Sinister Ego : Dangerous Minds

5. Confrontation With An Addict

"Matthew?"

Matthew smiled in an almost shy way. His curly brown hair was as unkept as always, and he wore the same dirty black hoodie that he did every day. I had always felt kind of bad for him. He'd been on drugs for almost a year, and he'd always been a little poorer than most people at school. It was only a matter of time before he got busted and arrested- something he was lucky hadn't happened yet.

He seemed unusually mellow today. Looking him in the eye, I saw something about his pupils didn't exactly look right. There was no doubt he was on something.

"What's up, man?" he asked in a voice that sounded slightly lost. Far off.

I sighed. Like I said, I'd always felt bad for him, and this was one of those instances where I definitely did. I didn't want to have to fight him or hurt him right now. Despite all my anger problems, there were times when I could be extremely empathetic. I wasn't always sure if it was a good thing.

"Look, Matthew. If you want to talk about-"

"Well, I just wanted to talk to my good friend Ricky Alexander," he said, adding an almost girly laugh.

I'd rarely spoken to Matthew in my entire life. Maybe only once or twice a year. We hadn't said a single word on the current issue. I had a feeling that was about to change.

"Ricky!" his voice was suddenly extremely shrill, panicked even. I jumped, startled by his sudden change in mood. "You know I can't raise a child! Look at me! Just look at me!" he grabbed onto his hair with one hand and pulled hard, jabbing a thumb into his chest with the other.

What was Carly thinking, having sex with this guy?

I backed away a few steps. "O-ok, Matthew...but you do understand that if you're the father, I shouldn't have to raise your baby...?"

I braced myself, awaiting the mad reaction of a full blown drug addict.

Instead, I got something different.

Seconds later, Matthew was clinging onto my body, bawling his eyes out, screaming and crying. His elbows were rested on my shoulders, digging into my flesh.

"You don't understand! You don't get it, Ricky! You can't get it!"

I backed up and heaved him off of me. "You don't get it, either!"

I heard a small cry from under me. There was Matthew, looking up at me with a terrified expression, as if I was some sort of monster.

"I'm sorry, man," I said this sincerely. I really was sorry, I had pushed him way harder than I'd meant to. I reached towards him and offered a hand.

He slapped it away.

"Get your shit away from me!" he yelled in that same high pitched, dramatic voice.

And then he was gone.

*******

Rory's dad was sitting at the kitchen table when we got home. I gave him a slight wave, and Rory didn't even seem to notice he was there.

Rory's dad was basically an exact prediction of what Rory would look like in the future. He was short, like Rory. He had blonde hair, like Rory. He was sort of pale, like Rory. He even wore nerdy shirts and read comics, like Rory.

"Hello, boys," he said. And then to Rory, "How was detention?"

Rory shrugged. "The usual."

"And exams?"

I looked down at the mention of exams, the zero and the weird language rushing back into my mind.

"Again, the usual. I'm sure Ricky did great."

His dad smiled at me. "I'm sure he did."

I just gave a quick nod, thinking about what my summer would be like with school added in.

If only they knew what had happened. I'd definitely be sure to tell Rory later. It's not like he could do anything, but maybe I would feel better after talking to him. If I wasn't going to tell my own best friend my biggest secret, the very least I could do was tell him this.

"You cooking tonight?" Rory asked his dad.

"Nah. Don't feel like it. Was thinking about picking up some take out."

"Oh, ok."

"Chinese or Greek?"

"I'm thinking Chinese."

"Alright. Is that ok with you, Ricky?"

I shook myself out of my self loathing thoughts when I saw them staring at me expectantly, waiting for an answer.

"Oh...I have work tonight. I'll just eat a burger or something."

"Alright."

I followed Rory into the living room, where he threw his book bag on the floor and went straight for the playstation controller. He picked up an already opened bag of sour patch kids and began going to town on them.

"Hey, man, can you drive me to work? I gotta get going pretty soon."

My boss hadn't been too happy about my confrontation with Karly. I didn't want to piss him off even further by being late for work.

"You can just take the car," Rory said nonchalantly. "You know where the keys are."

"Alright, man. Thanks. See you later."

"See ya."

I got up and picked up Rory's keys from the kitchen table and began walking to his car. It was five now, and my shift started at five thirty. I'd get off at ten.

Then I'd come back to Rory's house and start figuring out that language.

*******

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