The Middle

*Zacky’s P.O.V*

The idea of Brian staying in my house for a bit longer woke my spirit. That basically means we can spend more time together. Doing whatever we want without getting complains. We can hang like nobody’s business. I could list the things we would do and the list would be very long I tell ya. And honestly, he could live here as long as he wanted to and I still didn’t mind. Its always been a dream for me to live with one of my best friend. But with him staying a couple weeks for now, I think its more than enough.

I left him at the livingroom alone. He needed some rest after experiencing tough days whilst I made myself comfortable in my office room with my baby. Well, this might sound pathetic but when I say my ‘baby’, it means my guitar. She’s always here by my side and so do I. But then something ruined our moment. I looked around the room, Ichabod was there with me so it must be Brian. I groaned when I walked to the sound source. It came from the nearest bathroom. I wonder what was he doing there.

The door was slightly opened but not clear enough for me to see what happened in there. I opened the door a bit bigger and when I was about to ask if he was okay, I saw him troubled with some of my sedatives. Some were scattered on the floor, so that was the cause of all of these noises. Brian seemed didn’t realise that I was there, staring deadly at him, because he was still busy gathering the pills to put it back to the packaging. I cleared my throat loudly to get his attention. Brian turned his head quickly at my direction with panic and scared planted on his expression.

"Need some help, Bri?" I offered him in a soft voice and with a smile on my face. But little did he know, I was only acting.

His face softened, he seemed to believe my action. “I thought you were gonna mad at me, Zack. You scared the hell out of me dude” he chuckled.

"Me? Mad at you?" I fake laughed. "Oh Brian, I AM angry at you" I said loudly. He was shocked when he saw my drastic changing of emotions.

"I-i can explain!" He stuttered.

"Explain what, huh?? What the fuck are you doing with those, man?!" I stopped for awhile before I gasped. "Are you trying to overdose?? Are you out of your mind?!"

"Hell no, Zacky, stop bombarding me with questions and let me explain!" He yelled.

"Then go ahead! Why don’t you do it earlier?"

"I tried but you fucking yelled at me with those questions!" His words succeeded to make me shut. "I am so depressed. I need those to relax me, man. Please understand me" he explained to me about his need but sadly, that’s enough to make me explode.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! That’s not the right way, Brian! For fuck’s sake!" I yelled. My voice was getting louder and louder every single time. I didn’t care if the neighbours can hear it though, I was so mad at him.

But then the stubborn part of Brian appeared. “Like you fucking never do drugs, Zacky” he said in a lower voice.

I tried to control my anger but this was out of limit, I couldn’t take it anymore. My fist flew over his face, making him fell to the cold tile. In matter of seconds, blood came out of his nose but he didn’t seem to care. He got up and mimicked my action, just not as hard as I did so I didn’t fall to the floor.

"Oh you want a duel?" I challenged him.

"Bring it on, Baker!"

What happened next was probably the most childish thing I’ve ever done with him. We attacked each other. We didn’t stop until both of us were bleeding hard and bruises appeared all over our bodies, mostly on our faces. Nobody was there beside us two so there was literally no-one who tried to seperate us. We could only wait until one of us stopped. But that seemed so impossible as we’re two stubborn grown up men.

"Get the fuck out of my house! I don’t want you here!" I said in the middle of fighting and surprisingly, he immidiately stopped. He looked at me in disbelief before storming out of my house, slamming the door in process.

I got up and went straight to the bathroom to clean up the mess on my face, didn’t mind to follow him at all. Who cares about that man. He did drugs behind me and it broke my heart. Yes, I did that too but that was long ago. I’m completely clean now. We’ve promised not to do it again but he broke it. And now, I don’t wanna see nor hear anything about him again. I’m finished with him and I don’t want to add more troubles into my life.

Soon, I’m done and was chilling in my livingroom, back with my guitar again. I played some random notes but the thought of Brian bothered me. I sighed before putting the guitar back to turn the tv on. Maybe watching some good movies would make me forget about him. But luck wasn’t on my side today. I’ve travelled through all the channels and still didn’t find a good movie. I ended up watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I am, Zachary James Baker, a 32 year old man, with tattoos all over my arms and currently playing guitar in a heavy metal band, and proudly still watch a goddamn cartoon. Well, if I could make a comment about that cartoon, its probably gonna be like this: it has changed - all modern and stuffs. I miss the old Mickey Mouse.

After an hour long of watching the cartoon, I found myself still thinking about that man. I couldn’t lie that I was glad that he left but at the same time, I felt guilty for kicking him out. Maybe I’m a bit selfish for that. Maybe if I was in his shoes, I’d do the same. With the large amount of problems in his life, I’m impressed that he hasn’t do something even worse than drugs because of the pressure. And then it hit me. I should’ve helped him instead of kicking him out. Oh man, I’m a terrible, terrible best friend.

I got up from my possition then ran outside, looking to the right then to the left before finally taking the right. I searched everywhere for him; bars, mini markets, everything. But there’s still no sign of him. The sky was getting darker and I still haven’t found him yet. He was nowhere at our favourite spots in Huntington and it made me getting more and more frustrated. I was about to give it up before a name of a place suddenly popped in my mind. The Huntington Beach Central Park.

I quickly went to the destination. I knew he must be at our secret spot. We always went there to escape from the real life when we were younger. But the problem now is, I hardly find that spot. The park was huuuge and there’s no way I’m gonna find it before tomorrow comes. But I’ve made this far and I didn’t want to take a turn back. Especially for my best friend.
With persistent I searched for that spot. As I was walking near some random bushes, I began to think that this might be the secret spot. So I walked through it but only to find an unconscious body of Brian. The feeling was so mixed up. A part of me was happy to finally found him, but not in this certain condition. I looked around his body, trying to find the things that made him fainted when I saw some powder and pills. I took a pinchful of that powder and sniffed it. Then I let a huge sigh after knowing what that powder is. That was the time when I felt really disappointed at him.

He, my best friend, had been inhaling cocaine.

Notes