She Will Love You Through Your Demise

Brian’s eyes fluttered open only to be met with the white of the living room ceiling and the hollow silence of the house. He laid on his back for a few moments, trying to figure out specifically what time it would be around and if he should try to do something around the house when a realization struck him- the silence of his house.

Sure it seemed to always have a hollowing silence now, but he always drowned that out with music or the television that he had left on. He couldn’t stand to not have something playing, the emptiness of the house was too much to bear. But it wasn’t just the quiet of the house that he was trying to get rid of- he was trying to overpower his own thoughts with outside noise. Though he found he was continuously left with a headache at the end of each day.

Brian turned his head to the right so the side of his face was pressed against his pillow and the cushion of the couch. He closed his eyes and turned his head back around, disappointed in the fact that he woke up to the display that he had.

“What, not happy to see me?”

Brian refused to acknowledge the presence who barged into his place of self loathing. He had cut himself off from everything and everyone outside of his house for a reason. He wanted to be alone if Kate chose to have nothing to do with him.

“Come on, get up, do something you lazy ass,” the voice said again, breaking the silence.

Brian used the very little energy he had to raise his arm and give the person behind him, who was sitting on his coffee table, the middle finger.

“Do that again and I’ll break your finger.”

Brain groaned, “You’re breaking and entering.”

The voice laughed, “Not really, man.”

“You’re not welcome here; don’t make me call the cops.” Brain warned, still facing away from his intruder.

“Like you could find anything in this dump anyways...”

“Would you just fuck off?” Brian moaned, as his head began pounding even more than it already had been.

As he heard footsteps behind him he found that he was trying not to smile, but that was short lived because moments later the couch was tipped over and Brian was sprawled out on his back, laying on the floor trying to figure out what just happened.

“Get the fuck up, Gates. I’m tired of you locking yourself away from reality just to pity yourself. No one feels bad for you anymore; they’re all just as pissed off as I am. You’re lucky that I talked Matt out of coming here.”

Brian pulled himself up so his back was pressed against a wall located a few feet behind the couch. He tilted his head back and met the furious, green eyes of one of his best-friends, Zachary Baker, with his arms crossed against his chest, staring down at Brian.

“Get up,” Zack demanded, taking a step towards Brian and narrowing his eyes.

Brian let out a sigh and slowly started to push his weak body up only to have Zack shove his hand in Brian’s face. Brian took his hand and let his friend pull him up the rest of the way.

Zack gave his friend a quick hug, patting him on the back a few times, before pulling away and meeting his eyes. “Listen, I’m sorry about the situation with Kate, but sitting in a locked up house and not talking to anyone isn’t going to do you any good. So I want you to go have a shower, because you look and smell like shit, and then we’ll go from there.”

Zack pushed Brian towards the hallway that held the bathroom and waited until he heard the shower start before he walked to the front bay window by the kitchen. He pulled his cell phone out from the pocket in his shorts and speed dialled a number.

“Hey Matt, I just wanted to let you know that I got him up,” he spoke into the phone, as he looked in the fridge. He shook his head when he saw not one thing in there, though he couldn’t say that he wasn’t surprised.

“No, he looks bad. He’s in the shower now, and then I’m going to feed him.” He was quiet for a few minutes as he listened to his friend on the other end of the line. “I don’t think we should rush anything. Just tell everyone he’s alive, but to wait until I think it’s okay for them to come over.”

“I’ve honestly never seen him this bad before, Matt. I don’t want anyone else seeing him just yet, especially the girls.”

Listening to Matt talk on the other line and balancing his cell phone between his shoulder and ear, Zack sorted through the mess on the dining room table. Making three piles that consisted of bills, junk mail and miscellaneous papers, Zack found himself feeling even worse for his best-friend. He didn’t expect the situation to be as bad as it was, but he didn’t want Brian to see Zack’s act falter and end up shutting himself away again. He wasn’t going to let that happen.

As Zack heard the shower turn off he turned back around to look out the window. “I gotta go, but I’ll call you when I get home later.” He said a quick goodbye to Matt and ended the call before he put his phone back in his shorts pocket.

He walked into the kitchen and pulled out the garbage bags from one of the drawers. He pulled one out before tossing the box on the table. Sorting through the objects on the counter, he tossed everything that wasn’t worth keeping in the garbage bag, and then loaded the dishwasher until it was at full capacity.

When the kitchen looked a bit better, he walked back towards the table and tossed the junk mail into the garbage bag as well. He began picking things up off the floor, putting the garbage in the bag and everything else on the kitchen counter or table.

He couldn’t believe that things had gotten as bad as they did, and he was even happier then when he first arrived that he came alone. Not only would it have been harder to get Brian to co-operate, but if any of the girls had tagged along, he honestly felt that Brian would’ve closed himself off from everyone for good.

Standing up and turning around, he saw Brian making his way towards him from the hallway, looking much better than he had before Zack sent him to the shower a half hour before.

“Hey,” Brian said, stopping a few short feet from the table. His hair was long again, a little past his shoulders, and still wet. He had shaved his beard and minus the bags under his eyes and the dull expression, almost looked like the old Brian. He had on a pair of black boarder shorts and a white, wrinkled, wife beater that almost hung off of him.

“Here,” Zack said, tossing a bag across the table and sitting down with a second bag in front of him.

Brian walked forward and pulled out the chair across from Zack and sat himself down before opening the bag and pulling out a burger and fries.

“I know it’s not a home cooked meal, but I thought it’d be better than nothing.”

Brian looked up and nodded, “thanks.” His voice was raspy, sounding dry and almost painful.

Zack pushed a McDonald’s beverage towards Brian with a straw already in it and then continued to eat his own meal.

The silence between the two very close friends grew and grew, becoming awkward when just a few short months ago it would’ve been comfortable. But when someone you had been so close to for a few decades chose to lock themselves away from the world for three entire months, what are you supposed to say? Everything you had planned to yell at them seems to slip away when you finally see them and although their heart still beats, they look like they could pass as being dead.

Zack disposed of his empty fry and burger containers into the brown paper bag to his right before he took a sip of his soda. He had avoided looking at Brian the entire time they ate, even when all he wanted to do the most was take in the sight of one of his best-friends. The diminishing appearance of someone who he used to know almost better then he knew himself really bothered him, forcing him to keep his eyes set on the wood of the dining room table.

“Are you going to tell me how you got in?” Brian asked, picking up his trash and putting it in the empty bag to his left.

“Do you really want to know?” Zack asked, raising his head and meeting Brain’s gaze. When he saw his friend nod his head, Zack continued. “I might have picked the lock.”

Brian stared at Zack for a few long moments before pulling his eyes away and shaking his head. He leaned back in his chair and sighed. Zack, of all people, was not at the top of his list for who he’d expect to pick the lock on his front door.

“Can I ask you a question?”

Brian looked towards his friend again; weary of what might come next. Though he knew that all the questions would come sooner or later, he was really hoping it would be months down the line. Finally, he nodded his head, preparing himself for whatever Zack had to ask.

Zack cleared his throat before leaning back in his chair. “Why did you lock yourself away for three months?”

Brian closed his eyes for a few moments before opening them back up and letting his gaze settle on his friend. “I wanted time to myself to think about everything, and I guess I didn’t want to have to face anyone. It was just easier to shut everything out.”

Zack stared at Brian, trying to put himself in his friend’s shoes to understand Brain’s reasoning, but it was difficult. He knew, even as hard as he was trying to understand, that he would have handled things much differently. Locking himself away in his own house for three months was just not an option for him.

He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, “look man, I don’t think I’ll ever really understand what went on in your head that made you lock yourself away from everyone that would have been there to help. But that’s in the past, and from here on out you’re not locking yourself away. You’re going to be a man and face your problems, got it?”

Brian took a few moments to himself before nodding at Zack, knowing deep down that Zack was right. He couldn’t lock himself away forever. It was no longer an option. He had to face his problems, and he had never felt this close to doing so until now.

“Your place is a fucking dump,” shaking his head, Zack stood up. “If any of the girls saw this, you’d be in deep shit.”

Brian let out a rough laugh, finding that the mood was lightening as the time passed.

“Alright, grab a bag. We’re going to molly maid this shit,” Zack took a deep breath and headed to the front door, finding their starting point.