RICHIE - CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE (Twitter Novel / Keitai Shousetsu)

again the words are huge and
hard to miss again right on
the brick wall leading to the
cafeteria

-APRES MOI LE DELUGE-
in those same thick curvy
black spray painted letters
and its weird because even
though

its exactly the same as last
time its different too cuz
whoever did it //richie// had
to go over the letters a bunch
more times

cuz of the cold and the letters
are thicker and not as clear as
they were last time even
though they contrast with the
snow

i think mostly cuz theyre in
exactly the same place which
was sandblasted and
everything so its like less
vivid

but of course we all still see
the wall on the way to
school in the morning and
everyones talking about it for
awhile

but nobody speaks french so i
tell some of the guys that it
means -after me the flood-
but they dont know what that
means

and honestly neither do i so at
lunch im sitting with glass
eye reading as usual and
richie comes up and throws
himself down

into one of the chairs and
doesnt even bother
acknowledging glass eye -so
do you know what it means
dee dee- and i go

-what the wall- and he nods
i go -it means after me the
flood in english but i dont
know like what it means
means-

richie shrugs -louis the
fifteenth said it a million
years ago and some people
still argue if he meant that

-after me the revolution
comes which would be like
prophetic and true but you
gotta wonder why hed be
happy about that

-and the other interpretation
is that he was saying let it all
come down cuz ill be dead
anyway and i dont care what
happens

-after me- and i look at him
and ask -which one did you
mean- and he smiles
-neither really i just thought
it sounded cool-

my turn to shrug -i guess- he
goes on -whats a lot more
interesting is that this time
theres no discussion of it you
know

-cuddy didnt pull us outside
for the lecture or anything
like that- and im like
-maybe they dont care
anymore-

richie shakes his head
-doubtful- and it occurs to me
-maybe they dont wanna like
give you the satisfaction you
know-

and he thinks for a second
-maybe so dee dee maybe so
doesnt matter really cuz
pretty soon they wont be able
to ignore me

-even if they want to- and im
like -what the hell does that
mean- and he gets up -dont
worry about it come to my room

-tonight ive got some stuff to
give you- and im confused
but i go -okay- anyway

so that night i go to richies
room and hes sitting on the
bed like waiting for me with
this stack of books

and he smiles and slaps his
knee -dandle on over here
youngster and learn at the
feet of yr elder-

and i go -yr my elder by like
what 8 months richie- and
he shakes his head -matters
not

-for you have much to learn
and time is growing short-
and i walk over and sit next
to him on the bed

-what do you mean its just
what is it today february
school doesnt end til the
beginning of june

-and theyre not gonna
discharge either of us before
the end of the school year
you know that-

richie sighs gazes evenly at
me -look dee dee you know
how the other day i told you
that we were friends

-and it warmed yr heart in
that very special way- and i
go -fuck you- and he goes
-i know

-its hard for you sometimes
to accept the fact that
someone like me could be
friends with someone like
you-

and i sigh and get up he pulls
me back down and raises his
voice -what im trying to say
dee dee is that

-theres gonna come a time
real soon when yr not gonna
want to be my friend
anymore- my face squinches
up

and i shake my head in
disbelief -jesus what are you
talking about are you ever
gonna make sense again-

richie shrugs -im not trying
to be dramatic or anything
but eventually you arent
gonna want to be friends with
me anymore-

i put my hand on his shoulder
and look deep into his eyes -i
dont want to be friends with
you now

-so stop worrying about later-
and he nods closed mouth
then goes -its okay yr in
denial

-thats all right- then hands
me this stack of like 8 books
-these are like this is the base
curriculum

-for not becoming a robot
like the others- and i take the
books and look through them
and some of them

ive heard of like naked lunch
and valis the phillip k dick
book that i was looking at
before and theres

a comic book called the
invisibles and the others are
like philosophy textbooks but
theres also

that letters from a living dead
man book by elsa barker that
richie showed isaacs but the
one that really gets my
attention

is cult psychology and the
perception of freedom by
stanislaw krol and i hold it up
to richie and go

-do you really want to lend
this out cuz i know how rare
it is- and richie shrugs and
says

-ive gotten everything out of
it im going to its cool- but
im like -what if im like
reading it at lunch

-and i get nacho cheese on it
or something- and he goes
-well then id have to kill you-
and i say

-well then i probably
shouldnt take it- and richie
scoffs -just dont read it at
lunch you smackhead-

and i sit there for a minute
looking at it then im like
-thanks- and he says -dont
thank me just make sure you
read them

-cuz otherwise the chances of
you becoming a robot are still
pretty high although yr
proximity to me may have
temporarily

-inoculated you against the
robot virus- and then i just
blurt -are you going to kill
yrself- just like that and he
laughs

but its almost nervous
laughter -dee dee why
would you even ask me that-
and im like -you know like
in health class

-when they tell you that if yr
friend is like suicidal hell be
giving away all his stuff cuz
you know

-he thinks he wont need it
anymore- and richie laughs
again -do i seem depressed
to you dee dee-

and i look away -no but-
and he smiles -then dont
worry about it- and i go -but
you just said

-all that creepy shit about
how soon im not gonna want
to be yr friend- and he says
-well look at it logically

-if i was gonna kill myself
why would i care if you
wanted to be my friend or
not-

and he waits for me to
respond -see- but then i go
-but why would you even say
that stuff-

and he goes -okay bad joke
just forget all that and read
the books cuz thats the
important thing-

and im like -okay i guess
but thats still pretty weird
youve gotta admit- and he
winces and responds

-look im 16 ive got all these
weird chemicals going off
inside my brain like 24/7

-not everything im gonna say
is gonna make sense does
everything you say make
sense- and im like

-you know it doesnt- and he
points over at me -ahh ha-
and i end up taking the books
and going

but ultimately something
about this exchange just
doesnt convince