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Chapter 1 - One Day Shy of a Year

"Things feel different...", she said as she trailed off. That's how it all started, or rather, ended. No, not ended, how about was completely destroyed with no hope of recovering. "Things feel different?!", I replied almost mockingly, "What does that mean? Just say what you want to REALLY say." I was getting a feeling in my gut that told me the answer to why she even said her a fore mentioned statement. Jessica looked up at me with a stare showing off her utmost compassion, almost as if her next words were going to break her heart, and finally said, "I think we're done."

What happened next was a blur, and I'm not quite sure I can accurately recall the events that led up to the next day, but I can say just one thing, and that's that they were NOT joyful.

But hey, Life can't get you down too bad, eh? I mean you've just spent the past 364 days with this person pretty much every single day and lost several friends over that fact. I mean, who has time for friends when you're hanging out with the girl that you're planning to ask to marry you on your one year, eh? Well, here I was, engagement ring in one pocket, and 3 extra saxophone reeds in the other, on a bus traveling up to New York City with my High School Band for the big thanksgiving day parade. I mean, hey, why not? On the day that was to be my engagement day I was actually looking forward to enjoying a little bit of fun, and what like a trip to New York City can get that out of your system, right? Wrong, and let me tell you why...

I was with my best buddies, "The Five" as we were called by everyone, the whole trip there. Rodney, the blonde haired blue eyed member of the group that always spoke his mind. He kinda comes off as an a**, but that's why we Love him. He always got onto Jonsey's case about pretty much anything. Jacob Jones, or as we called him, Jonsey, was the solitary and quiet member of the group, but I will say that he did have his moments...like the time he came up with the idea to plastic wrap the Principal's car to the Vice-Principal's car during an assembly...that one went off beautifully and you could almost see Mr. Smith's bald head start to glow read when each of us told him that we did it alone! More specifically on the alone subject comes Josh. Josh wasn't much of a talker, but when he did speak all mouths fell silent and ears were opened to his uncanny wisdom for one that's not been around all that long. Better than wisdom in most cases is a trait possessed by Jake Roberts, or Lt. Roberts as we call him. Jake was always too good at anything academic that he ever touched, and so, as the rest of us fell behind him, he continued down his path not forgetting us or making us feel inferior. And then there comes to me...Matthew Johnson. I don't like to brag, but I will tell you what everyone else tells me...they say that I'm incredibly smart and have pretty much all the traits of the rest of the group, but in a more manageable dose, whereas each other member of "The Five" has a specialty, I come along as the "Jack of All Trades" and was, in fact, the reason why we all got together in the first place. I have a wild and unpredictable personality that makes me irresistible to others, which is why I have so many "friends"...which will be my undoing later on. We were all Seniors that had known each other ever since too many years in the past to count and were embarking on our final quest together as what we call friends.

The parade went off wonderfully, and the trip was amazing. We ate at the same places, posed for the same pictures, went on the same tours...I think you get the point...it was an amazing trip. But, as I have found out, for every high point is an even lower one, and mine was well on it's way.

Jacob Jones had been incessantly texting the entire trip. Well when you have a fancy phone, you know the ones with the actual keyboard built into them, then it's not peculiar at all to be seen texting, but I got a horrible gut feeling that this was going to bite me in the a** somehow...and those feelings are always right. Every time in my past that I've felt that, I've either caught someone in a lie or averted a disaster of some kind, you know, like a tree falling onto my moving car.

Well, anyway, I had this feeling about his texts...and so I looked into it. One night, while I was sleeping in a bed next to him, I was disparately trying to talk to Jessica and fix things...I'm such a wuss, and I decided to do a "funny" and text Jonsey. Jonsey laughs quite audibly at this and replies to my simple "Who ya textin?" with a "Someone." of his own. "Well, that's only about the entire population of the Earth." came my witty response, but was followed by a hasty, yet subtle, "But she's not just any someone.". This is where I felt the worst feeling in my gut tugging at me, I mean, I already knew who it was by this point, and I knew by how badly this feeling struck me. In spite of this I still mustered up a quick reply of, "well, now it's only 56% of the population of the Earth, but seeing as you don't get out much, I'll just shrink that down to North Augusta, right? How about, more specifically, a Senior at our school? Or even more specifically, someone that I know personally? That getting scary yet?". Jonsey, obviously picking up the undertones of my message sent a very slow, but very disturbing reply..."Matt, I don't want you to freak out, but...", and that was it. It was like the gravity of his reply was so great that he had to split it into two parts, and the only thing that I wanted him to do was just admit who it was already so that I could split him into Two Parts. "Matt...", he said out loud, "It's Jessica. Jessica Hutto. She started talking to me and, well, I don't really get along with girls that well but she's clicking with me and, well, I'm going to date her. Tomorrow it will be official."

Great...I left the room. I did say a few things, but I'm not quite sure that I remember them but I do remember the feelings attached to them...betrayal for one. She had waited a whole 2 days after us before she started to create a new them for herself...which shows the depth of feeling that she's capable of, and what a shallow pool that one is. Betrayal again for it coming from my best friend, a fellow member of "The Five" fallen down into something unforgivable. Hate and anger and passion like none can imagine, like I didn't even know I was capable of, caused me to erupt audible words and sounds of such anguish that the rest of "The Five" resting nearby couldn't help but wake up to and look around. "You know what Jonsey?", I screamed, "We've had each other's backs forever, through every single thing we've done, until this day...the day you went behind my back and did this to me." "So what, man, she's not your's anymore. Soon she'll be mine!" was his strong-willed reply, but my current state allowed me an anguished clarity that had a tongue sharp and ready to crack an instant reply...the worst that my heart could muster..."Things will forever feel different now! Jonsey, I suggest for our sake you stay away from me. Right now, I don't even know what I'm capable of..."

And with that, "The Five" died that night...now were only 5 individuals, each on their own...lonely and abandoned by their fellows...and the worst off was one tortured soul, outside in the "Big Apple's" winter...weeping, freezing rivers flowing from his eyes as for yet another time in his Life he wondered, "Is there even a reason to go on?"

He could find none.


But, that was about to change...