Ballad Ares by Lulu M Sylvian

Author:Lulu M Sylvian [Sylvian, Lulu M]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-10-07T05:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

“Hi Sweetie.” I looked forward to every call from Ares. Whether he called me, or I him. Or if we called more than once a day. I wasn’t expecting this call, we had already spent several hours texting that morning. The sound of his voice always gave me a thrill.

“Craig is dead.” There was a strange gravel to his voice.

I scrambled for the remote and shut off the TV. I could catch up on Tails from the Urban Jungle another time. “Oh Ares. How?” I held my fingers to my mouth in shock.

“Motorcycle.” That’s all he said, it’s all he needed to say. “Have I told you about Craig?”

“Some,” I never met Craig, but I knew some of their history as best friends growing up.

“Do you want to tell me about him?”

“I met him in the first grade, I don’t actually remember it,” Ares began. He continued to tell me how they became best friends and lived actually just half a block away from each other. They became friends within the first few days of school, same class and they walked home in the same direction. They were pretty much best friends from then on. They grew through the same obsessions: music, video games, music, girls, music. In middle school they both joined band, and were hooked. Craig took naturally to woodwinds, Ares did better with string instruments, and eventually left marching band for the school orchestra. They formed their first rock band together. Music became their lives. Music more than girls. Then as they got older, they discovered that girls followed music. They went from band geeks who could never get a date to rocker boys with their choice of girls.

Craig was the one to convince him to start using his middle name. Ares had always been embarrassed by his middle name, thinking it was weird. By the time they were in high school, Ares was a tough name and Tommy was a little boy’s name.

In college they branched away from each other in musical interests. Craig more toward composition and writing for symphonic presentation. Ares toward more rock oriented work. Craig helped Ares get his first real job after college, recording sound bites for video games. Ares continued with rock bands while Craig focused on making bigger and more dramatic soundtracks for the video game industry.

Ares talked about some of the stupid things they did as kids, including the first time they tried to take a car for a joy ride and got caught a block away. Craig was his brother, his best friend, his partner in crime. Girls and women came and went, Craig was always there.

When Ares finished, he was just silent. Ares hurt, and I was three-thousand miles away. I needed to hold him, I thought he needed me to hold him.

“Can you come here?”

I didn’t answer right away, every cell of my being screamed ‘yes if I have to walk,’ but my logic brain was spinning in circles trying to find purchase of focus.

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