Letters From The Outskirts Of Normality

Oct 1st 2006
Dear Friend Who Is About To Read This Rant,

THAT FUCKING ASSHOLE! Jesus, I hate him. The guy thinks he can just walk in, take MY room, steal all the affection and free time of MY parents, take THEIR pride from ME and everything will be fine! You see, I really never, ever, did like Jack. He was first born so of course he got all the cool shit first which I hated. But now its even worse because he's mommy and daddy's pride and joy. He's spent the past two years spreading god's word to the helpless people of south America. And now as I told you in the last letter two days ago, all he can gush about it how many people hes converted(brainwashed) into the Mormon religion. Hes so full of himself its sickening. And of course its not bad enough that my brother wont shut up about it, but my parents, the good Mormons they are, wont shut up either. I'm not just talking 'hey lets discuss how proud we are in the living room to the family.' no, this is major, lets tell every single person we KNOW about or pride and joy. It's to the point of, you see my parents coming and people turn the other way. I'm stuck mouthing apologize while they prance around without a clue.

I've talked to Jasey about this as well and she feels the same. Her and I agreed that religion, is not for us, long long ago. These past few days I've been staying in her room with her while like I said, Jack took over my room. (If the fucker touches anything, I don't care if hes blood, hes dead). We've decided that we're just going to try and ignore him as long as he's here. I mean it's only 5 more days. How bad could that be? I'm just so tired of being put down by my family about how I should be more like Jack. Jack that. Jack this. Oh Brendon! Did you know that Jack had done this by your age. Jeeze.
While talking to Jasey, I had asked her what was going on with her and Mom. She just simply said that I would find out soon enough. I would have pressed more about it but it was obvious she didn't want to talk about it and I didn't want to make even more waves.

Earlier today, I had almost fallen asleep in English. Ryan woke me up by poking my side while walking by, continuing with his lecture. After class he called me over and I had to explain that it wasn't his class that put me to sleep, it was just that I hadn't been sleeping much at home with all the stuff happening. I had told him all about my family that night at burned paper so he knew about my mom and Jasey and that my brother Jack was a missionary. Once I explained what happened, he pulled me into a hug and told me that he was sorry.
"Yeah, so sorry I fell asleep. It wasn't you. Its just that I was up all night listening to Jase and my mom fight downstairs. Then when they finally did quiet down, Jasey ranted to me for an hour and it's really hard to fit two teens in a double bed." I explained, my eye lids slightly falling.
"I know this seems really forward," Ryan gave a small smile and looked down, "But if you'd like you can sleep for a while after school at my apartment. It's quiet since my room mate Spencer doesn't get home till late on Wednesdays. I wont bug you and if I do say so myself, I have a rather amazing bed."
I was kind of speechless at his offer but there was something telling me to just go and take him up on it. I smiled and looked up to find Ryan watching me. He was biting his lip and looking nervous.
"You know what, yeah. That sounds amazing. You would be doing me a huge favor." I told him and his smile widened.
"Okay then, just meet he here after school?" He asked and I agreed before leaving off to the lunch area.

When I got to Ryan's apartment, it was clean, as expected. The rooms were all painted bright colors and it felt really comfortable and home-y? It was slightly awkward when Ryan showed me to his room. But I guess we're used to having those types of moments. His room was painted a light red with white furniture. He had a large stereo system and a shelf that took up practically a whole wall, filled with books, record albums and Cd's. I was rather impressed.
"So yeah, sleep as long as you want. I'm just going to be grading papers out here if you need anything." He smiled and left the room after I thanked him various times.
I changed into my PE shorts that I had grabbed from my locker and slipped onto the bed and he was right, his bed was marvelous. I fell into a deep sleep almost instantly, after setting an alarm for an hour and a half on my phone.

So here I am now, sitting in my English teachers bed, quickly writing this letter. I can't quite bring myself to get up from my comfortable position. Bet you didn't expect that now did you? But I thought it would be weird to start this letter off with, hey there friend! I'm writing from my teacher's bed today!
Well, I better get out there before he thinks I decided to stay the night. I'll keep you posted as usual. Thanks for reading. : )

Your very comfortable friend,
Brendon