Author's Note: Today marks a year since I wrote this story: Thought it would be appropriate to update now. Can't believe it's been this long...

Answers

JUNE 18th, 2011

My eyes slowly opened as the first ray of sunlight hit my eyes. I squinted, putting my arm in front of my face to avoid any more light. My focus cleared and I realized I was still sitting in the chair I was in when I was on the computer: Must have dozed off. I got up from the chair and bumped the desk a little, the computer screen turning back on, revealing the porn site I was on last night.

Forgot to shut the computer off.

I hastily went to close the web window, until I heard the doorknob turn on my door. Keith knocked on the door while opening.

"Hey man, you up?"

"Morning!" I rushed to cover the computer screen with my body.

He gave me a suspicious look. "So...you're on the computer you right now?"

"Uh, yeah, just on the web."

"What web page are you on?"

"A news site..."

"Interesting, didn't know you were into the news."

"Yeah, who would have known?" I started to sweat a bit.

Keith looked at me with an annoyed expression, "Mordecai, move away from the computer."

I sighed and moved away, making the screen very visible to him.

Keith shook his head in shame, "I thought you were better than that man." He walked to the computer and sat in the chair.

I pleaded, "Look, I'm sorry, it's just-"

"I thought you'd know..."

"Know what?"

He turned around to me, "...Everyone knows...you're supposed to clear your history and close the page after looking at porn." He began laughing.

I put my head down, but then brought it up, "Wait, what?"

"You should've seen your face, you looked so worried!" He continued to laugh holding on to his gut.

"I thought you'd be mad."

"Dude, why would I be mad? Everyone does it."

"Well yeah, but."

"It's okay. I'm just surprised you'd start watching it this early in the morning."

"Well I actually watched it last night."

"Last night? After how tired you were?"

"...Something happened." I sat on the bed.

Keith sat next to me, "What happened."

"Remember Rhonda?"

Keith nodded.

"I got a call from her friend Shell..."

I stopped, realizing what I just said.

I called Shell, "Rhonda's friend" instead of "my friend".

I shook out of thought, "To make a long story short, she informed me about where Rhonda was. Turns out, she just got over me and started seeing someone else. And Shell knew all about it, leaving me in the dark. She tried justifying it, but...I'm still pissed."

Keith looked away for a second, "Damn, sorry to hear that man."

"I swear, things have been going bad lately, at least for me anyway. It's like the people that used to be my friends, are showing their true colors...and none of them are good. What if Rigby are Adria start turning out that way? What if I lose them?"

"Don't be silly. You're not going to lose them. You've been through so many things with them and have been able to get past and still be friends. I mean you killed Rigby at one point, brought him back to life and you two are still bros. And those 3 girls stop being friends with you because you're the only one who makes sense during all this? Those girls won't your friends in the first place. It's about quality, not quantity, and those girls obviously have no quality to them."

My head rose up after Keith finished speaking.

"Damn," I said. "You're right. But still I can't help but wonder if there's any patching that can be done. If there's some way to fix all of this or get pass it. I just need some kind of answer."

"...You know some people find answers in a bottle of alcohol. Others find in some holy book. I try out both, but I like this one the most." Keith got up from the bed and went into the wall closet. He pulled out a small, yellow book and sat back down next to me. "This is called, 'The Answer Book'. This is how it works. You put the book in the palm of your hand and ask it any question you want, while stroking the pages of the book for 10 seconds. Each page has an answer on it. Once the 10 seconds are up, just open the book to a random page and the answer will be there. Let me show you: Should I have a glass of scotch with my dinner tonight?"

Keith had the book and his hand and stroked the pages for exactly 10 seconds and then opened the book. He read the answer aloud.

"[Think carefully before doing so] Hmm...interesting."

"It's a vague answer," I questioned.

"Not all answers are meant to be straight forward. They involve thought. The book told me to think carefully before doing so. Maybe scotch isn't appropriate for me to drink with my dinner tonight. Maybe I would like something else. Here," Keith gave me the book. "Try it out with your question."

"...Okay." I put the book in the palm of my hand and stroked the pages while asking my question:

"Is there a way to fix all the things that have been going wrong lately?"

The 10 seconds were up. I took a deep breath and opened the book, to a page that not only shocked me by its truthfulness, but also made me take a picture of the page for me to always remember.

[Move On]