Author: Servo Blue
AUTHOR'S NOTE: ============= This is where it starts to get kinda violent. Nothing too gutwrenching, but still a bit morose. Just so you know.
--Servo Blue
DISCLAIMER: ==========
This is a work of fiction; any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental, even if it IS based on real stuff. The author asserts all legal and moral rights (copyright (c) 2000 - servo_blue@usa.com) to this work and you may not copy it or transmit it in any way except in its entirety and with this disclaimer, you silly plagerists.
The Out-Crowd ===========
Part 6: All About Shelby
I told him the whole thing, twice through. He said that it was cool, but it would have scared the shit out of him, too. He asked what I thought it meant, but I had not even thought about the whole 'dreams mean stuff' aspect yet. He said they always do. Especially nightmares.
"Everytime I have a nightmare, I know something bad's gonna happen," he said. "That's why I hate not sleeping. It leaves me guessing."
I sat for a moment, thinking about how insightful he was.
"That's pretty deep, man." I said.
"Not really. Just true."
He shifted his position on the bed, and I thought for a quick second.
"Well...what do you think it means?" I asked him. I was hoping he'd have said something that would set me at ease, but no, that can't happen.
"Confrontation," he said, leaning back against the headboard of his bed, lifting his arms over his head to hold it. "And lots of it, pal."
"Oh, that's just great." I said, looking at the floor.
"And I think I have an idea of who it is," he said, mainly to himself. At that, I looked up at him.
"Who?"
"I'm not gonna tell you until I know." he said.
"Why not?" I was confused now.
"Because I don't want you looking for whatever this may be, just 'cause I think it's a possibility that I might know who one or two of the people are."
Well, isn't that just dandy. It's MY dream!
"Oh," was all I had.
After a few minutes of silence, he leaned forward and looked at the clock radio and saw that it was a quarter to five.
"Hey, bud," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "It's almost five."
I looked up at him and grinned, "You kickin' me out?"
He smiled. "Well, it's not that I don't like havin' you in my room half naked, but my dad gets up in fifteen minutes. It may strike him as odd, should he decide to check on me and find you here."
I stood up and stretched.
"You gonna be in school today?" I asked.
"Probably," he said. "If you can, I can."
"That's the spirit," I said with a big grin, and slapped his shoulder. "See you there, pal."
He didn't really answer me, but he smiled a little and made a tired whine. I went out the window, waved my final goodbye, and walked home. It was a warm night, and the stars were all out. Walking was enjoyable.
I got home by five, and hopped in the shower. I got out in, like, five minutes, but don't worry, I was clean. Just rushing a bit. I got dressed in record time, but still took care about what I was putting on: black jeans, a cerulean T-shirt, and a red, black and orange plaid dress shirt. (unbuttoned, of course, but you knew that already.)
I ran downstairs and met my parents, both already eating. Damn, they're fast! Just 'cause they get their own bathroom in their bedroom, they think they're SOOOO cool! Mom offered me some eggs, but I declined. I was way too intrigued about what today could bring. I guess Jeremy had done it to me. All that talk about dreams meaning bad stuff had me worried, but I was happy as all get out when I was coming home.
After an eternity, Wally showed up. He never said he would; I just knew from yesterday to wait for him.
He hardly said a thing the whole walk to school. This may have been because I nearly yammered my head off and never gave him a chance to open his mouth, but that's no excuse. He just laughed at my hyperactivity and threatened to destroy me and nuke my homeland of Morning People.
We arrived at school, twenty minutes early, too. We entered the building and Shelby was at my locker. We walked over to him. The sunglasses made him even cooler. I opened my locker to get my stuff.
"What's up, Shelby?" I asked in a cheerful voice.
"Can we talk?" he asked. I thought I saw the corners of his mouth quiver as he spoke. Wally must've noticed it, too.
"Hey guys, I'm gonna get set for first period." and with that, he walked off.
I shut my locker. "Sure, man," I said. "What is it?"
"Not here," he said, and turned around. I followed him into the bathroom, then over to the far wall. He took off the sunglasses to reveal a pair of red, puffy eyes.
"Hey," I said, suddenly feeling sorry for him, "what's wrong, bud?"
He turned around and pulled the tail of his shirt up to his neck. I gasped as I saw the swollen, red lashes on his back. A couple spots where the marks overlapped were bloody, but not bleeding.
"Wake up call," he said. "Uncle Dave isn't my biggest fan,"
"Oh, shit, man," I said. "You're Uncle did this?!"
"Yup," he said, lowering his shirt and facing me again. "He really hates me. Says it's my fault he got stuck with me. Like I had any control over it!"
I saw a tear snake down his left cheek, then his right. He started shaking slightly, shivering, almost. "I didn't do it!" he said, then started crying and would've fallen to his knees had I not caught him. I held him, and he hugged me, for a good five minutes. Neither of us said anything. I thought it best to let him just get it out. When he finally lifted his head, he swore and apologized for getting my shirt wet, and then for acting like that the day after we meet.
"Don't worry about it," I said, trying to get him to sustain eyecontact with me. "Hey, you don't really want to be here today, do you?"
He looked at me with a questioning expresion on his face.
"No, I'm not really in the mood to further my education," he said weakly.
"Stay here," I said, and darted out of the bathroom. I found Wally at his locker, fighting with the thread on his trapper that was snagged in a hinge.
"Hey," I said, jogging over to him.
"Hey. What did Shelby want?" he asked, thrusting the trapper around and only looking at me for the 'hey'.
"That's just it. He can't hang around today, and I need to be with him. Jeremy is expecting me to be here today, can you tell why I'm not?"
"Uh...soul-searching with Shelby, right?"
"Well, not exactly. He's got a lot on his mind that he really needs to let go of. I don't know why he chose me, but he did."
"Yeah," said Wally, and with a big yank, tore the trapper out of the hinge. "Just don't let any authority figures see you two before you run off. Bell rings in about five minutes."
"Thanks, Wally," I said, then asked,"How does one get his bag caught in a locker, let alone while he's putting it in?"
"Mysteries of life, Casey." he said, giving me a sly smile, and with a pat on his back, I returned to the bathroom.
"Let's go," I said, just poking my head in the door.
He spread his arms out and looked at me through the newly replaced shades.
"Where?"
"You'll see," I said. I led him out of the bathroom and through the halls, then out into the parking lot.
"We're leaving?" he asked in a surprised voice.
"You are in no condition to stay at school."
"Dude, this is your second day." he said, "I can't let you screw yourself already, especially not for me."
"Look, 'dude'," I said, stopping to face him,"after what just happened, you and I need to talk. It may take a while, and don't worry, because you and I will both be here tomorrow for a full day of absorbing knowledge."
We just stared at each other for a moment, but he sighed and said, "You drive, boss?"
"Yeah." I said.
"Good," he reached into his pocket and tossed me a set of keys, then lifted the front of his shirt. A large purple streak crossed the right side of his ribcage, just under his chest. "Makes it kinda hard to steer." he said.
He pointed me to a dark gray 1980 Ford Ltd. Huge car. We got in and pulled out of the parking lot, against the current of just-in-time-for-school traffic.
"So where we goin, boss?" he asked.
"Is your uncle home?"
There was a slight pause.
"I don't know," he said stiffly. "Depends on if he felt like goin' to work today." I would have kept on the subject, but it sounded like dangerous territory.
"O.K., then," I said, moving right along. "My house it out, too, 'cause my mom's still puttin' the last of our stuff away. You know any secluded spots?" I asked, and glanced at him. He was looking straight ahead, and had his bookbag in his lap. He slowly turned his head to look at me. I smiled.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing," I said, as we pulled up to a stoplight. "Where to?"
He sighed and pointed ahead. "My grampa and his best friend own the bowling alley downtown. We can go there, I guess."
The light changed and we were off.
"They won't mind?" I asked.
"Nah. My grampa wouldn't care. He can't stand Dave, either. Course, Dave never belted his back to wake him up, but let's not go there yet."
We got to the bowling alley in about fifteen minutes. The lights were on our side. We walked in, and right away an old man with wrinkly skin and silver hair walked over with his arms wide open.
"Shelby!" he hollered. "You little mushnik! Where've you been? You don' like it here no more? Who's your friend, here?"
"Hey, Steiny," he said, smiling for the first time. "This is Casey. Casey, this is Herman Feigelstein, but Gramps calls him 'Steiny'."
"Ah, nuts to that, everybody calls me 'Steiny'. You will, too."
I liked this guy right away. He had one of those cliche Hollywood 'Jewish Accents' that was almost comical to listen too. His bushy eyebrows matched the silver of his hair, and they seemed to dance as he spoke.
"Hey, wait a minute," he said, eyeing us suspiciously. "This is a Tuesday. When did they stop having school on Tuesdays?"
Shelby got serious again.
"Actually, Steiny, we were kinda hoping we could use your back room. We were at school, but I had a little problem, and Casey's gotta hear about it."
"O.K., O.K.," said Steiny, giving in. "Take it. But you gotta promise me a match when you're through." he said with a twinkle in his eye. Why do old people always have sparkly eyes? Go figure.
We thanked Steiny, and Shelby showed me to the back room. There wasn't much in there, really. A table, a few chairs, and another door. Shelby sat down, and I sat across from him. We looked at each other for a second, then he began.
"I didn't want to have to tell you this," he said, "at least not so soon. I've already told everybody that matters to me, and a few of them have just stopped knowing me. I don't know why. I've altogether stopped trying to make friends, but you got thrown at me, and I like you, so I thought I'd get this out now, before anybody else does."
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"Eleven years ago, my parents took me to a traveling show--a circus. There were tents and performances all around, and a crowd of people like you've never seen. My father had bought me a balloon, a bright blue one with a string to hold it by. We had a great time, everybody was happy. The acrobats, the Amazing Grazitto Brothers, had just finished, and we were on our way home. Before we left the tent," he choked, his eyes still closed. He swallowed hard before continuing.
"Before we left the tent, I heard a voice behind us say 'move and I'll shoot.' My parents turned around, and there was a clown in a gray and white suit, with three red pom-pom buttons up the middle."
I froze.
"He had a gun in his hand, and he was not a foot away. He said to give him their wallets or they were goners, and if they screamed, I was, too. My mom gave him her purse and my dad gave him his wallet. He pulled the trigger on the gun and a pole shot out with a flag that said 'bang!'. He burst out in this crazy laugh. My dad stepped forward to grab his wallet back, but the clown pulled out another gun and shot him. For real."
He took another break.
"My mom screamed, along with the rest of the crowd that hadn't made it out yet, and he shot her, too. I didn't know what was happening. The clown got down on one knee, really close, in my face, and said 'How about you, little boy? You wanna play with Skullgrin, too?'. A cop or somebody must've shown up, 'cause he looked up and took off the other way. I looked down at my parents. There...there was so much blood. Everywhere. Just...red. But then it all disappeared. Turned gray. I can't see it anymore. Red, I mean. The doctors all say it was shock, or something. But that doesn't matter. I'll never be able to forget, Casey. I won't be able to go through a single day without remembering."
I had no clue what to say to him. I wanted to have the key to fixing him, his situation. But I couldn't think of a blessed thing.
"I'm sorry," I said. He was crying again, but not as hard as before. I walked around the table and put my arm around him. It was then I knew I was right: this was going to be an interesting day.
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....To Be Continued....
Yeah, I know, that was pretty long. There shouldn't be many more that big. I just had to get through Shelby's story all at once. Any Comments or Criticism go to me at servo_blue.com