Murderer

Chapter 21: Brendon

These past few days seemed almost dreamlike. Never did I see myself being able be happy again after what happened to Ryan. But Leslie achieved the impossible. It was alright to smile again, even after the kidnapping of my best friend because if I didn't, the kidnapper would have won in a smaller sense. Destroying two lives instead of the one he intentionally sought out.

Even though I'm trying to release a few weights off myself mentally, his situation gave me uneasiness which made it impossible to forget about. Leslie and I talked about theories everyday at lunch, and I would scribble them down in a notebook that I kept for our "case" on Ryan's kidnapping.

Leslie broke her train of thought and silence. "So no reports of seeing Ryan were officially confirmed. He HAS to be locked up somewhere. Where nobody else goes of course. What about an abandoned house?"

"Yeah, that's a great idea. Since he's apparently dead, he can't own a house unless he changed his identity or something." I scratched my head and wrote down ideas in the notebook before taking another bite of my chicken fingers.

"Oh and Brendon, you know that drawing you got from the library? You should totally try researching and seeing if you can draw what you think Christopher would look like now." She held out her chicken finger and waited for me to clink mine with hers to praise her suggestion. I did so, and I couldn't help from smiling.

She was always full of great ideas like this one, that's why I liked her. She was creative, smart, and always optimistic. She kept me from falling apart in frustration.

"I'm so glad I have you, Leslie." I took her hand in mine and squeezed it. I never thought I would be able to make another friend, and to find somebody who really cared about me and my conflicts was special.

"I'm glad I have you too, Brendon." She laid her head on my shoulder, holding onto my arm. I let my head lean against her soft hair. My heart was racing faster than the speed of light. Which is 1.07 billion km per hour. I closed my eyes for a few minutes until being interrupted by the obnoxious whistle of a security guard, telling us to get to class.

After we scrambled our things and threw out our lunches, we hugged. Before she could walk away, I grabbed onto both of her shoulders.

"Leslie, meet me in the back of the school later. By the benches at the baseball field." I looked her in the eyes, which always seemed to be smiling back at me, giving me all the confidence I needed to talk to her.  She nodded, smiling at me before skipping away.

***

Leslie is like that person in your life that you can't believe you became friends with them because you were so different from each other when you first met. She was the girlfriend of a football player, I was the geek that was teased and beat up by his friend. I wasn't meant to have such a beautiful person in my life, I didn't deserve her. But here she was, waiting for me on the bench, looking at the baseball field as her hair fluttered in the wind. The sun seemed to have peeked through the clouds just to beam down on her, like she was some sort of gift from above. I wanted to treat her like she was the only person I needed to stay afloat because I really was barely hanging on without her.

I picked a purple flower that was growing on the side of the school before walking up to her, figuring it would look beautiful in her brown hair.

"Hey Leslie." I said smoothly, standing behind the bench with the purple flower twirling in my hand. When she turned around and spotted it, a huge grin grew on her face.

"How romantic." She teased, leaping off the bench as she took the flower and pinned it in her hair with a bobby pin.

She looked up at me, staring into my eyes with hers. Before I knew it, I had her lips pressed against mine. I clutched onto her hair as she held onto mine.

When we broke apart, we were gasping for air. All I could breathe out was "I love you Leslie."

Leslie suddenly hugged me tight, whispering into my ear "take me to the pond."

The walk there was full of laughter and pointing at things in store windows, telling each other what we wanted from each window. I saw a Polaroid camera in the window of one of the stores, and I went inside and bought it quickly with the money I had been saving up from doing chores around the house. When I came out, she twirled and posed, and I took a picture of her which captured all of her beauty.

"I'm keeping this one" I said, examining the photograph closely and smiling.

She laughed, forcing me to let her look at it first to make sure she approved of it and then kissed me on the cheek, saying "go ahead."

It was almost the most perfect evening of my life. Leslie allowed me to forget about all my worries for a little bit and she reminded me that I deserved to live. Ryan's problems didn't have to devour me completely. Not as long as I have her. But when we arrived at the pond, we saw something that petrified the both of us.

"Oh my god. Oh my god, Brendon, is that a..." she said before screaming, tears welling in her terrified eyes.

"Stay back, Leslie." I too was scared shitless, but I had to figure out if that finger was his. A gut feeling was saying yes, but my mind was shrieking no.

The red envelope attached to the jar only confirmed it.  I collapsed to my knees, shaking violently as I attempted to read the letter.

"I know what you two have been doing, and I don't like it. Meet me at 32 Alexander Street, It's where I'm keeping your friend. If you don't show up by Saturday, he'll die. Your choice. No police. No wires. No recorders. No nothing."

She stood over me and read the letter with me. I had to go. He couldn't die. He deserved to live, he deserved to be as happy as I am. He has a song to finish, and more to write if he would. He has a life to live. He is too young to die. The world needs Ryan Ross.

"Brendon, no..." she breathed.

But it was too late. I took off in a run. I didn't dare look back. I knew she would follow me, that was who she was. I fucking didn't want her to, I wanted her to be safe. Nothing could have stopped me from running toward my best friend though. I was like a piece of metal attracted to a super strong magnet that's force was yanking me toward it.

The house was completely dark and boarded up. Abandoned, just like Leslie thought. I heard her catch up behind me, but I didn't look back at her. I was mad that she followed me. Looking at it, I thought of the evil that lurked inside. I couldn't budge.

"Well come on!" Leslie said, marching up the front steps. She knocked on the door, and when no one answered she tried opening the door, finding that it was unlocked. It creaked open.

There was a distant banging noise. I looked behind me to see a car pulling out of the driveway. It was Ryan, banging on the windows of the car with his head. Then there was ticking noises from inside the house. Shit, shit, shit, fuck, shit, oh shit.

"LESLIE, NO, IT'S RIGGED." I screamed out. It was no use. I was thrown across the lawn as an explosion occurred. A bright red fireball lit up the night sky. Pieces of debris that was on fire landed around me. I couldn't feel anything, and I couldn't find her.

She was incinerated from my life. As if she never existed in the first place.

I laid back, looking at the world from an upside-down view, watching the lights of the car that imprisoned Ryan drive off into the pitch darkness.