Fiction

Johnny sat alone on the front steps of his house. The midnight air was thick with humidity making it uncomfortable to breathe. His parents were in the house sleeping, but he sat outside breathing heavily and thinking to himself. Headlights shown from up the street, cutting through the thick air and bouncing with the car as it sped over bumps and through intersections. The car eventually rolled to a stop in front of Johnny’s house and he got up to meet his visitor.
“What’s up man?” said the voice through the open passenger side window.
“Oh, you know” answered Johnny. He lifted the door handle and pulled open the door. It was dark inside the vehicle; only dim dashboard lights lit the car. The heavily tinted windows blocked out nearly all outside light from entering. He wondered how you would see to drive. The car had a powerful aroma of smoke which clung to Johnny’s nostrils and nearly made him choke. The car dropped into drive and slowly crept down the street.
“So are you ready for this?” asked the driver as he took a drag from his cigarette. Johnny could only see the cherry rise and get brighter and he took a drag. He only saw the silhouette of his counterpart, but he knew exactly who he was talking to. He knew Damon Winter, he had gone to school with him since second grade and although they had not been friends for long, he knew Damon was notorious for causing trouble.
“Yeah man, I guess” Johnny scratched his head and motioned Damon for a cigarette. Damon reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of reds.
“You guess? You should be thrilled for this, you’re getting revenge, this could be the best night of your life.” Damon tossed a cigarette at Johnny, who fidgeted around in the dark for it before he pulled out his lighter to scan the area.
“You’re right” Said Johnny after the inhale of smoke. “That bastard is going to get what’s coming to him. He thinks he can expel me just because I had cigarettes in my pocket? I wasn’t even smoking.”
“Right, where’s the justice?” chuckled Damon, he made a sharp right and quickly accelerated, pushing Johnny back in his seat while he frantically, yet unnoticeably looked for something to brace himself upon. He took another drag of his cigarette and thought to himself for a moment.
“So do you know where Principal Walters lives?” Johnny brushed ash off his blue jeans as the car flew around another corner.
“Of course, do you think we’d just drive ‘til we found it? I’m prepared man, this ain’t my first rodeo” Damon spoke with an aggravated tone. Johnny retracted. He sat quietly for a few moments, finished his cigarette and flicked it out the window.
“So how do we even go about doing this?” He began to feel anxious and started fidgeting with the strings on his jacket.
Damon took a deep breath and glanced at Johnny for a moment before his eyes refocused on the road while mailboxes and trash cans flew by at an alarming rate. “We go and knock on the door and wait for an answer” he said sarcastically. “It’s just like it sounds, we break in. We find a window or a door and break it. Then we go in. Then we can do whatever we want, hopefully he’s got some beer in the fridge.”
“What if someones home?” Johnny responded quickly.
“Then we run.” Damon was almost yelling. “Look, at school they said he was gone until next Monday, family vacation to Florida. Do you think he told the whole school that just so we would break in and he would catch us? Come on man, no one is there.”
“What if someone sees us?” Johnny’s questions came quickly. Damon seemed to get more and more agitated with each word Johnny muttered. He seemed to speed up with each word as well. The car was approaching seventy-five miles an hour through residential streets, nearly catching air as they flew over intersections without slowing down.
“Man, are you getting soft on me? I thought you would want this. That prick has made the last four years of our lives hell, all we are doing is trying to even the score a little bit.” Damon pressed down harder on the gas and the car roared to nearly ninety miles an hour. Houses blended together in a long string on flood lights and colored siding. Damon slammed on the breaks and the tires screamed on the pavement. The car turned sideways before the brakes were released and it straightened itself out. “It’s only a few blocks up there, 5142 West Oak.”
Damon slowly and cautiously approached the block and pulled next to the curb a few houses in front of their destination. “Allright,” he said “put this on.” He handed Johnny a black ski mask. Johnny looked at it for a few seconds and set it down in his lap. “Take this” Damon handed Johnny a crowbar. “Put your damn mask on.” Johnny sat silently, staring at the mask and the crowbar in his hands. He set the crowbar on the floor and picked up the mask, pulling it on his head, but not over his face. “Let’s do this” Damon said as he opened his door, “come on.”
Johnny opened his door and slowly stepped out of the car. A chill ran down his spine when he saw head lights crossing in the distance. His knees shook when he took the step onto the curb. The crowbar felt like it weighed fifty pounds and he struggled to keep it in his grasps with sweat on his palms. Damon came around the passenger side of the car and quietly yelled “Come on man, let’s go.” Johnny didn’t move, his heart was racing and he could barely swallow the thick air. “Right now man, move.” Johnny didn’t respond to Damon’s demands, he remained frozen, ski mask over his forehead and crowbar in hand, he trembled with trepidation.
Damon moved in close to Johnny and put a finger in his chest. “Its like this, either we go and there and have some fun, or I go in there and have some fun. Right now, you are coming with me or you are going home.” The masked man in Johnny’s face stared deeply into his eyes, his finger remained pressed firmly into his chest as he waited for a response.
Johnny relaxed, his tension evaporated instantly. “I’m going home” he said sternly, his expression of seriousness did not change. He sidestepped Damon’s finger and tossed the crowbar onto the grass by his feet. He took off the mask and threw it at Damon’s chest where it bounced off and fell to the ground. Damon looked stunned, he was speechless and simply stared at Johnny.
Johnny began walking while Damon was still frozen. Finally Damon gathered his senses and yelled loudly at Johnny. “Are you serious? You’re backing out? Hey, get back here. Punk, you’re really going to walk away?”
Johnny kept walking, he did not turn around to even look at Damon. He turned the first corner and thought about how to get home. It would be a long walk, but he needed it. He smiled smugly as he walked, realizing he had made the right choice. He wondered if Damon had gone through with the plan, but he didn’t care. He didn’t care about Damon anymore, he never wanted to see his face again. He kept walking, never looking back, thinking and smiling as he took each step closer to home.