"It's raining now. It's always raining here. Persis say it's because of tears from heaven. I don't think I believe him. Persis is always telling people what things mean, but I still don't believe him. Someone always used to tell me not to put my trust in a fool. She's dead now. The obelisk took her. I don't really think that the obelisk is that bad. I talked to it, but it only listened. His big sword isn't sharp either. It's just big."

Those were the words of my little brother. He has been delusional ever since the incident with Frankie. The sad thing is Mary and Don (my biological parents) don't even know what really happened. They think that he fell, but I know... I know what really happened. The funny thing is it all started and ended with the ring of my doorbell.

Ding! Ding!

"Sweet mother of f..." her hand shot up to my mouth muffling my obscenity.

"I told you I don't like cursing." Frankie smiled softly and patted my cheek. "Now go see who's at the door."

"Awww, come on." I said kissing her, "They can wait."

"No it can wait. Now," she said bucking her hips to force me up, since I had her hands pinned against the bed "go get the door."

I looked at her to see if she was serious. She was. "Ugh" I let go of her wrists and rolled off of her. Standing from the bed I looked at her again. Her short blue hair was spiked in the back, but I couldn't see it from where I was.

"You know I won't say hate, but I sure do dislike you sometimes Frankie."

She gave me her kid like smile that melted my heart. "I know Bradley." I could tell that she said that deliberately using my full name, just to antagonize me.

Before I could retort the doorbell rang again. Ding! Ding!

"Coming." I said as I navigated through the dimly lit modern style apartment. I grabbed a bathroom robe that was conveniently hanging on the door knob. Wrapping it around my semi naked body (with the exception of boxers) I walked to the door. Cracking it just a little I looked out.

There stood my mother and father with my 12yr old brother Chad standing between them. It looked like they were posing for a family portrait.

Frankie pressed against my back and whispered, "Who is it?" in my ear.

"My parents." I said in a low monotone looking through them.

"Oh..." Frankie said.

"I'm sorry?" my mother said cocking her head to the side.

"Nothing." I said refocusing "What's up?"

Well it's your fathers and my anniversary today and we had plans for going out to dinner tonight. We're gonna go to that nice little restaurant."

"And" I said interrupting her and putting a stop to what could easily become a five minute description of a crappy little shack.

"But the sitter canceled." she said lightly

"Uhuh."

"Well" she paused expecting me to get it. "We were wondering if you could take him for tonight. While your father and I spend this special", she winked at me "evening alone."

The thought of those two having sex made me shudder in my mind.

I frowned and replied slowly and hesitantly. "Umm.. I don't know..."

Frankie pushed past me suddenly"Sure we can take him!" She looked at me"Can't we Brad?"

I got the hint this time. "Oh um yeah I guess it's cool."

My mom and dad looked at Frankie with obvious antipathy. They never did like Frankie but the again they never liked anything that I did anyway. I was the renegade child, but I felt I had good reason to be. At the age of two they decided that they couldn't take care of me so I was put in foster care and never got adopted, or taken back in by them. It was only on my eighteenth birthday that they had decided to start to talk to me again.

After what was a long period of silence my mother said what I knew she would say, "Do you mind if I use your bathroom real quick."

Typical. I knew that what she was really doing was trying to scope out my apartment. The bathroom was just an excuse. She used it because it was one of the questions that usually people don't say no to, because it's odd to refuse. Also because it's the way you can get into one of a person's most private places in their home. The medicine cabinet

"Sure," Frankie said gingerly "be our guest."

She took a step towards the door and Frankie pulled it along slowly with me open, as I was resentful to letting her in. Frankie was always being so damn polite the sometimes she was just blindly naïve. I still don't see what my parents don't like about her. Well at least I didn't then.

My mother shuffled past us somehow knowing where the bathroom was. My father and my brother followed suit.

There was a brief awkward silence as we all eyed each other over, standing in the middle of the living room.

My father was the first to break the tension. "Nice place you two have got here."

"Brad did all the furnishings and pictures and decorating and stuff. I just do the little things."

"Oh is that right?" He tried to pretend to be interested, but it was obvious that he wasn't.

We waited there none of us really knowing what to say or do. Thankfully the familiar toilet flush followed by the running of water came from the sink down the hall. I knew that she hadn't really used the bathroom. She was in there for forty maybe fifty seconds, tops.

She walked out from the bathroom to join us in our little awkward moment of silence. Turning to my little brother Chad she knelt down. As she did her black dress shimmered from the fading light of the setting Miami sun; which Frankie and I happened to have a perfect view of from our balcony. She reminded me of Suzanne Vega. "Now what do you do if you need some thing?" she asked Chad, who had previously been trained the proper responses. It was funny how she asked him. I even felt sorry for the kid. He was being treated as a five year old.

"Tell whoever is in charge." Chad said meekly.

"Good" she said seemingly satisfied. Taking my fathers arm she looked, for one last time, at Chad. "Bye baby." Shifting her eyes distastefully towards me,"we'll pick him up around eleven tomorrow."

Chad waved as they left and shut the still unclosed door behind them.

Frankie had been so quiet that I hadn't even noticed that she stepped into the kitchen until she coughed.

I closed my eyes and shook my head trying to figure out what just happened. "Did she just say tomorrow?"

Frankie shrugged. "Hey whatever. I'm making a drink do you want one."

"Just give me two shots of Daniels."

She nodded. "What about you big guy?" She lifted a glass in Chad's direction.

"You can't just give my twelve year old brother alcohol." I said.

She looked at Chad puzzled "Come here." She told him. "Do you promise never to repeat or let your parents know anything you do or see here?"

He shook his head quickly up and down.

"Well then it's settled." She stuck her tongue out at me.

I drifted over to the counter and snatched my drink. I knew better than to argue, Frankie hand an unnerving way of never giving up. "You know what" I said setting the glass down and turned towards the door "forget it I'm leaving."

"Where are you going?" Frankie and Chad asked together.

I stopped at the door and gave myself a quick mental checklist. Keys. Check. Ambition. Check. Wallet.... Clothes.... I turned around embarrassed but determined not to show it.

"Forgot chur clothes huh?" Frankie giggled.

I dropped the robe and stormed towards our room.

Chad stared at me wide eyed.

"Get used to it", I spat at him.

I put on a pair of Acid stained jeans and a black shirt that said "relentless". Walking back out of the hall I saw Chad drinking a martini like it was water.

I patted him on the shoulder "I was just kiddin' with ya sport. I'm not really that heartless of a person. Go easy on those eh? You too babe." I said leaning over the counter to kiss her.

She smiled and kissed me "Don't be too late."

"Five hours" I said scooping up my keys and walking towards the door.

"Two!" she said

"Four and a half."

"Three!"

"Done! Bye babe." I shut the door before she could answer. I trotted toward the elevator, which just happened to be arriving as I reached it. I Stepped in and pressed G. I impatiently waited. I wanted to get out to that warm sunset that was calling my name.

I decided to call Eric. He was the main man if you really wanted to party. He knew where all of them were at and he was usually there at any time... between 1PM and 5AM. I don't think hes even been to his apartment in two months.

The phone rang in my ear. The elevator stopped just as Eric picked up.

"Hello." His voice sounded rusty.

"Hey man it's Brad where we at?"

"The pub next to Hooters and that coffee place."

"Why not just Hooters?" I asked.

"Better beer here", he replied after a brief chugging sound.

"I'm there" I said closing the phone not waiting for a response.

Walking through the garage I quickly found my BMW bike and hopped on. Before I knew it I was cruising down Beach Ave.

I thought about my brother, Frankie, then my mom and dad. I tried to imagine what it would be like if they had raised me. I wondered if I would have gotten all the treatment that Chad got. Spoiled little bastard. The only thing I like is that he doesn't act spoiled.

Left turn.

Yawning, I navigated thoughtlessly to where ever I was going, because at this point I didn't remember. Still I eventually made it there. I turned off the engine and dismounted.

The Pub was called the Bear and Boar. Due to the considerable amount of noise radiating from the place, I assumed this was it. Boy did Eric know how to choose them. The brown paint that was supposed to resemble wood was peeling from the walls, and only the o of the open sign in the window was lit up. To top it off the bricks on the walls were crumbling.

I proceeded inside. The outside did not give credit to the inside, which was very modern. It was also extremely under crowded surprisingly. It just had really loud music and a few really drunk people.

Eric was one of them. He was entertaining his usual crowd of about five people. So typical of him. He saw me and waved me over. He was about 5'10 and had a thick structure of about 190. He was English and had the familiar ring of coke on his nose along with all of those around him. That was Eric's thing. He knew a couple of dealers who greatly appreciated his persuasive talents. Get em' to try it, then buy it from the dealers. In return he was able to afford to live his lavish life style. So technically his hands were "clean" because he didn't actually sell the drugs. He liked to call his job "Facilitator of Transactions".

I could tell that all the people in the small crowd around Eric were first timers, because it seemed like they were unable to control themselves. The constant ticking motion, the shifty eyes, constant wiping of the nose. These were all newbie habits.

"Hey Brad have a seat. We were just talking about you." Eric said.

I sat down on a hard seat next to a girl in Eric's small crowd.

"Well I was... They were listening." He made choppy motions with his hands that reflected his speech. "Every time I walked into the fuckin' bathroom it was a different color. It was like a god damn tourist attraction." He laughed heartily. "Its like the room of changing colors."

"Oh" I laughed, "when Frankie was painting the bathroom."

"Yeah... and she..." he gasped for air, and the others did the same unable to control their laughter.

My laughter came to an end and I sighed, but theirs continued on. I looked at them all. It really wasn't that funny. Each and every eye was red, every mouth laughing, and every nose with a barely visible ring of white inside. They were all just blown. They probably didn't even know what they were really laughing at.

Suddenly I didn't feel comfortable. What they were doing was wrong, and 4 out of the 5 of them would probably get hooked and lose their jobs, wives, husbands, kids, and lives. Though I had my fill in my party days, and had watched it many more time since, this time just made me sick. I got up and left them laughing hysterically.

As I got on my bike Eric burst out of the door. "Ay mate! Where ya going?"

I gave him a long hard look and he stopped. "Your wasting your life away Eric."

His silence turned to defensiveness, "Oh yeah and what the hell ave' you done with yours. You're the same as me Brad we just have a little of a lifestyle difference."

"That's where you're wrong." I said turning I kick-started the bike and took off.

I wondered about why I left. I had seen and done it about a million times but this time just really bothered with me. I tried to convince myself that they were just looking for a good time like I once was, but I couldn't bring myself to believe it. They all just seemed so wrong. I shook my head and tried to forget it. Yet I couldn't and it stuck in my mind. I rode home the thought still tugging at my mind.

As I reached the apartment building I wondered about Frankie and Chad. I should have never let him drink with her, as she could be a little pressuring while drinking. I hurried to the elevator and hit 23. It let me off after what seemed like an eternity, and I hurried to the door. I could hear music blasting from inside as I turned the handle.

The sight that I saw was so strange I had to blink a few times to see if I was dreaming. Frankie and Chad were upside down on their heads. Both had a plastic plate with a small stack of pancakes on their feet. "I'm not gonna ask how much you guys drank."

Frankie looked up at me. Her face was as red as a Chinese flag. "Oh we didn't drink that much." she said in a very matter of fact tone. "We each had two..." she exploded into laughter "BOTTLES!

Chad laughed too and fell over, the pancakes coming down with him.

"Oh. I win!" she said excitedly. She looked at me again then plopped down on the floor. "We were playing a game where you see who can hold the pancakes the longest. The winner gets the pancakes."

"And so your going to eat those pancakes?" I said looking at the pancakes which were scattered on the floor.

"Oh I dunno? I think Chad really wanted them, so I'm gonna give them to him" She restacked the pancakes and put them on Chad's face. They both laughed.

"You guys are so messed up" I couldn't help from laughing.

Frankie grabbed Chad's hands and said "Let's dance." I realized that Frankie and Chad had switched shirts and that they were inside out. Just a little odd. For a second I almost got mad at the thought that Chad might have seen Frankie topless, but I brushed it off. The real question was how did they get so smashed in the short time that I was gone?

In an instant she had picked him up and they were waltzing around the apartment clearly to Chad's discontent. He wiggled and squirmed, but he couldn't get free. Finally it was too much for him to take. "Stop!" he yelled at her.

Frankie was taken back and stunned. For a second she didn't know what to do. You could tell she actually had to think about how to respond to the situation. She made a decision. "Why you little bastard." she wound up and hit him in the head.

Chad stumbled like he'd just gotten the K.O. punch. Losing his footing he tripped and fell to the side. His head slammed against the coffee table next to my lazy boy. He laid there on the carpet, face down, motionless.

I rushed over to him. "Chad" I cried shaking him"Chad, buddy wake up. C'mon stop playing."

He still didn't move. I looked up at Frankie. She didn't say a word. She was just standing there, her head cocked to the side like she didn't understand. She probably didn't.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I started to panic. Then I saw the blood. It slowly spread its way into the carpet, looking like a sponge soaking up a glass of wine. I turned him over to see the extent of the damage. Spreading his blood matted hair I peered at my problem. It wasn't very bad just a little gash with a lot of blood.

"That's gonna stain." Frankie said without and regard to the situation at hand.

I could barely control myself; I stood up and grabbed her by the arms. ""Frankie look how ever screwed up you are right now, I need you to sober up like right now."

She gave me a little nod.

"Now this kid isn't going to get himself to the hospital is he?"

She shook her head.

"No. That's right. It doesn't look that bad but it'll probably need stitches."

She reached in her pocket and handed me a set of keys.

"Go get me a really big towel and I'll meet you in the elevator." I said picking up Chad attempting not to move his head. I carried his dead weight down the hall. The blood was starting to run more now as it began to soak my shirt and drip from my elbows. Frankie was hot on my heels carrying a green towel. I took it from her and used it to apply pressure to the wound.

I pressed the button and the door shut.

Neither of us talked we were both thinking about what to do and what to say.

Her voice startled me,"Is he going to be O.K.?"

"Yeah. He'll be fine. "I tried to assure her as well as myself. But I guess just saying something will be someway, doesn't mean that that's the way it turns out.