Hey sorry for the gap in posting, stuff and things goin' on, and if you read my profile a reason for my change in pen name is available, okay here we go with the next chapter folks.
And don't forget to review!
I could listen and listen, I get the feeling it still won't make sense.
In the car on the ride over, Randy was silent, except for instructions on where to go.
Left here, straight on, second street on the right, never an inclination of where we were going, just directions.
He didn't even look at me, just stared out the window at the passing scenery.
A look of deep pensive thought on his face, his brow creased in concentration.
"Hey Randy?" I asked softly, "What did you want to tell me."
"Huh? What?" He asked startled swinging his eyes to me, needing a few seconds to focus.
I repeated my question. "You wanted another game of Remember When? Why? And for what?" I added.
He smiled, a tight, wry little ghost of his former sunny grin, "For intensive purposes only Brad, but lets hit the fast-forward button here for a moment. Where we're going I…. I'm not 100% certain what we'll find." He told me nonchalantly his voice not hiding the underlying emotion. "Shit!" He gasped quietly as he rubbed his face with his hands before dragging them backwards through his hair.
"Randy? Buddy? You're scaring me here." I told him softly.
He turned to me his face stricken, "Sorry Brad, it's just…. it…it's not…it won't………Dammit it doesn't make sense in my head!" He explained haltingly, thumping the dashboard with his fist on his last word. "And I can't remember it all." He added in a soft voice.
I knew I was missing something; one piece of this jigsaw puzzle that only Randy seemed to have, he held it and saw the big picture, what I saw was disjointed fragments of a nightmare that was real. I saw a pissed off Mark run from me, and a zoned out Randy, I saw a look of fear and realization as well as heartbreaking remorse on Randy's face and a big hole where the piece fit that meant it all made sense.
"Randy? Tell me."
When he looked at me I almost regretting requesting that last section.
"It, it was after you left for UCLA, af-after the accident." Brad shuddered involuntarily at the recollection of his fathers voice in his head, "Son, Randy's been in an accident…………"
"Mark got…Weird after you left, he didn't like me, he felt nervous around me, we barely spoke, he'd disappear for hours on end. One day I walked into the bathroom and the door wasn't locked, it made no sense, no sense, he was standing there, just standing, and he didn't blink. He was holding the diazepan I had for my back, there were 12 tablets left I know that for a fact." He paused, his eyes fixed intently on me, my eyes on the road as the scenery sped by, "4 tablets is enough to kill you Brad. Left here." He continued in the same tone.
I swerved into the turning and swore under my breath, "Are you telling me he tried to kill himself?" I asked incredulously. He didn't say anything, didn't nod. But he didn't shake his head either. He just turned and watched the landscape flash by us in dark whorls of colour; we'd left Bloomington behind and were headed up the bluff.
"Randy?" I pushed "Randy?"
"I don't remember," He choked out tearfully, "I don't remember!"
"What? What don't you remember?" I quizzed my heart racing.
Suddenly he ordered, "Stop here, we've gotta walk."
"What?" I asked bewildered, stepping on the brakes as they crunched on the gravel of the parking lot.
"We're going up to the bluff, we need to walk or he'll know we're coming and…look lets go okay?" Randy explained, striding into the darkness, I watched him a moment, bewildered, before following his slight form up the trail.
The darkness was close on both sides although I barely noticed it; I saw Randy cast several wary glances to right then left systematically. I shook my head smiling softly Randy always was afraid of the dark.
With a jolt I remembered, "Randy," I called in an unnecessary stage-whisper, "What were you gonna tell me?" I asked for the second time that night.
"Mark comes up here to think Brad, I found him here one time last year, it was the first time he spoke to me in two weeks I remember that, not one word for two weeks and no one noticed 'cept me. And him. D'you know what he said? He said, "The colours in the rainbow always outshine the pastels." Randy barked a short laugh "And I thought he'd flipped, but it made sense Brad, it did."
I blinked. I was so confused my eyeballs hurt. "What?"
"He thinks we're better than he is Brad, he thinks we're the bright colours and he's the pastel." Randy dashed away a tear, I know he did, but I can't testify on it, it was dark.
He was away up the trail instantly and all I could do was follow, my eyeballs aching and dozens of questions on my lips.
Okay thanks there's like um 2 more chapters left, so time grows short my friends but hey I have 2 other stories and one in the works, ::thinks:: no y'know what? My other story posted at the moment "Life wasn't meant to be like this" really isn't worth it it's a bit second rate and my favourite character's dead, the ficlet, "After the Storm" is okay but a bit short. So I'll post my new series ASAP.
Later Days! Charmed Rebel formerly Indigo Haze
