Chapter Fourteen

Bob sat watching the television, it was two months since the accident. In that time he had not been to school once. He had spent most of his time watching DVDs or playing on his Play station two. He did not feel like doing much at all in fact, he was not sure where he was going in life. It was nine o'clock at night. Other than his parents had seen nobody in the last two months. He'd fallen into a Malaise that he could not get out of. He had spent most of the time lying on his bed wondering what the purpose of living was. Slim's death had been a major shock to him. He had lost his best friend. Though he had had many well wishes, nothing to that could be said could take away the pain that he felt. He heard a tapping at his window. He was in two minds as to whether to look or not. The tapping continued. He grabbed the remote, and pressed the pause button. He heard some more tapping. Pulling the curtains back, he looked out the window. As the light was still on in his bedroom, he could not see out. He let the curtains slide back into position. He then turned the light switch off. He went back to the curtain and looked out again. Akane was standing outside his window. Bob let the curtains slide back. He was not in the mood to talk to Akane. Akane of all people would bring back bad memories. After all, she was Slim's old girlfriend. Akane knocked on the window again. Bob ignored her and went back to watching the DVD he was watching. She knocked harder on the window, as if it was urgent. The more Bob ignored her, the more insistent she became. Annoyed, Bob went to the window again. He opened it. 'What?' he almost yelled it at her. 'Let me in.' 'Why?' 'I want to talk.' 'Get lost.' He slammed the window shut. As far as he was concerned he did not want to see her. She knocked on the window again. He ignored her and turned the television up even more. She kept knocking. Bob was afraid to turn the television up any further. If he did his parents may come to talk to him. His parents were some of the last people he wanted to speak to. He turned the television back down. He pressed the pause button again. He whipped the curtain back and glared at her. How dare she! She glared back at him. They stood there glaring at each other. When he didn't open the window she knocked on it again and looked at him expectantly. Though he had not been at school he suspected that Akane was making the most of Slim's death. Though Akane and Slim's relationship had been a secret, Bob suspected that Akane had revealed it to the school. It would not surprise him to find that she was playing the devastated girlfriend role. She was pulling as much attention to herself as she possibly could. It grated on his nerves that she would use Slim's death in such a way. Bob could never figure out what Slim saw in her. She was just a drama queen, who thought of nothing but herself. He could hear her muffled talk through the window. 'Open up you arse hole!' He opened the window a crack and said to her, 'Why don't you go annoy someone else?' He shut the window again before she could reply. She banged on the window harder. It was getting so hard that Bob began to suspect his parents might come to investigate. He was in two minds about who he would prefer to spend more time with; Akane, or his parents? He figured, if he let Akane talk, maybe she would go away. If she did not, then he could get his parents to get rid of her and tell her never to return. He opened the window again. Akane started to climb in the window. 'Hey, I didn't give you permission to come in!' 'Tough luck. Help me in.' Bob helped her into his bedroom. She straightened herself up and looked at him. 'I want to talk.' 'So I gathered.' 'You haven't been around much.' 'Maybe you haven't heard. I'm feeling a little sad,' he said it in such a way that the venom could clearly be heard. 'Oh, I'm sorry. Were you in love with Slim too?' He snorted at her retort. Love was a strong word for her to use. The only person she loved, as far as he could tell, was herself. 'Slim was my best friend, I was a hell of a lot closer to him than you ever were!' It was Akane's turn to snort back at him, 'I doubt that. You ever give him a hand job? I don't think so little boy!' 'Giving a guy a hand job doesn't prove a thing bitch. Is that all you came here for, to brag about your ... prowess?' 'No, every bodies worried about you Bob. We haven't seen you in weeks. It's unnatural.' 'Don't speak to me about what is and isn't natural. Just leave me alone!' 'No, I can't. I loved Slim. I know Slim wouldn't want you to be doing this.' 'Oh, really,' Bob replied in his most sarcastic voice. 'Well if you've been so concerned, why haven't you come to see me before?' 'I've been grounded for over a month.' 'Good! What did you do to deserve that?' 'I stuck something in my mother's handbag to get her arrested.' 'Really?' Bob was amazed. He knew Akane could be a self centred bitch, but he never imagined her doing that. 'What happened?' Akane related the story. She included everything, and as she talked, Bob and her sat down on Bob's bed. Somewhere during the story, they both lay back on the bed and had a good laugh about it all. Akane then related the sorts of things which were happening at school. Though Bob had been two years below both her and Slim, she knew some of the people in her year. Actually, she mainly knew them by site, but her acute sense of awareness had allowed her to describe some of their mannerisms, and the clothes they usually wore. Bob had never realised Akane was so astute. Maybe there was more to Akane than all her hype and show. Maybe this is what Slim saw in her. A side that no one else ever saw, and now Bob was being allowed into the inner sanctum that Akane kept for no one else. He was suddenly very aware that his hatred for this girl had changed. Previously, he had tolerated her, but only because she was Slim's girlfriend. Now, he was actually starting to like her. In a way, she was the only link to Slim that he had other than his own memories. No one else knew Slim the way they did. Somewhere amongst the talk, they both started to relate to each other. They began telling funny stories regarding Slim. The time Slim broke his arm coming off his skateboard. He was so embarrassed he told everyone he had been attacked by bikers and had to skate for his life. The bikers were swinging chains and waving large knives at him. He claimed the arm finally got broken when he grabbed one of the bikers chains and hauled the guy off his Harley. The other bikers became so afraid that the picked up their friend and rode off. It was a good story till Slim's mother related how she'd been speaking to him in their own driveway. Slim had misjudged where he had left his own board and as he tried to step onto it while still talking to his mother, the board flew out from under him and sent him sprawling on the cement. She raced the poor dear to hospital immediately. It was just a normal everyday broken arm. Nothing sinister, and definitely nothing to do with bikers. Bob and Akane laughed at good old Slim. He always had a way of relating the mundane and making it into some fantastic adventure. Poor Slim. They sighed.