Kruppo

Chapter 27
For the duration of the week, and even during the first few days of the next one, my mind was scrambled in between Juggernaut’s woes and work. I was working generally most of the time that I should’ve been rehearsing. I only got to rehearse once or twice a week now. And even after we had broken the news to David about Brian, things in the band just seemed to be broken. For starters, no one could write anything new. We tried to write even more stuff like Tits and Tabs, even, and still nothing came out of it. We all rode in from the wave of frustration, all of us broken, dejected, and unsure about the future.
Marvin had even asked me once during the one time I’d seen him on a casual basis if I was sure that I even needed to go in for work that day. I was worn out, he claimed. “You’ve got bags under your eyes.” He reached out to my face, as if to point them out. I just stepped away from him and went to work.
Even being at Pacific Sunwear was boring, though Ted was a great, upbeat person to be around. He had this energy in him, the kind you can’t keep down. But Ted wasn’t always there to hang out with; usually he was in the back taking care of business. There were others who worked in the store, but they were all stoners or idiots. One in particular, a Jason, some long-haired Kurt Cobain wannabe, had once told me while we were working that sometimes he borrowed cash out of the register when he needed something to go on for the week.
Suffice to say, Ted found out fairly quick about this development and had him fired, threatening to call the cops if he ever saw Jason again. The kid vanished into thin air after that.
I was half awake when Elicia came in, during the week. She surprised me completely. I didn’t even see her when she yelled “CHAD!” from right beside me. The yell caused me to jump, and almost fall over.
She laughed at me, and I couldn’t help but grin as well. I needed sleep desperately, but I wasn’t going to let her in on that. “Nice to see a friendly face for a change.” I said.
“I’ll bet. What time do you get off?” She was dressed in American Eagle attire, all across the torso. Save for shoe wear, she was a walking endorsement for the damn store.
“Uh,” I forgot for a moment. “Eight? I’ve been here since seven.”
“Yeah? Does your dad need you back home?” She was in a bubbly mood, almost as if she was going to start jumping up and down excitedly. I really wasn’t in the mood for it, as much as I liked her. She was fun to be around, but not when a man had only four hours of real sleep in the last few days.
“Not really. He’s probably off doing something.” It then occurred to me that the old man was having a few friends over for the night, and I passed this information along to her. Elicia laughed.
“Well, I think we should hang out tonight,” Her eyes sparkled, and my soul groaned. I simply did not have enough strength to face a night of wild times drinking or anything similar.
In fact, remembering the drinking not too long ago, I almost had no interest in doing it again. Not after what had happened with that Brittany girl. Strangely enough, the kid had been on my mind. I’d felt sorry for her that she’d gotten mixed up with me during a night where she should’ve been home, spending time with her parents, or her sisters or brothers, if she had any. Brittany hadn’t struck me as anything other than a poor, sweet kid who’d somehow got thrown into a den of drunkards that night in Mitch’s living room.
And now, who knew where she was? Probably sitting at home, trying to forget what had happened. Her friends were probably trying to get her to go to the next big party in town, and she probably had me in her head as an association with what happens when you party; you meet a shady character like Chad Palma, the drunkard who didn’t know his own limits.
Elicia kept pestering me, and I finally agreed to hang out. It was something I’d felt was entirely involuntary, similar to that of the heart beating, or the brain running signals throughout the body. Chad Palma did not seem to be in control of his own body.
A shame it was, stumbling around, feeling my body wasn’t big enough for my soul, and I was at the bursting point. Ted came around later that day, as I was slowly closing shop down. He observed me with that thick, jolly face, his eyes darting up and down my appearance. “When’s the last time you’ve slept?” He asked me.
“You don’t wanna know the answer to that.” I said.

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I'm so post-rock I shit sad birds