Nailed by Patrick Jones

Author:Patrick Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Walker Books
Published: 2006-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

“Bret, what’s wrong?”

Before I can answer Alex, I turn away from the basement window, stagger a few feet back toward the driveway, and leave my macaroni-and-cheese dinner in a steaming yellow bile pile in the gathering snow. I wipe my mouth off, catch my breath, and wish I were dead.

“What’s Kylee’s car doing here?” Alex innocently asks; he hasn’t seen what I’ve seen. It’s an image I’ll never forget as long as I live, which, with any luck, won’t be much longer.

“Are you okay?” Alex asks as he walks over toward me. I motion for him first to be silent, and then wave at him to stay away. He catches on that something is very wrong and gets back in the car. I sit in the snow, rocking back and forth, holding my arms tight around my wet knees, trying to fight off the panic that washes over me like the falling February snow.

“Let’s go,” Alex says as he taps me on the shoulder. I didn’t hear him get back out of the car, but now he’s beside me. He sticks out his hand and helps me up, then we walk back to his wheels. He slides in front, while I crawl in the back and collapse into a fetal ball.

“What the hell’s going on?” Alex asks forcefully.

“Just drive!” I shout, my throat sore from swallowing tears and tossing my dinner. My lungs are burning, my hands are a block of ice, and my heart is broken. Kill me now.

“Where to?” Alex asks in a quiet, respectful tone.

“I don’t know yet,” I reply, trying to think if there’s a steep enough cliff in all of Flint.

“Bret, talk to me,” Alex says, but he’s not pushing.

“Kylee and Sean,” I say. The image of Kylee with Sean churns like acid in my stomach.

“What do you mean?” Alex says. Is he that clueless or that trusting? Or maybe he already knows. He’s got more history with Sean, so why wouldn’t he turn on me like Kylee?

I bite down hard on my bottom lip until I can taste blood. I don’t want to scream at Alex. I just want to die in order to escape from this nightmare.

“I’m taking you home,” Alex says. “I don’t know what else to do with you.”

“Kylee and Sean,” I repeat, stunned by the words and the dislocation of Sean’s name paired next to Kylee’s. “She was … she’s cheating on me. He’s cheating on me.”

“God, Bret, I’m sorry,” Alex says, pulling the car off the road. “I didn’t know.”

“Swear on your father’s grave.” I reach out and grasp the handle of the car door, because if Alex knew about this, I will exit the car and become a speed bump on the highway. The pain of getting run over would be better than facing that kind of betrayal.

Alex turns to face me, and then reaches out to touch my shoulder. “Bret, I swear.”

“Thank you,” is all I can say because I can’t fall any farther into this abyss.

“I can’t believe it.

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