Crash ~Justin Bieber~

Chapter 84 ~ The Walrus And The Carpenter, Part 1

Rachel's favorite nursery rhyme was called 'The Walrus and the Carpenter'. She read it almost every night. It was a complicated story, and it involved many deaths. I always thought it was too twisted for a children's book, but Rachel didn't understand that at four, so she kept on reading and loving the story, despite the tragedy that was the end.

In the story, a walrus and a carpenter invite a group of oysters to a party and a feast. The oysters are so excited that they happily agree and they get ready in a hurried rush. They polish their shoes and they put on their best outfits. They talk with anticipation and they thank the world for their good fortune. But the world isn't listening, because the world doesn't care. You see, the oysters aren't the guests at all. The oysters are the feast.

Rachel was never told this ending.

My dad changed it for her once she got old enough to understand. He ordered her a custom made book and he hid all of the other copies around our house. In Rachel's book, the oysters didn't die and they had a great time at their little party. Rachel went on believing that the unfairness of death didn't exist, and I think still to this day, I don't think Rachel knows the true ending.

"That's dumb," I told William after he finished reading it to her one day, "The ending was supposed to be sad. You can't just change it,"

He looked at me for a second and I waited for one of his typical dramatic explanations. But this time his answer was different. It was simple and short. He just said, "Why not?"

In William's mind, an ending could be whatever you wanted it to be.

~*~

I had to talk to Justin. I just had to get it over with. We were living in the same house and following the same routines, so being angry at each other was stupid. Monet had gone home, Rachel had forgotten about the fight, so if Justin and I could just do the same we could actually have a good Christmas together.

"I know you're going to go after Monet when we get back to the hotel," I told Justin one morning, "And you know, that I'm going to do everything I can to protect her"

"Because you're an idiot,"

"Yeah. Because I'm an idiot.... But can we just let that all play out when the time comes? Because nothings going to change in-between now and then. So let's just not... be pissed at each other,"

We could wait for the stupid battle that would likely end in no good. And we could wait for the fallout that was meaningless and pointless. But for now, why couldn't we just be friends? I didn't resent him. I knew why he was doing what he was. He was defending my sister. I couldn't hate him for that.

"I'm not even pissed at you Randy," Justin said.

"I'm not pissed at you either,"

"I'm pissed at Monet. And protect her all you want... but you know it's useless. You know I can get rid of her. When we're back at the hotel... she's done,"

I did know that.

I knew it very well. I couldn't beat Justin and I couldn't do anything compared to what he could do. My only hope was changing Justin's mind, and I couldn't do that as his enemy. I had to be friend.

"So we're okay?" I asked, "For now?"

"We're always okay.... You're just kind of dating a psychotic bitch and its complicating things a little,"

I didn't know what to say that, so I just laughed. Justin laughed too. Then we let it go. We both knew it was still there, burning to an ugly boil, but for now it was bearable, so we just ignored it and played nice. Maybe Rachel was onto something. Avoidance was so easy.