Bradley Robertson

A few months ago I talked about what my plans were for my novel. Since that time I have finished editing it, and I even printed off a few manuscripts to send for submission. However, like most of the stages of this project that's about as far as I got. I did some thinking and I realized that I really don't care if I get published. I simply want to share my work with others. Initially I was going to put my entire book on this site so that people could read through it page by page on my site. You would then have the option of paying a small few for the .PDF version, or you could buy the paperback through Lulu.com. I got through the first couple of chapters and realized that probably wasn't the best approach. It was taking too much time to convert the text to an reasonable page by page format. Instead, I decided to put just the Prologue on my site with a link to the paperback and the free .PDF. I feel I have already written enough in the past about this novel so without further ado I am throwing my work out to the interwebs. I hope you enjoy it.

Prologue

“Lawrence!”

“Lawrence?”

“I’m upstairs”

“Can you come down here? I have something to tell you.”

“Can’t it wait ‘til later?”

“Lawrence please come downstairs.”

“I’m in the middle of writing something. I’ll come down when I’m done.”

“Jeffery Lawrence come down here now!”

Since his mother used his first name, Lawrence realized it was important. She was the only one who called him Jeffery and no one ever called him Larry.

Grudgingly he replied, “Aw right I’m comin.”

He put down his notebook and stashed his pen in his pocket. He got off his black metal futon and made his way to the door. As he walked around the piles of clothes strewn on the floor, he desperately hoped his current train of thought would not escape him. He turned off his black light, snuffed out the burning incense, and closed the door behind him.

He walked down the narrow staircase wondering what he had done wrong now. He loved his mother, but every time she needed to talk to him he felt like he as the key witness at a congressional hearing. Their talks would start out peaceful, with him and his mother talking about current events involving them. But somehow their chats almost always turned into a battle of rhetoric.

When he reached the bottom of the steps his mother was not in sight. “Mom?” he called out.

“I’m in the family room Lawrence.”

Lawrence noticed that the tone in his mother’s voice had changed. It had transformed from a demanding urgent tone, to an alluring peaceful one. It was not one that he heard often, but he immediately knew what it meant. Lawrence could count on one hand the number of times he had heard his mother speak to him in this manner. None of those conversations had ended well.

His intuition was further confirmed when he saw his father and sister along with his mother, in the living room. It was a little after 2 p.m. and his father normally did not get home until after 4 p.m. and usually not before 5 p.m. on Mondays. After seeing his father, Lawrence realized this was not going to be a typical Monday.

Lawrence looked at the scene in front of him and tried to process what was going on. The only thing that came to his mind was that there was something tragically wrong. He didn’t know what it was but he knew whatever he was going to hear was not good.

“What’s wrong?” he inquired.

“Nothing’s wrong,” his mother emphasized.

“We just need to tell you about something,” his father added.

“It’s actually quite exciting,” his mother said cheerfully.

Lawrence didn’t doubt the news was exciting. He did, however, doubt the validity of there being an absence of a problem. He gazed at his sister to see if her expression had any insight on the current situation. Shauna, his sister, looked just as confused.

“Sit down Lawrence,” his father said. His voice was stern yet calm. It reminded him of his gym teacher.

Lawrence retreated to the couch and sat next to Shauna.

“Like your mom was saying, nothing’s wrong; but I do have some exciting news. You all know I have been taking a lot of business trips to Norfolk”. …Oh shit here it comes… “…cess of working with my clients at Data Stream, I have become an integral part of their company. Because I have been seen as an indispensable resource, they offered me a position. I am now the Vice-President of Accounting.”

“Isn’t that great kids? We’ll be living on the East Coast,” his mother added.

After a short yet uncomfortable pause, Shauna asked, “You mean you already took the job?”

“Yes and you guys will love the house. It has a nice sized yard, it’s close to-“

“You already bought a house too?” Lawrence interrupted.

“Honey we’re moving in two months. We had to find somewhere to live,” his mother interjected without her previous jovial tone.

“What about school?” Lawrence asked.

“Well. Like I was trying to say the house is four blocks from-“

“No that’s not what I mean. I’m supposed to go to ESU in the fall. I’ve been accepted and already made my living arrangements. I’ve been looking forward to this for almost a year.

“Lawrence…”

“Dad don’t do that.”

“Honey, do what?” his mom asked

“That. Exactly what you’re doing right now. Pretending that this is the greatest thing that could happen to us. Pretending that everything is okay. Yeah life is just peachy-keen.” He paused briefly and continued, “And this. This right here is the damn pits!”

“Lawrence don’t talk that way in my house!” his mom shouted

“Amanda let-“

“No Ron,” she said looking at Lawrence’s dad, “We have tried to do everything possible to give them what they deserve. You receive a promotion and he’s complaining because he can’t go to some state college. He’s an ingrate,” Amanda finished furiously.

“Mom that’s not fair. He’s wanted to go-“

“Shauna you stay out of this. I thought you were better than your brother, I thought-“

“Amanda stop right now,” Ron interrupted. “You have to look at this situation from their point of view.”

“From their point of view? From their point of view they should realize that you have just taken one of the best jobs possible in your field. But instead all they can worry about is where they are going to go to school.”

Shauna, no longer able to maintain her reserved demeanor, voiced her opinion, “Mom I don’t like this anymore than Lawrence does. You don’t understand what it’s like.”

“Like you even understand Shauna!” Lawrence shouted. “You’re only 13 years old. Do you realize they’ve been going behind our backs for the last 6 months? Dad’s probably known about this job for the last month. Their supposed trip to Vegas a couple of weeks ago was probably a bunch of B.S. They went to Norfolk to look at houses. Why do you think they didn’t bring back anything? It’s because they didn’t want us to know where they were.”

“Okay Lawrence calm down,” Ron said.

“No you calm down!” Lawrence shouted as he rose from the couch.

“I’m not the one yelling.”

“Damn right you’re not!”

Lawrence approached his father who was slightly taller than the 5’8” Lawrence stood. Ron was skinnier than Lawrence. He had not passed down his brown eyes and hair, or his calm demeanor. Lawrence’s blond hair, bright green eyes, and his searing temper had been passed down to him by his mother.

“It’s not your dream being flushed down the toilet. You’re not the one who has been looking forward to a teaching career for most of his life. Now you’re telling me to calm down? Screw that!” Lawrence finished as he pushed his father.

“Lawrence!” His mom screamed.

“Shut the hell up mom! Like you understand? All you do is sit around all day watching soaps and bidding on Internet auctions. At least I’m trying to achieve something. All you are, is a mooch. Dad makes the money and you spend it.”

“Lawrence please stop,” his sister begged.

“I can’t believe this! You’re on their side? If you can’t beat-em, join-em? You’re gonna play that game.” He paused to survey his family. “Aw right. Then if that’s how it is I hope you all rot in hell!”

With that remark he started to walk towards the stairs.

“Jeffery Lawrence Huff! Come back here right now!

Lawrence ignored his mom and proceeded to his room. Once he was inside he locked the door. Lawrence walked over to the heating vent in the middle of his room. He stood on his zebra printed footstool and took off the white painted metal grate. He stuck his arm in the opening. Once his hand hit the top of the ventilation shaft Lawrence hooked his arm 90? and unfastened a bottle from a strip of Velcro he had put there a little over a year ago. He opened the bottle and took 4 pills and instantly felt better knowing what they would do in 30 minutes. Lawrence replaced the bottle and the grate and stepped off the footstool. Then he stepped over to his dresser and turned on his black light, turned around, and walked over to his bed to cover the windows behind it; in the process he shut out all of the June sun.

The room was now basked in a purple glow. His posters of aliens, Darth Maul, and fractals looked like neon signs instead of wall hangings. He sat down on his bed and leaned towards the desk next to it. He opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a stick of Jasmine incense. He grabbed his lighter off the top of his desk and lit the stick. Once the flame went out and the tip produced a deep amber glow, he placed it in his tie-dyed incense holder.

He pushed the power button on the stereo sitting next to the burning incense and was greeted with, “…plant a house; We can build a tree…” he laid down on his bed and stared at his ceiling. It looked like a radioactive night sky with glow-in-the-dark stars illuminating his ceiling. Finally feeling relaxed; he began to think about what had just happened. He hated it when he couldn’t control his temper.

Lawrence looked across his messy floor from his bed and saw his notebook lying on the floor. The sight of the notebook reminded him that he had been working on something before his mom had called him downstairs. He tried to remember what it was but he realized his thoughts had indeed been derailed. Damn it! I should have known better than to not write it down.

He continued to mull over the news in his mind wondering about the future. “What if” questions circulated in his head for a long time. Gradually, he beganto feel drowsy. He was floating on the music and the words coming from his stereo. “…Underneath the bridge…” The music continued to drift over him and he fell deeper and deeper towards sleep. “…okay to eat fish; cause they don’t have any feelings…” As if it was a cue, Lawrence went unconscious after the last word.