“Well look who decided to show up” Adam said irritated as they stood behind the sales counter.
“Whatever” Bradley sighed, taking his glasses off.
“How’s the hand?” Adam asked.
“Hurts” Bradley said.
“Yeah well that’s kinda what happens when you do something stupid like punch out a mirror” Adam said to him.
“Don’t start with me alright?” Bradley said irritated as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He pulled one from the pack and put it in his mouth.
“You’re starting to smoke as much as I do” Adam said to him.
“Got a light?” Bradley asked.
“If you’re going to do this you need to get a better lighter” Adam said pulling one from his pocket and lighting Bradley’s cigarette.
“Thanks” Bradley said blowing a cloud of smoke into the air.
Adam’s phone chimed, he looked at it “We’re ready, bring him home” a text message from Kyle read.
“Oh what the hell” Adam said in faux frustration.
“What?” Bradley asked.
“We’re being summoned back to the house” Adam said to him.
“For what?” Bradley asked.
“I don’t know, I guess we’ll see when we get there” Adam said.
“Seriously?” Bradley asked.
“Yeah, see?” Adam said quickly shoving his phone in Bradley’s face before taking it away.
Bradley sighed in irritation “fine.”
Everyone sat around the living room, intense, pensive looks on their faces. The door opened and Adam and Bradley came inside “We’re here” Adam announced.
“The hell is this?” Bradley asked.
“We’re here because we care about you” Natalie said standing next to his parents.
Bradley rolled his eyes “Really? You brought me to an intervention?” Bradley asked Adam.
“Just let them help you okay?” Adam said sullenly as he sat down.
“Do you understand why we’re doing this?” Brian asked.
“Not really, seems pretty pointless because I’m fine” Bradley said.
“You’re showing up to school hungover” Kyle said.
“You’re smoking way too much” Adam said.
“You’re not yourself anymore, you’re pushing everyone away and shutting everyone out” Natalie said.
“You are sinking deeper and deeper into depression and despair” Vicki said.
“You can’t keep going on like this” Brian said “You need to talk to someone” he said.
“Well you know I’d love to dad but the only person who can help me is dead” Bradley said sadly.
“Neilson’s death was hard on you, we all knew it would be, but this is not the way you deal with it” Brian said “Do you really think this is what Neilson would want for you?” he asked.
“Don’t” Bradley said “Don’t tell me what Neilson would want okay?” Bradley said angrily “Because nobody knows, certainly not me” Bradley said as tears formed in his eyes “I certainly didn’t know that he was going to kill himself, he kept that little tidbit from me” Bradley said “So much for knowing him better than anyone huh?” he asked “Because if anyone knew what he was going to do to himself, it should’ve been me right?” Bradley asked “I should’ve known, I mean that’s what everyone says, I knew Neilson better than he knew himself that’s what you guys think isn’t it?” he asked, they all looked at him sadly, a realization slowly hitting them all.
“Well I didn’t…I didn’t know Neilson as well as you all thought I did… maybe if I did, he’d still be alive” he said. “There’s nothing any of you can say to me right now that’ll make me feel worst than I already do” he said sniffling “So thanks but I’m gonna go” Bradley said turning and leaving.
“Alright, yeah just keep looking and if you haven’t found him by then just come back” Brian said on the phone “Thanks Kyle” he said hanging up.
Nick came down the stairs with a suitcase in his hand and a bag slung over his shoulder “Hey, I didn’t think you guys would be here” he said surprised upon seeing them.
“You going somewhere?” Brian asked seeing his bags.
“Uh yeah…I just need to get away for a while” Nick said “Sash is going to stay with her parents for a few days so I thought it might help me to get away too” he said
“you guys okay?” he asked.
“We can’t find Bradley” Vicki said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“We kind of ambushed him tonight” Brian said.
“He hasn’t been dealing with Neilson’s death very well” Vicki said.
“Who has?” Nick asked.
“Yeah well, he’s completely drowned himself in grief and guilt and he just seems to be getting worse” Brian said.
“Hey” Natalie said coming into the house.
“Anything?” Vicki asked.
“Sorry” she said shrugging.
“Well uh…I better get going” Nick said looking at his phone.
“Want a ride?” Brian asked.
“No, thanks, I got a car coming” Nick said.
“Be safe okay?” Vicki asked hugging him.
“Will do” he said.
“Have a good trip alright” Brian asked hugging him.
“I’ll try” Nick said “Bye guys” he said leaving.
Bradley sat forlornly at the bar, several empty bottles around him.
Nick walked in casually and sat next to him “Okay you got two choices, I can drag you out of here kicking and screaming or you can come quietly, your decision” he said to him clasping his hands together.
Bradley looked over at him and rolled his eyes, scoffing “Really? They sent you down here?” he asked.
“What are you doing?” Nick asked.
“What does it look like?” Bradley asked him.
“No I mean in general…what are you doing?” Nick asked.
“I believe they call it grieving” Bradley said to him.
“There’s a difference between grieving and spiraling out of control…it’s pretty obvious which one this is” Nick said “We’re all grieving okay, you’re not the only one who lost Neilson you know…Bradley, he was my son” Nick said to him “You think I would just love to lose myself in a bottle?” he asked “Sure…it would be a great for a while but then I would realize that I wouldn’t be doing myself or Neilson any favors…if anything it’s a disgrace to his memory” Nick said to him.
“Neilson was your best friend okay, I get that” he said “but he’s gone, okay? It’s hard but it’s true…Neilson is gone” he said tearfully.“Now if you can’t pull yourself together for yourself or for your family or your friends …” he said clamping his hand over Bradley’s
“Then do it for me” Neilson said appearing before him.
Bradley looked at him mystified.
“Bradley?” Nick asked.
Bradley shook his head “Yeah…sorry” he said looking closely at him.
“Now do you want to stay and keep sinking into a black hole…or do you want me to take you home?” Nick asked him.
Bradley nodded “Let’s go” he said.
Natalie sat on the couch with Vicki as Brian paced around the room.
“Look who I found” Brian said as he and Bradley came inside .
“Are you okay?” Vicki asked hugging Bradley tightly.
“Not really” he said.
“Hey, I thought you said you were leaving town?” Brian asked.
“This was more important, besides, Neilson would’ve wanted me to help Bradley anyway I could” Nick said.
“I appreciate it, thanks” Brian said to him.
“No problem” Nick replied.
“So is this what this whole downward spiral is about? That you couldn’t save Neilson?” Brian asked.
“I should’ve known” he said “If I had known…I could’ve stopped him” he said sadly “I didn’t do what I was supposed to do” he said tearfully “Like you said, I knew him better than anyone, I knew him better than he knew himself, so why didn’t I know about this?” he asked “Why?” Bradley sobbed, Nick pulled him close and held him “I should’ve been there” he cried “I let him down” he whimpered.
“Listen to me, this is not your fault, you didn’t let Neilson down, no one could’ve known what he was going to do” Nick said to him.
“I should’ve…” Bradley said.
“No! There was nothing anyone could do” Nick said to him.
“I’m so sorry” he cried “God Neilson I’m so sorry” he said sobbing.
The door to a doctor’s office opened, Bradley and his parents stepped inside.
“Sure you want to do this?” Brian asked.
Bradley turned to them and shrugged “Do I have a choice?” he asked.
“No” they said.
“Bradley? Dr. Jones will see you now” a woman said coming into the waiting room.
“We’ll be right here okay?” Vicki said “Bradley?” she asked “We love you sweetie” she said hugging him tightly.
“I know” he said before going into the office.
“Bradley, we finally meet” Dr. Jones said.
“Yeah, hi” Bradley said.
“Have a seat” he said gesturing towards the chairs in front of his desk.
"So, I heard you recently lost a loved one" he said sitting behind his desk.
"My best friend" Bradley said "He uh...he committed suicide" he said.
"I'm sorry" Dr. Jones said.
Bradley shrugged “I guess I wasn’t handling it very well” he said.
“Oh yeah? How so?” Dr. Jones asked him.
“Let’s just say I picked the wrong way to deal with everything” Bradley said.
“You mean with alcohol?” Dr. Jones asked.
“Oh yeah” Bradley said “Smoking…punching out mirrors...” he said looking at his hand.
“Drugs?” Dr. Jones asked.
“No it didn’t get that far, but the way I was going that was probably next” Bradley said.
"So how long did you know him?" Dr. Jones asked.
"Forever...I met him when I was only a couple months old" Bradley said "We grew up together, we lived together...and now he's gone."
"You were close" Dr. Jones said.
"Closer than brothers, on the night he uh...anyways that night I guess my phone..." Bradley said.
"Died..." Dr. Jones said.
"Yeah...and when I plugged it into charge and I got a bunch of notifications about missed calls and stuff" Bradley said.
"Were they all from him?" Dr. Jones asked.
"One was…he left me a voicemail" Bradley said.
"You listen to it?" Dr. Jones asked.
"Not yet" Bradley said.
"Why not?" Dr. Jones asked him.
"I don't know...I want to...I just can't bring myself to" Bradley said "Besides what's the point? not like I can call him back or anything" he said sadly.
“What are you afraid of?” Dr. Jones asked.
“Hearing his voice…all that pain coming back, realizing I’ll never hear it again” he said.
“Who said it has to be painful?” Dr. Jones asked
“You should take comfort in hearing his voice…after all isn’t that something you wish you could still do?” he asked.
“More than anything” Bradley said to him “I just don’t know if I can bring myself to push play” he said.
“What if someone else did it for you?” he asked.
“I don’t know” Bradley said.
“You have your phone on you now?” he asked.
“Yeah” Bradley said.
“Can I see it?” he asked, Bradley reluctantly pulled his phone from his pocket and entered his passcode, he then set it on the desk. Dr. Jones picked it up and went into the voicemail menu “You ready?” he asked.
“I guess” Bradley said.
"You have 1 missed call" the answering service said.
The message then began "Hey Bradley it's me" Neilson said Bradley took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Uh look when you get home I might not be here” he said, the sadness in his voice becoming more apparent “And I know you’re going to have all kinds of questions but I promise you, you’ll find out everything soon…I got to go...bye" Neilson said as he hung up.
“What do you think he meant by that?” Dr. Jones asked.
“I don’t know…I’m starting to question whether I really knew Neilson at all” Bradley said to him.
“I think that’s what seems to be bothering you the most” Dr. Jones said “You seem like you prided yourself on knowing Neilson better than anyone and as it turns out you may not have” he said.
“I guess I didn’t” Bradley said sadly.
“Bradley…that’s okay” Dr. Jones said “You’re not a mind reader, you couldn’t have known what was going inside Neilson’s head.”
“I should’ve” Bradley said.
“But you didn’t…let’s look at it this way…if you had known and you were able to keep Neilson from killing himself…what makes you think he wouldn’t have tried it again some other way?” Dr. Jones asked.
“I…I don’t know” Bradley said.
