, but you are still my son and you will not use that language. If you don't settle down we won't come back for a month." I scowled viciously at my mom. I had just failed my second driver's test in a week and I was not in the mood to do anything but hurt something. I could not believe that I had choked again. I was on the very last question and when I picked the wrong answer I almost could have thrown the damn computer across the room. I sat in the seat, arms still folded, and looked out the window as we drove back home. I was thoroughly disgusted with myself. I couldn't believe that I'd failed again. And add to that my mom's attitude was not at all helpful. She was seriously becoming unbearable. Everything was becoming a religious issue now. She went through my cd's one day and burned all the ones she thought were wicked. She burned a shirt I wore one day because she thought it was giving out a bad message. She was getting even worse about telling me what to do and how to act, at a time when I was supposed to be becoming more independent, she was trying to control me more than ever. When we made it to the house, I got out of the car and walked to my room as quickly as I could. I heard my mom call for me, but I pretended that I couldn't hear. I went to my room and slammed my door. I had no intention of letting anyone in. Fortunately, no one tried to see me. Mom had learned to at least leave me alone when I was angry. I tried to call Brett, but all I got was his answering machine. Now, where would he have gone on a Saturday afternoon? I remembered that Joey's girlfriend was supposed to be getting her pregnancy appointment that morning, so I called him. His line was busy. Then I called Dustin. I hadn't really done much with him lately. We'd kind of grown apart. Frankly he was starting to depress me. He was always in a bad mood. But since I was in a bad mood too, I figured I'd go ahead and give him a call. "Hello?" Mrs. Smith said, answering the phone. "Hi, Mrs. Smith. Is Dustin around?" I said. "Billy?" She asked. "Boy, it's been a while. He's here. Just a minute." I waited while I heard her yell for Dustin. After a few moments I heard Dustin pick up the phone. "Yeah." He said. "Hey, Dustin, it's me." I said. "Billy? What do you want?" Dustin said flatly. "I wanted to see if you wanted to come over. It's been a while." "Billy, it's cold out there. I don't want to go out today." "Come on. I need someone to hang out with. I miss you. We used to hang out all the time." I listened while Dustin thought about it. "Ahhh... Oh, alright. I'll be over in about a half hour or so." "Cool. See you then." I said. I left my room and found mom in the kitchen. "Dustin's coming over." I said. "Dustin?" Mom asked. "Are you still friends with him?" "Yes." I said, irritated. "I always liked him until he started acting so odd." Mom said. "You'd be better off just letting him go. He's full of evil nowadays. You better not get any bright ideas from him. And you better hide your money." "He's not evil, mother. Dustin only took that car because..." "Billy, I don't want to hear it. You don't steal a car because you had a bad day. You do something like that because..." "Oh don't start that demon crap again mom! Jesus Christ you think he's a Satanist." I said angrily. I should have known better than to do that, though. Because mom gave me a quick slap on the mouth for it. It didn't hurt, really. In fact I almost laughed, which would have been a very bad idea. "Don't you ever take the Lord's name in vain like that again," Mom said. "I will not have you speak that way. Frankly, why he didn't get sent to juvenile hall is beyond me. I think it would have done that boy some good, like that Jeremy boy. You know he's already signed up to join the army after he's done at that school he goes to." "You mean Jerry? Mom, Dustin isn't doing drugs like Jerry was. He did one bad thing and no one wants to forgive him for it. He doesn't get to drive until he turns eighteen, I think he's been punished enough. You, Brett, all the people at school; you all think he's a bad guy now." "Well if it walks looks a criminal, and acts like a criminal..." Mom started. Before she could finish, there was a knock on the back door. Mom frowned as I looked defiantly at her and walked to the door. I opened the door and in walked Dustin. He was wearing a large coat and an old baseball cap. His jet black hair poked out from under the hat and covered his ears and the back of his neck. Mom smiled and greeted Dustin as if she was happy to see him, and that just pissed me off even more that she could be so fake. Dustin took off his boots, coat and hat then followed me to my room. He sat in my dad's old chair and I couldn't help but remember what had happened in that chair a mere week ago. But I quickly snapped out of my little daydream and asked Dustin if he wanted to play a video game. "I'm not really feeling good, Billy." Dustin said. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I don't know. I just feel really shitty. Like, my stomach hurts a lot, only it's like lower than my stomach." "Maybe you should get it checked by a doctor." I suggested. "NO!" Dustin shouted, then quickly realized he had overreacted. He flicked his hair out of his eyes. "I mean, I don't think that's necessary. It's hurt for a week. I'm used to it." "You mean you've been in pain for a week and you haven't done anything about it?" "No. I mean... I took some aspirins." "Dustin, what the fuck's the matter with you? Let's go see my mom. She can see if you're okay." "No Billy." Dustin said angrily. Through the hair his steely blue eyes looked piercingly at me. "I'm not going to have your mom do anything." "Come on, you can tell her what hurts and she can tell you if you need to see a doctor or not." "I'm not going to see any fucking doctor, god dammit!!" Dustin said forcefully. "Mother fuck, Billy. I didn't come over here to get a fucking lecture. Quit smoking. Cut your hair. Why did you steal Mike's car? Why can't people just leave me the fuck alone! You're worse than your fucking boyfriend." "Shhh!! Shut up about that! You know about my parents. Besides, I'm pretty sure Mike would agree with me." I said. "Fuck Mike!" Dustin said angrily. "That fucking asshole can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. You know what happened, Billy. You know about everything... But, I only borrowed the Mustang. I was going to bring it right back. Mother fucker got home and called the cops before I could get back. I just wanted to try it out. Nothing bad happened. I could fuck his life up good if I wanted to, and he knows it. If he'd have pressed charges, I'd have fucked him up alright... Fuck. I wish things were like they were before... Can we play the video game now?" Dustin asked. "Okay." I said, frustrated. "You really should get that looked at, though." I said. We played for a while and I let Dustin win a few times. Under all of the layers and baggage, he was still the old Dustin. He was laughing and calling me 'Lefty' like he always did before. The bitter boy who had been getting more and more distant from everybody was gone, if only for an hour. I felt bad when mom said it was time to go. My dad told us that he'd drive Dustin home, since he could tell that Dustin wasn't feeling good. I went along for the trip. When we got to his house, Dustin sat in the seat for a little while, as if he was hoping we'd forget to let him out and drive him back to our house. But eventually, Dustin said thanks and walked into his house. While we watched him slip into the house, I thought it might be time to tell my dad what I knew. "Dad..." I said. "What, boy?" "Do you think Dustin's going to be okay?" "I don't know. I guess there's nothing you can do but be his friend." "Yeah..." I said. But inside I felt pretty lousy. Nothing I could do... I knew there was something I could do, but I hadn't done it for two years. It started because I wasn't sure that there was anything going on. But the more I saw of Dustin, the more I was convinced that there was definitely something going on. The way he was acting, the way he was slipping more and more into depression, it all made sense. "Nothing I could do" wasn't working anymore. I knew what I had to do. But instead of telling my dad about my suspicions, I told myself that there was nothing I could do... again. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Well, that'll do it for chapter four. Poor Billy failed again! And things aren't getting any better with his mom. And what's going on with Dustin? We'll find out soon enough. Next time, we'll find out where Brett was while this chapter was going on, and we'll meet someone new who's going to cause some problems for Billy. Just a reminder that you can join my yahoo group. It's free and you get a map, pictures, and the chapters early. Plus you get to read my ramblings. What more could you ask for? http://groups.yahoo.com/group/squirrelwriter Also, you know I like the email. I have no idea what you think about this story if you don't tell me. If you don't tell me, you would think that I'd think everything is going well. But an author is much more likely to think that no one cares if you don't write. That goes for most writers, I'd bet. Here's my addresses: vicioussquirrel@hotmail.com or jkwsquirrel@ yahoo.com Next time: What Brett Did on his Day Off