Wyatt could feel the cool night air blowing through his hair, his hands grabbing the cold steel beside him, his eyes warm and red from the crying. He exhaled and shook his head, trying to regain his composure, because dammit, if he was going to do this, he was going to do it with dignity. Scarlett would understand. She had to. She would tell Mona who would maybe have trouble understanding but eventually she would get it as she got older. Wyatt looked down. The drop was monstrous and, in the night, looked like an empty abyss. All it took was just one small step.
Just one small step and it'd be over. *** "I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Sun Rai said as she pulled a blazer on over her button down shirt, "she's your friend, so I'm willing to go, but still, I can't believe I'm doing it. I'm not even that social a person." "And that's what I'm trying to change!" Rachel said, coming up behind her and putting her arms around Sun's shoulders, kissing her cheek as she admired them in the mirror, saying, "Damn we look good together. I always knew we would." "How close were you to this person?" Sun Rai asked as Rachel walked back to the dresser and opened her jewelry box, pulling some earrings from inside and beginning to pin them into her lobes. "Uh, well, let's put it this way," Rachel said, "She has a birthmark in a very particular place that I have seen multiple times." "Wow," Sun Rai said, "was it ever..." "No, god no. We were just friends, but we were the kind of friends who spent all our time together, you know? We were like attached at the hip," Rachel said, finishing her earrings and turning away from the vanity to look back at Sun, adding, "as teenage girls tend to be. Anyway I've always wanted to be her friend again cause things ended kinda shitty between us, so I figured this would be a good way to start that." "Well," Sun said, running her hands through her long black hair, "I'm sure it'll be a good time regardless." *** "How did you think I wouldn't notice?!" Scarlett shouted, "Are you that fucking dense, really?? That's a lot of money to suddenly vanish, let alone the bill that came for the stable! What dad actually tells their little girl 'oh sure you can have a pony' and then fucking does it?!" "A goddamned good one?" Wyatt asked, pacing back and forth in the kitchen, scratching his forehead, "look, I know, I know, I...I should've talked to you about it, but she..." "What is going on with you, Wyatt?" Scarlett asked, leaning on the kitchen island, "seriously, what is going on with you? You're buying horses, you're unhappy with work, how the fuck do you expect me to help you if I can't even understand what it is I'm helping WITH?" "Listen, she wanted a horse, so I got her a horse! Why's this such a big damn deal, we can afford it!" "It's a big damn deal because you just did it without consulting me! I'm not saying I would've been against it, but jesus christ, we're financially entangled, you can't just go making decisions like that! It'd be like if one of us bought a car for the other! That's a decision you make together, not on a whim!" Wyatt leaned against the wall, forehead touching paneling, as he sighed. "...I'm sorry," he said weakly, making Scarlett rub her face with her hands and then approach him, putting her hands on his shoulders. "I wanna help you," she said gently, "let me help you, pleeease Wyatt, god. Whatever it is that's happening, whatever it is you're dealing with or going through, I wanna help you. I love you. Sure, in the grand scheme of things it's just a pony, it's not that big a deal. It's not like you're killing people." Wyatt felt his stomach turn. *** Kelly Schuester was sitting in the restaurant, waiting for Rachel and Sun Rai to arrive. She was reading a book she'd brought with her, knowing she'd likely be there earlier than they were, and was sipping her drink while reading. She glanced up momentarily now and then, checking around the room to see if she spotted them coming in, and when she didn't she retreated back into her book. Eventually, she heard someone approaching her table and she looked up again, smiling upon seeing Rachel and Sun Rai as they took their seats. "It's about time!" Kelly said, laughing. "Well, it takes a while to look this good," Rachel said, making them laugh more; she cleared her throat and continued, picking up one of the menus on the table, "so I'm guessing you've eaten here before? What do you recommend?" "Oh everything is good," Kelly said, "everything is great. I come here regularly because the network has parties here, so." "The network?" Sun asked, and Kelly nodded, finishing sipping from her glass and setting it back on the table. "Yes, um, I work for the news, I'm a weather girl," Kelly said, chuckling, "do you not watch much TV?" "No, I really don't," Sun Rai said, "between caring for my father and work, I just don't have time." "What's wrong with your dad?" Kelly asked, before adding, "uh, shit, that was...I'm sorry. It's none of my business." "No, it's okay," Sun replied, smirking at Kelly's awkwardness, "uh, he had medical complications a while back, and we're just doing home hospice care. I was in medical school, so I came home to help my mother with it. Exhausting, but, ya know...he's my dad, so." Kelly nodded. If anyone was going to be one to empathize with caring for a parent, it was Kelly Schuester. She loved her mom and dad to death, and they were basically her best friends. This was part of why she wanted so badly to fix her relationship with Rachel, because she wanted friends her own age again, but at this age it was harder to make new friends. Besides, with Rachel she had history. "So," Sun continued, picking up her own menu and opening it, "do you like being a weather girl?" "Actually," Kelly said, "in a few weeks, I'll be heading to CloudCon, which is a convention for meteorologists out in Orlando. I have to go every year, see new technological updates to the services we use to predict weather patterns. Actually kind of not looking forward to it for once, it's exhausting having to be approachable every day for a few days straight. At least on television I don't interact with anyone except the viewer, and even then only for a few minutes a day." "Well, you don't have a fear of flying, do you?" Sun asked, and Kelly shrugged. "Not particularly. I'm not a fan of going through what you have to to get on a plane, but once I'm on it, I actually kinda like it," Kelly said, "something about being up in the clouds makes the weather girl in me happy." Sun and Rachel laughed; Kelly's quirkiness was endearing, and that's what she'd made her career off of. *** "I guess I just don't understand," Scarlett said, sitting at the kitchen table, sounding annoyed, "because you have a great job but you wanna quit, and I'll support that, I will, but I wanna know why at least." "Because it's not MY job, it's my dads business, and I'm fucking sick of working under him," Wyatt said, pacing again, "because...because I wanna do something for myself, for others. I wanna make the world better, not clutter it up with more shoddy housing." "You run a hardware store!" Scarlett said, half laughing, half shocked. "I know, but it's...it's development, you get it? It's further rape of the natural world," Wyatt said, "When we went to the reunion, I met this old classmate named Celia, and she's an environmental lawyer, and talking to her...I don't know...I guess I just....I realized how disgusting mans grasp on the planet is, and then with Mona getting her diagnosis...I don't wanna make the world a place less designed for her than it already is." Scarlett folded her legs, nodding, listening as Wyatt continued. "And then that fuck, Robert Grudin, he was going to give a competing company the go ahead to start ripping out our parks in the city, and build high cost high rise condominiums, and when I..." he had to be very careful how he approached this part, "...uh...when news broke that he'd been blown up, I mean, sure, shocking, but also part of me was weirdly thankful. Kinda like it was nature itself coming back for revenge for how we've treated it." "...so a man gets blown up and you wanna change your entire life?" Scarlett asked. "It made me aware of all the despicable things I've been a part of, even if unintentionally," Wyatt said, "just, ya know, by proximity of what I sell and help people accomplish. I felt...gross." Scarlett sighed and looked away from her husband, shaking her head. She understood, but she didn't at the same time. Wyatt leaned against the kitchen counter and rubbed his forehead, groaning. "...I can't explain it any better than this," Wyatt whispered, "I'm sorry I'm not making any sense and I'm sorry if it's confusing and I'm sorry if it makes you mad. I can't explain it. It's just...I need to do something better. I need to do something more." "And that something more is buying a horse?" Scarlett asked, biting her lip to stifle herself from laughing as the words left her mouth. "Alright, well, come on," Wyatt said, "that's...I mean. Can you blame me?" "Is there anything else you're hiding from me? Cause now's the time come out with it," Scarlett said, and Wyatt chewed his lip, shaking his head. How could he tell her? How would she understand? He'd just be dragging her into his mess if he did. He'd blown up Robert Grudin, he'd framed Oliver Brighton, he'd discovered a storage unit filled to the brim with the most vile type of media one can imagine. No. She deserved better than that. Once the unit was cleared, they'd be done. They'd be finished. He could get a new job, and get back to being the family man and loving husband he always had been. He was so close to the end, he just needed to reach it now. "...can we actually afford to keep it?" Scarlett asked. "Well I'm not getting rid of it," Wyatt replied, "I'm not gonna give her a horse than take it back, that's awful. If I have to, I'll ask my parents for money." "I thought you said you were tired of being under your fathers thumb, and now you're gonna ask him to support your equine habit?" Scarlett asked. "It's for his granddaughter, I think he'd be more than willing to have yet another thing to hold over my head under the guise of loving his family," Wyatt said, and Scarlett scoffed, shaking her head as Wyatt moved away from the counter, raising his voice, throwing his arms into the air and saying, "alright then! The fuck do you want me to do, Scarlett?! Huh?! I'm here trying to come up with solutions, and it seems like nothing is good enough! What would be easiest?" "I don't know, Wyatt!" Scarlett said, standing up, approaching him, not backing down, "but this isn't getting anyone anywhere right now! Why are you so angry at me?" "Why are you angry at ME?!" Wyatt asked in return. "Because you're fucking us up!" Scarlett shouted, before putting her hand over her mouth, realizing what she'd said. A cloud of silence filled the room, as they stood there, staring at one another. Wyatt looked at his shoes and sighed, scratching his nose. "I...uh...I wanted to give you a good life," Wyatt said, "I wanted to...to make you happy, you know? I've tried my best to do that, but I feel like the ways in which I do are starting to break me down as a person, and I can't hold on much longer. I didn't...I'm not...trying to fuck us up. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Wyatt turned and walked out of the kitchen, grabbing his coat on the way out and, before Scarlett could even follow him, was in his car and down the road. Scarlett stood on the porch, watching his taillights vanish in the darkness, before she finally started crying. *** Rachel was in the restaurants bathroom, fixing her lipstick after eating, when the bathroom door opened and Kelly walked in. Rachel smiled at her, as Kelly approached the counter, looking at her own makeup in the mirror, checking her eyeliner. Kelly sighed and blinked a few times. "I hate fake lashes," she said. "You're wearing fake lashes??" Rachel asked, sounding surprised. "Yeah, I don't know...apparently the studio doesn't think I'm 'feminine' enough, despite literally being a tall blonde under her class weight, so I'm doing some things my makeup artist suggested and, god, they're just so itchy. I can feel them on me at all times," Kelly said, pulling them off and laying them on the counter, groaning as she looked down at them. "...I'm glad you wanted to have dinner," Rachel said, turning to face her friend, "I'm glad we're able to talk again. I'm so sorry for how I treated you at the end of school. I was so busy worrying about my future, about my sexuality, I just...I had to push you away, I hope you understand it had nothing to do with you personally." "It took a while to recognize that, but I did eventually reach that conclusion," Kelly said, chuckling, "I really missed you, Rachel. I was so mad cause we had made all these plans, but I understand needing to do your own thing. But you were my only friend, and I missed you. It's so nice to be friends again, and your girlfriend, by the way, is amazing." Rachel blushed, laughing. "Yeah, she is isn't she? I sure got lucky. An amazing girlfriend AND an amazing best friend," Rachel said, hugging Kelly, who happily hugged her back. Kelly hadn't felt this kind of warmth from someone in so very long, and she was so happy to be feeling it again, and from the person she wanted to feel it from most of all, too. What a lucky girl I am, she thought. *** The bridge was empty. Wyatt pulled up to the side and parked, then stepped out into the black night sky. He looked around, and was somewhat shocked by just how quiet and empty it was. Almost peaceful. God, peace sounded nice he thought. He could actually feel his muscles unclench. Wyatt reached back into the car, opened the glovebox and grabbed a pad of paper and a pen, then, seating himself on the hood, began scribbling something down. When his tears wet the paper, he didn't even notice. He had to give them some kind of explanation. They deserved to know. To understand. When he was finished, he tucked the note into his jacket pocket, then patted it before walking to the rail of the bridge and, hand on the metal, pulled himself up onto the ledge. Wyatt could feel the cool night air blowing through his hair, his hands grabbing the cold steel beside him, his eyes warm and red from the crying. He exhaled and shook his head, trying to regain his composure, because dammit, if he was going to do this, he was going to do it with dignity. Scarlett would understand. She had to. She would tell Mona who would maybe have trouble understanding but eventually she would get it as she got older. Wyatt looked down. The drop was monstrous and, in the night, looked like an empty abyss. All it took was just one small step. Just one small step and it'd be over. Wyatt shut his eyes and felt one of his feet go out over the edge. Just let it go. Let Calvin deal with it. Rachel could have her life she wanted. Scarlett could find someone who could actually make her happy. Just let it go. His lip quivered, his face streaming with tears, when he heard someone behind him. "Wyatt?" they asked. His eyes shot open, and he looked behind him. Standing there, arms folded in the chilly night air, in a tight black dress and her braided blonde hair flowing behind her, was Kelly Schuester. She had stopped her car and gotten out, just to approach him. Wyatt and Kelly stared at one another for a moment, as Kelly got closer to the bridge. "What are you doing out here?" she asked, "...are you...okay?" Wyatt couldn't respond. He just stood there, shaky. Kelly got up to the bridge and, reaching out, grabbed his extended leg and pulled his foot back to the ledge. She looked up at him, eyes wide and frightened, head cocked out of anxiousness, she reached her hand out. "Come on, come down," she said quietly, and without thinking about it, Wyatt took Kelly's hand and slowly came down from the bridge. Standing there in front of her, unable to look her in the eyes, he fidgeted nervously with the zipper on his jacket. When he finally did manage to speak, his voice was low, barely audible, and shaky. "What are you..doing out here?" he asked. "I was coming from from dinner with Rachel," Kelly said, "...what are you doing out here?" Wyatt snapped, and fell face first into Kelly's chest, sobbing. Kelly immediately held him comfortingly, stroking his hair. "It's okay," she whispered, "you're okay. You're okay." And he was. For the first time in a while... ...Wyatt Bloom WAS okay.
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A group of former high school classmates reunite at their 10 year reunion, and discover they each want something different, many with someone else there. What ensues is a labyrinthian relationship amongst them involving crime, murder, romance and, in one particular case, terrorism. Archives
May 2024
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