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- Getting what you really want, Part Eight
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- by Nicolus Tails
- ====================
-
- It had been more than two days since Aron's funeral. No one had
- talked much about him. Tim had been staying with me for several days, since
- something serious had evolved. But more than that...something good.
- I missed Aron, I really did. I didn't have any idea how much I
- really cared about him, and I guess you really don't until they die, but it
- actually shocked me how much it hurt me. I was irritable, almost to the
- point where Tim would get mad and walk out the door when I would start
- arguing. I was hurt, I was depressed, and I felt bad for pushing my feelings
- onto other people. Too many times I had sat down and cried over what had
- happened.
- I visited the place Aron would remain. His parents had bought an
- elaborate stone for a marker, but it didn't fit. It somehow gave you the
- impression that he was one of the upper class, rich snobs that looked down on
- anybody who made less of a salary than they did. But Aron wasn't like that.
- I don't care what anyone says, Aron was a real human inside. But I didn't
- know how much until I talked to Justin.
-
- Justin had come over a few times in the past few days, but it was
- always for idle conversation. Nothing ever serious came from it. We would
- always talk about this, and talk about that...but nothing really.
-
- It was Saturday Night. Tim and I had just finished eating, Justin
- showed up. By this time, I had known it was him. Tim answered the door, and
- Justin walked into the living room.
- "I figured it was you," I told him.
- He looked at me. He looked at me with the type of expression that
- immediately lets you know something has gone wrong. I stopped, and just on
- reaction, walked to a chair and sat down, not knowing what to expect him to
- say.
- "Justin, is there something wrong?"
- He fell back against the sofa. He looked like he was in emotional
- pain.
- "Justin, what is it?"
- Still, no answer. He was silent. It was like he was dying inside. I
- got up, and sat down next to him. I put my hand on his shoulder, and looked
- up to Tim in front of me for suggestions. He was as blank as I was.
- "Justin" I said, practically begging him to talk to me.
- "Oh God..." he whined, as he started to break apart. I pulled him
- over to me, and held him for a few minutes, as he was crying into my chest.
- It pained me not to know what to do for him. I looked at Tim, who was
- looking at Justin. No one said anything.
-
- About an hour later, Justin was lying down on my bed. He was still
- upset, but becoming more emotionally stable as time passed. I sat up on the
- bed, and Tim was sitting on the dresser in the bedroom. I still didn't know
- what to do, but Justin started speaking.
- "Nick, I'm sorry about this," he told me.
- "Don't worry about it. Really. I understand. I guess I'd expect it
- if the same thing happened to me."
- More silence. I could hear my digital clock, it was so quiet in
- there.
- "Can I talk to you. I mean, really talk?" he asked. I motioned for
- him to continue.
- "I don't mean to be a bother or anything...I just...It...(He paused,
- and started again.)...I got into an arguement with Aron the night he left. We
- were mad at each other, something to do with...I dunno...I think I got mad at
- him because he wouldn't cooperate or something...I got mad, I told him off,
- and told him I'd be better of if he died tomorrow."
- I sank down into the bed. Now it was starting to make sense, at
- least the immediate depression. I put my hand around Justin, some sort of
- dubious comfort, but moot at best. I tried to think of ways to make him feel
- better.
- "What kind of thing did you do together?" I asked. He stayed quiet
- for a long time, then continued.
- "One of the best times was about the end of last year. We were
- running around together, this was shortly after you started to help out with
- the course in school:
-
- "Justin, get out here!" Aron yelled. He was sitting in his car in
- front of Justin's house. Justin scrambled out.
- "I'm hurrying!" he yelled back, almost tripping over himself. He got
- in the car, and they went off.
- "Didn't you say this thing started at 11pm?" Aron asked.
- "Sometime around there. You can slow down, I think this car is
- capable of going under 95."
- Aron eased up, and stared into the night sky.
- "Look," Aron said, point up. Justin gazed into the field of lights
- above. The light from the city was getting dimmer as they left the limits,
- and the sky kept getting darker.
- They pulled up to a lit house, out in the country. Lots of cars were
- parked in the area. They walked up, and went inside.
- Loud music filled the house, people were crammed from one side to the
- other. Aron and Justin had to squeeze through, and eventually went into the
- kitchen.
- "I'll be right back," Aron told Justin. Aron walked into the next
- room, and Justin walked to the doorway. Aron went up to two of the guys
- there, and started talking to them. Justin couldn't hear what was going on,
- but he noticed some money and a bag change hands. Aron stuffed the bag into
- his jacket, and then placed it in a cabnit in the kitchen. Justin walked up.
- "What was that?"
- "What was what?" Aron replied, acting innocent.
- "The what, the bag."
- "Nothing. Forget it. Go have fun."
- "I'm just asking what it was," Justin begged.
- "And I'm telling you it's none of your damn business!" Aron shot
- back. Justin stood surprised, then turned, and walked out. Aron just shook
- his head and walked into the crowd.
-
- "I don't remember now how I got home," Justin told me, sinking deeper
- into my bed. "I think I got a ride from someone, but that was a little while
- back."
- "Did you ever find out what it was?" Tim asked him.
- "No. I asked, but he always pushed it off like he did the first
- time. He never apologized for snapping either. It was the wrong crowd that
- did it."
- I fell back onto the bed, thinking about it. It certainly was a
- different Aron that I had gotten to know toward the end. I told Justin that.
- "Well you know that first time I met him?" I asked Justin.
- "Sure."
- "Well, that was the first time that I really saw Aron as a person. He
- was gentle, considerate. I really loved that. But after a few months, we
- started to slip apart. He was with the wrong people, doing the wrong
- things...I just..."
- Justin slowed. He started to slip back again, getting upset. I
- looked at Tim for support.
- "Need another story about Aron?" Tim asked.
- "What do you mean?"
- "I was around him for a while. I remember I was over at his house,
- this is when we were still in High school, last winter:
-
- "Have you got a glass?" Tim asked Aron with a mouthful of toothpaste.
- Aron ran into the kitchen and got one. He brought it to Tim.
- Aron walked over to the stereo and turned it on. One of the soft
- stations that Aron's parents listened to was on, and Aron was fixing to
- change it when...
- "Wait, leave it there," Tim interjected. Aron shrugged and left it
- alone. He walked over and got a couple of drinks for himself and Tim. Tim
- finished in the bathroom, and sat down on the couch with Aron. The night was
- cold outside, but inside the fire in the fireplace cracked and heated the
- room.
- Since Aron's parents were on vacation, as they were most of the time
- on weekends, they were alone. Aron got up and sat down in front of the
- fireplace, and Tim did the same. The lights were soft, and the music filled
- the room. The glow from the fireplace illuminated the two as they relaxed.
- Aron was watching Tim. An occasional glance at first, but gradually
- it increased more and more. Aron realized what he was doing and stopped
- himself.
- "So, do you have any idea what colleage you're planning to go to?"
- Aron asked.
- Tim looked surprised. "Are we talking about school?"
- "Have you got another topic?"
- Tim just shrugged, and warmed his hands against the heat of the fire.
- "I don't know, actually. Hadn't given it much thought."
- "Are you planning to go onto colleage?"
- "Sure."
- "Are you Gay?"
- Tim stopped moving, and looked over at Aron.
- "What did you ask?" Tim inquired.
- Aron shook his head. "Never mind, ignore that."
- "No, I want to know what you asked?"
- "Nothing, forget about it," Aron told him. Tim just paused.
- "Besides," Aron started, "I think you know what I asked anyway."
- Tim had to stop for a moment. "So much for small talk."
- "Are you?" Aron persisted.
- "Why do you ask?"
- "Just a curious feeling," Aron told him. Tim still was a little
- surprised.
- "All right, assuming I was, what difference would it make?"
- "None, really," Aron said. "I just asked."
- Tim didn't say anything. He looked back into the fire. He looked
- back at Aron, who he found looking at him.
- Tim said, "You're Gay too, aren't you?"
- Aron didn't say anything, he just continued to look at him, then he
- turned at watched the fire.
-
- "That was almost as good as answering me," Tim said. I looked down
- at Justin, who was half asleep, half thinking. Somehow he had this image of
- a little boy who had just realized there was no Santa. Only the situation
- was a little more real.
- "Come on," I said, shaking Justin out of his daze. He really did
- look a lot better than he did to start with. I got him up, and gave him a
- hug, and Tim did the same. We walked into the living room. It was pretty
- dark outside, the day had slipped away from us. Justin looked out my windows
- into the sky.
- "Nick, come here," he called. I walked over, and he pointed out to
- the sky.
- "See that constallation?" he asked. I looked up.
- "Leo?"
- "Yeah. That's the first one I saw when I was with Aron that first
- night in the car. When we ran out of gas. We started stargazing, and we
- both found that one together." He continued to stare up in the sky. "Aron
- was a Leo," he told me. I searched the sky and found a few more, but Justin
- continued to look at that one. I rested my hand on his shoulder, then walked
- into the kitchen, ajacent to the dining room where he was.
- "Do you mind if I stay here for tonight?" he asked.
- "No problem. Do you want to stay in the spare bedroom or on the
- couch?"
- "Isn't Tim using the spare bedroom?" I poked my head under the row
- of cabnits and looked at him. "Oh," he said. I smiled, and went to the
- fridge. "Doesn't matter."
-
- I woke up sometime during the night and walked to the big windows,
- looking out. The night had cleared all the clouds that remained in the sky,
- so it was relatively clear. I looked for Leo, but it had already set in the
- distance. I thought of Aron. I wondered what he was doing right now, if he
- could do anything at all. I started thinking about life and death, and all
- the usual things you wonder about when a close friend or relative dies. I
- wasn't sure exactly what happened, but I didn't worry about it.
- Sometimes, when a person dies, he doesn't really die. He just puts
- his life into those around him, and in that sense, lives forever. For if
- someone is remembered, then they never really die at all. And sometimes,
- they live more after death, than they ever did before.
-
-
- >>>Nick Tails
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