Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2007 21:20:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: Matt Wess <cow91387@yahoo.com>
Subject: Michael: Part Seven

      For what they are worth Michael wanted to give his opinions about
the life as an adopted child, whose mother was actually alive all this
time.  When one comes to think of it, it is strange that such a person
who is orphaned should spend his or her waking hours contemplating over
the fact of the insignificance and hatred he has towards his
non-biological parents.  If orphaned children thought at all, they would
long ago have started a search party for their own parents.  But they do
not think, because they have no leisure for it; their life has been made
up of too much hatred for those presently around them.
      Michael, in his hooded sweat shirt and jeans, began to pack for his
adventure early in the morning when he should have been getting ready for
school.  He removed the books from his book bag and placed them under his
bed, figuring he would have no need for physics or world history any time
soon.  In place of the books he carefully slid folded clothes into the
bag.
      The door-knob rattled, and Aunt Maude came in, her hair up in
crullers and wearing her usual morning face.  She balanced herself on the
arm of Michael's desk chair, observing.  "Going somewhere?"
      Uncomplaining, Michael folded another shirt and placed it into his
book bag.  "As a matter of fact, yes and you can go ahead and tell Rosa.
In fact you can even tell Carlos about last weekend.  I've told more
truths in my life than they have."
      Aunt Maude shut the bedroom door softly.  "Mrs. Jensen told me
about last night.  I figured one day you would learn the truth about your
mother.  But Carlos and Rosa wanted to keep you here because you were
their ultimate link to legalization in the United States.  I'm not going
to stop you, Michael.  Dios mio, you've caused enough problems around
here.  Just take care of yourself, huh?  You're a good kid, just a little
bit confused about life.  I'll continue to pray for you."
      She smiled and headed towards the door.  "I've never touched a
cigarette in my life," he called out before she opened the door.  "Just
to clarify things," he added.
      "I know that, Chico.  I just had to side with Rosa while she was
around."  She gave him a wink and left the room.

Walking to school was usually a fairly odious routine-not tiresome, but
boring.  It was dreadful to think that in the early, early year's
people's sole mode of transportation were their feet.  Michael shifted
his book bag on his shoulder and half-listened to Adam discussing with
Macy about last night and his wound.  Neither of them bothered to tell
her that they were in actuality planning to head off for Ohio shortly.
Knowing Macy she would come up with one hundred and one reasons why they
should stay behind.  Michael figured they would tell her eventually, just
not now.
      The three pushed through the double doors of the school along with
the other masses.  Adam elbowed Michael softly in the stomach and nodded
in the direction of the lockers.  Michael saw the police man who took
Adam in yesterday.  He was standing completely erected, watching the
group of students file into the school, waiting for someone to get out of
line.
      "What I would give," Adam started in a menacing tone, but was
interrupted by Macy's exasperated sigh.
      "What would you do, Adam?" she asked, not bothering to hide her
annoyance.  "Give him the old one, two?  You said that about Professor
Gorbis's car, too.  Your attitude really won't get you any where far."
      "Would you be willing to place a bet on that?" Adam retorted,
Michael could tell that his friend's blood was beginning to boil under
his skin.  And he knew what was coming next.  "My attitude is getting me
to Ohio, for your information."  He said in a harsh whisper into Macy's
ear so that no one else would over hear them.
      Macy stopped in her tracks and watched as Adam disappeared into the
thick herd of students.  Michael felt like the intermediary.  He looked
from Macy to Adam's retreating back, then back to Macy.
      Finally, Macy came hurrying up to Michael, no longer playing.
"Michael! What did he mean by that?  Is he really going to Ohio alone?"
      The late bell clang through the school and the remaining open class
room doors shut with a snap.  Macy and Michael were left standing in the
hallway.  "Listen, Macy, there's a long story to it.  Can we discuss this
during physics?"
      "Oh great! That's the perfect time to talk about problems!
Especially while Adam hates that class to begin with so he'll be in more
of a bad mood."
      But Adam didn't sit with them at physics.  In fact at one point
Michael was convinced that Adam was not going to show up, until he
strolled through the door during the late bell.  He nodded in Michael's
direction and didn't even acknowledge Macy.
      Macy clucked her tongue indignantly as she watched Adam settle at a
different lab table.  "I don't think he's in the right frame of mind to
make any decisions.  He's going to Ohio because his father flipped out
once."
      "It's been more than once," Michael corrected her soberly.  "He
pointed that out to me yesterday."
      "So you talk things out!" She said in an undertone, as Adam glanced
back at them.  Professor Gorbis began passing out worksheets.  Macy
handed one to Michael.  "I just don't condone this any way shape or
form.  I think sometimes Adam becomes too impulsive and should think
through his actions first."
      Unfortunately, today was a double period for physics, which meant
double the lecture.  Every so often during the lecture Macy would lean
over and whisper another point as to why Adam should not leave, still
unaware that Michael would be joining him as well.  During the break Macy
and Michael stood out in the hall contemplating over the situation.
Michael wished he could get her to understand more before he dropped the
other bomb.
      The pair of them filed back into the classroom with some
anticipation to finish the second half of the class.  Michael looked
towards Adam's general direction, but was taken aback to see that he was
not sitting there.
      "Did he already leave?" Macy asked in an incredulous tone.  "Oh,
Michael, we have to go find him! We have to stop him!"  Michael full
heartedly agreed, but for one reason or another they were propelled back
to their lab table.  Their intention was to find him.  Then again there
could be the fact that he was in the bathroom.
      However, half way through the class Adam still had not returned.
Professor opened his mouth to continue the boring lecture-and a woman
screamed from somewhere outside the room.
      The whole class grew silent at first, and then pandemonium erupted
as people scrambled off of their stools.
      "Now class," Professor Gorbis called out in his soft voice, but no
one was paying attention.
      Michael could hear a muffled commotion coming from what he thought
might be the hallway.  Somewhere from the hallway the woman screamed
again.  Michael and Macy were right along with the rest of the class as
they pushed their way out of the door.
      The screams were indeed coming from the hallway; they grew louder
as Michael emerged into the hallway.  When he could see, he saw standing
in a defeated state a lady janitor crying to the principal.  Michael had
seen this lady around before.  At first he wasn't sure what she was
saying, so he pushed through a crowd of students and finally heard it.
"Somebody has been shot!" she howled.
      Michael felt his stomach drop about fifty feet and crash to the
floor.  He disappeared in the crowd again, allowing himself to be jostled
around by the eager crowd.  Gut reaction told him to run and find Adam.
      Suddenly a hand shot out from the thick crowd and grabbed Michael's
shirt.  Michael was yanked into the boy's room.  Once he was inside the
person released him and Michael found himself face to face with Adam.
"Jesus Christ, Adam!" he exclaimed.  "You scared the shit out of me!  I
heard about the dead person..."  His voice drifted away.  He noticed for
the first time that Adam was shaking severely.  A tear, from what seemed
to be anguish, rolled down his cheek.  "Is-is everything okay?"
      Adam ignored the question.  "We have to leave-now."
      "Somebody was just shot," Michael said on a different note,
implying that they should stay behind.  He gestured towards the commotion
that was going on outside the bathroom door.  "This is serious."
      "And so am I!" He dropped his voice to a low whisper.  He clutched
Michael's shoulders.  "Listen, I'm leaving.  I don't give two fucks if
you join me or not, but if you are joining me, then keep your mouth shut
and follow me."
      From the other side of the door they heard the commotion subside
slightly.  Michael was willing to bet that no one was going back to
class, rather evacuating the school incase something else would happen.
Still he wasn't sure who was shot, why they were shot, and he had an
awful feeling that Adam played a lot larger part than he was leading on.
      Adam adjusted his book bag on his shoulder and peered out of the
bathroom door.  He paused slightly, holding his breath as a couple of
police officers scurried by.  Finally he gestured towards Michael to
follow him.  They silently slipped out of the bathroom and took off at a
fast pace down the halls, which were miraculously cleared.
      Blood was thudding in Michael's ears as they presently rounded the
corner-and collided straight into Macy.  She yelped in excitement and was
momentarily confused.  "There you two are!" she said, once her head was
cleared from the collision.  "Where do you think you are going?"  She
asked while Adam brushed past her and headed towards the luminous exit
sign.
      Michael followed in hot pursuit, noting that Adam was still wearing
Dylan's clothes that were provided for him last night.  There was
something arousing about that.  Maybe it was because Michael had a small
infatuation for Dylan and so he was seeing him in Adam.  In actuality,
Michael was rather jealous that Adam was currently wearing Dylan's
underwear.  Then again...Michael had slept with Dylan previously during
the unspeakable nights, so maybe there was no need to be jealous.
      Macy brought up the rear, scurrying to keep up with Adam.  "Are you
seriously going to Ohio?  I thought you would have snapped out of that
phase.  Jesus, something major has just happened at school and all you
are concerned about is yourself!"
      Adam held up his hand to silence her, and poked his head out of the
exit.  His eyes searched the rear of the school.  Satisfied that no one
was around to stop them, except Macy, Adam slipped out of the back door
followed by Michael and then Macy who was still grabbling for answers.
      The sun light hit them with a blast as they exited the school,
heading directly for the woods across the vacant lot.
      Macy caught up to speed with Michael.  "You're going with him, too,
aren't you?"  Michael didn't answer.  "I can't believe it!" she
exclaimed.  "Leaving behind everything for nothing.  It just doesn't make
logical sense.  I really think you guys should just stay around.
Everybody has their bad days, but you don't see everybody running away
from their troubles."  She opened her mouth to say more-but across the
parking lot came more shouting.  Somebody was bellowing.
      All three of them stopped abruptly and saw a police officer
pointing in their general direction.  "There he is!" the officer was
shouting.  Without warning, Adam broke out into a sprint, diving
head-long into the thick woods.
      Michael stuck with him and Macy was on their heels, but so was the
officer.  He leapt alive and darted after them, calling out for them to
freeze.  Michael's heart was pounding energetically as they tore through
the trees.  The rapidity of their footfall crushing the underbrush.  The
tree branches reached out and grabbed at their clothing, trying to slow
them down.  Michael frantically pushed the branches out of his way,
breathing heavily, trying to make sense of why they were running.
      Macy was thinking along the same lines.  She started to yell from
the back, pleading that Adam stop running.  "We lost the officer! He is
long gone!" she continued to yell.
      Michael glanced over his shoulder and it was true, they had lost
the officer.  They were now so deep into the forest, though, that
sunshine was having trouble to fully filter in through the canopy of
leaves.  He reached out to seize the back of Adam's shirt (or rather it
was Dylan's shirt) and upon doing so he ultimately brought Adam to stop.
In fact, Adam was halted so abruptly that he stumbled forward, his foot
caught on an upended tree root and within the next few seconds he was
airborne.  He came crashing to the ground with a big "umph" as his face
plowed into the dirt.
      "What did you do that for?" he asked angrily, springing back up.
He brushed the dirt off of his clothes.
      "Because the officer is long gone and I can't run much further,"
Michael snapped.  He returned Adam's angered glare.  "I agreed to go with
you, but you didn't tell me that we would be running from the
authorities, which I still don't know why we are!"
      Despite his aptitude for weighing people up, Michael had never
quite weighed-up Adam.  Perhaps the fact that he was his best friend made
him more complicated than others.  Certainly he was of the same sort as
Michael, never pretended otherwise, but somehow the essential
ramifications of Adam's character evaded him.  Adam was bold in many
ways, an out-going kid who did not give two shits what society said.  He
was the sort that might suspect or even have definite proof that you were
plotting against him.  In fact, he may even try to take you up on it.
      But, all said and done, if Michael was getting on Adam's annoyance
then it served him right.  Sometimes he could be incredibly impulsive and
impulsivity is the only logical explanation that Michael could conjure up
on how they ended up standing in the middle of the woods after running
from the police.
      Macy, who was usually quick to catch on, suddenly looked disturbed,
as if a cold, icy hand had reached inside of her.  "Wait a second, Adam.
Did you have anything to do with the shooting at school?"
      Adam placed his hands on his hips, and hunched over, trying to
catch his breath.  "Don't worry about it," he said in between panting.
      "Fuck, Adam! Don't worry about it!  How could I not worry about
it!  You shot a guy!"  Macy said in an outraged tone.  She began to pace
back and forth impatiently.  "And now none of us can go back, because of
your stupidity!"
      "You can go back!" Adam hollered, turning red in the face.
"Alright! Leave! See if I care! I didn't even ask you along!"
      Macy stopped short.  "And what if I do go back, huh?  They'll
arrest me immediately, because I was seen running with you!"
      As usual, Michael was the one standing in the middle of their feud,
trying to make sense of it all.  He really didn't think Adam had the
capacity to murder anybody, but that's not was pouring from his mouth.
An ill silence fell over the three of them.  Macy leaned up against a
tree staring up at the sky, while Adam finished brushing the dirt off of
him.  Finally, Michael broke the silence.  "Where's the gun?"
      At first Adam didn't answer right away.  Then he gestured towards
his book bag.  "Incase we need it during our trip," he added.
      Michael closed his eyes, trying to gather together patience.  "Who
did you shoot?"
      "Remember that police officer who took me in for smoking on school
grounds?"
      Macy and Michael cursed under their breaths in unison as the
situation just got ten times worse.  Adam had shot an authority figure.
Its one thing to shoot a civilian, but shooting a prick with a badge is
one hundred times worse.
      "Do you ever consider the consequences?" Macy exploded again.
"That maybe you shouldn't have lost your temper on your dad, maybe you
shouldn't have run away from home, maybe you shouldn't have shot the
officer, and maybe you shouldn't have started smoking in the first place!
That's what began this whole ordeal!"
      "Maybe you should keep your trap shut for just a second!" Adam
responded in a curt whisper.  "We're being watched."