Second Chance

Chapter 11

I stand in the middle of a field, staring up at the stars. Why am I staring at the stars? Where am I? Why am I here? I feel strange, like I've been here before, but completely don't remember it. It's peaceful though, and I almost feel happy, which is something I don't feel very often. I wish I could stay here forever, but I can't, I know that. I have things to do, although I can't quite remember what those things are. I want to stay here though just for a few more moments. I want to enjoy and savour this feeling. I close my eyes and breathe in deeply, letting the late night smells fill my nose.

I'm broken out of my peaceful trance by the sound of shouting near me. I look over to where the noise is coming from, and I see two teenage boys to my far left. There's a truck behind them, and they seem to be taking something out from the back. I squint at the objects, and realize they're some kind of fireworks.

One of the boys suddenly turns to face me, and I'm absolutely shocked to see....myself. I'm standing over there with Riley. I then feel a sudden lurch, as if someone took the ground and yanked it out from under me. I blink a few times, and realize I've transported to a completely different spot. I'm still me, but the me I saw just a few moments ago with Riley.

I look down at my feet and see about ten different fireworks laying in the grass around me. I then look back up, but only see for a split second what is in front of me. A bright blazing light is hurtling towards me, but I can't move an inch. It gets closer and closer....then everything goes black.

—-

My eyes sprang open and I jolted upright, which caused a massive headache to come crashing into my skull. I tried to recall what I just dreamt about, but it was melting away faster than ice cream on a hot summer day.

"Good morning." Said a voice to my left. I looked over and saw Riley giving me a faintly amused smile. "Sleep well?"

"No." I mumbled.

"Neither did I." Riley sighed. A moment later he added. "Also, I'm sorry I lectured you last night about how to be nicer. I have no right to tell you how you should act."

"Honestly man, the only thing I remember from last night was talking about handcuffs, so I really don't want to bring it up." I said honestly.

"Alright." Riley laughed, flinging the covers off himself and getting out of his creaky bed. "By the way, while you were asleep I bandaged your arm and iced your shoulder, so hopefully that helped."

I looked at my arm, and saw that there was a white cloth wrapped around the spot where I cut myself with the glass of the window in the basement of my dad's house. "Thanks, Riley." I said, moving my shoulder next, which barely hurt at all.

"No problem." He replied, then sauntered into our small grimy bathroom.

I flopped back down onto the bed and started scrolling through my phone, which was almost dead. I probably should go shopping for a few things today, since I had absolutely nothing with me, besides my phone, the clothes I was currently wearing, and a few scraps of money. Although, Riley had all of the money, including my drug money. I didn't bother looking for it though because I trusted he wouldn't spend it on something useless, like drugs.

A few minutes later, Riley came out of the bathroom, and he was wet, so apparently he had a shower. Somehow I didn't notice the sound of the running water, but that was probably because I was too tired to think.

"The bathroom's yours." Riley offered, getting his clothes back on. "You better hurry though, since school's starting in an hour."

I snorted. "I'm not going back to that hell hole. I've officially decided I'm going to be a high school dropout."

"What are you going to do all day then? Lay around in bed?" He demanded, crossing his arms and frowning at me.

"That does sound pretty nice." I said thoughtfully. "But no. I'm going to be doing some shopping later this afternoon."

"Okay, Justin. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I really don't think that's a good idea. For multiple reasons. One, you've shoplifted so many times that I doubt anyone from anywhere would let you buy something. Two, you're kind of bad with money, and you're probably going to spend it all. And three, how do I know that you're not just going to go out and buy drugs or other illegal things?" Riley ranted, walking closer to me.

"You really don't trust me, Riley?" I asked, giving him an injured look.

"I do trust you with most things, money just isn't one of them. What you should be doing is trying to find a job." He suggested, looking a little guilty.

I let out a bitter laugh. "I'm about as likely to get a job as I am to buy a clean shirt."

"We don't have that much money, Justin." Riley snapped impatiently. "We need to make it through the rest of the year somehow."

An idea suddenly struck me. "Wait, don't you have a college fund or something? We could use that to help us get through a few months."

"No." He said firmly. "I'm keeping those funds so I can go to college. This is just a temporary thing for me. After I graduate I'm leaving this shitty town behind."

"Wait, what about me though?" I demanded, starting to feel a little panicked.

"You said that you wanted to leave town too, remember? We'll both leave, and once I go to college you need to figure out what the hell you're going to do with your life." Riley explained, as if we planned this all along.

"But....what about us?" I questioned.

"What about us? I want to be your brother, Justin, but that doesn't mean we have to do everything together." He pointed out.

"So you're just going to leave me in the dust then?" I got out of bed and stood up. "You're just going to live your perfect life and completely forget about me?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying." He defended. "But it's your own fault that you didn't make a life for yourself."

I opened my mouth, then closed it again. I had no idea what to say to that. He was right, after all. Riley was completely fucking right, as he always was. The only thing I could think to say was. "Fuck you."

Riley held my gaze for a moment, then muttered. "I'm going to school." He walked to the door and opened it. Before he left, he looked back at me and added. "Maybe you can live off some rich girl who would let you down her pants. That's the one thing you're really good at."

He then slammed the door, and I felt anger rising inside me. I was aware that I had a reputation of sleeping around, but he wasn't exactly innocent either! I clenched my fists, walked towards the door, then turned around. Confronting him was not a good idea right now. Instead, I whirled around and slammed my first into the wall, leaving behind a crumbling hole. There was only one thing that could fix my mood; alcohol, and lots of it.