The next day I stayed home from school and spent most of the time by myself in my room.
I still didn't know what to do with the journal. I wanted to use it to keep the memory of Pete alive, but I think Pete wanted it to be used to keep the memory of the neighborhood alive. I sat down at my desk with the book and picked up a pen
I continued to write in the book where Pete left off. Pete may be gone, but this neighborhood of friends will still live and continue to grow. I spent the rest of the day reading the book and writing down new things to add to it.
Pete taught our whole group a lesson on what it means to be a gang. What it means to be friends and what it means to be a neighborhood.
Late that evening I met up with Erik and Sally again in the lot.
We spent most of the day lying in the grass listening to music and having a few smokes. Sally had just bought a new old classic Fugazi record.
We stayed up until Jason started yelling for me to come home. "Be right there!" I hollered back.
"I oughta get goin'. Meet y'all back here tomorrow though?"
"Sure," Erik replied.
"I'll be around," Sally answered.
I got home and found Jason waiting up for me at the kitchen table. "It's late, ya need to be gettin' to bed kid." He stood up, rubbed his hand on my head messing up my hair and went to his room.
I sat down in the kitchen for a while before going to bed. I just sat there doing nothing. Sometimes I like to just stare off into space and day dream. Erik and Sally understood it, but Pete would always gimmie a hard time about it. Say things like, "Get your head outta the clouds kid. You're too smart to be dreaming, just go and do instead." He always meant well by it, he told me that I would go far in life if I really wanted to. That is if I didn't end up a hoodlum like him from living in this crappy part of town. Now Pete was gone, and it felt like the whole world had come to a halting stop.
I flipped through Pete's journal a little and it brought me joy remembering all the good times we had with him and the rest of the gang. I would've never pegged Pete as one who would keep a journal though. I guess it was just his way of coping, but what the hell had Pete been planning to do with a loaded gun though. He likes joshin' around with people and pickin' meaningless fights over nothin' sure, but Pete was definitely not the violent gang type.
Just then I heard a knock at the door. That's weird I thought, who would be comin' over this late at night. I got up from the kitchen chair and walked on over to the front door. As I reached for the door knob I wondered if I should get Jason. I slowly turned the knob and opened the door. I couldn't believe my eyes.
Pete was standing in my doorway, bruised and beat to hell. "Pete!" I shrieked. Taking a step back thinking I had seen a ghost.
"It's me," Pete muttered.
"We all thought you were dead."
"Good, that's what I wanted everyone to think."
I wanted to punch him in the gut for pulling something like this, but instead I reached out to grab him and give him a big ol' bear hug.
"Easy there kid brother, don't be goin and gettin all gay on me."
"What happened?" I asked as he stepped inside and sat down at the kitchen table.
Just then Jason walked into the room.
Seeing Pete, but surprised, he said, "Pete! What are you doing here man. I told you to get of town. Do you wanna get shot for real?"
"Better than gettin put away." He answered.
"Wait a minute, hold up. What is going on?" I shouted as I slammed my fist down on the kitchen table.
Jason paid no attention and continued speaking to Pete. "Did you get the bag with the money that left ya?"
"Yea I got it, and then Jackson Pierce jumped me and stole it. I went back and slashed his tires though."
"That was three hundred dollars Pete!" Jason exclaimed as he put his hands to his head almost pulling his own hair out.
"Well you can stay here tonight, but tomorrow I gotta get you outta here."
Anyway I'm going to go back to bed cause I had a long shift at work. Why don't you fill in Jonah with what's goin on."
After Jason had gone back to bed, Pete whispered to me, "Yo Jonah, did you get my backpack from Jesse?"
"Yea, I did" I answered quietly.
"Was everything inside of it?" He asked.
"You mean the guuu..."
"Shut up kid!" Pete said.
"Oh, sorry. Yea it was all there."
"One other thing," Pete said. "You didn't read my journal, did you kid."
"I mean I kinda thumbed through it a little."
"Dammit Jonah! Whatever though, that's fine, I did leave it with you."
"Pete," I asked "What are you gonna do with, well ya know what was in the backpack?"
"I'm going to kill Jackson Pierce." Pete answered with a smug look on his face.
"Forget juvenile detention, you'll go straight to prison. That's cold blooded murder."
"I know, and I don't care. He deserves it. Anyone who crosses me like that is going to pay."
Pete and I sat at the kitchen table talking all night long. He told me about his run in with the law and how he faked his death. It wasn't real complicated, essentially, the police confirmed him dead when he dove head first off of a bridge into the river. Pete's a real good swimmer, but the police didn't know that. I guess with a gunshot wound and a jump like that they figured he was dead. I didn't ask for any more details. Pete said that Jason had given him some money to get out of town, but Jackson Pierce, the rich snobby brat of this town, jumped him and stoel all his money. Don't get me wrong, Pete's one tough son of a bitch, but with being already injured, he didn't stand a chance against Jackson Pierce, a varsity wrestling state champ. No one usually dared to mess with Jackson. He was a rich bratty teenager who got away with everything and got anything he wanted. His dold man was a lawyer in town and tended to also get whatever he wanted.
After talking for a while we finally both fell asleep on the couch I reckon around two or three o'clock.
I woke up to Jason gently shaking my shoulder, saying,"Wake up Jonah, you missed the bus."
"W-where's Pete?" I asked while rubbing my eyes awake.
"Pete's gone lil' brother." I drove him outta town this morning. Now come on, y'all better get dressed. I'll drive you to school on my way to work.
As I got ready for school the only thing on my mind was the thought of Pete going to prison after murdering Jackson. I mean all the kid did was take his money and beat him a little, but Pete had too much pride. Besides, he couldn't afford Jackson's big mouth telling everyone that Pete was still alive. Even I didn't know who I could tell. Could I tell Erik or Sally, surely Pete would want them to know. Then again maybe not, he only told me by default because Jason had been helping him out.
After getting to school, everything seemed different. I couldn't concentrate on anything, so I decided to skip class after lunch and go look for Pete. Jason said that he drove him out of town, but knowing Pete he hadn't actually gone that far. He was probably just one town over and already on his way back to finish off Jackson Pierce.
The first place I looked was Jackson's house, surely Pete wouldn't be dumb enough to do it there. Besides he'd have to wait around all day for the kid to get home from school.
I went to Pete's house and on my way I ran into Sally and Erik who had apparently skipped too and were chillin' at the vacant lot.
"What the hell!" I shouted. Y'all didn't invite me to hang with ya." I was kidding of course, but I did find it odd that they were here. Sally was a punk for sure but she never ditched school. Her parents made sure of it. As for Erik, I figured he'd be working on his truck that he was never going to finish.
"Hey man, I'm glad you're here." Erik said softly.
Sally looked at me and then looked down on the ground at Pete's backpack sitting there by her feet.
"Where'd you get that?" I asked.
"You tell me." Erik answered. "I thought you had it"
"Guy's there's something you need to know about Pete," I said. "He's not actually dead."
"Yeah, we know." Sally said, turning her eyes away to hide her tears.
"Pete dropped this off at my house last night." Erik said
"I thought, but Jason said that he took him out of town," I answered.
"Well, your brother lied Jonah," Erik said.
Then I remembered, "Wait! Pete said he was going to murder Jackson Pierce."
"Sally Jackson Pierce is already dead. He overdosed last night," Sally muttered, trying not to get emotional.
"Jonah," said Erik. "I think your brother and Pete had something to do with it. Pete took off his jacket when he came over to drop off the backpack. He said he wanted me to take his journal. When he stepped outside for a smoke I found a bag of pills in his jacket pocket and a wad of cash with a note that had your brother's name on it."
"Shut the fuck up Erik!" I screamed at him while trying my best not to cry.
"Listen to him Jonah," Sally pleaded "He's telling the truth. In fact, Pete came to visit me last night and told me everything. How he had sold the drugs to Jackson and his teammates. Jackson overdosed on them last night and so Pete had to make a run for it. Your brother who had been in on it helped him get out of town."
Jonah collapsed on the ground burying his face in his lap sobbing uncontrollably.
Erik leaned down next to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "They arrested your brother this morning at work," Erik said coldly. "I already talked to my folks and you can stay with us for a while."