Bad (U2)

Bad (U2) Chapter 2

I would help her if I could. I would make her give it up herself; I would make her want to stop. She would go away from it herself. All of her... her mind, her body, and her heart. She would stop loving it. I would break that bond between her and the drug. She would slowly let go and stop holding onto it.

I'd lead your heart away

See you break, break away

I can't help but say some of this out loud. But I stop when the nurse from earlier comes in. She checks the readings from the machines and then writes them down. She looks at me and then sits down in a chair that she pulls up next to me. She breathes in deeply and closes her eyes. She opens her eyes and looks at me. Her eyes are a dark brown... so brown theyre almost black.
"Are you feeling okay?" she asks.
"Uh... yeah. Yeah I'm fine."
"How much do you remember? Of the night you fell?"
I think for a moment, "Most of it. There's some blank spots," she nods her head, "But who found me? Who called 911?"
She was quiet for a moment. "Me."
"Huh? I don't remember you..."
"Well, I was walking up to my brother's apartment because he went to counseling a little while ago but I still check in on him. It helped him a lot. He stopped all the drugs," I don't know why but I was jealous, probably because that's what I want for Amy," and I saw you running from the window on the door. And then I saw you fall. I opened the door and tried to get you up but you couldn't get up. So I tried to help you get up but you blacked out so I called Charlie, he's the doctor who's been helping you. He came fast 'cause his shift was almost over but he didn't want to just abandon you. Anyway you only saw me for like three minutes and then you were taken to the hospital. That's why you don't remember me."
"Your brother did drugs?"
"Yeah," she spat out.
"How did you get him to do the counseling?"
"Why do you care?"
"Amy, my girlfriend. I was addicted and she got my to counseling but then the place she took me shut down. And she got addicted to... to... Heroin." I hate even saying the word.
She was quick to apologize," Oh I'm sorry. Was it the one two blocks down from here?"
"Yeah."
"That's where I took him. I just check him to make sure he's okay."
I heard the doctor, Charlie, call the nurse. Her name is Meghan. I never realized it but she had a bracelet with her name on it.
"Coming!" she called and then turned back to me, "Hang in there. I'll see if can find a good place to take her, okay? Just because I mow what it's like to see somebody you love go through that." I nod.
She left out the door and I smile. Maybe things can go back to normal. Things without drugs and fights every day. For the first time in a long time, I relaxed. I relaxed, knowing that things could and would get better... they had to.
***********
Two days later and no word from Amy or about a good counseling place. And I'm still in the hospital. Charlie says I'm getting better and that I should be able to leave soon, which is good. Sitting in a hospital room doing nothing isn't exactly what I would like to be doing right now.
Meghan comes into the room and she looks cheerful. Something good happened, I can tell.
"Somebody's here to see you."
"Me?"
"Yes, I know you've been kinda lonely so when they came in and asked for you I couldn't help but feel happy for you." She smiled.
"Okay, who are they?"
"Somebody called Press."
"Press. Press? Press! I remember him now. Sure let him in!" I could hardly contain my excitement.
I remember that he was my best friend and that we were always together as kids. He and I were practically inseparable until my addiction. Then we were inseparable. About two months after everything went back to normal and I had gotten over my drug problem, his mom died and he went to help support his sister. She relied almost entirely on her mother and since their dad died when they were kids their family never really had a stable foundation. My family never really was stable either so I think that's why we couldn't be separated.
She opened the door and without missing a beat, he flew in, "Hi ya!" he greeted me gleefully.
"Jacob!"
"Hey, Brandon, what the hells happened to ya?"
"I... um I fell down the stairs at Amy's apartment building."
He looks at me for a second and then we laugh. We laugh like crazy and we don't stop. Meghan smiled and then left and went out the door and started talking to Charlie.
"You fell down some stairs! Well hell next thing ya know you'll tripping over your own two feet."
I smirked,"I already do that."
"You... I've missed you ya know," he sat in the chair that Meghan had pulled up and still hadn't put back.
"I've missed you... but hey I should be out of here pretty soon."
"I know. I talked to the doc before I came in. Another three days. Hey and I brought you something. "
"Really? What?"
"You like readin' don't ya?"
I smiled,"Yeah! What book is it?"
He gets up and goes out into the hallway and starts talking to Meghan. She smiles and hands him a book. I can't tell what it is because he looks at me through the window and smiles as he hides the book behind his back. He opens the door and walls in, his shoes making loud echoing clinks on the floor.
"I could only get a screwed up book but it's still the same words 'nd all."
"Just what did you get me?"
"Well ya like Edgar Allen Poe right?"
"Hell ya!"
He handed me a faded copy of his story stories and poems. I took it and flipped through the pages and the smell of old books came and surrounded me. I hate the smell of old books, new books I like but not old ones. I coughed and closed the book.
"Hey thanks Jacob! It's great."
"You don't seem very happy about it. 'Somethin' wrong?"
"I'm just worried about Amy, that's all. "
He was quiet for a moment then he replied,"Yeah I heard that company you went to closed down. You have somewhere else you're thinkin' about to help her?" I shake my head and he continues,"There's something else isn't there?"
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly before going on,"That night, when I fell down the stairs, I was running because I thought somebody might be following me. I remember everything about that night in the clearest detail now and I know somebody was following me."
"What?"
"It was dark in there I couldn't see anything clearly. I was running because I wanted to get into the light. I thought about her and how I wanted her to see the light. How she didn't have to have the drug and that she could be outta the dark."

Into the light

And to the day

"Do you have any idea who was following you?"
I shake my head,"Not a clue."
"Not at all?"
"Well it was a dude and he was about as tall as you," Jacob is tall so this man would be pretty noticeable,"and he had really short raspy breathing. And he was wearing jeans and a white tee shirt and that's about all I can remember."
Meghan opens the door and says,"I know who he is."
"What?" Jacob and I both question.
"I was listening to you two from outside and the man you described, he sounds a lot like my brother. The one who I was going to go see."
"Wait what?" Jacob asks.
"I have a brother who lives there and I was going to see him but I saw Brandon fall so I called the hospital and they took him but I went to the hospital in a separate vehicle so I never got to see my brother," she answers, turning to Jacob.
"But why would he be following me?" I wonder out loud.
"I don't know but I do know that he's had a lot of random on and off jobs recently and he won't tell me anything about any of them. Maybe he was hired or something," Meghan answers.
"But who would be after me?"
"That doesn't mean they're after you," Jacob says and after a confused look from Meghan and I he continues,"they could be after somebody else. Maybe you're connected to them, the person they're after, so they want you too."
Jacob wasn't too smart but he watched a lot of cop shows so I guess he knew some stuff about that kind of stuff.
"Okay fine! But what company would be after me or anybody else?"
They both shake their heads and Meghan replied,"Who knows. Do any of your friends owe somebody something or have done anything to somebody?"
I shake my head,"Not that I know of."
"Family?" She asks.
Jacob looks at me and then I look at him and respond,"My family didn't do it. Anything."
She answers,"How do you know that?"
"Because they're all dead! They've been dead for along time!" I yelled.
Meghan looked shocked and then she goes over and her and Jacob leave the room and whisper outside of my door. They look back at me every couple moments and then resume what they're doing. I shouldn't have yelled, but Meghan shouldn't have pushed. Jacob walks back in and ruffles my and says,"See ya, kid!" Then he struts out of the room, humming Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. He is a year and two months older than me and since we were kids he's been joking around about it, calling me kid.
I smiled. I missed having company and Jacob was the composure I needed to get my head back together and to have fun. I pick up the book he gave me from my lap and start flipping through it. Then I see a note shoved inside so I pull it out and close the book. I look at the note and realize that it's recent because the page is bright white and not at all faded. I read it carefully.
"Brandon,
You've probably been experiencing lots of mysterious things in your life. And lots of pain and .hatred. I promise you, you'll find out whose doing this and why but not now. Now isn't the time. Everything is much more complicated than you think. What's going on is something only a kid would believe.... something way beyond your wildest dreams. Nothing is like it should be and it's not going to be anytime soon. I'm sorry for all your troubles and worrying but it's not all for nothing. I swear. But for now be careful, watch your back, and don't trust anybody but yourself and Jacob. Nobody at all. Not even me or Amy or anyone because nothing is as it seems.
Your sis,
Claire"
I read that note three times before my brain even tries to make sense of it. It fails at that.
"Wait... what?" I say aloud.
Claire died three years ago. I watched the firemen pull her body from the fire and put out the fire and take her to this hospital. I stayed with her the whole time because mom and her new boyfriend went to Florida for something. I waited outside while the doctors operated on her and I cried when they told me she wouldn't make it. I went in and held her and watched her die. I felt the life leave her body. How could she be alive? She's not. I bet that this is some sick joke plays on me by Jacob. Meghan comes in and sits in the coal colored chair with ruby cousins.
"I'm sorry about your family an I know that you e one through a lot. It there's one more person here to see you."
I nod and she waits for a moment and then goes out and around the corner where I can't see her. I was worried about who it might be because I can't think of anybody else who would come to visit me. Then Meghan walks in and she gets another nurse to hold the door for her as she goes back outside. She wheels somebody in on a wheelchair and for a second I can't tell who it is. Only for a second but then I remember and I don't believe it.
"Dad?"
"Yeah. Yeah it's me Brandon. I have a lot to talk with you about."
"What the hell do you want to talk about? You got Matt killed and then left us!" Matt was my older brother and he and my dad and I were driving to somewhere and my dad was talking to Matt he just steered the right side of the car into a building, killing Matt instantly. Since I was sitting behind my dad, who was driving, I lived and got out with only some cuts and bruises. But three months after he and my mom got in a fight and he grabbed everything he could in two minutes and left. I lost two people who were extremely close to me in the same year.
"I know I know. I'm sorry 'bout that too. And I'm sorry 'bout this but... I gotta tell ya somethin'. Matt wasn't really your brother, Brandon. "
I didn't know how to respond to that. I don't care if I was only ten when he died...I felt like I had known him forever. I barely managed a squeaky what and I hated him, my dad, for saying what he just said over again.
"What about you? And mom? Are you my parents for real?"he nods so I continue on,"And Claire? What... what about Claire?"
"She really is your twin sister."
I'm glad because her and I had become so close after Matt had died and dad had left and mom started drinking.
"And Sammy?"
"I already told you about her."
Sammy was my adopted older sister who I loved as much as Claire but I hated my parents when she found out she was adopted. She broke down and balled and the only people she would talk to were Sammy and I because since I was thirteen and Matt had already died.
"I don't care! What if you had kids with some other woman and then you and mom got married and had us? What if you had other kids and you killed them just like you did Matt?"
"Let it go Brandon!!!!" he screeched and then spoke to me more quietly but still yelling,"Let it go! Let it freaking go... I thought of him everyday but the memory went. I forgot slowly about him... it faded away. That's what I want for you."

To let it go

And so to fade away

To let it go

And so fade away

"That's what you want for me?! To forget about Sammy and Matt and everything! Not to care! To be like you?" He nods,making me angry and yell even louder,"To be a heartless monster! That's what you want from me?"
He shakes his head and tries to talk but I don't let him. I scream louder than I have before,"Everybody I loved is dead or gone!!!!!!!!!"
Meghan runs in and tells my dad to leave. As she wheels him purge looks at me and says,"I've been keeping up ya know... what about Amy?"
"She's gone, the drugs took her." And then he left. I know it's true too. She really is gone.
Meghan comes back in about ten minutes and tells me to calm down and that everything is okay. I shake my head because now I know that it's probably not going to be. "Everything has been a lie so why not all of the rest?"
"I'm sorry I don't know what to say... but Brandon things have gotten complicated. Your friend, Jacob, was shot at. He was hit but he should be fine soon. Somebody is going for you I think. Somebody bad and serious."
I can't believe it. Somebody shot at Jacob? I'm pissed now and Meghan could tell so she tries to explain how he'll be okay and that the police were going to find out what happened and who it was.
I try to get up because I need to go see if he is honestly okay but Meghan pushes my head back so I can't without pushing harder to get up. I do push harder and she backs up and watches intently as I struggle to get up just as I struggled to accept my fathers apologies, and I still haven't. But I finally gather up all my strength I can and stand up straight. She takes my arms to try and help give me a little more stability. I look at her because I'm stubborn and don't want help but I realize I need it so I let her hold onto me.
"He's jut down the hall," she informed me as we made our way to him.
A few doors down, we heard Jacob yelling. We walked closer and he stopped yelling but he started making bunches of loud ear pricing noises. I honestly thought that my ear were going to bleed and I watched the nurses escape his room just as we entered.
"What the hell was that?!" I joked and since he didn't see us he jumped.
"Hiya!" he was standing up with his back to us but he turned around and camp up to us. "Eh! Brandon what are you doin' outta bed?"
I smiled,"Were here to see you... well I am. "
"Why are you outta bed though? I coulda come to see ya."
"Actually he's in better shape than you are. He should be released tomorrow and you probably have at least another few days to go."
He looked shocked,"What! another few days? I want outta here now. Look my arm's doin' just fine. An my shoulder ain't hurting no more!"
He always had bad grammar because his parents were from the south. He picked up on their grammar but he developed a New York accent since he lived here.
"Yes, that's great, Jacob. Hey, how about I see if I can get you both out tomorrow as long as I come check up on you?" Meghan offered, causing both Jacob and I to beam like we were kids again.
I nod,"Sounds great! How are you-" my question was cut short by the screams of nurses that had followed the salvo of loud gunshots.
"Get them. Don't kill them! Brandon, Jacob, and anybody else with them," a voice boomed.
I gulp as I see the man who had yelled that. And the man who followed me down the stairs and had caused me such pain Meghan gasps and Jacob and I look at her.
"Zach?"
He looks at her and his green eyes twinkle with amusement, "Aye! Sis, long time no see eh?"