The Catcher in the Rye- Ten Years Later

The Catcher in the Rye

This is ten years prior to the end of the true book.

        My second stay in the institute was longer than the first. I was out now though, D.B. picked me up yesterday morning. He’s been visiting my parents in New York after his most recent success in his business of prostitution. Since my parents both work he volunteered to come get me. I told him I could take a cab but he insisted on spending some brotherly bonding time. That killed me. And you know what? All he wanted to talk about for the whole goddamn car ride was his screenplays. I wanted to tell him that I didn’t give a rat’s ass about his screenplays but I was too tired to interrupt. When we got home I saw that Old Pete the elevator boy was still working in our apartment. Can you believe it? What a life, just opening the same elevator for over ten goddamn years! I nearly fell over when I thought of the wasted life he had lived. We had never gotten along, see, and the fact that while I had been trapped in the institute, he had been trapped here killed me. I sat on the couch in the lobby to wait for D.B., who had gone to park his goddamn child, I mean car, in a safer lot around the corner. I’m afraid he’s becoming a phony.

        “Are you back for good now?” Pete asked me. I hadn’t been planning on picking up a conversation with him, he was always so dull.

        “What?”

        “Probably not, it doesn’t seem like you’ve changed even a little.” He answered for me, leaning against the elevator’s frame. “You headed up or not? Aren’t you eager to see that pretty sister of your’s?” Pete smirked as he looked straight into my eyes and I knew he was trying to get at me. What a phony.

        “I’ll see her in a minute.”

        “-With that beautiful long hair, long legs, and those nice, little skirts. I’ve also been thinking, I believe she herself has been much higher than her grades recently.”

        “Shut up, Phoebe’s a good kid!”

        “Not much of a kid anymore.” I couldn’t listen to Pete’s goddamn aggravations any longer so I forgot about D.B. and ordered the elevator boy to let me up to my house. He did so willingly. What a phony, he’s been working here for so long that he can’t think of anything else to do but to upset the goddamn mentally unstable. I walked up to our door and turned the knob to go in. It was locked. I knocked at the door and was beginning to think that no one was even here to welcome me home before a kid I didn’t recognize opened the door. He introduced himself to me as I stood in the doorway. That killed me, it was my doorway! I asked him what he was doing in my house and he told me that he was Phoebe’s boyfriend. If you want to know the truth, I thought Phoebe was to young to have a boyfriend but I guess not. I pushed past the boy, Dan, who was still holding the door open and rushed through the halls to find my sister. She was always such a good kid, was always in the school plays while keeping up with her grades and housework and everything. I was always so proud of her and I hope my parents have been too. They needed her after the disappointments I caused them. I finally found her in her room, her own room, not D.B.’s. Pete had been right, she was wearing significantly shorter shorts than she used to, even though the weather outside was still crisp.

             "What's up, Sis?" I asked as I walked in.

             "Oh my God, Holden, you can't just walk in here without knocking first!" She didn't used to care about that. Dan, who had been sitting next to her, stood up and took a step towards me.

              "Come on man, give us some privacy." He said.

             "What?" I didn't move. Dan responded politely, setting his hand on my shoulder and guiding me out the door.

            "You may be her brother but you left her. She trusts me now." He shut me out.

           What a goddamn phony. Old Phoebe adored me, she's a good kid, and nobody could change that. D.B. came around the corner just then and saw me standing there.

              "You talked to Phoebe?" He asked. I grunted in return. "She's grown up, hasn't she?"

              "The kid hates me."

               "Don't say that"

         "Shut up! You're a goddamn phony now, just like everyone else, so is Phoebe and her boyfriend!" I exploded.

         "Holden, just calm down." He whispered. Apparently I was yelling now. That made sense since I was angry. If you want to know the truth, I didn't know why I was so angry, people just didn't understand how to not be phony nowadays. I shouted and ran down the hallway, swiping at the goddamn paintings that hung there, causing them to rock back and forth. I was in the dining room now and stopped by the table to knock everything off of it. It killed me, I had no reason to do that. The glass centerpiece made a satisfying clash as it hit the tile floor and I couldn't help but pick up one of the angled shards. It cut my hand as I held it. D.B. came in to the room and I threw it at him.

            "Everyone is a goddamn phony now!"

            "Stop it Holden!" But I didn't stop. I lunged at him across the room. I hadn't noticed Dan come in, but now he was in front of me. That killed me, him trying to stop me. I guess it worked though.

           I woke up back in the institute. Dan had knocked me out back home with one goddamn punch to the face, I had always been yellow, and D.B. had driven me right back to where he had gotten me from. I hadn't even gotten to see my parents. If you want to know the truth, I didn't really mind, nothing ever changed here, and that's how I liked it. At least everyone here knew they were a phony, at least everyone here knew not to bother me, because that's how I liked it.