Gabriel
Kase, do you solemnly swear that you will tell
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god?
I
do
Go
ahead then, I’m Listening.
It was a miserable night. The air was thick and humid,
and the dust from the 60 gave the air a gritty texture, but everyone seemed
like they were having fun anyway. Pretty much everyone at the party was sober,
but people were still jumping off the roof into the pool. I wasn’t, but I
remember that every time someone jumped, my heart jumped with them.
I sat half inside, half out: on the patio. I was between
everything just watching Liam do his thing.
“Oh man, guys! Man, guys! Shit, guys! Jacob’s gonna throw a
good one! Guys!” He whistles with his teeth “GO JACOB! Hah!” He laughs, and
casually throws his arms around one of the many girls next to him. He set the scene with the unocupied
hand as everyone watches Jacob, a really skinny guy, prepare to do some trick
off the roof. I remember Liam was talking quietly and stupid fast.
“Okay guys and girls, Jacob is a freaking
beast! Man, the way he scaled the house was slick, man that guy is a twig but
he can climb. There he goes! Perfect back flip! The famous Jacob Garsozi
everyone!” Everyone clapped and cheered for Jacob. Liam was so great at
pumping everyone up and getting everyone excited about one thing or the other.
I had no idea how he did it, but after his narration of Jacob’s flip, he ended
up with more girls on his arm then Jacob.
He was always so smooth and confident in every situation. He slid his
way over to me.
“Hey Gabe,” he says to me.
“Liam how are you always so.... How do you always get all
the attention you want?”
“What are you talking about, man? I don't want attention, I
live to please...” He pulled out a cigarette, sticks it in his mouth “gotta
light? no?” He lights it himself” All right then... You see, asshole,--”
“Liam come on--”
“What? The cig is fine, come on... Gabe, the key to
everything is this: if you give the people what they want they will let you
give it to them as long as you want! Ha! But seriously, why do you always just
sit in the corner? You afraid of something?”
“No. I just don’t seem to fit in here.”
“Then go inside.”
“They’re all whatever in there. And I don't know anyone.”
And it was true. Inside there were the dancers and grinders, sure, but
there were also people that I’ve always been scared of, people with big brains
and mouths to match. “And out here, Liam, man you take all the spotlight. It’s
like, out here its about being co--”
“Hey,” He poked me in the chest with the cigarette in
between his fingers, “Stop over analyzing, you pathetic wimp. Hey,
Gabriel, I gotta go,” He did the drop-step with his cigarette, and gives me a
winning smile “Hey man here’s a hint. Go talk to that girl about her
belly button ring, I can tell she’s been DYING to talk about it all night… Just
say what you want to, and it will be fine if she’s into you or not. Either way
there are many more girls to practice with”
That was the first time I really started taking his advice,
we had been friends as kids, but as things go, we had grown apart. He was… not
loud, no not loud, but different. He was cocky, full of swagger, and always had
a girlfriend or two. I had gotten quieter, and jealous. But on that
miserable night at the beginning of summer, things were changing. I took his
advice, and it worked.
The girl’s name was Olive, and she was amazing. Her
piercing was only a few days old, and she was glad that someone noticed. She
was hot but she wasn’t just a girl. She had a strong voice and she got every
joke I told, and could follow all my obscure and dorky word plays. It felt
natural to be around her.
The
next party was nicer. It was raining, but it felt far less miserable to me.
Everyone was crowded inside the house. Liam was singing and dancing along to
Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean.
“Come
on Gabe, get in the party!”
“You
know I can’t dance!”
“That
is bullshit, Gabe, and you know it. Come on! Dance! Dude you can dance better
then I can!”
“Liam!”
I was laughing “You know that's not true!”
“Then
come prove it! It’s a dance off! ” Liam swaggered back to the center of the
room, put one hand on his hip and burst into mock-song “People always told me
be careful what you do, don’t go around breakin’ young girls hearts! -- COME
ON, GABE, I know you can dance, don’t be modest!” I ended up laughing and
dancing like a fool to much cheering, and in ten minutes I was dancing with
girls, and Liam next to me, like we were the hottest things in the world. We
couldn’t hear the rain.
Liam
eventually yanked me to a spare bedroom, the sheets on the bed had been
disturbed.
“Man, Gabe you really are a swell dancer,” He lit a
cigarette, “Man, I’m such a good coach, you went from a nothing, a complete
zero to tons of fun, I’m sure the ladies love it.”
“Yeah, actually! I met this girl last week, Olive, I really like her, want to take her to lunch tomo--.”
“Why are you wasting your time and money on her?”
“Can you please put that out?”
“No.” He
puffed.
“I like her, I want it to get serious…. what do you mean,
man?”
“Nothing, Abe. Whatever. Commitment is for wimps.” I
remember he paused to take a drag on his cigarette, “Can I borrow 50 bucks?”
We
started to throw his parties at my place instead. They became less responsible,
and I was such a moron for letting him bring the alcohol. I remember when we
were arguing about it, he threw his cigarette at me while joking “The turds
like you who don’t want to drink just won’t drink it. Whatever. Let me bring
more.”
I went on a lunch date with Olive later in the month. We
really hit it off, she was so smart and so funny and she thought I was funny. She was great company at parties…she could say
a lot quickly and she wasn’t afraid to be the center of attention, but she was
also great company otherwise. She was sweet and thoughtful and extremely sexy.
It was really great to have one girl that I could always… I could depend on
her. She started hanging out with us more. I suppose I fell in love with her.
It
was a wonderful night out, at my place. The stars were out and shining. Summer
was almost over, The Party was going swell, and some awesome music was pumping
out of my speakers. Everyone was dancing, shoving chips into their
mouths, and drinking the Vodka Fruit Punch. I was no longer sitting at the edge
of the party, and I no longer had to be coaxed into the mix. My place was in
the center being witty with Liam.
Liam
and I were dancing and cracking jokes. Everyone at the party roared with every
punchline. Olive was watching me
from the couch, her legs crossed, grinning at me. Every once in a while, I
grinned back at her. Liam left to go get some water and I sauntered over to her
with my new confidence.
“Hey, Gabe”
“Hey, Olive enjoying yourself?”
“Yeah, it’s fun seeing you two have fun” Her words were
slurred, I thought she was just drunk.
“Well your smile is the best of all, Olive.”
“Dude you’re so cheezy.”
“You bring out the best in me, Olive.”
“I kind of love you Gabe”
“Now, who’s being cheezy?” We laughed. That was the last
time we would ever laugh together.
I headed back towards to the Vodka Punch where Liam was
being quieter than normal. Everyone else was being louder than normal. The
party seemed very drunk, The room was chaotic. Before I could rejoin Liam, he
had lit a cigarette, and was in a girl’s ear whispering her away to a side
room. I rolled my eyes and told some stories. Everyone was laughing at my punch
lines, but eventually they were just laughing. Laughing… and falling over… and
rolling around and jumping. In retrospect, Judge, it was horrible.
Liam came out of the side room, his cigarette still in his
mouth.
“It works! Ah, it’s perfect Gabe! ”
“ What works? Liam what are you talking about?”
“The drugs, they work.”
“Liam.... What drugs?” It snapped and I realized why everyone
was in chaos. “Liam I’m calling the cops, what drugs?”
“Oh. Gabe…That reminds me” His eyes went hard, and he
grabbed me by the arm. “I have
something to show you.”
“Liam... Liam! What are you doing? Did you drug these
people? HELP! OLIVE! ” He was bigger and stronger then I was. He shoved me in the linen closet in the
hall, and locked it. I rammed my shoulder against the door, shouting for
help, eventually some girl opened the door looking for somewhere to puke.
I ran out into the hall and the first thing I saw was Liam
waving at me with a cigarete in his fingers, pushing Olive into the spare
bedroom. The door had been shut by the time I had fought through the senseless
crowd. I tried the door, but it was locked, I could hear screaming. and I yelled
for a phone.
The house phone was nowhere to be found, and there was no
one who was conscious enough to give me their cell. I ran through the living
room, through the sleepy drugged bodies out of my house.
It was past midnight, the keys to my car were not in my
pockets so I had to run. I needed someone to help me, to get me out of this
mess, to wake me up from this nightmare. Half an hour later I got to my aunts
house, I was exhausted from my run, tears were streaming down my face as I
knocked on the door as loud as I could until I fell asleep.
In the dewy morning I woke up to the sound of a fire truck
rushing by towards my street. I was on the doorstep, and all my bones were
aching. There was the fuzziness of a lingering bad dream. There was something I
had to do... something I couldn’t remember... The door opened. My aunt was in
her flowered sleepwear.
“Gabe! Gabriel! What’s the matter?”
“I can’t remember”
“Gabe, come inside. Are you drunk? ALFRED, SHUT THE DOOR,
Are you hung-over? Gabe talk to me.”
“I don’t drink”
“well that’s good. Damn, you look exhausted. Let’s have
breakfast. What would you like? Eggs?”
“Sure”
“All right, then sit, and I’ll cook some up. I think you
will owe me a story after” I sat there, dumb of what happened until Uncle
Alfred turned on the news. And then I heard it. And then I remembered.
There was a fire. My address. At least twenty-two teenagers
severely burned. Five teenagers were dead.
I had to go and take care of some legal business with the
house, and the police took me into custody and started interrogating me.
The
fire started from a cigarette in the spare room where it spread to the rest of
the house. That's what they told me. I know that cigarette was Liam’s. He was …
he was doing other things so he didn’t notice it burning until the fire was too
big to stop. He ran from the house like the coward he is. As every single one of his victims
burned. As Olive burned.
And
now I’m here, in this courtroom, sitting within ten feet of the only other
undrugged bastard that survived the fire unscathed. I swear to god I'm
innocent, though I’d kill him if I could. Let me introduce to you my best
friend turned murderer: Liam Bass.
