“That was really stupid
of me, trying to get the shotgun,” Gage Matthews said as
he sat on the hospital bed. He glanced down at his arm and shook
his head and sighed.
“What happened?”
Cayden King questioned from where he sat on the chair beside
bed. “Did you pull a stitch or something?” He stood
up to check.
“No,” Gage responded
as he shook his head. “It’s fine. I’m on so many
painkillers, that I can’t feel a thing. It’s great,”
he added with a smile.
“Yeah well, this time
there’s a reason for all of the drugs that you’re on,”
Cayden remarked.
“I know,” Gage replied.
“I’m going to stop,” he affirmed. “I’m
going to try,” he added.
Cayden looked at him for a
moment. “It’s going to be hard,” he informed him.
“I have to,” Gage
explained. “When we were in that store, all I kept thinking
was that I was going to die, and I started thinking about my
life and how much time I’ve wasted doing nothing.”
He turned to Cayden. “I don’t want to be a nobody for
the rest of my life,” he admitted.
“You’re not a nobody,”
Cayden said to him.
“I am,” Gage said,
“it’s okay. I haven’t done anything with my life
that I can be proud of,” he explained. “What if I died,
Cayden? What if that bullet hit a few more inches to the right
and got me in the heart? What would I have to show for my life?”
“You have a lot of things,”
Cayden assured him.
“Name one,” Gage
said as he turned to his friend and looked him in the eye. He
could see Cayden pause and think. “You can’t,”
Gage sighed.
“I’m sorry,”
Cayden responded.
“No, it’s okay. It’s
a wake-up call,” Gage told him. “I need to get off
of my ass and make something of myself. My family treats me like
I’m nothing and up until now, I’ve proven them right,
but that’s all going to change,” Gage said as he nodded
his head. “That’s all going to change. From here on
out, I’m going to do something with my life.”
“Like what?” Cayden
questioned.
“I don’t know,”
Gage admitted, “but I’m going to do something, something
good.”
“Whatever you decide,
I think you’ll do well,” Cayden said.
“You do?” Gage questioned.
“I really do,” Cayden
responded with a smile and nod.
Gage smiled at him. “Thanks,”
he said.
“Well,” Cayden said,
“I’m going to go see what’s holding them up. We
should have been out of here hours ago,” he said as he started
for the door.
“Cayden,” Gage called
out.
“Yeah?” He said as
he turned back toward his friend.
“Can I ask you a favor?”
Gage questioned.
“Sure.”
“Well . . . do you remember
what I told you back at the store, about me and Julia?”
He questioned.
Cayden paused for a moment
and looked Gage in the eye. “Yes,” he responded softly.
“No one should have to
know about that,” Gage said.
“What do you mean?”
Cayden questioned.
“What I mean is . . .
don’t tell anyone. It only happened once,” Gage admitted,
“and after we did it, we both regretted it. If people found
out . . . it wouldn’t change the fact that it happened,
but it would change how they felt about her.”
Cayden paused for a moment
then nodded his head. “I’m not going to tell anyone,”
he said softly. |
