Date: Sun, 08 Aug 2004 22:24:17 -0400
From: rhaven <rhavenlo@rhavenlore.com>
Subject: The Next Tomorrow Chapter Nine

This is a story from imagination, nothing more; it could not exist in
our reality. Be warned it is a tale of man/boy relationships with some
bad language.
I'd like to thank my dear friend Astral Toad for helping me with this
story. All Good things must end.
If you like this story, please visit my site for more at
www.rhavenlore.com

The Next Tomorrow

By Rhaven

CHAPTER NINE
Mark and I ran through the woods, passed the tranquil lake. I prayed
to God for the first time in years to keep my Mom safe. Without me
there at home, Mom would take the blunt of Greg's anger. "Please God;
don't let Greg kill my Mom!" I said silently as I ran.
We burst out of the woods just in time to see Greg hit my Mom across
the face.
"Leave her alone!" I screamed, so angry that I couldn't think
straight. I didn't think about the fact that Greg was bigger and
stronger than me, nothing else matter but the safety of my mother.
"Well look who's here." Greg laughed and pushed my Mom to the ground.
"Jonah! No, get out of here, he's insane!" Mom cried and tried to grab
Greg's leg, but he kicked her off easily.
"Little mother fucker, thinks he can ruin my life? Telling stories
about how mean I was to him?" Greg laughed again and headed for his
tow truck. "You want `mean', I can give you `mean'."
Mark grabbed me by the shoulder; it took a second for my brain to
register what he was saying. "He's got a rifle!"
"RUN!" My Mom screamed desperately. If Mark hadn't pulled me, I would
have remained motionless. Finally, the reality of the scene became all
too real and I followed Mark back into the woods.
"Oh God... Oh God!" Mark cried as we zipped through the trees. "Where do
we go?" He asked.
"I don't know." I cried. I didn't need to look behind me, I could hear
Greg stumping through the woods after us. We ran blindly, with no
direction or escape. There was no way I would head to Sean's house;
Greg would kill him for sure. There was nowhere for us to hide other
than the Dragon's Lair, but couldn't imagine being trapped up a tree
as Greg shot at us from the ground.
"You can't ruin my life!" Greg screamed. "Everything was going great
until you fucking opened your mouth!"
Mark stumbled and fell, my heart pounded as I yelled for him to get
up. I yanked Mark back on his feet, angry with my friend for being so
clumsy, didn't he realize that our lives where in danger? Suddenly I
heard the sound of thunder and Mark fell again.
"Mark come on, we have to go! Mark!" I screamed and tried to drag him
back on his feet, but his body was limp like a rag doll. In the middle
of his back, I watched as blood seeped through his shirt. I blinked my
eyes hard, trying to erase this horrible scene before me, but the
blood remained. "Mark? Mark are you all right?"
My friend didn't move nor did I as Greg walked up next to us.
"Look what you made me do!" He screamed and hit me with the butt of
the rifle. "This is all your fault, you little shit! Your friend is
dead because of you!"
"Mark's dead?" I said weakly, holding my hand over my now pounding
forehead.
"We could have been happy." Greg said almost solemnly. "But your pal,
Sean Ponca had to go sticking his nose where it didn't belong. I was
making a new life here in Archer and it could have been great." His
face grew red with anger and I stared numbly as he pointed the rifle
at me.
"I ain't waiting for the police to come and get me!" He screamed.
"I--I don't know what you're talking about." I yelled back. "Please,
we need to get help for Mark!"
"Fuck your friend and fuck you! Do you think I'm stupid? Your dumb ass
mother told me about the police report Sean has and how they were
going to get me! Did you really expect me to stay around and get
screwed by you?"
"I don't know what you are talking about!" I screamed again.
"Oh fuck this." Greg smiled menacingly and aimed the rifle at my head.
Someone flew passed me and hit Greg in the chest. I screamed and fell
backwards as the rifle fired, the thunderous boom deafened me.
Sean was on top of Greg, wrestling with the rifle. They rolled over
and over, slamming into trees and logs. I tried to stand back up, but
a sudden sharp pain from my right arm knocked me back down to the
ground. I stared at the blood oozing from my arm and puckered out my
lip in wonder of how I had hurt myself. Then I realized, I had been
shot, that was when the pain really hit me. My arm throbbed and gushed
blood, too much blood. I started to yell to Sean that I was hurt, but
stopped when I saw Greg hit him hard across the jaw. I prayed for Sean
to get up, but he only moaned and rolled to his side. Who would save
me now, who would save Mark? The maniac stood, laughed threateningly
and brushed off his jeans before retrieving his rifle again.
"Leave him alone!" I screamed.
"Shut the fuck up!" Greg yelled without taking his eyes off Sean. "So
the hero of the day thought he could take me down. What a fucking
joke. You think you're better than me, just because your dad's some
fucking singer? You ain't shit!"
Sean sprang at Greg, knocking to the ground. I was shocked at how
quickly Sean had moved and apparently so was Greg.
"Enough of this shit! You have bullied and hurt everyone around you."
Sean punched Greg in the throat and then the nose. Greg tried to hit
Sean with the rifle, but Sean snatched it from his hands and threw the
weapon into the darkness.
I was having troubles keeping my eyes open; I was puzzled on how I
could be so sleepy at a time like this. My neck felt like it was made
from rubber, my head rolled to the side and I frowned, the woods were
illuminated by an eerie flashing red glow, I must be hallucinating.
Then I saw several men approaching us cautiously, it was the sheriff
and his deputy. I gritted my teeth from the pain in my arm and forced
myself to stand.
"Over here, please help!" I yelled to them and started to wobble on my
feet. I rolled my head around to see Sean hitting Greg once more, the
vision made me smile, he truly was my Tarzan. No he was better than
Tarzan. Then the ground hit me, it felt like it had defied gravity and
slapped me in the face. I saw sparkling stars dance in front of my
eyes before a complete blackness stole my sight and I fell into an
endless void.

"He's waking up."
"Oh thank goodness."
"My sweet baby."
I blinked my eyes open and quickly looked around. I was in a strange
room that smelled like rubbing alcohol. White walls, white ceiling,
everything was white. Mom, Sean and some woman I didn't know hovered
over me.
"How are you feeling?" the woman dressed in white asked me. I tried to
sit up, but Sean stopped me with a hand on my chest. It was then I
realized my right arm was in a sling.
"Where am I?" I asked Sean, my whole body hurt as I moved, from my
head down to my little toe, everything ached.
"You're in the hospital." Mom answered weakly. I noticed she was
having difficulty looking at me. Flashes of my horror with Greg came
back to me and I remembered all that had happened.
"Mark! Is Mark all right?" I pushed aside Sean's hand and forced
myself up. "Where's Mark?"
The adults looked at each other and I could tell they had bad news for
me. I started to cry for I knew that my friend was dead. Why did it
have to be Mark to die? There was no one sweeter and more caring than
Mark. "It should have been me." I said quietly.
"It shouldn't have been anyone." Sean said.

The next week was a blur to me. I pressured Sean to tell me all that
had happened that night with Greg. I had imagined that Sean had gotten
the police there, but was surprised when I learned it had been Mom who
had called them. Sean had been talking with the sheriff, but after the
phone call and discovering that I wasn't in the house, he had raced
into the woods in search for me. It took Sean a while to figure out I
wasn't in the house, he thought I was playing `hide & seek' with him.
I thought that was funny, I could picture Sean tiptoeing through the
house looking for me; he had to have looked the fool, throwing open
door and yelling `got you' to an empty room. However, the more I
thought about it, I was ashamed I hadn't told Sean I was leaving the
house, it was stupid of me. My only problem now was my mother, she was
a complete wreck, every time she came to visit; she started to cry and
blamed herself for all this disaster. I can't say that I wasn't anger
with her, I was, but she had made a mistake and I couldn't hate her
forever, she was my mother and I loved her. I tried to hide those
memories I had of her and Greg, but it was difficult. At night, I
suffered from constant nightmares, of Greg sneaking into my hospital
room and killing me. There was nothing Sean or Mom could say that
would stop those nightmares, it was something I had to control and I
knew it would take time for me to conquer this fear. I wondered if my
Mom would ever date again. How could she, without thinking of making
the same mistake again. This made me sad, I had Sean, Mom deserved
someone too. Though I hoped it wouldn't be too soon.
Ronnie came to visit a few times, but things had changed for us,
Mark's death had affected us both. Being together only reminded us,
that Mark was gone. I had always thought that Ronnie was our leader,
but I was wrong. Mark was our bond; there couldn't be any leadership
or followers without Mark's devotion to our friendship. Ronnie was
only another kid I knew from school now. During his few visits, it was
apparent we had nothing in common, nothing to talk about. I'm amazed
that we had become friends in the first place. I didn't hate Ronnie
nor did he hate me, we just weren't compatible without Mark's
cheerfulness and smile. I would miss Ronnie, but I had Sean, who came
everyday to cheer me up from the boredom of the quiet hospital. Some
days we wouldn't say anything, just having him there was enough. Other
days, Sean would bring a book and read to me. I loved lying there in
bed with my eyes closed, imagining the story as Sean masterfully read
as he changed voices for each new character.
"What did Greg do?" I asked one day.
"I'm sorry, what do you mean?" Sean asked looking up from the book he
had been reading to me.
"He thought the police were coming for him... were they?"
Sean closed the book and frowned slightly. "I had a private
investigator find everything he could on Greg. Apparently he was
wanted in Dallas for the murder of a Bar owner."
I nodded and sniffed as I felt my eyes fill with tears. "Why did he
have to kill Mark?"
"Little Man..." Sean reached out a hand and patted my leg. "He was going
to kill everyone that night. Some people are just plain evil, life
means nothing to them."
I nodded again and stared up at the plain white ceiling. I was still
wishing that it had been me. Now that Mark's funeral had passed and I
wasn't allowed to go, those feelings were even stronger. Sean had gone
to the funeral and I made him describe it in detail. I was glad to
hear that almost the whole town of Archer had attended, Mark would
have liked that. Sean stood and kissed my forehead, somehow he could
tell when I was thinking too hard and need that kiss.
"Let me tell you something, little man. Some times bad things happen,
if we can't find someone to blame, we blame ourselves. But the truth
is, no one is at blame, no one can predict the mind of evil. Don't let
Mark die, he can live on in your memory. There is no better tribute to
a person that to remember them and tell their story."
"I'll always remember Mark." I vowed.

Time passed, and I returned home with Mom. We had a lot of damage
between us, but I was willing to work on it. I felt bad for Mom, with
her blaming herself for Mark's death and all the terror Greg caused.
It was a long road Mom had to travel to recover from all this pain,
but I was going to be there for her. Together we would smooth over the
evil of Greg.
I'm amazed how one person can change the life of a town, Greg was like
a hurricane, he destroyed everything in his path. Now he was finally
in prison, hopefully for life. His brief time in my life would affect
me forever. As would Sean's arrival, but his affect was for the
better. I've heard people argue the idea that there is no such thing
as good or evil. But they do exist, they aren't just a unconscious
choice of decisions, whether to kill or not to kill. Evil is real, it
has a face, for me it's Greg. I don't care if his childhood sucked or
if he got fired from one too many jobs, he was evil.

I walked through the woods, momentarily looking up as I passed the
Dragon's Lair. I imagined Mark looking down at me, with that smile and
raccoon hat on top of his head.
"Hi Mark." I said to my friend's memory. What could have been, what
would Mark done with his life? Been an actor, a doctor or maybe a
politician? It didn't matter now, to the rest of the world Mark was
gone, but not for me, he was with me forever, eternally my young
friend.
"Greetings and salutations." Sean said as I approached the
Plank. "Water looks inviting."
I looked out across the lake. The peaceful view was comforting. "Today
is a good day for a swim." I said smiling.
"Today and tomorrow and the next tomorrow." Sean laughed.

Sean continued staring out the window, whether he heard my story... our
story, I wasn't sure. Greg, Mom and even Ronnie had all passed away,
joining Mark into that dark beyond. Only Sean and I remained from
those days. But I was the last to carry the torch and that thought
scared me. Our story shouldn't be forgotten, it couldn't be. I held
his hand and sighed, joining him in gazing out the window. What was he
looking at; perhaps it wasn't outside that held his interest. Maybe he
searching for a reason. A reason for life, for this disease that
inflicted him now or perhaps he was searching for the lost past.
"Nice day for a swim." I said tenderly.
"Always a good day for a swim." Sean answered. I nodded and kissed his
aged cheek. Nothing else was said between us, words weren't needed
anymore. We sat and stared out the window, waiting to see what the
next tomorrow would bring.

The End