F*** Cancer, This One Did Us All In.

12

  "So, you agreed with him?" Mfundo asked and there was pure surprise in his voice. He didn't sound betrayed like Amelia but I still flinched as if he had threatened to punch me.

  "I'm not saying I agreed." I quickly said "I'm just saying, we shouldn't just dismiss his idea."

  "Theodore, he's planning on attacking somebody."

  "We have to, Mfundo." Eric said. "Because I don't think he's going to hand over that gun willingly."

  "That's why I'm saying we should ask him to come with." I said. "So that nobody gets hurt."

  "Jesus Christ man, he doesn't want to leave. Why do you think he's here? Why do you think he brought us here? This is where he wanted to come. We need to go to our homes but he's already at his."

  "Some apartment room in the shady side of the city?" Mfundo asked Eric.

  "Different people find different homes." Eric said. "Anyways, I thought you would be agreeing with me. After all, you are desperate to go home, aren't you?"

  Mfundo paused in his next sentence for a moment as his face took on that crazed look he was showing right before he almost walked out of the apartment.

  But his face set hard again and he said, "Not that desperate. Not enough to hurt people."

  "Well, people are going to get hurt, whether you like it or not. Heck, people are being hurt out there, right now, as we speak."

  "I don't want to hurt anybody either." I said. "That includes myself. So, maybe we could stay here for some time, At least until I don't hurt in very strange places."

  "God damn it, Theodore!" Eric lashed out at me. "One second you're backing me up, the next second you're against me. What the hell do you want?"

  I wish I could have shrunk and turned invisible and just teleported away from my position on the couch.

  "I – I – uh . . . Let's wait for Amelia."

  And I fell silent. I didn't say another word. Instead, we waited for Amelia to finish taking a shower. I wasn't wrong, was I? I mean, I just felt like the fact that I was siding with Eric even slightly was so fundamentally wrong. I mean, Eric tormented me all throughout high school, he bullied me and picked on me and even though our entire world was crumbling around us, Eric was still acting so – so casual about it. Okay, not casual, but he certainly wasn't freaking out like we were. He still picked on me as if this was all going to be over by tomorrow. Maybe he actually believed it would all be over tomorrow. Maybe he was desperate to retain some sort of connection to his normal life and I was the best he had. Or maybe he was a psychopath-in-training.

  Amelia walked out of the bathroom. She was already dressed running pants and a hoodie. She must have taken her clothes with her into the bathroom. Smart.

  "So, Theodore." Amelia said and looked at me. I waited for her to snap at me and freak out. I didn't know if I would have tried to stop her but I didn't need to worry.

  "What were you saying about asking him to come with us?"

  My eyes widened and I looked at her. I was expecting her to yell at me or berate me or something along the lines of that. But she didn't. She was just looking at me, even as she sat down on the couch next to Mfundo. I hesitated for a moment before I spoke.

  "Well, we should probably leave soon. I agree with Eric on that one."

  "I'm going to have to agree with that part as well." Mfundo said Amelia's left eyebrow shot up and looked at Mfundo before she shook her head and sighed. "Boys."