"Where the hell have you been?" Jason said in a fierce tone.
"I could ask you the same question," I replied.
"I'm an adult Jonah, you're just a kid. You got no right to go runnin' off like that, ya hear!"
"Ya know, I always thought you were different Jason. Different from dad I mean, but here ya go gettin' yourself arrested and I was scared to death they were gonna come for me and throw me in a boys home," I said quickly trying to cover my face, hiding the tears streaming down my cheek.
"God, you're right Jonah. I'm sorry. We both screwed the pooch kid. I guess I thought if I could get a little extra cash by doing business with Pete I could maybe pay for you to go to college. You know I don't got no problem with dope, but I never would've thought that Pete would go get himself high as a kite and then get in a fight with that kid Jackson Pierce."
"Wait! What?" I exclaimed. "Pete said that Jackson ratted him out for tryin' to sell him drugs and then went and overdosed so high that he wandered out in front of a train."
"Nah kid, Ol' Pete shot Jackson point blank. Jackson didn't have the money for the drugs and threatened to rat out Pete to the authorities if he didn't sell to him on credit. Pete whipped out his gun and without thinking pulled the trigger. He's gonna go away for a long time.
The next day I didn't know what to think about anything anymore. I just couldn't believe or even wrap my head around the idea that Pete would've killed that boy. I know he disliked him, but to get in a fight and kill him, that just wasn't like Pete at all.
Jason made me go to school, but I wasn't too resentful. I thought maybe it would help take my mind off of current events. I couldn't focus at all. In science class, which I normally enjoy I spaced out completely. Thinking I was in English class when asked what reverse osmosis is, I answered Shakespeare. The entire class laughed aloud. The rest of the day was sort of a blur if I'm being honest.
After school I was going to walk home with Erik, but his parents were so furious at him that his dad got off work early just to drive him home and make sure he doesn't go anywhere else. I probably won't be seeing him anytime soon.
I took the long route home and meandered by Sally's house. Her school gets out an hour earlier than mine, so she would surely be home. As I walked up to the driveway to the back door I heard yelling back and forth coming from the neighbors. Suddenly, they stopped and just stared at me as I entered through the door and into the house.
"Hey! Anybody home? Sally! Connor!"
No response. Sally's mom always told me that I was welcome to stay there anytime I liked so I went into the kitchen to look for something to eat. After thoroughly browsing through the fridge and pantry I settled on a bowl of cereal. I went into the living to watch the tube while I ate. To my surprise Sally's dad was asleep on the recliner. Glasses falling off his face and the newspaper on his chest.
All of a sudden he jumped up startled.
"Hey Jonah, good to see you."
"You too Mr. Stevens. Mind if I sit down."
"Yeah, of course. Make yourself at home. You know that. Sally's not home yet, I had her take Connor over to a friend after school. She should be here in a little while though."
"No worries, I just thought maybe she wanted to go with me to the game store this afternoon."
Mr. Stevens and I sat in the living room watching whatever football game was on for about an hour until Sally showed up.
"Hey Jonah." She said as she walked in the door.
"Sup."
She walked over and sat down on the couch next to me.
"Whatch ya'll been up to?"
"Eh nothin' much. I actually just thought you might wanna go to the store and pick up the new GTA game with me. I sorta need something to take my mind off of the past few days."
"Sure let's go now, but lemme grab some cash."
Sally hopped up and ran upstairs.
"I'll meet you outside!" I yelled.
I went outside and searched my pockets for a smoke and a light.
"Damn! I gotta quit these things." I muttered to myself under my breath. Just then Sally came out the door. "Let's go!" She shouted.
As we walked down to the store we were mostly silent, until Sally finally spoke up. "Do you think we'll ever see Pete again?"
"Probably not, he's gonna be on the run for a while."
"That's if he doesn't get caught."
"He won't." I said assuredly
"I never even told him, well never mind." Sally blushed as she looked at the ground. "Hey I'll race you there!"
"Hell yea!"
As we neared the game store, we stopped dead in our tracks at the sigh of what we saw. There were four cop cars blocking the street between the store and the gas station. They were all outside with their pistols drawn.
"What's goin on?" I turned to Sally who was just as confused as I was.
"Hey look!" She pointed at the gas station window. It was Pete. He was inside holding the clerk at gunpoint.
"What the hell is he doing?"
We ran down towards the cop cars until one of the cops screamed at us to get back.
He then yelled again saying, "Listen up kid, if you can hear us then you got ten seconds to put the gun down and come outside otherwise we're coming in after you."
The window in the gas station shop was open so he surely heard everything.
Pete yelled back, "You think that I give a damn if I die! My folks sure don't!"
Just then, he stuffed the gun into his pants and took off to the back of the store.
"He's gonna go out the back, quick we gotta catch up with him!" Sally tugged on my arm dragging me behind her. The two of us ran as fast as we could around to the back of the store, but we didn't get there before hearing the sound of a gunshot. We could see Pete lying on the pavement in a pool of blood.
"No!" Sally screamed
"Pete!" I yelled too as we ran down towards his body.
"Stay back!" The officer warned us.
I stopped to follow his orders, but Sally pushed through the wall of cops surrounding Pete.
She fell down beside him, grabbed his hand with both of hers and began to cry uncontrollably. I just stood there in shock at what I had just witnessed.
I didn't speak with either Sally or Erik for the next week or so. In fact, I didn't speak much at all. Jason made me still go to school, but I didn't answer when called on and when people asked me about what happened I just gave them the finger and walked away. It was none of their damn business. They weren't the ones who had to watch his friend get killed by a cop. Even if Pete had broken the law, he was still my friend. He still didn't deserve to die.
I couldn't even close my eyes without picturing Pete's body lying there, lifeless inside a pool of blood.
The neighborhood was never the same for me. Everyone else eventually moved on and forgot all about Pete, but both Sally and I never spoke about it but we knew that neither one of us could ever forget what we had seen that day, a scared, helpless young boy who was our friend and who lost everything. The ironic thing was that Pete really didn't have anything to begin with. We were the closest people he had to family, and he didn't really have anyone else.
Pete's story was published in newspapers all across the state, but anyone who read it still had no idea what it was like to see in person their friend lose his way.