A Beast with a Smile

“Are you still having the dreams?”

“Yes. It’s the same as always. I’m in the hospital with my boyfriend, Tyler, and my deceased best-friend, Freddy. I kiss Freddy and Tyler tries to kill him. I try to separate the two by getting in the middle of them. Tyler responds by lifting me up by my neck, choking me to near death. Scavenger… I mean Freddy punches him in the chest, sending him through the walls of the hospital into the forest where he lands in a pond.”

“Why do you refer to him as Freddy when you called him Scavenger almost your entire life?”

“Have you ever had to burry your best-friend?”

“No, I can’t say I have.”

“Well when you do, call me because you sure as hell won’t want to believe it. I call him Freddy because if I call him by that stupid nickname that I gave him when we were kids, it makes his death real. It makes it more than a dream. It makes me wake up and realize that the one person in this world that deserves happiness will never find any.”

“Tell me the story about what happened.”

“It happened five years ago, October 26, 2011. I was eighteen and in my final year of high school. It started as a normal day, Freddy and I drove with my boyfriend, Tyler, to school. On the way a deer ran into the road and Tyler swerved into a tree. The fire department was called, and Tyler and Scavenger were taken to the hospital, both in serious conditions. I somehow escaped the crash without any scratches, bruises, or broken bones. Tyler broke four ribs and shattered his right arm. Freddy suffered from a massive concussion that knocked him completely unconscious. They thought he was dead when they found us; he was knocked out and barely breathing. When the car hit the tree, Freddy was thrown from the backseat, out the front window, and into the cornfield that was near the wreck.

The paramedics rushed them both to the hospital where they received immediate treatment. They were there for only a few minutes before the tornado sirens started blaring. The twister tore through the hospital, mostly the children’s ward and main lobby, yet only one person was killed. That one person was Freddy Sims, my best friend. He was sucked into the sky and we never saw him again.

A candlelight vigil was held outside the destroyed hospital to honor his memory. Tyler blamed himself for Scavenger’s death, I mean Freddy’s death. Atom re-built the hospital with his own money and completely upgraded and updated everything to be state of art. The entire thing was built in the span of a couple days.

Sheriff Sims received a check in the mail from Atom for a couple million dollars and said that he would receive a check of this payment every year for the rest of his life. He didn’t want to accept it at first, but Atom is very persuasive. Time went on and people moved on from Freddie’s death; even Tyler acted or forgot like it even happened.”

“How did that make you feel? Knowing no one really cared about his death?”

“Well, when I got my acceptance letter from Harvard, my diploma, and one of Atom’s pity party checks, I left Harrison so fast that I left the dust silhouette you see in cartoons.”

Veronica smiled, “You seem like you’re in a better place than when we met at your dads all those years ago, but you know for the amount that Atom gives you every month, I might have to start charging you like my other patients.”

She smiled.

“Well, what’s the point in having a sister-in-law that’s a psychologist if you don’t use her services?”

We both laughed.

“It’s weird hearing laughter from in here. It’s normally tissues and uncontrollable snot boogers,” Jet said, standing in the doorway looking at his wife and sister laughing.

Jet had been best friends with Veronica since birth. She was our neighbor on the opposite side of where Scavenger used to live. They met in the first grade and became inseparable soon after. After our mom died, Veronica was Jet’s shoulder to cry on and she helped him cope with the pain. Sure, sometimes it was inflicting actual pain by throwing a football at him, which was always followed by a “game on” from Jet before he would soar through the air to body slam Veronica. They grew closer and closer over the years until Veronica got impatient with Jet not asking her out on a date and asked him first, you know, to hurry up the process.

Jet was kind of an idiot. He liked Veronica and she liked him. He didn’t even realize that his best friend loved him in the same way he loved her until she asked, “Hey hollow tree! Let’s go see a movie, I’ll even let you put your arm around me. It’s about time you notice me.”

Ever since that day Jet hasn’t let her leave his arms and she never let him leave her heart. They dated all through high school and moved in with each other. They ran into some money issues and Jet decided to take a job that Atom had offered him. Veronica also joined the ranks of the “Atom Bombs” and both have worked their way up the ranks to some super-secret level that they can’t talk about with anyone. Jet was head of the training branch and Veronica was trained as a psychiatrist, available for anyone suffering from mental conditions in Atom’s ranks.

The storm clouds in my eyes began to drizzle, but quickly turned into hard rain.

My brother hugged me and held me close, “Were you thinking about him again?”

I sniffled and wiped my nose on his black uniform, “Yeah. There’s never a day where I don’t think about him. It’s just not fair. Of all the possible people to have something terrible happen, it had to be him, my best friend.”

Jet pulled me in tight with a terribly tight squeeze, “Are you sure you want to go alone tomorrow? Are you sure you want to go at all?”

“It’s the only thing that makes me feel better.”

“What? Seeing a gravestone?”

“No. Making sure that he isn’t forgotten.”

Jet loosened up on his tight hug. Veronica handed me a few tissues and said, “I have some good news for you, Scarlett. He won’t ever be forgotten as long as we are around.”

I threw my arms around Veronica and Jet and said, “I love you both.”

“What not a you three?” said a voice in the hallway.

My father scooted into the room in his wheelchair.

“I love you too dad,” I grinned at him.

“I love all of you. Now Veronica, you said you had some news for everyone?” my father asked as he rolled closer to the conversation.

Veronica had a Florida sized grin on her face, “Oh yeah, duh, well you know how you are a parent?”

“Yes, I am a parent,” my father said very confused.

“Well... I hope you’re ready to add a grand onto the beginning of it, because we have two new Archers on the way!”

My smile returned with the news. My father couldn’t hold back his excitement. He asked every question in the book, “Boy or girl or one boy, one girl?”

He would’ve jumped out of his seat if he could.

I hugged Veronica, “I am so happy for you. Please give them awesome names so I don’t need to give them a nickname.”

“She already turned down Engine and Wing, but I’m still fighting for middle names,” Jet said jokingly.

“Why do you want to continue the names of airplane pieces?” Veronica asked.

“Cobra Laser Jet!” Jet blurted out.

Veronica shook her head, smiled, laughed, and then kissed her husband, “You’re adorable, but a dog picking names out of a hat has a better chance of naming our kids than you.”

Veronica had a grin from ear to ear; my dad and brother also had the crescent moon on their face, but I couldn’t help feeling sadness. It’s great that my family is finally receiving some good news through all of the loss we have encountered, but still, I felt alone. Every smile I made felt forced; every laugh that escaped me was more of an involuntary reaction, so I didn’t seem awkward.

When I lost Scavenger, a little piece of me got lost with him. He was my happiness. He was my best friend, and he was always there when I needed him. If I fell he would catch me, if I needed someone to talk to he was the open ear no matter what time of day.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of his death; it will be five years since the accident. For five years I’ve made a trip here to see his grave and leave flowers, but this year was a little different. I just graduated from Harvard, top of my class. Tyler asked me to move back to Harrison and to move in with him.

I’ve been considering it since my family lives here and now that I’m going to be an aunt, Tyler’s offer doesn’t seem all that bad. I have been dating him for years and I thought that I’m ready to settle down and start a family.

I could feel a strange tingle in the back of my head. It sounded familiar, yet foreign, like the beginning of a song that I haven’t listened to in years. I looked around the room that had grown silent. My brother and Veronica had a blank look on their face and they stood upright. My father shared the same blank expression, but he rolled out of the room into his bedroom. I opened my mouth to say something when my brother and sister in-law both started laughing. I assumed they had just been playing a prank on me.

They held hands, “Goodbye, Scarlett. See you tomorrow,” they both said and walked out the front door to go home. The door closed, and I was left in the room alone.

What in the world just happened? I was so lost in my own train of thought that I didn’t even notice what they were talking about. I stood up from the couch and looked out the window. Everyone was walking home all with that same smile on their face.

My cat, Barnacle, jumped onto the coffee table and meowed at me.

“Aww is somebody hungry?”

The cat jumped off of the table and stalked off towards the kitchen. I followed close behind.

My dad bought a table that was too big for the house and it took up the whole kitchen. You have to hug the wall to escape the pointed tables deadly blows to your lower half.

The cat’s bowl was next to the sliding glass door on the other end of the kitchen. Barnacle sat next to his empty bowl glaring at me. I opened the pantry to get his food, but the pantry was empty. God, Dad how did you live without me? I guess Jet always brought you your meals. I grabbed my purse and walked out the door to walk to Old Al’s, the closest and only grocery store.