Well I Guess This Is Growing Up

“Seth will you listen? I need to tell you about tonight.”
“Okay, What mom?”
“Michael can sleep over, but I’m not going to be around, just dad will because…”
“Why where you going?” Seth interrupted.
“Your sister and I are spending the night at the barn, Rosie might give birth tonight.”
“Oh okay.” From the disappointment in his voice you could tell he didn’t care for his mothers horses, he did not want to be at the barn; he would rather be playing baseball, basketball, or some kind of sport that involves winning. He was ecstatic to have the living room to himself for the night. Usually he was last in line but tonight his older brother was out camping with friends, his older sister was with his mom and his dad would most likely stay cooped up in his own room with the television on all night.
As soon as his sister and mom left the house Seth ran to the phone to give Michael his good news.
“Hello?”
“Hi, It’s Seth, is Michael there?”
“Seth, you know he’s here. Why do you call so much when you can just walk 15 feet outside your door to our house and talk to him in person?"
“Tanya! It’s really important and I need to tell him now, will you give Michael the phone?”
“Miiiiiiiiiiiiccccchhhhaaaaeellllll!”
Seth was getting impatient he thought older sisters were such a pain. He heard her give him the phone whispering, “It’s your boy friend again!”
She often made hurtful remarks like that, as if she were jealous of their friendship. Michael and Seth became best friends as infants; she on the other hand never had many friends. Unless you count the men ten years older than her that show up when her parents are at work; sneaking through her bedroom window. Once Michael and Tanya were both punished, and told to not leave the house. Tanya wanted to have one of those good friends over despite her parents orders, “Get out of the fucking house before Travis comes over, it’s your own dumb fault we’re grounded! Go find Seth or something.”
Michael didn’t care; he had been waiting to ride bikes with Seth. As soon as he got to the street he skidded to a stop. He saw his mom’s car coming down the hill. When he screamed “Mom’s home!”
Tanya heard and in panic shoved her company out the window while he was trying to pull his pants up from his ankles. Seth saw the whole scene from his bike on the street and thought it was hilarious. Even though he was laughing he felt like throwing his bike in fury watching someone else with her. Seth kept those feelings wrapped tightly inside his mind like a caterpillar keeps itself in a cocoon. He was good at keeping things to himself.
“Hey Seth, wusup?”
“My mom said you can spend the night tonight, it will be just me and my dad.”
Michael didn’t question the circumstances; he didn’t care. He was practically out the door before even hanging up the phone.
Seth and Michael spent their night sitting on the living room floor trying to unlock new levels on their video game. When they played the two-person game Seth always won, Michael never got upset about it, basically he was just happy to be hanging out away from his own family. They played until their eyes could no longer stay open and it hurt their retina to stare at the bright television screen. At that point they both put the controllers down and went to sleep.
Before he knew it Seth was opening his eyes in drowsy confusion, he couldn’t figure out why he was sleeping on the futon in the living room instead of in his own bedroom. Then he saw Michael sleeping next to him with his head in the opposite direction. Michael’s dirt covered feet were very close to touching Seth’s face. Moving away from him Seth remembered his mom telling him she would be out for the night. He then realized what it was that had woken him up. The constant ringing of the phone. He was closest to the phone in the kitchen on the same floor as he was. There was also a phone in the middle room, one floor down from where his father slept. Both were ringing non-stop.
His sleepy eyes moved slowly to the glowing numbers on the VCR, they read 4:14am. He didn't want to think of who could be calling and he had no intention on getting involved in whatever it was. More than anything he wanted to go back to the dream he was having about winning the lacrosse tournament. His mind muted the ringing and he closed his eyes.
Drifting back to sleep Seth heard his dad slam the door to his bedroom and stomp quickly down the stairs to the middle room to answer the call, “Hello?” his dad was pissed off by the mere fact that someone would wake him at this hour.
“Son! Calm down tell me where you are?” In a flash his dad went from being pissed off to being scared out of his mind. Seth heard the immediate change in his voice; he opened his eyes and sat up straight knowing his older brother was in trouble. He was relieved he wasn’t the one who answered the call. The trembling of his dad’s words sounded horrible to him. He wondered how he would have handled the emergency, had he answered the call.
He listened closely to what his dad said next, “Oh son, oh god! How bad is it? Tell me where I can find you please!” his dad was practically sobbing into the phone, he couldn’t get the answer he needed. He did not know how to find his son, who was in great danger.
Seth stayed calm not knowing what to think, he looked over at Michael still sound asleep, his fathers sobs from upstairs grew silent for a second and he heard him say, “Okay! Stay there don’t move I’m on my way!”
When Seth heard the phone slam down on the receiver he quickly put his head back down on the pillow and pretended to be asleep. He lay there very still and quiet listening to his dads fast and heavy footsteps above him. His plan was to continue fake sleeping until his dad was out the door. He didn’t want to see the eyes that matched the voice he over heard. When the footsteps came down the stairs to where he was, he wasn’t so sure he could continue to fake sleeping. His breathing was becoming short and fast.
“Seth are you awake?” his dad was only whispering.
Seth could of easily ignored him but chose not to. He sat up on the futon staring at the pale man in front of him; his clothes were thrown on in panic, his shoelaces dragging on the floor. His eyes were serious and his voice still shaking, “Max is hurt really bad.” He paused and took a deep breath as if he couldn’t possibly bear to say anymore.
Aware he was wasting precious time he shouted, “I have to go get him, I’ll be back, stay here!”
At that he ran out the door. Seth felt as if he were frozen solid to the futon. His body stayed perfectly still, only his eyes moved as he watched his dad’s car leave the driveway. He turned his head slightly towards Michael who was still sleeping like a baby. Of all the times in his life Seth felt he needed his friendship the most right then. He had a feeling his brother was going to die, but he didn’t want to believe it, he wanted someone to tell him that everything was going to be okay.
As he sat there staring out the window tears slowly warmed his cheeks. He had never felt so alone or helpless. After about thirty minutes the phone began ringing. Seth’s heart pounded against his chest, to him the ringing was the sound that had started this nightmare. This time he pushed away his fears and ran to the phone.
“Hello?”
“Honey, its Mommy.”
Seth couldn’t hold back the tears. He watched through blurry eyes as his teardrops fell down his cheeks onto the tile floor of the kitchen.
“Seth I don’t know anything yet either, Dad just called me. I called to check on you and make sure your okay, Michel’s there with you right?”
“Yeah, he’s here.”
Seth wanted to tell her that he wasn’t okay, and that he knew Max wasn’t okay. He wanted to tell her that he was scared, he wanted her to come home to him right away. He wanted to tell her that Michael was still asleep and he was alone. Instead he said nothing.
“I love you honey, I’ll be home soon.”
After hanging up the phone he stood in the kitchen crying quietly. Five minutes passed, he was walking towards Michael to wake him when the phone rang again. This time he picked up without thinking. “Hello?”
“Honey it’s me again, I need you to be brave for what I have to tell you…” he could tell she was crying too. “Max was camping with his friends, they were drinking,” she could hardly speak. “Jeff cut him in the head with a machete they found, then he ran off. Dad didn’t see him anywhere. He took your brother to the hospital, and I’m on my way there too but I have a feeling Jeff might show up at our house.”
“Okay Mom” he realized she was right, he had to be brave for this.
Seth could feel his insides freezing again; he almost dropped the phone. He promised he would call if Jeff showed up. Jeff was his Maxs best friend; he was at the house everyday. Seth looked up to Jeff as if he were another older brother; he didn’t understand why Jeff would do such a thing. He didn’t want to think about the word murderer, though suddenly he couldn’t get it out of his mind. Looking once again at Michael on the futon, he decided he should wake him up and they should lock the doors then sleep upstairs. He knew he would have a better view of the driveway from up in his bedroom window.
Michael was groggy and not easy to wake. Seth didn’t feel like he had time to explain everything so they moved quickly upstairs to his bedroom. Once they were both situated Seth ran back downstairs to make sure all the doors were locked. He got back to his bedroom and a car pulled in the driveway. The headlights shown into his dark window, he ducked below the frame as fast as he could.
“What’s going on?” Michael asked.
“Shhh”
When the car turned it’s lights off he lifted his head for a peak. It was Jeff’s black Nissan truck. Jeff was sitting alone in the driver’s seat with his head down on the steering wheel. Seth couldn’t pry his eyes away. He was tightly gripping the phone in his right hand when it started to ring again, “Hello?” he said, more frightened than ever.
“Is Max home?” It was Jeff, his voice was slow and monotone, he sounded drunk but Seth couldn’t really tell.
“No Jeff. You hurt him really badly, he’s at the hospital.” He tried to keep his voice from shaking but found it uncontrollable.
“Can I talk to him?”
“You can’t talk to him because he’s not here! You hurt him, he’s at the hospital!” Seth hung up the phone and dialed him mom’s number like he promised he would. His sister answered weeping and sniffing.
“He didn’t make it Seth” she wailed.
Seth could only think of...