Falling Capricorn (16 page)

Chapter 10

The morning came with the sounds of birds who were chirping loudly. Christen grumbled from the chaotic sound, and the booming which pounded inside of her head. She knew she should have stopped about five drinks sooner than she did last night. Now she didn’t remember a thing that had happened. She knew she would regret it. She hoped Kat wasn't going to give her a lecture. She got up, placing the heel of her hand on her forehead. She looked around and saw she was in someone else’s room. She sighed in relief, realizing she was in Kat’s bed.

“Morning sunshine. I told you that wouldn’t be a good idea. Do you remember anything that happened last night?” Kat asked her friend curiously. She sipped on her coffee, watching her friend. Christen gave her a remorseful look. “I’ll take that as a no?” she questioned. She nodded in return.

“Did I do anything stupid?” Christen asked her, with the hope that she didn’t.

“Well that depends on your definition of stupid.” Kat chuckled. “To me, yes you did something extremely dumb,” she added with a shake of her head.

“What did I do?” Christen asked. She winced a little as she waited for Kat's report. They sat there for a minute or two before Christen sighed loudly. “Well!?”

“You thought it would be a good idea to go over to Eric’s and get ‘Joey’ to come out. You wanted to be with him. Basically, you and Eric got into a huge fight. He didn’t look very happy afterwards, either. I told you that you needed to just leave him alone, but no, you didn’t listen to me. You declared that you had to do this. You went there, and I had to drag you out. Then, on the way back, you passed out. Now you are here. Exciting huh?” Kat sighed. Exciting? It was more like a pain in her ass. Kat tried to hide her annoyance. Christen looked like an abandoned puppy. Her attitude had changed to match it. Kat missed the laidback and happy-go-lucky Christen who was her best friend, not the pathetic and sad woman she was now.

“I did that? Oh no… was it really that bad? Was Eric mad at me?” She rapidly asked questions with her lips in a tight frown. She felt awful. She just thought that he was showing signs of Joey, but that didn’t mean he was Joey. It was just… the common traits were out there for the whole world to see. It was exciting to think that Joey was still alive. She knew it had been causing her to get delusional about it, but she guarded the glimmer of hope that still existed in her heart of hearts that maybe...

“You did, and yes, it was really bad. I heard the yelling when I pulled up in my car. It sounded pretty heated. Yes, I will take it that he was furious with you. So now that we are all caught up, what’s your plan?” Kat asked. Yes, Christen needed to start coming up with a plan. Kat wanted a plan for Christen to forget Joey, and a plan to help figure out what they were going to do with the whole Eric situation.

“My plan?” Christen questioned her. She really didn’t have a plan or any clue to what Kat meant. What was it that she needed to plan for? It didn’t make any sense to her at all.

“Well, first off, how are you going to make this up to Eric? I have no idea what you said to him but from the looks of it, you must have said some mean stuff. He was at his wits end when I looked at him. I felt kind of, don’t tell anyone I’m saying this, but bad for him.” Kat rubbed her head. She never thought she’d ever hear herself say that she felt bad for the likes of Eric, but nowadays, nothing was surprising her anymore.

“Well I guess I’ll call him. Maybe we can hang out, and I’ll apologize.” Christen grinned at Kat, who sighed at her rather simple plan. That’s all this artist could come up with? She shielded her eyes, not commenting on how uncreative it seemed.

“Well that could work, if he feels like talking to you. Now if he doesn’t want to, then you might want to have a backup plan. The other thing you need is to figure out is how you are going to get over Joey,” Kat continued. Christen’s facial expression said it all, and made Kat quite sad. It was a look of surprise and indignation.

“Get over Joey?” she questioned Kat with a small leer in her direction. Getting over Joey was exactly like forgetting about him Christen had decided. She vowed to herself she would never do so. “My heart will always belong to him Kat. How can you ask me to do such a thing like forget about him?” She snorted at the thought. She would never let go of his memory; and therefore, never let him go. She was starting to grow sick of having to repeat herself but no one ever understood her thinking and explanations.

“Christen…” Kat started, but stopped. She wasn’t going to listen to her. She had made up her mind on never letting Joey go, no matter how painful it was. “Fine, do as you wish Christen, but know you are being very hard-headed. I hope that you know how much misery and heartbreak you are about to put yourself through,” Kat warned her. “You are playing a dangerous game with fire. As the saying goes, those who play with fire will get burned. Your heart will harden in time. And then what will happen to your art?” she muttered, taking another drink from her coffee.

“Joey is my art,” Christen growled before they both sat motionless in the tension. Kat thought Christen was a fool. Christen thought Kat couldn’t comprehend. It was awkward as they both just sat there thinking of how each other was so wrong. Kat wondered again, what the hell was going through Christen’s mind. Deep down, it killed her to see her childhood friend's sanity unraveling. What happened to the days when they were carefree and nothing came between them? She wished she could answer the question.

Christen knew Kat was trying her best to help and meant the best for her. Sometimes she wished she could just take Kat’s advice. She was much stronger than Christen in every sense of the word. Christen wished she could be strong like her. She always looked up to Kat and followed her as a role model. Perhaps Kat was right. But something inside Christen just could not follow her lead this time.

Eventually, Kat got sick of the quiet staring. “Okay, let us agree to disagree. This is getting a bit ridiculous. I really would rather not argue with you more than I need to.” Before Kat could say any more, Christen’s phone ran in her bag. Christen hurried off the bed and stumbled to the chair close to Kat where her bag laid. She unzipped it and caught the phone call just in time.

“Hello?” Christen answered. Kat mouthed a ‘who is it’ but Christen put a finger to her lips, signing that she would tell her after the phone call.

“Hello Christen,” a woman’s voice responded over the phone. Christen was a bit taken aback. The voice sounded so familiar, yet she couldn’t place a finger on who the lady speaking was.

“Um, who is this?” she asked.

“Oh Christen! I am appalled that you do not remember me or recognize my voice. It is Roxie.” Roxie chuckled over the phone. She was ready to hear a freak out with how Christen didn’t forget her. She was so easy to read, even if they only met once.

“Oh Roxie! I haven’t forgotten you! I promise you that, just people sound different over the phone.” she laughed nervously as Kat gave her a face.

“What is she calling for?” Kat whispers to Christen who shrugged in reply.

“That is true; you sound like a twelve year old boy over the phone.” Roxie said, trying to be light-hearted.

“I do not!” Christen fumed for a moment before grumbling, “Why did you call anyways?”

There was a pause before Roxie took a deep breath. “Well, you see, I need to talk to you about Eric. He doesn’t want to talk to you, but I know you both want to make up with each other, right? I was thinking you could come over tonight. We all can have dinner. We’ll put all that yesterday stuff behind us. Well, what do you say Christen?” Roxie offered. Christen thought about it for a moment. There wasn’t anything bad with just hanging with them, and she would be able to apologize to for the way she acted.

“Sure Roxie, I would love to join you two tonight,” she said with a sweet tone. Kat raised an eye brow at the conversation. She figured they were discussing meeting up tomorrow, so she just smiled. One plan was coming together perfectly, at least. She figured she should at least be joyful about that.

“Great! Do you need a ride over here? I was planning to start dinner around eight,” Roxie informed her with a slightly detached tone. She must have a lot on her mind Christen thought.

“Can you give me a ride over to Eric’s around eight, Kat?” she asked as she placed a hand over the phone.

“You really need to get your own car, Christen,” Kat sighed with slight annoyance before nodding her head. “Yeah, I can give you a ride, though you have to hang with me until then,” she grinned. Christen smiled right back.

“Yeah, I got a ride there,” Christen told Roxie. “Though I may have to stay the night or get a ride home.” She gave Kat a nod, figuring she wouldn’t want to go and pick her up after dropping her off all the way out there.

“Of course Christen, don’t worry about that. I have it covered.” Roxie smiled to herself. Things were running much smoother then she expected.

“Alright! Cool! That’s really nice of you,” Christen said thankfully to Roxie.  Roxie thought, there she goes thinking I’m doing it to be nice. That girl was honestly hopeless, Roxie concluded. She was way too trusting.

“I’ll see you later today, then?” Roxie hummed her words.

“Definitely!Nice talking to you Roxie. See you later.” Christen was cheery, though the headache struck with a vengeance and she winced. Kat blinked, and then chuckled with the realization that she was probably still suffering from her hangover.

“Good-bye Christen. Have a nice day.” Roxie said, hanging up the call.

“Ah! My head man!” Christen groaned once she got off the phone. She rubbed her temples in agonizing pain. Kat couldn’t contain her laughter, bursting out into a giggling fit. “Oh shut up. Mind helping me with this hangover?” Christen snapped at Kat who just shrugged and laughed in reply.

“Go take a shower and then I’ll help you get over it,” Kat waved one hand in the air, leaving with her coffee in the other hand.

Time passed rather quickly once Christen was feeling better. It didn’t take long before it was time to be dropped off at Eric’s house. She got out of the car, nodding at Kat with a grin.

“Call me if there are any problems, alright?” Kat made sure her friend knew what to do in case things got heated again. Christen nodded to her friend with a chuckle.

“Yeah, I understand.” Christen told her.

“I’ll see you later then?” Kat questioned her friend who nodded in return.

“Well duh.” Both girls laughed. Christen walked to the door of Eric’s place. She waved good-bye to Kat as she pulled out of the driveway and headed down the road.

Christen went to knock on the door but stopped, reading a note on the front of the door.

Christen,

   We are down the beach, walk to the right of the house. You will see us.

Christen tilted her head, pulling the note down. She headed around the house, getting a great view of the beautiful ocean. She felt nice and warm as the thought of Joey came running into her mind. This was the same beach where she was asked to marry him. She felt the sweet glow of the memory come back to her. She saw Eric in the distance.

“Eric!” Christen called, waving over to him. Eric waved back, sitting on the beach. She jogged over and stood next to him. She looked out at the ocean before looking down at him. He had a grim look on his face. “Hey I wanted to say sorry… where is Roxie?” she questioned. She heard a cough from behind her. She turned to see Roxie coming from behind a rocky coral formation that lay behind them. Christen noticed Roxie was holding something shiney. As she grew nearer, she made out the shape of a gun.

“What are you going to do with that?” Christen asked. She gasped as Roxie pointed the silenced ten millimeter pistol at her forehead. Her mind raced with terror. She didn’t know what to do, or even why there was a gun directed at her.

“What do you think Christen?” Roxie laughed like it was a stupid question. “Guns' triggers are used to launch bullets. You happen to be the target.” Eric looked down as Christen stared back and forth between the two. Deep down Roxie was scared out of her wits, but she had to be strong. The gun shook slightly, but she breathed deep to relax her trembling hand.

“B-but why!?” Christen suddenly exclaimed. What had she done? She was terrified and panicky now. She was too close, so running wasn’t an option. The only thing she thought to do was try and talk it through. She pushed back the fear and the tears brimming from her eyes. “What did I do that was so bad that you would want to take my life? Nothing could be that bad that you would want to steal someone’s life, is there? I mean, if this is about yesterday, I am sorry. I was drunk and I honestly don’t remember what I said. I'm sorry!” Christen pleaded.

“It’s not what you have done, Christen.” Eric said softly. Christen eyes went to him. He stared at the ground as though he was expecting the sand to pull him under.

“What!? Then how does killing me make any sense!?” she yelped. Eric said nothing, closing his eyes tightly. Eric couldn’t stand this, and Roxie could see it clear as day.

“Because you are the only one keeping Joey in this world.It is what Joey has done that caused you to keep holding on. Joey wants to be with you and you want to be with him, right? Eric cannot handle this anymore. This needs to be done to free Eric, to free Joey, and to free you, Christen," Roxie explained. She took a deep breath and exhaled it as a sigh.

“Someone explain to me what the hell is going on! Joey really is still here? To free us? I don’t understand.” Christen’s head pounded with confusion that was turning into frustration.

“Don’t you get it? Joey is in Eric’s body. The only way to help Joey pass to the afterlife is for the person who is holding onto him to let go. Eric can’t take having another soul in his body anymore. Joey is becoming more irrational, violent and angry every day. I also know that you are extremely depressed over the loss of Joey. You are telling everyone you refuse to move on without him, to let him go. You swear that you will never love anyone like you loved him again. You will not let your hold on him go. See, all three of you are stuck in this travesty that is causing this deep tear. You are all woven into this web of fate. The only way to free you all of this, is to do what I have to do, Christen. That is to end your time here so that you and Joey can be together. Joey needs to leave Eric's body before it kills him.” Roxie shut her eyes tightly. “I am sorry that it has come to this, but I have to protect him. I am Eric’s weapon and shield.” Roxie's voice wavered as she spoke. Christen gawked at them. She understood what they were saying, but the thought of death made her tremble.