In Dying Light

Be My Enemy - Adrian

“Hey, we’re going out tonight! Wanna come?” Thomas asked over the phone.

          “Nah, man,” I said, shaking my head. “I got other plans.”

          “Like what?”

          I sighed. “Alright, alright, I will go.”

          “Awesome! We’ll pick you up around eight.”

          Thomas hung up on the other end. I felt a shiver run through my body. The news from the T.V came exploding through my floor. Geez, did my dad have any respect? I went downstairs and saw he fell asleep in front of it. I grabbed the remote off the table and turned it off.

          I went back to my room and sat down with a notebook and pencil, jotting down what “fun” it’ll be hanging around Thomas. Thomas was a total drunk. He would pick a fight with anyone on any day. No, I usually just write thoughts down. My dad began calling for me. I let out a frustrated groan. Yeah, my dad was a total drunk, too. I went downstairs and stopped at the bottom step.

          “Go get me some beer. I just ran out.”

          “I’m sure if you didn’t get your license taken away, you’d be able to get it yourself.” I muttered as I went to go grab my keys off my desk.

          My dad got screwed over once my mom died. Ever since, he’s messed up in the head. I went out to the local liquor store and got him some beer.

          When I started walking towards my car, I had the strange feeling someone was watching me. I set the box down in the backseat and turned to look out and saw people walking and cars driving quickly by. A shadow stood under a darkened tree. It slowly began walking towards me. I quickly got into my car and drove away.

Later that night, Thomas came to pick me up. I stared down at the clock next to my bed and saw it was fifteen minutes ‘til seven. Thomas walked into the house, but I immediately pushed him out when I got downstairs.

          “What are you doing here? You know if my dad hears you, he’ll freak.”

          “Yeah, yeah,” Thomas rolled his eyes. “Why can’t you leave him already? You’ve been caring for him since you were sixteen. Why can’t he sober up already?”

          “I don’t know. He doesn’t have the best record, so I’m afraid the cops will take him.”

          “Hell, it’ll be better than having you stay in the same old house.”

          I sighed. “Listen, can we just go? I don’t want to talk about him anymore.” I glared at him and Thomas nodded.

          “I gotta pick up Patrick and Jake too. And then we’ll be on our way.”

We got the other two guys and I still couldn’t believe where Thomas took us. Of course, it was his favorite place. It’s a bar full of drunken men and girls wearing practically nothing. Patrick and Jake got out of the car with Thomas. Thomas scoffed and looked inside to where I was.

          Thomas began tapping his fingers on the roof of the car asking, “You comin’?”

          I sighed. “No.”

          The other two boys stopped and so did Thomas. He closed the door and came over to my side and opened the door. “You gotta live the high life, man. You wanna know something, though? I’m really starting to get sick of you being the good one of the group.” Thomas unbuckled my seatbelt and tossed me out of the car. “Can we just acknowledge on how much you mean so little to us?”