And No More Shall We Part (886 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: one-part_stories youth_decay
Rating: 0.35 on 27 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Stagger Lee (View user info) at 2006-05-03 11:28:47 EDT
Other stories (well, one so far), not really in the same series but featuring the same protagonist, can be found here:
http://www.ubersite.com/u/stagger_lee/l/youth_decay
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This is how it is. I'm sitting in the open lounge of the campus. I always sit here, facing north, out the double windows. From here there is an interrupted view of the field down to the lake. Pretty much the best view you're going to get around here; people-watching aside. Today is gloomy. Little drops of rain trickle down the glass, leaving behind almost invisible traces. My pen remains poised above a notebook that I'm not really writing in.
As quiet and reflective as the landscape is, the atmosphere in here is almost unbearable. Seems like the entire student body is crammed in here, talking, laughing, and generally spewing vapid bullshit into the air. If I had a better view from my pissant apartment, I'd never leave it. Still, this is getting intolerable. I'm about ready to pack it in.
A hand falls on my shoulder. I turn, and Annie is standing behind my couch. She's been crying. This is less a testament to my brilliant skills of observation, and more a testament to the fact that she had tear tracks, drawn in her black mascara, down her face. Her hair's pretty messed up, too.
"Can I talk to you?" she asks. Her voice almost goes the distance, but then doesn't. It cracks and shorts out on the final word.
"Sure," I say. I close my notebook and I stand. "Come on," I say, "You don't want these fucking vultures staring at you." As I say this I turn and direct my gaze at some fuck, can't remember his name, who is staring on with great interest. His eyes narrow.
I ignore him and pull on my coat. I take Annie by the arm and begin to move her through the ridiculous throng.
Janice slips out of the crowd and stops us. "And what the fuck is this?" she asks, indignant fury steaming from every pore. I don't know what Janice thinks she has on me. We've never gone out, I've never slept with her. Fuck, we're not even particularly close. Just once, it'd be nice to know what the hell someone else was thinking. "You blew me off this afternoon so you could do your precious writing, and now you're bailing outta here with that whore!"
At the word 'whore' Annie bursts out into a fresh bout of crying. I turn to her, open my mouth, and find no words. I turn back to Janice.
"Janice," I say, and for a wonder, I keep my voice level. "Out of my way, please. This changes things, okay? Annie asked if we could talk. I think she really, really needs to talk." It's not the words that convince Janice to move, it's the stare. I stare at her until she shuffles off to the side, mumbling something about me never having any time for her.
Pushing Janice to the back of my mind, I pulled Annie through the crowd and into the drizzle outside. I reckon it'll fog up tonight.
"So, what's going on?" I ask her.
She looks edgy. She's shifting her weight from one foot to the other, and she refuses to make eye contact.
"Look, you wanted to talk." I try to stay patient, keep my temper. Fuck knows my temper's been getting shorter the longer I live in this place. "Let's talk."
Annie shivers, and rubs her arms. She looks around furtively, but the square is deserted. Everyone's crammed inside. I realise that I'm still holding my notebook, and I slip it into the pocket of my overcoat.
"Not here," she says, and she's pretty much pleading with me. I stare at her for a moment, and decide to go with it. What the hell, right? I'm in this far. "Can we go to your room?" she asks, and I ponder this latest request momentarily.
"Yeah, alright," I say, and I lead her there.
My room is, as one ex put it, 'a filthy fucking mess'. I like to describe it as 'pleasantly cluttered'. She sits on my desk, with her feet on an untidy stack of books. I pull back the curtain, and the cold light floods in. She winces and turns her head from the light.
"I can offer you coffee or scotch," I say. "All I've got. No food at the moment."
Annie shakes her head.
"So what is it?" I ask, perhaps too harshly, because she starts weeping again. I note in a detached fashion that some enterprising mascara has made it all the way to her neck.
"Alright, look, let me get you cleaned up," I say, and grab some tissues. I dart into the bathroom and run some water over them, before returning to dab at her face with them.
After that, with a little more coaxing, the story spills from her, and I'm disgusted. I'm disgusted with what happened to her. More than that, though, I'm disgusted by how fucking ordinary and stale it is. Who was it that said there's nothing new under the sun? He was absolutely spot on. Just more tales of the average and the hopeless.
Long story short, without the self-justification and the attempts at justifying what he did, her new boyfriend date-raped her. Motherfucker took her home, got her nice and drunk and fucked her after she said no. I made her clarify this point twice: she said no.
I start towards the door, full of self-righteous fury and thoughts of vengeance. This starts her from her apathetic state and she dashes in front of me, cutting me off.
"Where are you going?" she asks, breathing hard.
I point over her shoulder at the door. "I'm going to fucking show him what happens when he rapes one of my friends," I spit.
She grabs my finger, for some reason. "No, no, no," she says, "I told you, he didn't mean it. He didn't know!"
I'm momentarily stunned, silenced. "So...what..." I splutter. I can't get the words out properly. This shit baffles me. She's been violated in a way that I can never understand, but she doesn't want me to do anything about it. So why tell me? Why not just deal with it herself? She had to know what my reaction was going to be.
"So why tell me?" I ask; my puzzlement etched all over my face.
"I had to tell someone," she says. "I thought of you. I thought you'd listen."
"Come on," I say, "You should've known I'd be pissed at him." And you, for not wanting me to fuck him up, but I don't say that part.
"I wasn't really thinking straight," she says, "You've no idea." She breaks eye contact and stares at the floor.
Damn right you weren't, I think. The fuck am I supposed to do with this knowledge now?
"Look, I just needed to tell someone," she says. She lets go of my finger. "Just promise me you won't go see him, okay?"
"Hold on a goddamn minute," I say, "Are you gonna keep seeing this guy? This rat fuck?"
She nods, slowly. She doesn't look at me.
"For fuck's sake, why?" I'm exasperated.
Annie shrugs. "I dunno...I like him," she says.
"But he abused you!" My voice is only just shy of a shout.
"Just promise you won't go to him," she says. "He didn't mean it."
She turns and leaves. I stare after her, frustrated and bewildered. I just can't bring myself to believe that she's going to stay with this prick, that she didn't want me to even talk to him, let alone beat him into a pulp like I want to. The excuses she was spouting make me sick to my stomach. I turn and kick my single armchair, savagely. Some people seem doomed to keep making the same mistakes, in the same way. It's all too fucking much at times.
The door opens, and it's Annie again. For a wonder, she's smiling. It's a sort of wintry smile, but it's there and it's undeniable.
"I just realised," she says, "That was the first time you ever actually called me your friend. Thank you."
Just like that, she's gone again. Some people, eh?
User Reviews
Submitted by The_Drake (user info) at 2007-02-16 17:01:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Let's part those butt cheeks and have a go.
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2007-02-16 15:39:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i am a bad person
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2006-06-21 02:10:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I don't like you
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2006-05-17 06:57:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
uppity faggot
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-05-04 13:32:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Nice one, alter.
Submitted by Lady_Honeypot (user info) at 2006-05-04 13:12:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Way too fucking long, to bad we can't say the same about your dick!
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-05-04 10:50:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
How's that, exactly?
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2006-05-04 10:45:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-05-04 10:43:04 (#)
Ranking: 0
Aye, but I'm not a cunt.
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You are a mean mother fucker however. +2 for that
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-05-04 10:43:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Aye, but I'm not a cunt.
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2006-05-04 10:39:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
You could hang around them though like that dude in Dazed and Confused.
"I get older, but the college girls stay the same age" or something.
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-05-04 10:35:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Well, much as I like to grub for your ratings, it's all a goddamn fucking lie. I've never been to college, you should know that, mate.
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2006-05-04 10:32:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Sadly, that the girl *could* be that stupid.
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-05-04 10:27:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Cheers Thorny.
That depends, red. Which parts did you believe?
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2006-05-04 09:39:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-05-04 01:43:52 (#)
Ranking: 1
It's not written badly, Stag. I've never read anything of yours that was. I just find the female's reaction so pathetic, it's to the point she almost offends me. Of all the ways the story could have gone, the dialogue regarding her reaction to the situation was despicable and completely undignified. Not that you were required to make it otherwise, but it would have been more rewarding to me if you had.
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If it's true you get a +1 overall.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2006-05-04 09:38:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This sure brings back a memory for me. I can really relate to the main character.
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-05-04 01:47:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Aye, that's fine, Saccy. The general idea is that this guy doesn't much care for people, and the her reaction baffled and pissed him off as well, because she's such a weak person.
It's good to see that when I write something that doesn't stand up you don't just slap +2s all over it, too, thanks.
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-05-04 01:43:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
It's not written badly, Stag. I've never written anything of yours that was. I just find the female's reaction so pathetic, it's to the point she almost offends me. I know a little about this subject, and of all the ways the story could have gone, the dialogue regarding her reaction to the situation was despicable and completely undignified. Not that you were required to make it otherwise, but it would have been more rewarding to me if you had.
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-05-04 01:27:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Worst post ever.
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-05-04 01:11:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Ahahahaha!
Submitted by JumpingJax (user info) at 2006-05-04 01:10:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
I bet you wear turtlenecks. Exclusively.
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-05-04 01:04:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Is this the worst thing I've ever written? Stay tuned, results at 11.
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-05-03 13:25:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
It's always a little better than "worth reading", though.
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-05-03 13:21:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I like your writing, as always, but I didn't find this very believable.
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2006-05-03 12:07:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Oh.
Submitted by simple_catalyst (user info) at 2006-05-03 11:39:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
nice.
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-05-03 11:36:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
It's ok, PFF. Calm down, relax. Inhale deeply. Think about squirrels, or something.
Submitted by professorfuckface (user info) at 2006-05-03 11:34:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
What's your address? I want to print this out and get my big red
REJECTION
stamp out, then mail this back to you