BOOM by Michael Whetzel Read Free Book Online Page A

taken to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries
during surgery.
    Jeffrey blinked his eyes over and over again as the R.A.
informed him he would be excused from school for the rest of the semester. She
had called the school counselor. They would come and help Jeffrey pack and try
to get him back home as soon as possible. He had nodded and thanked them for
their help.
    He sat on his bed, glancing at the last letter they had written
him, the one that said they were so proud of him and knew he would be a great
architect someday.
    A voice broke him from his memories.
    “Jeffrey.”
    He glanced up and held his breath.
    Allison was standing a few yards away. She was dressed in
cutoffs and a tank top.
    He pulled another cigarette from his pack and lit it. “What
are you doing here?”
    “Taking a walk in the park.” She came closer and now he could
smell her. She smelled like spring and summer mixed. “I live near here.”
    “Why aren’t you at work?” He took a long drag and exhaled.
    “I quit.” She smiled. “Pretty much right after you did.” She
sat next to him on the car. “That was crazy, by the way.” She looked at him but
he couldn’t meet her eyes.
    “Sorry about Griffin,” he said.
    “Don’t be. After you left, he was whining to everybody about
how you suckered him and how he could take you one on one any day. It was kind
of sad in a way. I think he got knocked off his pedestal a bit.”
    Jeffrey looked back towards the playground.
    “You were right by the way.”
    “About what?”
    “He was an asshole. And he didn’t know how to treat me.”
    “Then why stay with him?” He looked at her now.
    Now she was the one who could not meet his gaze. “It’s
just….sometimes things don’t turn out the way you think they will, you know?”
    He flicked the cigarette away. She leaned into him and
rested her head on his shoulder.
    “No. I guess they don’t,” he said.
     
     
    X.
     
    They left the park and stopped at Allison’s apartment.
Jeffrey had told her he was leaving.
    “I want to go too. I need a change of scenery,” she said. He
nodded okay and they drove from her apartment out onto the interstate. There
was an unspoken understanding between them now, a shift in their relationship.
    Later that night, they pulled into a motel. Allison hopped
into the shower as Jeffrey stood in the dark, smoking and looking out the
window at the neon signs glowing across the way.
    What is happening here? How is this going to end?
    “Who says it has too?” He did not realize he was speaking
out loud and did not hear Allison shut off the shower. He turned and she stood
naked in the bathroom doorway. She stepped from the lit bathroom into the
darkness and touched his hand.
    “I feel like I’m going to explode,” he said into her ear.
“I’ve done some bad things and I am afraid I’ll do more before it’s all over
with.”
    “Shh,” she whispered. She kissed him softly and he rubbed
her bare shoulders. “I don’t care what you’ve done. And don’t worry about the
future.  You are not alone anymore. Let’s just think about the right now.”
    So they did.
     
    Afterwards, lying in each other’s arms they smiled and
laughed. Jeffrey felt the shadow retreat a bit deeper. Allison grabbed one of
his cigarettes. The ember glowed brightly in the dark hotel room.
    “I didn’t know you smoked,” he said.
    “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Jeffrey Walls.” She
blew smoke into the dark room.
    “Well, here we are. Two unemployed people with hardly any
money and any prospects.” Jeffrey scratched her back as she smoked. She
continued: “What do you want to do? I mean besides heading out to the coast.”
    She looked at him in the darkness, could barely make out his
features.
    Jeffrey was looking towards where his jacket sat on the
chair. The gun was in one of the side pockets.
    “I want to rob banks,” he said quietly.
    Allison giggled and stubbed out her cigarette. She nestled
down under