Promises aren't easily broken

Chapter 2

So to drop a bombshell I witnessed my friend get murdered 2 years ago from last Wednesday. The whole situation was so stupid. It was his Birthday. (His name was Brian) So yeah, Brian's 15 birthday. He wasn't one to sneak out or one to be with the bad kids. But neither was I. Yet I snuck out to give him the "Night of his life" I remember him not wanting to go out that night because it would suck if his parents found out on his birthday and he absolutely did not want to get caught on his birthday. I show up at his his around 11:00pm. His parents were always naive to him being a teenager and wanting to go out with his friends at night.

So the plan was to meet up with our friends Jack and Matthew behind the old abandoned strip mall around 1:00am so that left 2 hours for us to mess around and do whatever we wanted. I get to his house and he puts up his usual fight "Dude, it's my birthday I don't want to get caught on my birthday that's gonna suck" he says almost as if he actually means it. But for some reason this time, I REALLY had to convince him to get out of bed, get ready and climb out his window so we could have an awesome time. Remember? "The night of our lives" I kept having to repeat myself to him "You only turn 15 once" As stupid as that may seem. It's true. And today was that day.

Brian has always been like this. In the 13 years that I've known him. I've always been the do'er. He's always been the follower, or you've always had to convince him to do everything (Good or Bad). Whether it was stealing those really good Christmas Cookies at those neighborhood Christmas parties while nobody was looking. Or the time I convinced him to go under the table at the annual 4th of July Picnic to look up Cindy Baker's skirt. Oh man he got into so much trouble for that one, but no matter what he did. His Parents never gave him so much as a flick on the ear. I mean who could blame them? They were the classic Middle class Blonde hair Blue eyes Family. Except Brian. He came out with a fiery red head of hair and Hazel eyes. Weird combination I know but something about the funny peach fuzz mustache and small gap in his teeth and that goofy face you couldn't help but just let him get away with everything. Including his famous sarcasm. But I guess not everybody let's you get away with sarcasm.

So I know he's coming as soon as I can see his red hair and tall lanky body sprawling out of his bedroom window. He's taller than the average 15 year old. But skinnier than an average person his height. Anyway he nearly dies climbing out (As usual) but he always manages to cling to life. Finally he reaches the bottom and turns towards me. He has "The look" as I call it, he always wears this face whenever he sneaks out. But nothing an Energy Drink and a Chocolate bar can't fix. I give him a big ol' Birthday hug and for the first time he tells me what HE wants to do "I have one thing I want to do" which he later tells me that he wants to pay his girlfriend a little Birthday visit. And I'm supposed to accompany him. But hey, it's not my birthday "So. Where does Juliet live my sweet Romeo" He gives me directions and tell him for the first time in my life. "Lead the way, Romeo" He doesn't mind that I call him Romeo. He's too Lovestruck to care.

As we approach the nicer side of town he starts to pull out a piece of paper from His pocket "Alright dude, just stay here. I'll call you if I need you" He rides his 10 speed bike slowly and I can tell he's looking for the correct address on the mailbox. Finally I see him stop. Look back at me. Give me that goofy smile with the little gap between his two front teeth. I give him the thumbs up and He hops off his bike and starts walking towards the house. I wait about 20 minutes before I see him storming towards his bike. Keep in mind, it's midnight and I can see how red his face is. Not Red with nervous anxious joy, or of embarrassment. It was red with the anger of 1,000 furious strawberries. I walk over to him "So i'm guessing she isn't your Juliet?" and replies back bitterly "No, I'm not her Romeo. I never was" Turns out he was her little side Romeo. So now here we both are with faces as red as the fury of 1,000 strawberries. It doesn't take me long to cook up a little idea to make my birthday boy a little happier. "So, how do you think Juliet likes eggs? Fried? Scrambled? Over-easy? Sunny side up?" He just shrugs "Idk how she likes her eggs" I guess the whole situation has got his brain all short circuited. "Well my dear Brian, I think she likes her eggs and raw" he looks up towards me with more excitement than when he saw up Cindy Baker's Skirt. "Oh yeah, and we should probably get her some toilet paper to clean it up"

He wipes away a couple tears and a sniffle before hopping onto his bike. I couldn't blame the poor guy. She'd been playing him for 6 months. Whatever he had in mind was already coming to her. As we arrive to the corner store we go in and buy 3 dozen eggs and a 12 pack of toilet paper. (It's go big or go home as we always say) As we're checking out the cashier just gives us the classic "Don't do anything stupid" look and even goes as far as saying it to us. Do we care? Not even the slightest. If the cashier would've actually known what we were about to do he would've given it to us for free and congratulated us on our brave endeavor and courage and honor and rough justice. And we would've told him too! But for the fact that what we were doing is slightly illegal. The less people know, the better. Just Brian and I performing our single greatest feat.

We get outside and it was a little bit after 1am so Matthew and Alex are calling us and asking where we are. We told them the situation and they gave us one more grand idea. Get a can of spray paint and Spray "It wasn't me, I swear" on the grass in our front yard. So I tell Brian to wait outside and I went back in to buy the spray paint. I tell you it was a tough decision between "Soggy driftwood Khaki" or "Chocolate brownie" but after I realized the darker the paint the better so I went with "Chocolate Brownie". It's a nice color. I'm at the checkout and there I see him. Brian but he's with 2 unfamiliar people. I'd never seen him hanging out with them before but he was talking to them as if he knew them. I soon find out he doesn't know them at all and they were just making small talk. I keep nudging him to leave. It's not working, and we both know it isn't safe to talk to people at 1:00am in an abandoned parking lot. These guys seem pretty chill but we do have to go. "So Brian. Alex and Matthew are waiting up on us, we shouldn't keep them waiting" Brian nods and we start to leave but suddenly I feel somebody grabbing my Arm. Then it happened.

I swear nothing had happened faster yet. Slower than anything that had ever happened in my entire life. They had done this before. Or if it was their first time they were just well informed on how to do these sort of things. I could see them advancing towards me but I couldn't do anything to stop it. I can see the fist flying towards my face, but I can't seem to dodge it. *BOOM* I got hit *BOOM* again. This time I can't see the third fist coming*WHAM* and it lays me out. My head is spinning and I can taste the blood in my mouth and I'm spitting my blood out. The taste of the iron in my blood. I can feel an immense pressure near my right eye but I don't dare try to touch it. I can't even tell if I can see out of it. Now Brian may be tall and lanky but that did not mean he was un-coordinated. He'd never lost a fight in his life. He managed to dodge the punches thrown to him and he counteracted and knocked down the other guy. At first I thought "Oh my God, Brian has got this in the bag" That's when my stomach dropped. I wasn't getting punched anymore. I wasn't even standing. Where's the other guy? I couldn't see him anymore. He's nowhere to be seen. Oh no. There he is.

I tried to get up but it was too hard, I fell instantly but he seen me try to get up so he decided to grace me with a kick to the side and that seemed to take all the air out of me and I'd lost 3 of my senses. I could barely see, I couldn't taste anything, and I for some reason felt completely numb and useless. I could smell my blood on the floor and I can hear Brian screaming for help and by some miracle of God I finally stood up and managed to Tackle one of the guys and clock him once or twice in the face before he elbow'd me directly in the face and I black out. I wake up like 10 seconds later and Brian is on the floor. I think to myself well at least that is over and I can see the guys running in the distance. There's a pool of blood around Brian. And. It's getting bigger.

I hear somebody screaming "Hey!!" it's the cashier from the store. He looks at me and the face he's making is as if he is witnessing birth. But that only lasts for a second. I look over at Brian. He's not moving, he's not even breathing. The cashier calls 911 and I start to feel warm in my lower back. I guess I'd forgot to notice the fact that I have a giant gash in my lower back due to the knife the guy was using and I myself am sitting in a pool of blood. Except mine is getting bigger, and Brian's hasn't gotten any bigger. I crawl to him to try and wake him up. My worst dream has come true. I killed My friend.

I barely remember what they looked like. It wasn't important to me at the time. The last thing I remember was reaching towards Brian and somebody pulling me backwards. After that I just remember bright lights and mumbled voices. I don't remember the pain or what I heard. Just the taste of blood and the pressure on my forehead. Turns out I had a fracture in my head and a couple of teeth got knocked out. Never felt worse in my life. I haven't slept a full night since. I still hear his screaming in my sleep, I wake up in cold sweat almost every night. I've been clinically diagnosed a victim of depression. I don't argue with it. I feel depressed constantly and I hate everybody.