Animal

Chapter 30

          "Me and Ches.....we didn't always get along that well. He was a lot younger than I was so I was always a lot bigger than him. He got mad if I told him to behave or something because he was always getting into trouble. I always loved him though. I still remember.....the one night...he was only four or so. He came running into my room crying because he said he'd had a nightmare where I had died. He climbed into my bed and shook me until I woke up to make sure I was alive. And I got angry at him. I told him he needed to go back to his room because he was going to wake up everyone in the house with his crying and I needed sleep. So he did."

          Mike saw Tyler sigh and then shift on the stand before continuing, "I left home as soon as I had enough money. I married a beautiful girl and we had a baby boy a year later. I called Chester, he was eight and said that he was going to be an uncle. He was so excited. Said he couldn't believe it. And...that was when he told me that mom had divorced dad and he was scared. I was confused at first until he called me again later on that year telling me that dad was hitting him. I left home and went to pick him up but my wife didn't like the fact that I'd picked up my eight year old brother when we already had one kid to take care of. I let Chester go back to our old house. I let him go back to that hell where he was being hurt. About four years later, I got a divorce and got custody of my son. I called Chester but he didn't answer. I drove down to our house and found it occupied by someone else. I didn't know where to go to find him. So I didn't go."

          Mike felt bad for Tyler. The guy was blaming himself for letting Chester get hurt. He looked back at Chester's face and he wanted to cry again. For probably the billionth time.

          "And to come here today and find out that he thinks he let me down....that's unbelievable. He could never let me down. He was just a scared little kid. He didn't know what he was doing. He was the strongest little boy I'd ever met. And I'd never hate him. If I had one last chance to talk to him.....I'd tell him I was proud of him. And that I loved him. So much. He had no idea," Tyler whispered before walking off and giving the boy a hug.

          Later on, after they'd all said their final goodbyes to Chester and his body had been lowered into the ground and Mike had cried for probably the twenty billionth time, Mike saw Tyler and the little boy walking together. He excused himself from Dave, Brad, and Rob and headed over to where they were.

          "Hey...um...Tyler?" Mike called. Tyler turned around and gave Mike a small smile. He looked so much like Chester.

          "Mike right? What do you need?"

          "I....well....Chester never mentioned he had a brother," Mike said, "I kind of felt bad I didn't know."

          "Nah. Hell, we'd been apart for so long, I'm surprised he even wrote about me."

          "Who's this?" Mike asked with a smile at the boy. Tyler took a deep breath before lifting the boy into his arms.

          "This.......is Chester," Tyler said quietly, "I named him after my brother because I thought I'd never see him again. And he reminds me of him a lot."

          Mike looked at the boy who smiled at Mike and gave him a wave, "Dad says that you made Uncle Chester happy!"

          Mike smiled as he felt tears in his eyes, "If that's what he said, you better listen to him."

          The boy giggled, "Was he really nice?"

          "The nicest person I've ever met," Mike said. Tyler smiled at him again.

          "Well Mike, it was a pleasure meeting you. But I really must be going. Thank you for giving my brother something to live for....even if it was for such a short time."

          "Bye."

          He sat in his room later on that night with the book in his hands. He'd been reading Chester's songs and notes over and over to him. The songs were so good. He smiled as he heard the songs playing in his head even though they had no music.

          Mike,

          You made me the happiest person on Earth. I can't thank you enough for that. For what you've done. I love you so much. Don't ever forget that.

-Chester

 

          There had been to the note but he didn't want to continue to read it over and over. He slowly pulled out his phone and dialed Dave's number.

          "Mike. I'm sorry man, but you need to call Brad if you want to cry today. I'm exhausted."

          "No Dave," Mike said as he found a smile creeping onto his face, "I don't think I could cry any more if I tried."

          "What is it then?"

          "You said you played bass right?"

          "Yea."

          "And Brad plays guitar."

          "Yes."

          "How would you feel about......"

A/N: Its funny cause the pic is Chester with his son Tyler. And in the story it's Tyler and his son Chester.......whoa. I don't know. What the fuck am I talking about?