There Was A Boy I Can Recall

Chapter 3 - Laurence

Shane’s P.O.V

“Kier, I have you’re dinner” I walked into Kier’s room to see him curled up on his bed. He was shaking slightly and I heard the sound of muffled sobs. I quickly put the plate down and crawled onto the bed next to him, pulling him into an embrace, letting him sob into my chest.

“Why aren’t I normal Shane? Why can’t I go outside and enjoy my life like a normal person?” He spoke in between breaths. 

“Kier, you are normal. You’re  just not yourself right now. But it’ll get better. Trust me. You’ve just got to start doing a bit more for yourself. Then it’ll get easier. You’ll start to feel like yourself.”

He didn’t answer me after that, just continued to sob. These outbursts were a regular occurrence lately. I tried my hardest to get Kier to do something for himself every day. Sometimes it worked and he looked a bit more like his old self again, then other days, like today, he just wouldn’t. He’d stay in his room all day, drinking and thinking about the past. He was half the man he used to be lately. I wish I knew how to fix him, but I couldn’t. It was starting to take its toll on  me and Drew as well. Eventually Kier’s sobs died down and were replaced by the sound of his soft breathing. I looked down to see he had fallen asleep. I released him from my grip and laid him back on the bed before returning to Drew.

I saw Drew stood in the kitchen, so I went in to meet him. I leaned myself up against the counter. I was about to tell him about Kiers outburst when I realised something was wrong. His face was pale and he looked like he had seen a ghost.

“Drew, What’s the matter?” I asked.

Drew turned to look at me. “Laurence is in the living room. Kier’s Laurence. The Laurence we told Kier he had imagined. He’s in the living room”

I frowned at Drew. “You’re making no sense. He can’t be in the living room Drew. We don’t even know if he was real. We were tired as anything that night.”

Drew pointed into the living room. “If you don’t believe me Shane, take a look yourself”

I sighed. Drew was cracking up as well. I walked into the living room, and sure enough sat on our settee was a tall, black haired man. He smiled at me as I entered the living room. I felt my temper rise. This guy had caused Kier so much pain and he probably didn’t even recognise him. “You” my voice was low and bitter. “You’ve upset him! He’s nothing now! He can’t even fucking feed himself! You know why? Because we told him you were imaginary! HE THINKS HE’S INSANE BECAUSE OF YOU! You couldn’t even be decent enough to give him a number or something to keep in touch with you” My voice had risen and Drew came running into the living room. He wrapped his arms around me and started to stroke my head

“I’m so sorry Laurence, he’s stressed at the moment. You see, our friend Kier isn’t very well at the moment so were looking after him”

I saw Laurence’s face drop as he suddenly seemed to realise who we were. “Wait. I remember now. That guy I took to the hospital. His name was Kier. Is he quite slim, had brown hair and a labret piercing?” I nodded “And you’re his friends?” I nodded again and watched him put his head into his hands.

“Shane, where’s Kier? I’m sure he’d love to come and say hi to Laurence.” Drew looked up at me and I could see the distress in his eyes.

“Kiers asleep right now. He had one of his moments so I left him sleeping.” My voice was flat with no emotion. I saw Laurence’s face drop slightly. I turned to face him. “Listen Laurence, I’m sorry for my outburst. It’s just we’re going through a bit of a rough patch right now. I presume you’ll be in your flat tomorrow? If it’s ok, we’ll come around tomorrow. We’ll bring Kier, I’m sure he would love to see you.” I tried to be as sympathetic as I could.

Laurence nodded and got up to leave. Drew stood up with him to see him out. Once he had left the living room, I pulled my knees up to my chest and stared blankly at the wall in front of me. I heard the front door click shut and Drew appeared in the doorway. His arms were folded and he was staring at me.

“What was that little outburst of yours? He’s done nothing wrong! It’s an extraordinary coincidence that he’s now our neighbour”

I shrugged my shoulders “He left him Drew. You know deep down in your heart that Kier is the way he is because he never found that guy!”

Drew sighed. “I know. I just don’t think shouting at him helped anything. What do we do now Shane?”

“We wait till Kier wakes up. And then we tell him” And watch as Kier’s world falls apart again, I added in my head.