All the books lay scattered all over the wooden floor.
Bang!
He heads for the kitchen.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang bang bang!
He observes him with the weights bar in his hand.
It was Drew.
He was standing in front of the safe.
Hitting it with the bar.
Bang bang bang!
Drew notices him standing there.
Bang bang bang bang bang!
“Shut up!”
He throws the bar hard against the refrigerator and rushes to his bedroom.
Peter-John follows him.
Drew’s entire room was a mess.
He tosses the matrass off his bed.
Looks around and heads to the chest of drawers and starts taking them out.
Throws them all to the floor.
He notices Peter-John standing by the door.
“Shut up!”
He rummages through his clothes.
“Just, shut up!”
He rushes past him and heads to the bathroom.
“It must be here… somewhere... ffffffff…”
He reaches with his hands to his head.
“But wherrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeee? I can’t remember.”
He goes through the laundry and the medicine cabinet.
Leaves a mess of bottles and pills on the floor and heads back to the lounge.
Peter-John follows him.
Takes a seat at one of the bar stools and watches him.
“I wish you would shut up!”
He gives Peter-John a long hard look.
“Don’t say a thing!”
He curses.
“Just shut up!”
“I ain’t saying anything. Just sitting here. Minding my own business. Wondering why you’re messing up all my stuff, scratching around in my business. That’s all.”
Drew turns around and stares at him.
“So, now it’s your stuff?”
“It has always been my stuff. You know that, bro.”
Drew scratches around.
“What happened to mi casa su casa?”
“Drew, mi casa es su casa, but not to go and make it look like a tornado hit the place.”
“You want me to leave?”
He stops scratching about and glares at Peter-John.
“No one is forcing you to stay. You’re free to leave if you wish.”
He looks at him.
Drew can’t read him.
“Fine! I’ll pack my stuff and go.”
“I wish you wouldn’t.”
He shakes his head.
Despondence the only face he could manage.
“I don’t get you, Pete?”
He walks closer to the kitchen, where Peter-John is sitting.
“Everyone else has told me to take a hike. I only give you problems and still you… wish… I wouldn’t.”
“What’s not to get, Drew?”
Serious expression on Peter-John’s face.
“Why are you doing this?”
He starts pacing.
“You’re my friend.”
He paces more.
Stops at the sink.
Starts.
“Great friend I am.”
“Yes. The best.”
Drew shakes his head.
“I was being sarcastic.”
“Not me.”
He starts pacing more.
“I’ve only caused you problems, since before I came here, more so since I moved in.”
“You kept me company.”
“Great company I am.”
“You’re hilarious. Always manage to cheer me up.”
Drew laughs.
“I’m bad news, Pete. I’ll only drag you down with me.”
He walks into the lounge and starts circling the many books on the floor.
He stares at the ceiling.
“Wish they would stop with that fffffffff… that marble is driving me mad!”
Peter-John looks up.
“It is annoying.”
“You hear it too?”
“Sure.”
Drew shakes his head.
“Thought it was only me.”
Peter-John gets off the bar stool and walks towards Drew.
Looks at him.
Starts.
“You’re not going to drag me down, bro.”
“Yes, I am.”
He shakes his head.
“Well, if we go down, we’ll give them a show they’ll never forget. Guns blazing. Like champions.”
Drew laughs.
“You’re crazy.”
“You should see my flatmate, he’s bonkers.”
They both laugh.
“I don’t get you, Pete.”
He puts a few of the cushions back on the couch and sits down.
“Anyone else would have had me… I don’t know… arrested for all the stuff I stole and sold… have me… taken… you know.”
“I’m not just anyone.”
“Yeah, you’re my friend.”
He shakes his head.
“You bet your broke self I am.”
He goes and sits next to him on the couch.
“Why, Pete?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you my friend?”
He stares at Peter-John.
“Because that loser stole my baseball and I had to chase him all the way across the field. You remember?”
“Bishop McFly autographed that baseball.”
“Yeah.”
He grins.
“I wasn’t going to let it go without a fight.”
“Stupid you were. You followed him all the way into the river.”
“Nearly drowned.”
They both shake their heads.
“Then I came.”
“And saved me.”
“And taught you how to swim.”
“Yip.”
They sit in silence for a while.
Then Drew starts.
“Anyone would have done that, save you I mean.”
“Yes. But not anyone did. You did.”
“Are you saying that you’re my friend out of some debt you owe me?”
Peter-John shakes his head.
“Not at all.”
Drew looks at him confused.
“Then why, Pete?”
Peter-John takes off his spectacles.
Rubs his eyes.
Puts his spectacles back on.
Starts.
“I made a promise.”
Drew still looks confused.
“I make a point never to make promises, but that day I did.”
He clears his throat.
Continues.
“A friend is not only there for the good times. A friend sticks with you when things go bad. They don’t only laugh with you when you’re happy and turn away from you when you do wrong. They don’t call you beautiful one minute and a trifling liar the next.”
“You had to remind me about that?”
“Sorry. Still a fresh wound?”
“Agh, you know what they say. The one you love the most is always the one that hurts you the worst.”
“You loved her?”
“Sure did. She was the girl of my dreams.”
He sighs.
“All lies. She was nothing but a fake. Fell in love with an illusion. Can’t believe I ever believed anything that came from her mouth.”
He sighs more.
Peter-John begins.
> Drew listens.
“A friend does not do that. A true friend admonishes you. Not to hurt you, but to help you.”
“And a friend listens when admonished, if he too is a friend.”
Peter-John smiles.
“Yes.”
They sit in silence.
Then Drew asks.
“What was your promise?”
He looks at Peter-John expectantly.
Peter-John frowns.
Starts.
“To be your friend… forever.”
He swallows hard.
“If there is a God, may He forgive me if that is wrong, but I promised to stick with you. Always.”
Drew looks at him.
“Till my last breath.”
He smiles.
Drew smiles too.
“Now.”
Drew looks at him confused.
“Now what?”
Peter-John smiles more.
“ Let’s clean up this mess.”
ر
“They sold their souls?”
She laughs softly.
“Have you not heard a thing I have been saying?”
“Apparently not.”
“I’ll say it again. Everything belongs to God.”
“Yeah, I heard you the first time.”
“Yes, you heard me, but you’re not listening.”
“What should I be hearing?”
“Everything belongs to God.”
“So what?”
“So, there is no soul to sell.”
“I don’t get you.”
“If they sold their souls as you say, they bargained with something that they do not own, or can bargain with. They have only been fooled.”
“Deceived?”
“Yes.”
“But they’re in it. Can’t undo what’s done.
“You’re wrong again. That’s more deception.”
“What can be done?”
“Simple.”
“What?”
“Repent.”
“Just like that and all is forgiven? Sounds way too easy.”
She laughs.
“Have you been listening to a word I have been saying?”
“Guess not.”
“God’s mercy is above His wrath. And if God loves anything, He loves to forgive. Repent and submit to his will and never turn back.”
“But won’t they end up being killed?”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“I think definitely.”
“And you’re probably right, but God promises us all death. He does not say when and how, or whether you will be young or old. Death is for all of us.”
“Death is scary… to me at least.”
“It’s the fear of the unknown. But if you are a believer, you need not fear death at all. You would actually beg for it, not for wanting to escape or get away, but to meet your Lord.”
“I guess this fear is another hold they have on them?”
“Yes. If they only knew that to die because you chose God will be greatly rewarded and they will be honored. And God is the Best of those that bestow honor.”
ز
When are you going to stop calling me?
“Omar, please. It really is urgent. I wouldn’t bug you otherwise.”
He hears a long sigh.
I’m sorry. But I can’t. I don’t want to be reminded of that stuff again.