Chapter Four - Free Bird
Kim stood in her room, looking at her reflection in the mirror. Black trousers, black shirt, black hat. A tear-stained face.
Kim sighed, sitting down on her bed. In just forty-eight hours, everything had changed.
She'd had three best friends, one of who was more than just a friend. Everything was simple; there were no love triangles, or arguments. The hardest thing in her life was getting up for school.
She'd have to go back there soon, and she wondered if her and Eric would still talk. Kim didn't know how she felt about Chad anymore. She had strong feelings for him, yet she couldn't forgive him. She couldn't help but blame him for Joey's death.
Chad sat in his room, fixing his tie. It was the day of Joey's funeral. Chad had debated with himself whether he should go or not, but he reminded himself that Joey had been his friend before... everything that had happened.
He hadn't seen Kim or Eric since the accident. He didn't know how they would react to him at the funeral. Chad stood looking out his window.
Joey had sat in that very room numerous times, laughing and joking. And it had been because of Chad that Joey had been killed.
Eric was curled up in a ball on his bed. He'd been in that position ever since the paramedics had taken him home after the car had hit Joey.
Eric's eyes were screwed tightly closed. Everything reminded him of his best friend. Eric couldn't come to terms with the fact that he was alive while Joey wasn't.
Never again would the two sit in his room and talk, or sit for hours on end in comfortable silence. Eric didn't blame Chad for what happened; he'd known that Joey was upset about something he wouldn't talk about, but didn't press the matter.
In all truths, Eric blamed himself for the fact that he'd known Joey was upset, but hadn't asked why.
At Joey's funeral, the remaining three barely talked. Chad felt Joey's death was ultimately his fault, and Kim didn't assure him otherwise.
Eric shut himself away from the world, unwilling to communicate with anyone, least of all Kim or Chad. If they hadn't been walking down that road at the same time as Joey, or if the previous evening hadn't happened, or if that car hadn't been coming down the road when it did... well, his best friend might still be alive.
After the service ended, Chad had made up his mind. He was leaving. Their childhood was over; there was nothing to stay for. Not even Kim.
Chad knew it would take time to move on, but if he stayed, things wouldn't work out. Kim blamed Chad, no doubt of that. Eric probably did too, even if he wouldn't say so.
As Chad packed his bags alone in his room, he caught sight of Kim's radio on his bed from the previous evening. With a small sad smile on his face, he turned it on. Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd was playing. Chad turned the radio over in his hands, thinking back to the previous night, and how easy life was. How simple.
Chad left the radio playing as he closed his bags and left the room.
As the door clicked shut behind him, Chad walked away. It was one of the hardest things he would ever do in his life, but it was the only thing he could do.
He wasn't running away; he was doing the only thing he could. He had to give Kim a chance to recover. If he stayed, she'd end up resenting him for Joey's death. And Eric was Joey's best friend; of course he would be grieving for his friend, and he didn't need Chad there as a constant reminder of that momentous Saturday afternoon.
Rest In Results!
Black Opium
Chad sat in the back of the taxi as it rolled slowly down Kim's road. He saw her leave her house, and then she saw him. Their eyes met through the glass, and then Chad mouthed "sorry" to her as the taxi passed.
Sorry for leaving, for Joey, for becoming more than a friend, for messing everything up. He lowered his eyes to the seat, blinking back the tears that threatened to spill.
That was the last Chad saw of Kim, or that town.
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I did warn y'all that this isn't the happiest of stories... didn't I? Either way, I hope you're all enjoying it. One more chapter to go...
