Andy

There was too much activity and movement for my groggy, sleep deprived mind to handle. I could hear the muffled sound of a news reporter on the TV droning on, and the quiet screech of zippers being pulled shut on my parents’ suitcases.

I wallowed in my oddly scented pillows and blankets, hands curling out at odd angles, trying to find a comfortable position on the lumpy mattress. But in the end, all I probably took away from sleeping in that room was bedbugs.

But it wasn’t all that noise that woke me up completely, but the deep sound of someone’s voice singing Alkaline Trio.

I glared out from under my pillow, which I had pulled across my face in an attempt to keep out the sunlight and noise. Andy, stood distracted in front of the full body mirror beside the TV, rocking back and forth on his heels, singing absently, looking at his reflection while he casually sipped coffee from a foam cup.

Groaning, I rolled onto my back completely and tossed off the pillow. My parents were preoccupied with packing, drinking coffee and discussing the day’s plans. Looking at the clock, it was only 6:30.

“- We’ll be to Berkeley by noon. Then we can pick up Grandma Evelyn, and take her out to lunch. We won’t have a lot of time for visiting people, but I figure if we space things out, we should be able to see everyone. Evelyn today, Mickey and his daughter tomorrow, Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Roger on Thursday, Grandma and Grandpa Hillger and the cousins on Friday. Not a lot of time for sightseeing this time around.” My Mother sighed, neatly folding her floral blouse, placing it back in her suitcase.

“Well, we’ll be making our way back to California in a couple weeks again, assuming things go as planned.” My Dad replied, double checking his things before zipping his case shut.

“Asheen!” My Mother sang as she passed my bed. “Get up or we’ll go on without you.”

“Doesn’t sound too bad...” I grumbled under my breath, slowly making my way to my feet, going to get my bag, and dragging it into the bathroom.

“Make sure you have a dress to change into later, we’re going out to lunch with your Grandma Evelyn.” My Mother called thrugh the door.

“Yep...” I sighed, shuffling though the random assortment clothing I’d packed yesterday in my sleepy morning stupor. There were band shirts, shirts with stains, tank tops, mostly jeans and shorts, and the one dress I packed. I made a mental note of where it’d be for later, opting to wear a pair of white wash blue jeans with a turquoise tank top.

Grabbing my things, I joined my parents and Andy, who were almost ready to go.

Andy threw back the last of this coffee, winced, and tossed his cup into the trash can. “I’ll be in the car.” He told me, straightening his Prophet jacket, heading out the door.

It still shocked me when I thought about it... My best friend is a ghost. A peculiar, unusual ghost with a fascinating personality. Though in the last few days that he’d techinically been ‘back’, we poked and prodded at each other more than anything, with snippy comments and jokes... We hadn’t had a legitimately heartfelt conversation since our last argument... It just felt like niether of us knew what to say about it.... To me, what he’d done was wrong, but to him, he was doing some civillian service by staying here, spying on me for a week.

Just thinking about it sparked annoyance and betrayal into me again. I sighed, picking up my suitcases to take them out to the car. But to get there, required walking through the lobby, where the creepy receptionist waited. Part of me wanted to wait on my parents, the other half just wanted to get to the car, to talk to Andy in peace for a few moments before we’d have to endure another few hours of silence and hand signals.

Luckily, no one was at the counter when I walked through the lobby, but I could hear him on the phone in the back room. When I caught whiff of what his conversation was about, I walked faster.

Now I’m sure Crownskale is a nice little retirement town and all, but this particular hotel, I had no intentions of returning to, and just being within it gave me a grossed out feeling, like no matter how much of the unsanitary water you splashed on your face and scrubbed your skin with, you were just surrounded by filth.

I pushed up the sleeves of my hoodie as I made my way outside and across the parking lot. The day warmer, the sun already heating the town in a low boil, and by noon, not a person would be on the streets because they’d scorch if they stayed outside too long. I bet there’s a good market for sunscreen here...

Throwing my bags in the trunk, after unlocking it with the key set my Dad handed me on the way out, I went to find Andy. He sat in the backseat, with the headphones in his ears, volume loud enough to tell he was listening to Misfits.

“We need to talk.” I sighed, looking over my shoulder to make sure we were still alone, trying to gauge how much time we had to talk before my parents showed up.

He looked at me in confusion, but paused his music anyways, pulling the headphones from his ears, he waited for me to speak. “What’s up?”

“We need to talk through some things.” I told him reluctantly, looking down at my hands. “The past few days of having you back have been great, but there’s just some things we need to talk through. We don’t have time right now, but later... I’m just letting you know.”

“Warning me that you’ll be bitching me out?”

“I’ll try not to, jackass.” I joked with a sigh, climbing into the backseat to wait for my parents to finish checking out.

“I eavesdropped.” He clarifed after a moments, I shot him a confused look. “Yeah?... Seems you’re pretty good at that now.”

“Don’t make fun of my predicament.” He replied with a frown. “Anyways, you’re having lunch with your Grandmother today, correct?”

“Yes?”

“Good.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see.”

“Please...” I begged with an exasperated sigh, “Please don’t do something weird.”

“Psh, do something weird? That’s ridiculous.” He said dismissively, “This is more experimental.”

“Really?” I asked sarcastically, “Because if I do remember, sneaking out at night to paint your body with face paint was also experimental, and we both know how normal that was.”

He snorted, dropping the conversation as my parents approached the car, voices muted by the car doors.

Already, things felt like a repetitive loop. They got in, told me we were getting breakfast at McDonalds on the way out of town, but I tuned out most of it... I was just getting tired of coming up with replies.

The drive, was uneventful. I spent the majority of it, either sharing muffins and pringles with Andy while we watched The Mortal Instruments on my laptop, listening to music, and sleeping. Andy slept for a while and snored horrifically, sounding like a grizzly bear in the backseat.

For a while, I just sketched aimlessly, glancing out the car windows again, an unfamiliar artist playing through my headphones. We were a half hour outside of California, with another hour drive to my Grandma’s house in Berkeley.

When we drove past a clique of girls walking alongside the road as we passed through another Bed & Breakfast town, it reminded me of home. Sitting by the window, girls like them would walk my street every now and again. Low cut shirts and short shorts seemed to be the only fashion they understood. 75% of them had their noses to the screen of their phones, while that last 25% was whining about some drama that was taking place in our school.

Even before things had changed, I wasn’t a super social person. I kept to myself for the most part and was always polite. That’s what’s expected of you if you live on the small side of Pendant, go to church on Sundays and have two perfect parents with perfect jobs. It was almost the equalvelent of being a pastor’s daughter.

Though, by now, you’d think everyone understood the meaning of the quote “Nobody’s perfect.” Because last summer, our pastor, his daughter did get knocked up and it caused quite the stir of commotion in the community. It was new drama for the otherwise very kind and friendly townspeople to swirl around and blow out of proportion.

And when it did, I remember just hearing they moved away. Packed up and moved for Idaho. And the following Sunday, he’d been replaced by Pastor Davis as though nothing had ever happened, and like childish brats, no one even breathed Pastor Frank’s name again, maybe because they thought it was sinful to associate with him or something because of an unholy act his daughter had done. Which just goes to show how rotten the world has become. Even the finest of minds are corrupt if given the chance to show their true colors.

Pendant was an otherwise, calm, sweet little town, if you did like my Dad did, and avoided the actual city part of it. Remaining in the isolated small town on the other side of the river, because the people who’ve been here since dirt are too scared to venture out and see the rest of the city where they’ve squandered half of their lives, most likely working register jobs and mechanic positions.

When things become too straight forward, it’s easy to see which way the wind is blowing, and the main force behind all the tales I just mentioned is fear. Fear keeps people from exploring, fear keeps people from associating with those who have done wrong, fear keeps people isolated.

And now I wonder... If fear is what has consumed me.

Notes

Chapter inspired by "Ribcage" by Andy Black.
I listened to it last night, and actually had to laugh at how similar it sounds to this story, especially the verse (I don't know it word for word) about having no heartbeat. The song is really good and I psyched for it to be on iTunes.
Also! I met someone in Lusk the other day who could teach me guitar and I'm really excited about it. I can play bits and pieces of things, like Mortician's Daughter, Brain Stew by Green Day, The Light Behind Your Eyes by My Chemical Romance, but I really want to learn the whole instrument. She teaches piano, too yessss.

shoutouts!

- anathema
- Allie_BVB
- Nikki