Writer’s note
I was thinking about a main character who has already gone past the point of no return. This is a boy who has lost all hope. How do you write about him when all his emotions, positive or negative, have gone to zero? Well, he doesn't have any expectations, so I didn't have to have any of them either as the writer of his story. A lot of freedom comes with the type of character who doesn't get his story told as often as the hero does - this is the antihero. There isn't that much that is out there for him. But he does have a name.
Bobby’s Kid Brother
A 16-year-old college boy, a misfit, is looking for the final path to his mental breakdown. Warren is trying to find someone he can take along for company, not that he really wants to bring them down with him. The plan is mostly going off like clockwork until other people complicate the way forward, including how Warren starts to feel emotions he thought had long since passed him by.
Warren is young, away from home at college when he should be in high school, but he knows he doesn't really belong anywhere.
Breakdown... or falling apart emotionally, but nothing anyone would know about until it was over with - if then.
The beginning of the story…
When Bobby's kid brother shows up in the middle of the night, I get the feeling he's the one I'm gonna take with me. Like him, I'm a 16-year-old boy. Except I'm in college and he's in high school.
All I've ever seen of him before is his picture. In the photo, he looked really innocent. He still does.
I don't know if I'm in love with him or if he just mesmerizes me, but there he is, standing at the door. I suppose he's in the wrong place at the wrong time. This meeting probably won't turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. It's probably fate for the two of us to come together like this. I would change it if I could for his sake, but I can't do that.
I hold the door like I'm annoyed by the late hour. I'm not, of course. But he doesn't need to know that.
"Is Bobby here?" he says.
"I haven't seen him."
I know this is really unfair on my part because I know the kid is a long way from home. I can't imagine why he's here in the middle of a school night, but since it's fate it doesn't need much explanation.
"I'm his brother," he says.
"I've seen your picture."
This kid is a high school junior, which is what I would be if I didn't get ahead of the game and come here. Me and Bobby are students at this state university, where the wind blows constantly and you're always shielding your eyes from airborne particles. I'm pretty sure the kid's name is Malcolm.
"Can you tell him I was here?" he says.
"Why don't you come in."
I'm starting to warm up to him, all that innocence under the bill of a baseball hat. I'm not even sure what team it is. This meeting feels like there is something between us, more than the fact I'm his brother's roommate. I like him, it's true, to the extent you can say you like somebody that you have only just met.
"That's okay," he says, and he won't move.
I grab his sleeve and give a slight tug. "You've got something on your mind."
Something he needs to talk to Bobby about. It must be something really important like he forgot to mail Bobby a sappy birthday card or something. Bobby just turned 19.
The kid takes his hat off when he crosses the threshold, and I like him a lot. The more real he gets, the better looking he gets. I'm not sure if I have liked anybody this much in a long time. Well, I should say I like Bobby, but it's different.