Ain't No Mountain High Enough

"Welcome To The Jungle"

I headed out to the front porch before I asked Arjun what was going on. He had refused to say anything until I was away from the others, and once I confirmed that I was alone, he let out a sigh of relief. It made my eyes narrow. "If this is about Nathan..."

"It is," he said. "And before you give me crap about telling my mom, I just need you to listen to me."

A strange chill went through me. Did I even need him to tell me anything in order for me to know this was bad? There was a pitch in his voice, like he was in trouble. Big trouble. "What did you do?" I asked, my voice tense.

There was a long pause, with a sigh at the end of it. "Please, just...whatever you do-"

"I know, I know, don't tell your mom. I get it, okay?" I rubbed my hand over my eyes. How long did he expect me to go on like this? Why did he keep putting all this on me in the first place?!

"That wasn't what I was going to say, but yeah...that too." He paused again, then said, "I was going to say not to say anything to the others. And for the sake of all that is good, please do exactly as I say."

I rolled my eyes. "Can you just tell me what happened? You're killing me here!"

"I'm trying!" I heard him groan, and wondered how bad it could possibly be. "Nathan... I joined him. It was the only thing I could see that would work."

Yep, this was bad. But somehow, I couldn't even be angry with him. In fact, I couldn't even think of anything to say.

"He swore he wouldn't hurt anyone if I helped him. But..." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "I'll find a way out of this, and when it's all over, I'll tell my mom everything. I promise."

I finally found my voice. "I don't think this is going to turn out the way you want it, Arjun. You're in over your head!"

"Maybe, but at least my mom won't get hurt," he replied. The resolve in his voice made me shake my head. "I need you to do something for me, though."

"And that is..."

"There's a floorboard under my bed that can pop up. I need you to get the ID card out of it and leave it in our mailbox."

"Why can't you come and get it yourself?"

"I am! But I'm not going to risk Mom seeing me if I go inside."

"So what if she sees you?"

"I need her to think I went to see a friend for a few days."

Oh, this was not going to turn out good. "So you want me to lie and tell everyone you're on a trip? Your mom's going to find out for sure, and then she won't be happy with me, either."

"I'll just owe you big time!"

"That's not how this is going to work!"

He huffed in frustration. For a long moment, he was silent, and when he finally spoke, it was only to tell me bye before he hung up. I stared at my phone after he did so, unsure of where to go from here. I knew that despite how annoyed I was with him, I was still going to do as he said, even if the instructions were ridiculous.

Later that night, after everyone had gone to bed, I snuck into Arjun's room. It only hit me then...how the heck was I supposed to get the ID card when it was under his freaking bed? I glanced at my legs in contempt before pulling out my phone and texted him the question. I only had to wait a minute before he responded.

Him: :/

Me: Come get it yourself or I'm telling Keto

Him: fine just dont say anything about it

Geez, this was getting more and more frustrating all the time. I rolled back out to the living room, where Keto was snoring on the couch. It only took me shaking his arm to wake him up.

"I didn't do it!" he cried, jerking up.

"Hush!" I said. "I need you to do something for me."

He blinked at me sleepily, then rubbed his eyes with a yawn. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I had to force myself to tell the lie. "I just need you to get something, and you have to promise not to say anything about it. Ever. To anyone. Promise?"

He still looked out of it, but he nodded. Maybe he would think this was just a dream tomorrow morning.

I led him to Arjun's room. "There's a board under the bed that can pop up. Could you get the ID card out of it?"

Keto tilted his head at me. "Uhhh...what's going on? Where's Arjun?"

"I said not to say anything about it! Just please, get it." I rubbed my hand over my forehead. What the heck was I doing?

"If you say so." He yawned again as he knelt and started digging around under the bed. He paused once to get his phone out of the pocket of his shorts. After he turned on the flashlight, it was only a few minutes before he stood back up, the ID card in hand. "I'm not even going to ask," he muttered, already turning to head out of the room.

"Good." I waited alone in the dark bedroom for a moment, looking at the ID card with my own phone flashlight. It had Arjun's picture on it, though it was his old school ID photo. The information was all false, including the name. I couldn't believe this...

I went out and put it in the mailbox as I was instructed. I thought to wait there for Arjun to come by, but by then, I was just tired. I returned inside and got to my room, only to realize I couldn't get into bed by myself.

I really tried, but my legs refused to budge. The last time I had tried to stand, I ended up in the hospital. My memory still wasn't the same after that, and I still got pounding headaches. But I was so tired of having to rely on everyone else.

I was tired of lying for Arjun, too. I was tired of everything.

I folded my arms on the side of the bed and rested my head on them. "I hate this..."

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Listen to "Welcome To The Jungle" by Guns N' Roses!

Peace✌️~ A.J.