Saving Chester Bennington

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Mike’s POV

          Mike couldn’t believe he’d beaten Chester up like that earlier that evening. He had felt like a total jerk. And he’d laughed at all the things that the rest of his friends had said. If Chester didn’t kill himself tonight, he definitely would soon. So after their attack on the other boy, Mike had left them saying he had to go home early and get some sleep. Dave had rolled his eyes and made some comment about not waking him up that early today. They’d all laughed but Mike had left soon after that. Truth was, he just needed some time to think. He couldn’t really think with Dave, Brad, and Rob around. Sure they were great guys but they would talk. And since he had no school tomorrow, he could spend some time out on a summer night to think. He had finally decided that he should apologize to Chester for what he’d said. He didn’t want the guy to kill himself. He’d never agreed with Dave about it. He felt like he should leave Chester alone now. He’d done enough damage to him. He could find someone else if he really needed too. He wondered what the guys would think about him. Would they kick him out of the group now that he wasn’t going to attack Chester anymore? He hoped not. They’d had a lot of good moments together.

          He wasn’t sure where exactly Chester’s house was. He’d never found it necessary so he tried one of the houses and they told him where to find the Bennington’s. They also told him not to go there because the father was crazy and the son was weird. He shook his head as he walked towards the house. The father may be crazy but he couldn’t be that bad. Everything was exaggerated with them. He walked up the driveway and knocked on the door. He heard thumping from the other side of the door and then yelling.

“I told you not to come back inside you little shit!”

          Mike’s eyes widened and he staggered back away from the door as it opened.

“Who the hell are you?”

“I…uh….must have the wrong house. Sorry. I’ll leave you alone. Sorry,” Mike stuttered as he backed away. The door shut and Mike felt like he’d just been inches from death. But this was the house that the person had told him to come too. He slowly backed away down the driveway. He didn’t want to talk to Chester anymore. His life was more important than this apology. He was just about to leave when he heard a muffled sob from somewhere off to the right. It was dark and he could barely see. He slowly walked towards the spot he’d heard the noise from. He saw a shape huddled up against the side of the house. Mike knew who it was immediately. He continued his slow walk towards the form that still didn’t seem to acknowledge him.

“Chester?” he asked softly. The boy stopped sniffing and glanced up at him from his position on the ground.

“W-what are you doing here?”

“I…um…oh god Chester what happened to you?” Mike whispered as he sat down across from him. A car had just passed and the light had shone on Chester’s face. He was bleeding from his nose and the side of his head.

“It’s nothing I don’t deserve,” Chester replied quietly. Mike felt like he’d been hit in the face. How could he have made fun of this boy? He felt even worse than he had before.

“N-No one deserves this Chester,” Mike said continuing in his soft tone.

“That’s not w-what you said earlier,” Chester said with a little bit of anger.

          Mike knew that they would come to this topic sooner or later but he decided to postpone that talk for a little while. He crawled forward.

“Come on. I’m going to help you get up ok?” he asked quietly.

Chester shook his head, “Go away Mike. I’m fine.”