Chester Bennington - Unusual Neighbor

Determination to make it better

The rest of that year went by without any further grave incidents.

Chester was going to the physiologist less frequently, and he was improving his mental health every day. Obviously, he is not 100% alright. He has a long, long way to go, and he still has those bad moments were he stays depressed. Now, the main difference is that Chester learned to come to me whenever he's feeling like shit. He knocks on my door, or he just hugs me tightly if his mind is fucking up his mood.

Once, he called me at 4 A.M. because he had a nightmare about Mia. I knocked on his apartment's door and once he opened, I went to his bed, talking to him until he was able to fall asleep again.

Another time, he called me while he was in his office at the university. He has been there the whole day, reading and correcting student's works and his mind was playing tricks on him. He told me that his thoughts were getting the best of him and he was getting anxious about them. 

I skipped classes that day and asked him to meet me in the parking lot. We drove away, randomly and we had the radio playing loud songs that kept us entertained singing them aloud.

There were several moments like that, but most of the time he was doing alright. It was noticeable how he was changing slowly, even in the smallest things like the color of his clothes and the smile on his face in the morning when he wakes up by my side.

He even spent the last Christmas with me and my family, and I noticed how he often had his eyes filled with tears threatening to betray him. He felt so well and I saw how he missed having a family, like mine. It broke my heart knowing that there was nothing I could do to help him get back to his family for good.

New Year's Eve was celebrated with Rene and her husband back in Phoenix and it was the best New Year's party I had in years.

When Spring began, Chester received a call from Rene, telling him that she and Richard were going to move out, and they would live near us, just a distance of 10 minutes of walking from our building. And she was inviting us to have dinner in her new home in the next weekend.

When we arrived at her house, I almost felt jealous of the tiny garden she had in the front yard. She had bought a small but beautiful white house, with a little garden covered by grass and some plants that would need some attention. Inside it was a humble house that they transformed into a lovely and cozy place to live and to even raise children.

"I was transferred to another precinct and Richard thought it would be better if we sell our old house and buy a new one, closer to my workplace and to you," Rene explained while we sat at her dining table.

"That's nice," I said, but I heard Chester groaning.

"She's going to be a pain in the ass... even more," he said.

"Don't pretend like you're not happy for your sister moving closer to you," I said, rolling my eyes.

"She's lucky that I like her food," he joked, attacking the food on his plate. He was right though, Rene is an excellent cooker and the whole meal, including the delicious chocolate cake she made for dessert, proved it. 

When we finished our food, Richard begged for coffee and Rene made me go with her to the kitchen. She looked like she wanted to talk about something, but since Chester and Richard were around us though all the diner, she didn't have an opportunity to do so. Since Richard asked for the coffee, she saw that as an excuse to drag me with her to the kitchen, where she could talk to me quietly.

We walked silently to the kitchen, closing the door behind us.

"I've been meaning to ask you if Mike is still stalking Chester and you," she asked in a hushed tone. She didn't want him to listen to our conversation or to feel like he still needs to be protected the whole time.