Captain Shreve High School: A Short Story

As the loud clanging of the bell resounded in my ears students stampeded for the door, class finished for the day. Having few friends at Captain Shreve High School, I spent the majority of my afternoons at my friend Stephen’s house. Stephen stood an inch taller than I at five-foot four with disheveled chestnut hair sewn with blonde highlights. As he was not from Shreveport, he didn’t have anyone he trusted, or knew for that matter, leading us to become tremendously close throughout middle school, and as I had no siblings, we had become as brothers. Though we now attended different schools, we vowed to always be there for one another. We were brothers. After school finished for the day, we would meet up to play basketball, game online, or even invite a couple of girls on a double date. Resolving to do everything together, we never left the other out to dry. This was our usual routine, however, this week was different as this was the week his brother David was to be released from jail. Though David was ten years older than us, he was nearly identical to Stephen in appearance and personality. The issue with David was that he was always in and out of jail preventing the two brothers from becoming close. Three years had passed since Stephen had seen his brother, and his immense anxiety and excitement showed it. Consequently, I didn’t hear from Stephen for nearly a week with his brother being released, but in the grand scheme of things, this was family, and they probably had a tremendous amount to catch up on, making it impossible to become upset with the situation. As I was departing school for the day I heard my phone ring. Afternoons had been awfully uneventful since David was back in the picture so I promptly and excitedly answered, hoping to have an invitation on the other line. As I lifted the phone to my ear I heard a sluggish, muffled voice on the other end. “What’s up buddy?” a slurred voice rattled off. “Stephen, is that you?” I responded, holding back …show more content…
When I finally arrived at his house I decided to merely let myself in as I habitually did. As I approached, I caught a strong combination of aromas and realized that they had been drinking and passing around a sort of drug cocktail they had crafted. The room was a mess with miniscule, torn scraps of paper, presumably used to wrap their various drugs, beer cans, and what I was hoping were splashes of spilled beer on the carpet. Peering through the dimly lit room, my eyes caught glimpse of four figures across the way sprawled on the floor. As I approach closer I see Stephen, David, and a couple unknown, ominous looking figures passing around a bowl. With a slight wave of his hand, Stephen motioned for me to join in on their “good time,” but as this wasn’t an activity I was keen of, I hastily made an excuse to head out after a few minutes. Over the next few months Stephen spent increasingly more time with David and in turn, began to slowly transform. Each time I met up with Stephen he was either ludicrously drunk or trying a new drug; searching for that new high. I confronted him on this “transformation” accordingly various times, however, my inquiries would be immediately dismissed with no regard for the issue. Stephen was slowly following in his brother’s footsteps, and I, forced to watch powerless from the