𝗕𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗦 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 ⚔︎

14

when jesse lavigne was 17 years old, he ran away from home and was declared missing for five weeks. it had all happened because of an argument with his father —what else could it have been about?

on a sunday evening in the spring of 1986, jesse had come home late. not intoxicated, nor stoned: just late, plain and simple. but a boy can only break curfew so many times before his parents begin to get upset. after barging into his son's room and giving him a rather lengthy lecture, eddie told him that he was going to send him to west point, a very strict military academy further upstate.

"if you make me go to west point, i swear to god i'll kill myself!" jesse had screamed, his fists balled with rage. "i'll do it, dad. i swear i will. i'll fuckin' hang myself!"

eddie had let out a roar of impatience, practically tearing his hair out. "oh, i'm sure you will, jesse! i'm sure you fuckin' will. good luck with that!"

lo and behold, the next morning, jesse was gone. his bed was empty, the blanket unmade, and his closet and his dresser had been ransacked so excessively, it looked like a tornado had swept through his room. in addition to most of his belongings, he brought with him a little brown diary.

first, he went north. chicago, illinois. too cold, he had wrote, as he sat shivering on the snowy steps in front of the willis tower.

atlanta, georgia. too dirty, he had wrote, leaning on the signpost for the ebenezer baptist church, watching as two homeless men fought over a trash bag.

miami, florida. too hot, he had wrote, wiping the sweat from his forehead as he suffered from sunstroke under a palm tree in south beach.

los angeles, california. too many hippies, he had wrote, sitting just twenty yards away from a group of long-haired teenagers smoking weed beside the hollywood sign.

finally, he ventured north again to seattle, washington. however, before he could form any sort of opinion on it, he was met with an awful surprise.

eddie had been attending a meeting in seattle at a downtown bistro called flynn's with the owner, a man called percy flynn. he was a rather powerful man in seattle, but had been put on a government watchlist and so had had to inform eddie, since they were business partners. they were discussing a transaction regarding some bonds that percy had made. sal and mike had been stood together outside, guarding each side of the doorway. sal was smoking a cigarette as he looked out to the small grassy park across the road, watching the trees as they swayed in the early afternoon breeze.

in the distance, they saw a couple — a boy and a girl — walking together. she was young and pretty, a brunette with a slim figure, and he was very handsome with a strong jaw, russet hair, rayban sunglasses, and a leather jacket slung over his shoulder as he flirted with her.

sal had clicked his fingers, catching mike's attention. "hey, look over there."

mike followed his gaze. "wait... is that...?"

the boy in the park took his shades off. sal crooned his head forward and narrowed his eyes. "jesse."

as fast as darts, they had ran into the restaurant and approached the booths at the back, where eddie was sitting with mr flynn.

sal tapped eddie on the shoulder and whispered in his ear. "come outside, you oughta see this."

eddie had been embarrassed by the sudden disruption, but nonetheless anxious at sal's persistence. he shot percy a hopeless smile. "excuse me, mr flynn, i'll be right back. my apologies."