MARCH (Something Pretty - Patrick Park & Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band)
It's 3am when I'm woken by a text message. The light blinds my eyes as I unlock my phone, but once I see those three words I am up and wide awake.
Andy needs you – Cam
Fuck. Andy's brother, Cam, only contacts me when something really bad is happening.
Is he ok? – Alex
No – Cam
Is he alive? – Alex
He better be. I don't know where he is, but you need to help me find him. – Cam
I reply that I'm on my way, creep through to the garage and out the side door. I'm in my pyjamas but I don't care – that's the rule with Andy and I: if one of us needs the other, we drop everything, and we get there as fast as we can.
I know he will be at the park. We always end up at the park. It's where we met, all those years ago.
It's a 20 minute walk though, and a bubble of fear comes up in my chest, making me feel like 20 minutes is too long. Something bad is happening, I don't know how I know that, but I do.
My family friend, Liam, lives a few doors down from me; I creep through the darkness to his front door and take his bike.
I'll put it back before he wakes up, I promise myself as I drag it to the street and begin to pedal.
Tonight is weird. Usually there's at least a few taxis or vehicles on the road, but tonight it's empty and the clouds are thick and low, blanketing the sky and making the streets even darker than usual – it's eerie. I can't shake the feeling that something truly awful is going to happen.
I'm racing down the road towards the park now, the playground is beginning to appear within the darkness, but I can't see Andy anywhere.
I focus back on the road, concentrating on the white line painted down the black bitumen, when I see a break in the line. It's a shadow; no, it's more solid than a shadow. It's a shape – a person. I skid just in time, avoiding the lump on the road that I now realise is Andy and throw the bike to the side of the road, onto the grass at the entrance of the park.
Please don't be dead. Please Andy, don't be dead. I silently beg.
His eyes are closed, but I see his chest rise and my knees are weak with relief. He's alive. I stand over him, staring at this pale boy lying in the middle of the road like a corpse. I quickly grab my phone, tell Cam that I've found him, alive; but offer no more information.
"Andy, what are you doing?"
He smiles at my voice. "I'm playing chicken."
"What? Are you hurt?"
He frowns, eyes still closed.
"Not yet. This game sucks tonight."
What the fuck? Is he drunk? I don't understand what's happening.
"What game are you playing, exactly?" I ask him, sitting cross legged next to him.
"Chicken. Remember that game? We played it here when we first met, but I've upped the ante. Instead of seeing who flinches at a fake punch, I'm seeing who bitches out first – out of me and whatever car comes by next. I'm telling you now though, I'll win. I'm not moving. Not tonight."
"Right." I say and I lie down next to him.
"Sorry Lex, this is a one player game. You've got to sit on the sidelines."
YOU ARE READING
SOLACE (condensed version)
General FictionThis is not a happy, feel-good story. This is a story of heartbreak, of a person being utterly destroyed. However, it is also a story of true friendship and loyalty, of finding oneself, of unwavering love. It is a story of keeping promises, no ma...
