**TIANNA POV**
We heard aggressive shouting in the direction that the Brianna girl had left. "Can you just leave me alone, Brianna? God!"
Our fun conversation was interrupted by Lith, as all fun things usually are. It was kind of funny, though. The look on David's face, grave at first, turned to pure anger as he gripped Brianna's purse. Shiloh ran after him, while the rest of us awkwardly exchanged some "the hell?" type glances, before following.
We found them on a bench under a yellow street lamp, which was the only source of light in the area. Upon our arrival, we saw Brianna, looking like a wreck. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she was shaking like a leaf in the wind. Lith was beside her, fine.
"What is wrong with you, Lith?" asked David.
He froze for a moment as he tried to process the situation. At first, he looked confused. He had a habit of tilting his head like a dog when he didn't understand something.
Brianna was on the verge of opening her mouth to speak when he interrupted her by telling her to shut up. She looked at him with confusion, then at us with desperation, then at a piece of cloth that she was holding, then back at us, then her eyes locked on to that dirty rag in her hands.
"Don't tell her to shut up! She only came over here to check on you and now she's crying. Why the hell do you always have to be so insensitive?!" If you had seen David's expression, you would think that he was ready to kill Lith then and there. Never before have I ever seen him so angry.
I knew I wasn't exactly welcome here. The only reason that I came regardless is that I knew David, the biggest pushover in the world, was the one who organized it. I didn't think that he had it in him to get this angry at anyone, and even if he did, I didn't think that he could ever bring himself to explode on Lith. It was difficult to take him seriously because of how much he was using his hands when he spoke. It was adorable.
"Why are you so sure that I did anything?" asked Lith, calmly.
"Because-" David hesitated. Lith's carefree attitude was clearly digging into his skin. "Because look at her, she's shaking and her eyes are red and you just told her to shut the hell up!"
Lith laughed. "That's not anywhere close to what I said. I told her she shouldn't tell you guys anything. What happened here is between the two of us, the rest of you can go back to having fun. We didn't mean to interrupt you guys." The way he said it came off as condescending, but he was always doing that to me so maybe I was imagining it.
"Lith, tell us what happened and we'll drop it." His ex-girlfriend finally introduced herself to the conversation. Unlike David, she wasn't angry with him, but seemed like she wanted to get the whole thing over with.
"I told you. I didn't do anything. After I leave, you guys can ask her for yourselves, but I don't want to be here when she tells you."
"You're leaving?!" exclaimed David.
"Yeah. You asked me to be here and I came. I've decided that I don't want to be here."
"You promised me you would come!"
"The fact that I'm leaving means I was here, doesn't it? Besides, if I stay here, then it will only ruin the vibe. I'm not trying to be depressing, it's the truth."
"No, you won't. Just stay and we can go back to what we were doing."
"You mean I get to keep harassing Brianna?" he asked. Instead of waiting for a response from any of his friends, walked in the direction of the gate. He successfully made it past most of his friends, but as he was walking past Wynn, he was pushed. Hard.
Wynn was taller and stronger than him, so it was frightening how quickly he hit the concrete. He extended both hands behind him to break the fall, but still almost ended up almost parallel to the ground.
"What did you do to her?!" demanded Wynn.
I felt like I was watching a movie. It was so entertaining to see all of them fighting, especially since Lith was the target of their anger.
He looked up at Wynn with a cold and dangerous glare. I thought he would launch himself off of the ground and try to beat his ass. Instead, the look faded, and he turned his attention to, everyone, including Wynn.
"What am I missing here?" He was finally at his breaking point. For the first time since we approached him and Brianna, he raised his voice. "We've known each other for what? Ten years? What did I do to make you think that I'm on some Calvin shit?"
Calvin shrugged, knowing that it was a fair comparison.
So many people had chastised Lith so far, but until that point, Ashur had said nothing. That same morning, he was bitching and moaning about how much he hated Lith, and now he wasn't doing anything. I elbowed him in the side and he jerked, before realizing that it was his time to shine.
Ashur puffed out his chest and walked to the forefront of the group. "Personally, Lith, I don't like you-"
"Uh-uh," he rejected. "I don't care what you have to say. Let the rest of them talk."
Ashur's large shoulders seemed to shrink a little, and he gritted his teeth, but he promptly regained his confidence. With a voice that shook as he tried to keep his composure, he continued. "I don't like you, Lith, and I'm not the only one. The only reason that we think you would do this is that you always do these things. You may not notice it, but you're always hurting u-... to hurt them."
There was a long pause. Hurts to realize that you're not the person who you think you are, doesn't it? He was always criticizing me and my friends for the harmless jokes that we made, but he's been doing much worse to his friends the entire time. He could act high and mighty as much as he wanted, but at least my friends wanted me around.
After moments of contemplation, he finally spoke. "Whatever you just said, I didn't hear it."
How shameless was this guy? He was making direct eye contact with Ashur when he was talking, and now he was acting as if he didn't hear him. Ashur inhaled sharply. "Shiloh, talk to your man before I do something that I'll regret," he said.
She slowly made her way to Lith's side and carefully helped him up off of the ground. I don't think that he would have taken anyone else's hand at that moment. I heard that their breakup was messy, turned out that those two still had a thing going on.
He seemed to have a thing for light-skinned flat girls. Exhibit A is Shiloh, and exhibit b would be me. Well... Chronologically, I would be exhibit A. In another universe, I could have been the one who helped him up. A chill ran through every vertebra of my spine when that accursed thought came to my mind.
She took him away from the group and whispered into his ear. Whatever she said to him made him glance at David with a look that was a mixture of betrayal and disgust. He whispered back to her, and she looked at David with a similar expression, but she went back to pleading with him immediately after. At first, they were arguing about it, but she must have changed his mind, because he rolled his eyes and looked away from her as if he was throwing a tantrum before returning to the group.
He stood directly in front of David. "Let's go, mediator," he said distastefully.
He led us back into the grove and we sat in the same arrangement that we were in previously. Lith was the only person who was standing beside Shiloh.
"All right." He sighed. If you have a problem with me or if I have hurt you in the past, raise your hand." His voice was back to being carefree and bored.
My hands shot up as high as they could, with the speed and eagerness of a little girl who just couldn't wait to answer a question in class. I wasn't the only person who raised both hands. Ashur, Wynn, and David also had both their hands raised. Everyone else had a hand raised except for Shiloh and Rashidi.
"You're the one who's making me do this. Raise your hand if I've hurt you." Lith instructed, looking at Shiloh. She slowly and reluctantly raised one of hers, keeping her head down.
"Alright. This is the first and last time that you'll ever have an opportunity to talk to me about this. Who wants to go first?"
"Lil' Lith" I called him by my affectionate nickname for him. "We were having a little chat regarding yourself before you were screaming at Brianna down at the bench. I have everything right here." I said, proudly reaching into my purse. A stack of well-decorated index cards emerged from my bag, nine in total. Each paper held a piece of information that would tear him apart from the inside, a little hatred from each friend, then another thing to destroy him.
My excitement was through the roof. I almost couldn't prevent myself from grinning ear to ear as I shuffled through these comments. It was finally my time to shine.
He and his ex exchanged glances.
He mumbled, "I can always count on you, huh, Tianna?" Lith was surprised by my preparedness, but that was only the beginning. "Before she reads, are you sure that what she's going to say is the truth?"
Numerous words of confirmation rang out as multiple eyes suddenly found the table interesting. I hadn't even started yet and their confidence was gone. How pathetic.
"Let's make this into a game." An idea came to me. "I read a card, then you have to guess who it's from. Sound good?"
"Read the cards, man."
"Alright, so you have to guess who it's from. I'll start with..." I perused the deck until I found the least interesting one. This kind of thing needed a good build-up. "...this one!
"It says: 'Sometimes he can go a bit overboard with his jokes, like today when he told my new girlfriend that I'm gay. He also keeps making big bubby jokes and he always tells me to get some bitches. I mean, sometimes it's funny, but most times it can be annoying... but it's not really a big deal or anything... Actually, don't even tell him!' " This one was pretty obvious.
"Howin. Next one."
"Ok, so this says: 'I don't really know how to explain it, but whenever I'm talking to him, he responds weirdly to it. He doesn't like... Insult me or anything, but his eyes look like they don't take me seriously. I mean, I can tell that he doesn't take me seriously.' " This one was surprisingly deep considering who it came from. They surprised me when they said it. I doubted Lith could identify who it was.
"That's from Wynn. Next one."
...Or maybe that was easier than I thought.
"Next one says..." I announced " 'He throws people away like trash for no reason... I don't give a fuck if the rest of you don't agree with me!... Lith doesn't know shit concerning loyalty or what being a friend is ."
Lith didn't answer verbally. He pointed at Calvin, who was waiting for some kind of reaction from him. It visibly disappointed him that the only thing that he got was a pitiful look and the point of a finger. I almost felt bad for Calvin. I could have sworn that I heard a whimper from the kid, or was it cursing? The only thing I hear when Calvin speaks is barking, so I can't tell sometimes.
"The next one is blank. It's from Rashidi. He said that you guys are cool." This one wasn't worth mentioning, but I used it as a divider between the less important and the more important ones. For as long as I've known him, I have never heard Rashidi say a bad thing about anyone. I found those types boring, but Rashidi was... different. You couldn't bring yourself to dislike the guy.
Rashidi pointed at Lith, and he nodded. Those two being friends was proof that the universe made mistakes.
"Guess who this one is from? 'He made me and my best friend drift apart."
Brianna quickly rose from her seat in a fit of rage. "That's not funny, Tianna! I wasn't here when you guys were doing this so I didn't say anything!"
"It's just a joke, calm down already!" I taunted. Brianna was the easiest to manipulate. This girl's emotions changed more often the weather. If I wanted to, I could make her run through the entire spectrum in ten minutes, but she wasn't the target of my wrath.
I knew Lith wasn't privy to that knowledge. I only said it to see his surprise as he looked at Shiloh for an explanation. She nodded her head to show that it wasn't the time. Too bad that Brianna had to open her mouth because it would have been fun to watch him guess who said that one.
"Have I ever hurt you, Brianna?" asked Lith, before she could continue bitching at me. Her lips were instantly met each other.
Funny how you can interrupt me, but you can't talk at the time that you should.
Brianna played with her fingernails as she thought of what she should say. I don't think she wanted to say anything to him after how he was shouting at her, but considering that it was her last chance to get him to listen to her, she choked out a response.
"I think that sometimes..." she turned her head to the side as if she was bracing for an impact. "Sometimes I just think that you can be a little... harsh with your manner of speech. I know that you're telling the truth, but I wish that... y'know... that you could be more kind."
As she spoke, he slowly loosened his expression. The first one that got to him wasn't on any of my cards. It was kind of annoying, but unplanned fun was still fun. I couldn't complain because he finally lost his attitude.
"I know," he said solemnly. That was the only time he gave anyone a response. The ones who already had their cards read tried to hide their feelings of injustice, but it was there. I saw the way Howin opened his mouth to speak, how Calvin reached into his pocket to hide his shaking hands, and the way that Wynn bit his tongue so Brianna could get her spotlight. He didn't say much, but I thought that it was as close as anyone would hear in regards to an apology.
"The next one says that-"
"Actually, Tianna. I want to talk to him myself," interrupted Ashur.
His eagerness was astonishing! I guess he couldn't let the chance to speak and be heard by Lith slip by him. Lith had been pulling that "I didn't hear you" shit on him for months.
Ashur cleared his throat in the most exaggerated fashion possible while pulling his wallet out. A piece of paper was pulled from inside it, and Ashur opened it carefully. The paper was old and damaged by age. The old, unread bibles in my father's pickup truck didn't look this ancient. Lines of cobwebs were carried out of it by the night breeze. It was a beautiful sight. How long did he have that in there?
"You're always blaming me for an event that wasn't my fault-"
"It is your fault. End of story."
Ashur didn't wait to hear the entirety of Lith's sentence before he tore that piece of papyrus right down the middle. The breaking point had come. Defeated, he put his ass back on the bench and took off his glasses, throwing them carelessly onto the table. He proceeded to massage his temples.
Though I considered Ashur my friend, I couldn't help but smile. Something about it was amusing to me. Lith also had his head down, smiling in the same way that I was. Both trying to hold back amused expressions, we happened to make eye contact. Our expressions stabilized instantly. It wasn't that funny, to be honest.
"Ahem" I cleared my throat, kind of a jab at Ashur. "Moving on. The next one says-"
"Actually, Tianna, I don't appreciate how happy you are to read some of these. I'm going to talk to him directly." Once again, I was interrupted, this time by his girly.
"Suit yourself." It would probably hurt more if she said it herself anyway.
She grabbed his hand and led him outside of the grove to tell him whatever she wanted to say. That wasn't fair. I wanted to know what they were discussing. I was going to eavesdrop on them, but as soon as I was set to go, Rashidi, David, and you won't believe who the third person was, Ashur stopped me from going. What happened to team spirit? Wasn't he the guy who got dissed by Lith in front of everyone?
Eventually, they returned.
They had been gone for a long time, but what she said to him made Lith's entire atmosphere shift from carefree to volatile. I could tell that he would explode on the next person who made him angry. She said before that he was a bad person, and I expected this kind of reaction, but the way his jaw was clenched made me question if I should continue the game. Only kidding, of course, I was going to continue no matter if it would cost me my life. If he was like this now, then the next few cards would probably make any trace of happiness in his heart wilt. Time for the worst of the worst.
"Did you guys have a good time?"
"Read the next one." he hissed.
"You look a bit sad, Lith. Did your ex-girlfriend hurt your feelings?"
"Just read the fucking card!"
Woah.
If anyone could get a man angry, it was his wife. That was something that my father told me often. I thought he was babbling at the moment that he said it, but there it was. Maybe my father had a brain after all. Outside, I pretended to be concerned for Lith, but inside, I was clapping with glee.
"This one is from-"
"Actually, Tianna..." David interrupted. "...Shiloh is right. I want to say my stuff out loud."
I threw the used cards behind me in exasperation.
"Fine!" I fumed. "If every single one of you wanted to talk to him yourselves, why am I even here, then. Geez!"
Actually, Tianna. Actually, Tianna. Actually, Tianna. I mocked internally. How many times did I hear that tonight? My only reprieve was that the next guy wouldn't be able to interrupt me with another "Actually, Tianna." Otherwise, I probably would have left with my things since they didn't appreciate my work.
They stared at me for a moment while I smiled sweetly at them. Their line of vision rerouted to David when he began his rant, and boy was it a rant!
David Vardo spoke for a solid fifteen minutes berating Lith for being the, and I quote: "most insensitive and uncaring person for anyone but yourself." He started slow, barely able to express himself but eventually, he found his rhythm. He picked up speed as, I guess material, came to mind and he recounted countless experiences in which Lith hurt him or someone else in the group.
Lith was stunned by the fluency with which David spoke, it was as if David's mouth forgot that it had a lisp. He.Just.Kept.Going. Multiple times, we thought he would stop because he slowed down a few times, but each time, he hit another high, and more comments would fly out and penetrate Lith's hard exterior.
By the end, every mouth was wide open, and Lith's once folded arms were limp by his sides.
"Damn." was the only thing that he could say.
"There's more that you know you did, but I can't say them around everyone here."
"I know."
"Of course, you know. You always know. Now that you know, what are you going to do?"
"I apologize."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...what?"
"Now that you mention it, I should be sorry for some things that you mentioned."
"uhh..." A triumphant smile grew on David's face, it was as if he would lift off of the ground. "well... Thank you, Li-"
"But I'm not."
Welp, his feet touched the ground again. David's expression crumbled. Instead of crying like I expected him to, a guttural shout erupted from him. That was the first time David had ever resorted to violence against anyone.
Rashidi reacted quicker than Lith did, lunging over the table and grabbing the hood of Lith's hoodie after a punch from David connected with his jaw. Howin then got between the both of them, resembling a child who woke up in the middle of the night to his parents ready to beat each other to death and was desperately trying to stop them.
Why would Rashidi grab Lith instead of David? I would find that out soon enough.
Lith's hands were covering the bruised area. "I already told you that if you think being friends with me stresses you out, stop being friends with me. If you stay by my side and keep getting yourself hurt, how is that my responsibility, David!?" At first, he tried to return David's attack, but he was being held firmly by Rashidi's inhuman strength. He had to concede this time.
"This is what I'm talking about! Do you think it's so easy for everyone else to act like you do?! We can't all live our lives without ever caring about anyone, Lith!"
"Did I ever ask any of you to care about me?" questioned Lith. "Stop living your life like everyone around you needs your help and go help yourself first." He tapped the hand that was holding him back and Rashidi loosened his grip, freeing him. David seemed hurt by what Lith said and they both averted their eyes from each other. Lith took a moment to calm himself before he finally spoke again.
"Look, I need-" It was as if he changed what he was going to say. "I've decided that I'm done with this." he decided.
"With what?" asked Howin.
"Everything. Me staying around you doesn't do either side any good. After tonight, let's be strangers. This isn't healthy. If I've hurt you, I apologize and I'll try not to make it happen again."
With that, he began a depressing journey towards the park gates.
All of his friends sat there dumbfounded, maybe because he abruptly excommunicated himself from their group a moment ago, or because he showed a sign of remorse towards them. I wasn't sure, but one thing I was sure of was that he was done.
Yeah. He was done.
I wasn't.
"Lith, you didn't hear the other card yet!" I shouted excitedly.
His figure diminished as he kept a steady pace towards the gates. That's right. He heard the cards from his friends, so he didn't think that he needed to hear anything else. I cursed myself for my rookie mistake, if only Shiloh and David waited their turn!
I grabbed my card and held it up to a lantern as I read it, no screamed its contents as loud as possible, so he could hear it. "I hate everything around the name 'Lith'. I hate the way he pretends to be a good person, the way he pretends he can do no wrong, the way he treats his friends like shit even though they love him so very much..."
He kept walking, unconcerned by what I was reading, but he would stop with this last part.
"...but most of all, I hate how he uses his brother's death to manipulate them into staying friends with him."
He stopped exactly as he was about to lift a foot off of the ground to take another step. His shoulders tensed and both hands left his hoodie pockets, becoming fists clenched at his side.
I expected a 180-degree turn from him. I watched expectantly, waiting for his penultimate explosion. His friends were too stunned by what I said to remember to condemn me for it, but I was prepared to have to take them all on at once if I had to.
To my surprise, he turned, but he stopped as he took the first step. I think he stopped to contemplate whether I was worth it. He settled on a no, apparently.
Loud exhales reverberated through the grove, especially from Ashur, who knew the most how much Lith treasured his big brother. The way they were acting was as if the oxygen in the air had vanished in the last second. They were doing too much even though the subject of the equation was a little bitch like Lith.
Huh? It didn't work. Too bad.
I threw the expended card behind me and smirked as I looked at the last one. As I said, this last thing was from a very special individual.
He used to follow this person like he was their tail, and every time I saw him, he was gloating and boasting to everyone who would listen to him. It was so annoying to have him rub that in my face every.second.of the.day. Finally, that same weapon that he used to carry so proudly would be used against him. Thankfully, his friends were still occupied by the remission.
It took days of prodding and pleading out of my precious time to get this information out of Ashur. Surely, he wouldn't be too mad if I used it though, right?
I took the speaker from my handbag and placed it on the table, then turned it on. A loud "Bluetooth connected" rang throughout the park. The rest of them were confused as to what I was doing, but I continued as I had planned.
I opened the text messages between myself and Ashur and then went into the starred messages. There it was: a short, but powerful, one-minute and thirty-second recording. I pressed play, and a voice was amplified by the speaker.
"I..." With the first syllable, he stopped dead in his tracks, listening intently. It helped that the nighttime was completely silent, aside from the sounds of a few chirping crickets. His friends were also listening with surprised faces.
"I'm tired of him, that's all. I'm the one who does everything: I'm in around ten different clubs, I do sports, I get grades almost as good as he does and I'm supposed to become the head boy for the school. Ever since we were born, I've been doing all the talking for him while he's been following behind me as if there was nowhere else to go. I mean we're twins: We're the same age, that isn't normal."
Another voice was engaged in this conversation. "I mean, look at the bright side, you're the taller one, the more attractive one, you have the looks and he still looks like a short thirteen-year-old." They joked.
"Yeah, but... I mean... I can have these things and I can try my best to outperform him in every single aspect of our lives, but that doesn't change the fact that when I come home, the only person who they cherish is him, because what? Because he's the sickly, shy one and I'm seen as the one who can take care of himself. I'm tired of it."
The person sighed before continuing. "Even "the squad", the friends that I've made while he used to stay inside every hour of the day and play video games, are becoming part of him now. "The squad" used to be my only escape from Lith, but now he's as big a part of the group as I am. I love him, he's my brother, but sometimes I wish that..."
"That you were an only child?" The other voice said as they laughed.
"No! Not that. I told you not to say that type of thing!" The first person warned. "I just wish that..."
"Come on man, nobody is going to tell anyone if you say it. It's not like Lith knows anyone who isn't more loyal to you than to him. All he does is hang around your girlfriend and chase after the girl that I want... as if he has a chance with her."
Amplified laughter rang throughout the park from more than the two people who spoke.
"Stop it, Ash!" The voice warned again, but the warning wasn't very concrete. You could tell that they were trying to hold back laughter. There was a moment of silence. "I don't want to get rid of him. He's my brother and as I said, I do love the guy, but sometimes I do wish that..." a long pause "that it was only me... yeah. Don't tell him this, though. You know how sensitive he is."
"Yeah, I wouldn't want him to kill himself over it."
Laughter rang out once again from everyone except the first person.
"Last chance, Ashur. Say that one more time and I'll beat the shit out of you. I don't like when you shit-talk my brother."
"Fine. I'm sorry. What are you going to do about it then? You gonna tell him to find his own friends?"
"Are you crazy? Hell no. I'm going to tough it out for now. That's how I've always done it."
"Alright then, Adrian."
The recording cut.