Author's Note: Sorry for the wait on this one. I've been really busy with school and haven't had time to work on any stories. Anyway, this chapter is very intense and you'll finally get the answer of where a certain someone is located...
Meltdown
JUNE 17TH, 2011
Things have been quiet lately. And by that, I mean no returning bad memories, no kind of sadness, just relaxation. Keith knows about a lot of fun things to do around here. We went to a barbecue one day, a carnival another, and even squeezed in a concert with a band I didn't even know about. I haven't felt this carefree since me and Rigby first got our jobs at the park, when we didn't really care whether Benson would fire us or not. When we did almost whatever we wanted.
I fixed myself a bowl of cereal and watched a little TV. The bugs were nice enough to offer me juice or a newspaper to read. I have to say, I'm getting used to their beeping...but I'm not sure if that's a good thing. Either I'm going deaf or I really am adapting to them. I chuckled at the thought.
Keith came from his room and greeted me while fixing a cup of coffee for himself, "Morning Mordecai."
"Morning," I said drowsily.
"So, what do you feel like doing today?" He sat down at the table with me.
"Dunno. I'm kind of feeling a little lazy today."
"In that case, I know just the thing we can do."
"And what would that be?" I ate another spoonful of cereal.
"Video game...marathon. Playing Dig Champs and Shooter Booter and whatever else we can find, all day, until we crash."
"It'll have to be after I fully wake up." I rubbed my eyes.
"Alright, just let me know. I'll get all the food and soda ready." Keith got up and started getting food from the cabinets.
The phone rang.
"I'll get it!" I got up and picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Mordecai, it Benson."
"Oh hey."
"So, how's everything going. All of us back at the park wanted to know how you were."
"I'm fine. Things are better, quiet, just what I needed."
"Well good. They be glad to hear that." There was a pause. "You know, Rigby misses you quite a bit."
"I can imagine, but I'm sure Eileen's keeping him company."
"And that she is. She's comes over when she can to play games with him or to take him out somewhere. Still, he misses having you around to do all the whacked up shit you two do together," Benson joked.
"You know you love it."
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I've got some good news.
"Okay..."
"After selling mostly all of Pop's antiques to the pawn shop, and getting all this money from it, there is a possibility I could give you and Rigby a raise and be prepared financially for any future damages to the park."
"Great, so how much are we talking?"
"I said it was a possibility. I have to make sure Skips gets a raise as well and I have be absolutely sure I can afford giving out raises."
"Yeah, that's true."
"Oh and there's one more thing I have to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Mr. Ken told me how's Margaret's doing?"
"Oh really?" I said with not much care.
"Yeah, he said Margaret got a D on that last project she had."
"..."
"Mr. Ken's not sure if she'll have to repeat the grade or not but things aren't okay for academically.
"..."
"Mordecai, you still there?"
I took a deep breath. The reason I wasn't so responsive was because I simply have just pushed Margaret out of my mind. I don't want to have worry about her again.
"Sorry, Margaret's just not my main focus anymore."
"Understandable, but I think you should know something else about how's she's doing."
I huffed, "Alright, like what?"
"Well Mr. Ken told me he's seen her around with another guy: An ostrich named Jeremy."
Jeremy, huh?
"Yeah right, I bet it was just for a day."
"Not exactly, I've seen them walk around the park a few times."
"Ah, well I wish Jeremy luck, knowing how she can be now."
"Yeah," Benson chuckled.
I turned around to see Keith setting up the game console in the living room.
"Come on man, I'm ready for the marathon!" Keith called.
"Okay, I coming!" I answered back, pulling the phone away from my face. I put it back to my ear and said, "Well thanks for the update Benson. I have to go."
"Playing video games?"
"How did you know?"
"Lucky guess..."
"Whatever," I joked. "See you around."
"See ya, enjoy your vacation."
I hung up and joined my cuz for what would be a long day of gaming.
[xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
We spent more than 3 hours on Dig Champs: Keith had the shovel and I had the pickaxe. (Now I know why Rigby hated that character so much) We started to get a little quiet but decided to take a quick coffee brake to boost our energy, and continued on. We spent some time to on Alien Conqueror, but quit very early in, since all the strategy for that game hurt our heads.
5 PM.
"Getting tired yet?" Keith asked in a very quick voice.
"Nope, not at all!" I said, shaking from the all the caffeine I had.
"Cool, let's keep going! Shooter Booter's next."
"Shouldn't we eat first?!"
"Screw that! We can eat after we win some matches!"
"Cool!"
"Cool!"
Unfortunately, our performance on the online matches sucked. We were so hyper, we spent more time around in circles than actually shooting anybody. Everyone was coursing us out over the headset.
9 PM
"Still going for it!" Keith yelled tiredly.
"Yeah!"
1 AM
The room was dark, the TV screen providing the only light. Our eyes must have dark red, as I could barely keep mines open.
"Okay dude, that's it, I'm done," I yawned.
"Yeah, I can't hang..." Keith yawned. "I'm going to bed." Keith turned off the system. "We can clean up the mess tomorrow morning. Night cuz." He went to his room and shut the door.
"Night," I called. I went back to my room: My head, fingers and eyes aching.
I got into bed and pulled the sheets over me: Looking up at the ceiling until I would close my eyes and fall fast to sleep. But then, my phone started to ring.
Who could be calling this late?
I checked the caller ID.
It was...Shell.
Still lying in the bed, I answered. "Hello?"
"Hey Mordecai, are you awake," she said softly.
"Well yeah, kind of, what's up?"
"Listen, there's something I have to tell you...it's about Rhonda."
Rhonda
Maybe all this waiting was worth something! I sat up in my bed, a smile forming on my face.
"What is it?" I said excitingly.
It took a while for a response from her.
"Well..." I kept on.
"...Mordecai, I'm...I'm not sure if I should tell you."
My heart started beating from anticipation. "Please, tell me."
"Okay...what did Rhonda say about her previous boyfriend to you?"
"Um," I tapped the bed, trying to remember. "Something like, he broke up with her, because she wouldn't answer him while on her travels when he contacted her and thought she was ignoring him, right?"
"...Why wasn't she able to contact him?"
"She couldn't get any reception."
"...Oh boy..." I kept hearing Shell gulping and breathing heavily after every time she said something."
"Is everything okay?" I questioned.
...
"Shell?"
"I know why Rhonda's boyfriend broke up with her...and it's not because of that."
"Wh-What are you talking about?"
This was not sounding good.
"Look, there's something I never told you about her. She has a tendency to come and go with the guys she meets."
"I don't understand..."
"She talks to guys, tells the m how much they mean to her and then just disappears."
"So what's it all mean?"
"...Mordecai, during that trip Rhonda had, she could have easily contacted her boyfriend form where she was. He kept on thinking the reason why she wouldn't answer is because she was probably with someone else."
"And?"
"When she got back, he kept accusing her of it and she denied it and I backed her."
"..."
"But I knew the truth, she emailed me while on her trip, bragging about the new guy she was with."
"Wait...what are you getting at?"
I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to believe it.
"..."
"Shell?"
"..."
"Shell!"
"...She's doing the same thing to you."
"No..."
"She had met this other guy and her feelings for you just drifted off. She didn't want to hurt your feeling by telling you-"
"So she thought ignoring me would be the better solution," I fist clenched.
"Well-"
"And you never said a damn thing to me."
"Morde-"
"You just kept on pushing me to forget about her." My body heat was increasing.
"Listen, I wanted you to forget about her, so you wouldn't have to come to this realization. That you could forget about her, just as she did to you!" Her voice sounded desperate. She could tell I was angry. I can tell she meant good intentions by her reasoning, but it was sloppy reasoning.
"Besides, you two weren't even together."
And that's what set me off.
"That not the fucking point!" I stood up. "You have no idea what she meant to me! I've been going through some serious crap lately and Rhonda was one of the people that brought a bright side to things!"
The bugs came into my room, probably hearing my yelling. The beeped as if they were afraid of my anger.
I turned around in their location. "Get the fuck out of here! Can't you see I'm busy?" I yelled. They left beeping at a high frequency, probably scared off.
I went back talking to Shell. "You should have told me, at least, instead of stalling!"
"I'm sorry okay! It's just that I couldn't betray my own friend."
"I'm your friend too! What's wrong is wrong and you should have told Rhonda that!"
"I'm sorry Mordecai," I heard her choking up.
I started feeling a little guilty, but my anger overcame. I wasn't sure whether to forgive her or forget her. Both Shell and Rhonda.
"...You and Rhonda, better not call me again. I'm done with this..." I hung up and slumped on the bed.
3 friends. I've lost 3 friends: Margaret, Shell, and Rhonda. 3 girls who I have trusted and all of them are just ruining me. Everytime there's a sure sign of hope, bullshit like this always comes up.
I'm so sick of this shit. Not even on my vacation can I get a fucking break!
I couldn't sleep, not after hearing this.
I went to the computer in the room, searching the internet for something that could make me forget. On one webpage, I saw some kind of ad that had a girl in a bikini doing a very sexy pose.
She won't hurt you...
No! I'm better than that.
You can't get a girl, at least this one is easier to get.
I refuse to resort to a porn sight.
But...it could be a way to relieve stress. It's not like I'll ever get a girl anway.
I senselessly clicked the pic and a whole web page of sexy photos appeared in front of me.
This should take my mind of all this bullshit.
I spent a few minutes "enjoying" these pics, but then I stopped. I remembered something.
"But if you keep this all bottled in, you're going to lose yourself."
Keith was right...
I covered my face in shame.
I just want some peace...
Now it will be a while until I update again, I want to work on my other stories for a bit. This chapter...was certainly interesting to write.
By the way, the mention of Jeremy was just a cameo. Remember, I wrote this story a little while after the Camping Trip episode. Jeremy wasn't introduced until late in the series.