Tory's mental exhaustion made it easy for him to nap. Sometimes it was an escape from the mental side of life. He needed it tonight.
After a few hours of sleep, the sound of someone knocking at the door.
"Whaaaa..." he said half awake.
"Sweetie, I left you a list of things we need from the store. I've had an awful day, would you mind going for me?"
"Like I haven't" he thought. "Fine... gimmie a minute".
Tory was half remembering the fact that his notebook was gone. Now he was sitting on the side of his bed with his head in his hands.
"What time is it?" he said to himself, still groggy.
10:15
"I slept too long, now I'll be up all night". He heard his mom again and started to drag his weary frame downstairs.
"It's only a few items" she said, meeting him at the bottom of the stairs. "Here's $40, if there's change, get something for yourself" as she kissed him on the cheek.
"Whatever".
Tory dragged his feet for a few blocks to the 24 hour pharmacy. The whole way, the idea of his missing notebook started to creep back in. What were the odds that someone was actually going to do something with it. He tried to convince himself that he shouldn't worry about it. He didn't even remember what he passed on the way to the store, but here he was. He stood inside, looking at the list and trying to compute what it is he had to do.
Milk, soda, eggs, bread, asprin, batteries. "Nothing she couldn't have gotten on the way home" he muttered. All of the sudden...
"Holy shit" Tory said to himself... "Colin..."
There was Colin, standing with Doctor Garrets in the back of the store at the pharmacy. He quickly ducked behind a display of stacked soda bottles to keep looking. Colin looked very upset and Doctor Garrets was almost yelling at the pharmacist.. something about the wrong dosage of some drug or so,ething. No notebook to take any of this in, but it looked like a scene he could hardly forget.
"How about this instead?" Tory overheard Garrets say as he slammed something on the counter. The pharmacist rang it up and a security guard walked up to him and started to take him by the arm. "Let go, he fucked this up. Look at him" Doctor Garrets pointed to Colin. "Sir, maybe you should take your son to the hospital." replied the guard.
"I'm taking him where he needs help" said Garrets, who pulled his arm away from the guard and dragged Colin away with him. Tory moved around the soda display so to keep out of site.
Once they were out of site, Tory raced to the checkout. "Gotta write all this down and figure this out".
The long line at the lone cashier made Tory sweat with anticipation. He kept running the scene over and over in his head so he wouldn't forget what he saw. What was wrong with him? For the first time since he's known Colin, he was very worried about him. Not just because he was sick, because of the way Dr. Garrets was screaming an acting. That can't be good.
"Thanks, I'll bag it". Tory piled all the items into one bag and started to race for the exit. He walked out the front door and right into...
Colin.
"Uhhhh... HEY!" said Tory
"HI!".said Colin, with a huge smile on his face.
Tory's mind was racing. This was the kid who, just five minutes ago, looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown. I've never seen him that bad and I've never seen him smiling like he is now.
"I was just getting a few things for my mom, she's hasn't had a good day" replied Tory
"Oh...?"
"The usual... just to get us thru breakfast... and batteries" Tory smiled, still VERY confused
"With those eggs?" Colin pointed to the bag that was dripping with the remains of broken eggs.
:"I guess I wasn't that careful" he said, his face becoming flush with embarassment.
"You wanna hang out" said Colin.
Now this was odd, the scene that took place five minutes ago, he looked like he was going to be in tears. Now he's outside... no Doctor Garrets... at least he didn't SEEM to be around... and here he is making conversation.
"Aaah.. I guess, but weren't you..." Tory caught himself mid sentence
"I was... what?" asked Colin
'Quick, say something' thought Tory
"Err... heading home, it's late." Tory smiled.
CLOSE ONE he thought.
"Nah, nobody's home. But your mom's home; mind if I hang with you at your place tonight?"
GULP
TO BE CONTINUED
