An Extraordinary Life - an anderperry story

Chapter Two - July 1961

Tossin' and Turnin'
"I couldn't sleep at all last night/Just thinkin' of you"

A month had passed since Todd watched Neil drive away.

Whenever Charlie or Knox called to say hi, Todd would mostly ask how they were doing. He didn't want them to know that he and Neil hadn't spoken since that final Dead Poets Society meeting. He also didn't want them to know he wasn't sleeping and was barely eating.

Todd had grown so accustomed to sleeping near Neil that it felt wrong to be in his own room. And even if he had wanted to sleep, his brain wouldn't let him. His thoughts and dreams were full of Neil and regret over what happened. He woke up every night at 3 AM without fail. When that happened, he would sneak out of the house and walk around their property. Walking seemed to be the only mindless activity that could calm his brain down, even if it was momentarily.

It took a while for Mrs. Anderson to notice that Todd was not eating as much as he normally did. The Andersons weren't ones to notice what was really going on with their son (or even ask) so it surprised Todd when Mrs. Anderson walked into his room with a bottle of pills one day. "Take one," she said, handing him a glass of water. Todd didn't question where the valium came from as he swallowed one. It helped a little, but his dreams continued to be full of Neil.

Todd spent most of his days on his own. Occasionally Mrs. Anderson would drag him into town to run errands with her. He hated those days. Todd just wanted to be alone. He tried to write but he couldn't get his hands to put words to paper. Plus he didn't have any inspiration. His inspiration... Neil... was gone.

One day, Todd had been lying in his bed staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours. He felt empty. It had been about a week since he had heard from any of his friends, but he knew they were busy. Meeks and Pitts were heading to MIT early and Knox and Charlie were working for their fathers for the summer. He was sure Neil was busy studying to get ready for the fall, not that he would call if he had the time. Todd was the only one who had nothing to do all summer.

"Todd," Mrs. Anderson shouted from the kitchen, "can you go get the mail?"

"Sure, mom," he replied, sitting up.

Todd slowly rolled out of bed and threw on some clothes. He popped in a valium quickly before making his way down the stairs. He opened the front door and walked down to the mailbox. As he grabbed the mail and shut the mailbox door, a red Chevrolet impala turned down their street and into the driveway. It was Jeffrey.

Jeffrey was supposed to be spending the summer in the Hamptons with his girlfriend Catherine's family, so why was he here? Todd froze as he watched his brother climb out of his car. Todd was the spitting image of Jeffrey, but with less style and confidence. Jeffrey was wearing khaki shorts, a plaid button up, and sunglasses. His hair was quaffed back and Todd immediately felt insecure. Jeffery looked so effortlessly cool and Todd was just... plain. He was just wearing khaki shorts and a white t-shirt, his hair was probably a mess.

"Todd!" Jeffrey greeted, walking over to his brother and pulling him in for a hug.

Todd froze for a second before wrapping his arms around his older brother. They weren't an overly warm family or anything, so he was a little taken aback by this sudden display of affection. He and Jeffrey were never extremely close, partly due to their age difference and most of their school years spent at different schools. Plus they didn't have much in common - Jeffrey was the golden child of the Anderson household and Todd was just average. But Jeffrey didn't ignore Todd to the same extent his parents did. Jeffrey would send a monthly letter to him while he was at Welton, even though it was mostly informing him of what he was up to with an occasional question about how Todd was.