RICHIE - CHAPTER THIRTEEN (Twitter Novel / Keitai Shosetsu)

everybody gets sent home
over christmas if they have
homes to go to and it feels
really great and exciting at
first

all of us riding together in the
fairview van even though
richie got put on a train out of
town so im with frejean and
justin

and some of the other guys
but everyones being cool cuz
theyre all basically happy to
go home so its pretty rowdy
and fun

and its snowing lightly and
its making me feel
christmassy inside even
though thats totally pussy but
i actually end up being the
first

to be dropped off and we pull
up and i can see a tree with
lights through the front
window and with snow
everywhere my house seems

totally weird to me like a
place i lived once in a dream
or something and my mom
comes out to the van and
signs the clipboard

and gives me a huge hug and
i walk with her to the front
door then the van drives off
and she asks how things are

and i tell her that things are
going good and she says
–good- and then we walk
inside and its really warm
like too warm

and my mom calls out to my
dad that im home and hes in
the other room watching tv
and he calls out –good-

and my mom takes me to the
kitchen and we sit at the
breakfast bar and eat my
favorite pizza from molinas
and she drinks a glass

of wine and i have pepsi and
she doesnt talk much but she
smiles at me a lot and i smile
back and when im done

she takes me up to my old
bedroom and she opens the
door and all the lights are on
and its cleaner than its ever
been

and theres other stuff thats
different too but my mom
looks at me funny and asks
–good- and i nod and she tells
me goodnight

and dont stay up too late
and i go in and look at my dvds
and all the horror movies are
gone and basketball diaries
and

ichi the killer and some other
stuff thats not even violent
she left full metal jacket
which is weird but whatever
and then

i look at my cds and theres a
lot gone there too all the rap
stuff marilyn manson spider
babies even kill taker

which i guess she took
because of the name cuz
theyre like totally positive
and straight edge but whats
weird is that i didnt notice

right away that my laptops
gone and i kind of freak out
quietly for awhile but then i
figure out theyre probably
just gonna

monitor me on their pc
downstairs so i go down to
see if i can get on and i guess
my mom went to bed

and i look in the living room
and my dads asleep in front
of espn and i walk up to him
and look down at his face

his eyes are closed and his
mouth is open and i think
about turning off the tv but
hes got a death grip on the
remote

anyway im afraid hed wake
up if i turn it off so i look at
the tv and back at him for a
little while

then i go back up to my old
bedroom and read this
choose-your-own-adventure
that i liked when i was 8 until
i fall asleep