Breaking the Curse

Chapter 15

Not so interested in both Ellis and Alice yelling at her, V asks Mr. Oliver to go to the bathroom. Alice also gets up from her seat and follows her friend to the toilet.

"Hey, hey, calm down. I know you don't like Ellis that much and I understand that. Sometimes he can be a jerk, but he is a good friend. He never left his friend behind, and he didn't mean to hurt your feelings too," Alice tells V, calming her new friend down before she comes back to class and tears Ellis up like most people in this school wanted to.

"He never left his friend behind? Are you kidding me? Look at his attitude in class. He is willing to let your little friend die just to save his ass," V shouts back but then lowers her voice after seeing that her voice scared Alice.

Alice slumps down and sits right next to V, their backs against the bathroom stall's door.

"I know he said that but he never meant it, especially to his best friend since childhood like Sabastian. You'll get used to him soon enough," Alice says.

"I hope you're right. If he does that stunt again I can't wait to beat his ass," V says and smiles.

"Yeah me too," Alice responds with both her sweetest sound and her cute smile that hid millions of darkness.

The two teens share a laugh together and Alice starts sharing some weird stories that Ellis has ever done with her new best friend.

Meanwhile, on the other side of their small town, the calm and chilling atmosphere is currently not on their side. Both the volunteers and the police are now racing against the clock to find Sabastian, who has been missing for nearly a week by now.

"Sabastian! Sabastian! Sabastian!" A dozen volunteers shout.

Captain Jack Spencer slowly exits his Jeep and walks behind Deputy Mike and a dozen other volunteers who still continue to hope that they will find Sabastian alive, not dead.

Captain Jack Spencer also makes a few calls to the city police and asks them to borrow a few of their K-9 dogs to search for Sabastian too.

"Hey! Anything yet?" Captain Jack asks the volunteer search party's leader.

"No, nothing, Captain. What about you? Is Margaret found something?"

"No, nothing but a dead phone in her kitchen," Captain says in disappointment.

"Margaret? About one step from falling off the edge," the leader says.

"She's been a few steps for a while now, hasn't she?" Deputy Mike adds.

"Her kid's missing, man. Show a little class... All right. Come on, let's go! We got a lot of ground to cover before the cold and darkness settle in again," Captain says.

Walking away from the Captain, Deputy Mike leans over to his co-worker, Deputy Thomas, and asks "The Captain and Margaret, they've screwed before, huh?"

Deputy Thomas looks back at Deputy Mike in disappointment, never thought his co-worker had this kind of mindset in him.

"Sabastian! Where are you?" Deputy Thomas shouts, walking away from Deputy Mike and ignoring his question.

Back on the road exiting the town of Lakewood, Simon is now on his way to see his father, Roy, hoping he might find his brother there.

Simon drives, listening to the radio, and gets a flashback to when he was with his brother. He remembers when he introduced Sabastian to the song playing on the radio.

"Hey, listen to this. It's my favorite song," Simon says, turning up the volume.

"What is it?" Sabastian asks, looking at the radio.

"It's called 'Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. It's about never giving up on your dreams, no matter what," Simon explains.

"Wow, that sounds cool. Can you sing it for me?" Sabastian requests.

Simon laughs and starts singing along with the radio. Sabastian joins him and they both belt out the chorus.

"Don't stop believin'! Hold on to that feelin'! Streetlights, people!" They sing together, smiling and having fun.

Simon snaps out of his flashback and wipes a tear from his eye. He misses his brother so much. He wonders where he is and if he is still alive.

He looks at the radio and sees that the song is still playing. He feels a surge of hope and determination. He decides to keep driving until he finds his brother. He won't stop believing.

Flashback

"You like it?" Simon asks his brother.

"Yeah, it's cool!" Sabastian replies, excitement running throughout his vein.

"All right, you can keep the mix if you want."

"Really?" Sabastian asks.

"Yeah, really. All the best stuff's on there: Joy Division, Bowie, Television, The Smiths... It'll totally change your life," Simon says.

"Yeah, totally," Sabastian agrees.

But their enjoyment is cut short when their mom receives a call from their dad, saying he won't be joining them tonight.

"Where the hell are you, Roy? I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. This is ridiculous! I'm so sick of your excuses," Margaret yells at the phone with four football tickets still in her hand.

Simon leans over and turns down the radio's volume so he can hear his mom's angry voice more clearly.

"Dad's not coming, is he, Mom?" Sabastian asks.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, son. but your dad, he ahh... he won't be joining us today," Margaret says in sadness.

"Do you even like football, Sabastian?" Simon asks.

"No, but... I don't know, I think it's fun. Dad told me football is fun and I want to go with him because I think he likes it too," Sabastian says. It hurts Margaret's heart when she hears her son's answer.

"Come on. Has he ever done anything with you that you actually like? You know, like the market or something?" Simon says.

"I don't know, Simon," Sabastian says, looking down in disappointment.

"No, all right? He hasn't. He's trying to force you to like normal things. And you shouldn't like things because people tell you you're supposed to. Okay? Especially not him. But you do like old British classic music? For real?" Simon asks.

"For real. Definitely," Sabastian says and smiles again.

Seeing his brother smile again, Simon turns up the music volume again and they both sing along with the radio.

"Don't Stop Believin'! Hold on to that feelin'! Streetlights, people!" They sing together, smiling and having fun.