Somebody That I Used to Know

When Sunday finally felt like rolling around, I was a little less than my usual amount of happy. I knew I had to tell Ronnie about my recent reconciling of differences with Max. I took a quick shower and pulled my clothes on shortly after. I walked to the kitchen after shoving my phone into my back left pocket. I picked up my keys from the island in the kitchen and twirled them around my finger while I poured food into each bowl that was on the floor for my two pets.

“Goodbye Thing one and Thing two, I’m going to visit your daddy.” I said out loud, speaking to my pets.

I got to the prison I had grown accustomed to over the last few years in just a few minutes. I walked through the front doors with a spring in my step at the thought of this being Ronnie’s last week in jail.

“Good morning, Victor!” I said happily as I skipped over to his desk.

He chuckled a bit and looked at me.

“I’m guessing you’ve been told that Ronnie is getting out this week?” he asked with a smile.

My breath stopped as I looked at him.

“Do you by any chance know what day they’re letting him out?” I asked.

Victor turned around and rummaged through a stack of manila envelopes behind him. He opened one of them and pulled out a sheet of white paper, reading it over a bit before looking at me with a promising smile on his face.

“Well, according to this, he’s out December twelfth.” he said to me, waiting for the words to kick in.

“December twelfth, but that’s the day after tomorrow, and that’s just three days before his birthday.” I thought aloud.

“Well, I assume that when he’s out he’s going to be living with you?” he asked, to which I just nodded, “Well in that case you need to fill out a few papers, you can do it after your visit or the day you come to pick him up.”

“I’ll fill them out later today, I don’t have much else to do today anyway.” I said, as he pressed the button and a loud buzzing noise rang through the room.

“Ronnie sure is lucky someone like you in his life.” Victor mumbled as I walked into the visiting room.

Ronnie was already walking in at the same time I was, handcuffs around his wrists. One of the guards took the handcuffs off of him and Ronnie practically jogged over to his usual seat, picking up the phone and placing his hand on the glass. I copied his actions with a smile on my face.

“Annie,” he began as he dragged out my nickname a bit, “It’s my last week!” he finished happily.

I laughed and nodded my head as we both sat down.

“I can’t wait for you to be out already, I miss you so much. Plus, you’ll be out just in time for your twenty-seventh birthday! Is there anything you want?”

“Once I’m out of here, I don’t think there’s anything I could ever want more. I sort of just want to be with you in the house again.”

I stayed quiet for a few seconds, thinking of a few things I could get him.

“I have to tell you something, RonRon.” I said to him, using the pet name that I had made for him when we were little kids and lived right next door to each other.

“What’s wrong, Annie?” he asked me with a clear amount of concern in his deep voice.

“The other day when I was at work, Jason asked me to do a photo shoot and the band was Escape the Fate. When we were finished, Max stayed after and stated talking to me. He said that he was sorry for everything and stuff like that. So, I decided to forgive him, at least for now.”

“Max?” he began, “Please tell me you don’t mean the Max that broke your heart because he cheated on you with some washed up whore and stabbed me in the back! He fucking hurt you, he hurt you so much and I was locked up here because I’m stupid, I couldn’t even take care of you when you were suffering.”

“Max, you’re talking about Max hurting me? Did you forget how much you hurt me? Did you forget the fact that you put me through hell?” I asked him, through a few tears.

He stayed quiet, shrinking back into his chair in embarrassment.

“You know I wasn’t myself, I couldn’t control what I was saying. You’re my best friend and I love you more than anything and anyone, if it wasn’t for the drugs I never would have hurt you.”

“You’ve got four minutes left Radke, so kiss and make up.” The guard said from where he stood in the corner of the room.

“I know that, Ronnie. I forgave you for that almost the same day it happened. Besides, I could never stay mad at you for long. You know I love you, RonRon.”

Ronnie opened his mouth to talk again when the guard cut him off rudely, “Radke! Time’s almost up, let’s go!” he screamed.

Ronnie and I stood up and he placed his hand against the glass as I did the same.

“I love you, Ronnie.”

“I love you too, Annie.”

“Just one more week.” I said with a smile.

“Just one more week.” he repeated before putting the phone down and walking off.

I walked out of the room and back to Victor’s desk.

“I’m ready to sign the papers.” I told him.

He pulled the papers out of a small metal drawer, attached them to a clipboard and handed them to me with a pen.

“Just sign here, here, and here. Oh, and put your title and occupation over here.” Victor explained as he flipped through the pages and pointed them out to me.

I did as he said, able to follow his directions until I got to where it clearly said title .

“What does title mean?” I asked him.

“Well, you’re his girlfriend, right? You write significant other down and that’s basically it.” he explained to me.

I blushed a bit, knowing that what he was saying was wrong but I wrote it down anyway. I handed the clipboard back to him when I was done and thanked him for his time. I walked out of the room and walked to my car. I got into my car and began the twenty minute drive home, allowing my own thoughts and memories to flood my mind.

I watched as Ronnie plugged on of his nostrils closed and held a rolled up dollar bill to the other, inhaling the white line that was in front of him. He finished and dusted the last bits of powder off of his nose. I felt my stomach churn at the sight, the person that was once my best friend was now slowly killing himself before my eyes. I did feel a bit bad because of what I had done to him, but I knew it was for the best.

“Ronald Radke, we have you surrounded, please come out peacefully.” what I assumed was a cop said over a loud intercom.

Ronnie stood up from where he was and looked at me with hot red anger being seen in his deep brown eyes. He walked over to me and pinned me up roughly against the wall, his fingertips forming bruises in my arms.

“Did you rat me out? You fucking little whore,” he began before throwing me onto the floor, “you’re fucking worthless! I don’t know why I’ve put up with you for the past twenty years! I hate you.”

“Ronnie,” I began as I stood up wobbly, “you don’t mean that. I did this to help you, you’re killing yourself. I can’t see you do that anymore. You know I love you more than anything, this is for your own good.”

“My own good?” he questioned as he slapped me across the face and I fell to the floor with a thud, “My own fucking good, stop worrying about me. As a matter of fact, I never want to see you or hear of you ever again.”

Two cops stormed in when Ronnie kicked my stomach and they tackled him to the floor, placing handcuffs around his wrists.

“Miss,” a police officer began from where she was kneeling beside me began, “are you okay?” she asked.

“Just…make sure they don’t hurt him.” I said to her.

She continued to talk to me and I didn’t listen to her, instead I watched as they dragged away my best friend.

When I got to my house and parked in the large empty garage, I felt tears prick the corners of my eyes.. I suppose Ronnie coming back soon affected me more than I expected. I walked into my kitchen and placed my keys and phone onto the island, wishing for this week to be over soon.