Devin’s hope for things improving slowly died. His friends ultimately chose to not listen to his side of the story and ignore what he had to say. All but Chris chose to ignore him. Devin thought the guys would at least let him explain but they didn’t. It was no surprise to Devin when he turned to alcohol. He was drowning in misery so he wanted to drown in alcohol. If it killed him, at least he wouldn’t be coherent enough to feel it.

So that’s how Devin found himself at a bar on 12th street. He drank an entire bottle of whiskey and didn’t plan on stopping. He drank as much as he could before the bar tender realized how much Devin had and cut him off. The bar tender tried to sober him up by giving him water but Devin wouldn’t have it. “Just let me be drunk. Please let me forget that I’m homeless and I’ve lost everything because I loved a woman who didn’t love me. She took all I had and she got me arrested. My friends hate me. The whole god damn world hates me and they don’t know the truth. Please just let me be drunk so I don’t have to feel this anymore.”

The bartender didn’t budge and kept giving Devin water. When he refused to drink it, the bartender got a hold of Devin’s phone and called the ICE contact.


“Hello. Is this Chris?” the bartender asked

“Yeeeeah. How can I help you?” he answered.

“ I work here at the bar on 12th street. Your friend is drunk and is at his the limit and is asking for more alcohol. We have his keys, can you pick him up or something?”

“Yeah, uh give me like 15 minutes. I gotta get dressed and tell my roommate.”

“Alright. When you get to the door, tell the security guys ‘you like ketchup on your ketchup.’ He’ll know I sent you.” The bartender said.

“Alright. Thanks.” Chris said.
His roommate, Ricky was not pleased with Devin right now. Chris tried to explain to Ricky that the story he read online was completely false.

He knocked on the door, He knew Ricky often stayed up late and said, “Hey, I got to go pick up someone because their drunk and the bartender called me.”

“Who?” Ricky asked.

“Dev.”

“Absolutely not. I will not have someone who got arrested and is soon to be charged with the crime of assault to a woman, stay with us. He will not stay here. I will not allow it. No. He can go back to his own place.”

“Ricky, he doesn’t have an apartment now?”

“What happened?”

“His landlord kicked him out because of the charges. They told him they didn’t want someone like him living there.” Chris said.

“Serves him right.”


“Rick. You and I both know Devin could never raise a hand to anyone, let alone a woman. Besides, he’s so quiet; he would never say mean stuff to her. He’s Devin. He’s one of your best friends. You saw how much he loved her. He bought a goddamn ring because he wanted to marry her, and do you know what happens? He comes home from tour to find out she’s pregnant. And it’s not his kid, and its not her first kid either. She’s been cheating on him for their entire relationship. She used him as a money source. She took all of his money. Do you remember being on tour and the few times we go out and eat, he stayed back? Do you remember? He stayed back because he couldn’t afford to go with us. No matter how much he does to stay afloat, he was struggling to make ends meet. He never once asked for help. Did he ask you for money? Nope. He never once asked for help. He never even mentioned it. He’s been given so much shit lately that I’m surprised he hasn’t cracked yet. The poor kid is only 24. Have you seen how much hate he has gotten online? People told him to go kill himself, and so many more cruel things. Hell someone found out about his childhood and put it all online.”

“What about his childhood?” Ricky asked.

“His dad beat his mom and verbally abused him. He watched as his dad beat her senseless. His dad said so many cruel things to him. Have you ever wondered why he is so quiet? He’s seen some fucked up shit. So if by helping him through this shit is all I can do, you bet your ass I’m going to do it.”

“Look. I didn’t know it was like that.”

“You were quick to judge. That’s why this is all blown out of proportion. When he was taken in, the police beat him for now reason. They cracked a few of his ribs, gave him a minor concussion. I saw him cry Ricky. He cried. Does that sound like the Devin you know? Does it?”

“Look. Just go get him and we’ll deal with this one step at a time, okay?” Ricky told Chris.

Chris then hurried off to the bar with Ricky. Ricky was going to drive Devin’s car back. When he got there, he told the security guy who cracked a smile and said, “Your friend is right this way.” And showed him to Devin. Devin sat there with his head on the countertop. His hair was a mess and he had a beard going on. Chris even noticed that he had his eyebrows growing in.

The bar tender handed Chris Devin’s keys which he then handed to Ricky. Ricky nodded and went to find Devin’s car. Devin wasn’t able to stand on his own very well. The bartender said to Chris, “Hey man. I don’t normally do this, but your friend seemed like he could use some good positive vibes sent his way. This one time, I’m gonna look the other way and his tab is gonna be closed. He doesn’t have to pay. But don’t tell anyone I did this, ok?” Chris thanked him and then ended up carrying Devin out to the car. Devin started crying in the car and kept saying, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Chris had no clue why Devin kept apologizing but told him, “It’s alright Ghost man. It’s all going to be ok.”

Ricky had finally found Devin’s car when Chris got Devin into the apartment. The car looked like it’d seen better days. He drove a little ways when he decieded he wanted some music. He went to put in one of Dev’s CDs when a paper fell out of the album package.

Chris had let Devin go to the bathroom. He seemed more sober and was able to stand on his own. Chris’s phone rang so he answered it, “hello?”

“DUDE WHATEVER YOU DO DON’T LEAVE GHOST ALONE.” Ricky said frantically.

“WHAT? Why?” Chris said panicked. He realized he let Devin go to the bathroom almost 10 minutes ago.

“I… I found a suicide note. It was tucked in with his favorite HIM CD.”

“Fucking shit. I let him go to the bathroom 10 minutes ago. Its hella quiet.”

“Go check on him. I’ll see you in like 10.”

Chris hummed in response and hung up. He ran to the door and knocked on it. “Ghost. You ok, man?”

Getting no response, he knocked again. When no response came, he got the bathroom door key and opened the door. He screamed at what he saw.

Notes