The Darkness Within

Chapter 7 - The Rumor Mill

It was all around school, the talk about how Adam had offed himself. So many different stories spread. In one Adam hung himself, in another, he slit his own throat with a kitchen knife. That's how it is in small towns. Gossip spreads like wildfire — fast and furious. But it's not always accurate. I was curious what had really happened, but I couldn't bring myself to ask his parents.

I was having a hard time processing that he was gone. There were times during the day I swore I saw him walking down the halls. Other times I could hear his voice shouting at me as I walked down the street. And I started dreaming about him. He wasn't part of the nightmares — he was always standing off to the side just watching the horrific things that were happening in my dreams.

I was numb after Adam's death. Derrick was angry, and Jackson seemed almost gleeful. There was no more crazy talk from Jackson, no more talking to himself. For a few weeks, Jackson seemed perfectly normal, but normal didn't last. After Adam's death, we partied harder than we had before. We spent each night getting totally shit faced. I would stumble home every night at 2 am.

I started missing school. Not that my parents noticed. My parents never really cared what I was up to. Never kept track of what I did. Never checked my room to see if I was really sound asleep. It was easy sneaking in and out at night through my bedroom window. What was hard was staying awake during school. Even harder showing up to school. When I did show up to class there were times I was still drunk, you could smell the booze coming out of my pores, but no one seemed to notice. That's the thing about being a loner, everyone leaves you alone. But I wasn't alone anymore. I still had two friends — Derrick and Jackson.

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