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Chapter 31 By Punkerslut
The camera slowly fades to black, watching the three of them run down a sidewalk. "Sounds Familiar" by the Weakerthans begins. Now completely black, the camera slowly moves up, through the foundations of a building. It's the squat. The first floor is empty. While going through the floors, the camera moves faster, but then slows down while on the actual floor to give the audience an actual view of what's going. The first floor is empty, but the muffled sound of talk can be heard. The camera goes to the next floor, still empty, but the voices a little more clear. And then it quickly goes through the next floor, not pausing, and then it emerges on the next floor, the fourth. Kevin and Freak are talking, "Yeah, and then Gunner pulled out the knife and cut the kid in the throat. There was blood everyone." Freak shows some dismay, "I hope Gunner boy is feeling all right about his recent felony." Spike says, "I'm sure he'll be fine. He's a good kid, and he did nothing wrong." The camera, still slowly moving up, moves up really fast after Spike's piece. It shows Gunner on the roof of the squat, sitting Indian position, with a big bottle of whiskey in his lap. Rat is asleep by his side, in a semi-fetal position, with a small blanket. Gunner is just looking at the stars. He takes a shwill of his whiskey. GUNNER, VOICE OVER: It bothers me. And if it didn't, that would bother me. I guess it's because, everything on the streets is so goddamn real. The plastic nature of consumer culture melts. When something like this happens, a murder, it's just something else. It's not good. It's not bad. It's just... something that happens. If I could take it away, I would, but if it could be the streets without it, it wouldn't. Shit... This isn't even my first murder. But no need it trudging up old memories. Tonight is a special night. One of those nights where you blast through the four point o blood alcohol level, driving ninety miles an hour in a car that doesn't have break fluid. By the time you sober up, you don't remember last week. Gunner turns to Rat, sees her face, and caresses it with the back of his hand. He smiles, and then turns back to the stars. GUNNER, VOICE OVER: It's a part of the life that I am forced to live. The camera clicks, and shows Gunner, asleep next to Rat with his arm around her, without an covers on. She wakes up, just barely, and she throws covers on him, takes the whiskey bottle out of his hand (it's empty), and rolls it away. The camera clicks again, and it shows the gang in the park. There's Spike, Lily, Gunner, Kevin, Freak, and Sweep. They're all sitting in a circle. SWEEP: I called the cops again today. Jacky will be out of jail in a week and a half. GUNNER: Wh00! Everyone claps, and congratulates Sweep. KEVIN: I'll make sure to get you a worthy out-of-jail gift. SPIKE: Condoms and alcohol. GUNNER: Hey, don't be so impolite... he hasn't even reached puberty yet. Sweep pushes Gunner's shoulder. GUNNER: (smiling) What? SWEEP: Whatever, droog. KEVIN: Did you feel Sweep in on the Rachel details? GUNNER: I didn't tell anyone about what happened with her besides the fact that I slept with her, which, in itself, is a rather impersonal fact. SPIKE: Gunner, you would make a wonderful eunuch GUNNER: You... what? KEVIN: Haha... It's a man without balls. GUNNER: Aw, cool -- errr, not so cool.... wait, why would I be a good one? Wait, wait... fuck you. That's what I meant. SPIKE: Jesus fucking hell, how much did you drink last night? GUNNER: Enough to be buzzed to fucking hell right now. KEVIN: He finished that gallon of whiskey. SPIKE: The entire one that I bought for squat usage? Gunner shrugs. SPIKE: Aw, well, no worries. It's not like it's the last of all the alcohol in the world.... but I'm gonna make it sound that way if I end up in the mood for booze and there's nothing available. GUNNER: A true friend, you bastard. SPIKE: Haha, one of your only friends when things get bad. SWEEP: Look what I have... Sweep pulls out a very small bottle of vodka. He opens it, and takes a shwill. SWEEP: Paul bought it for me, saying he thought I deserved a way of forgetting about what happened to Jacky. And now, I share it all with you. Sweep passes it off to Kevin. GUNNER, VOICE OVER: And then, like a flashback, I remember something from last night.... The camera fades out to a flashback. It shows Gunner, obviously drunk beyond the outer limits, walk into the main squat room. SPIKE: You okay, Gunner? GUNNER: I'm alive. Still. KEVIN: Hey, man, maybe you should lay off the booze. The moment it stops being a form of recreation is when you have no reason to drink. GUNNER: A reason to drink is a reason to drink. GUNNER, VOICE OVER: I remember trying to say something clever but only coming up with that. Gunner looks to the corner of the room, and he sees Sweep. He's taking glow-in the dark stickers of stars and moons and half moons, and applying them to his corner of the room. GUNNER: The fuck is that shit? SWEEP: Glow in the dark stickers. LILY: Yeah, Spike and I bought them for him when we had leftover change from spanging. GUNNER, VOICE OVER: I really didn't like what I was seeing. It felt like I had too much of everything, and I was ready to explode, and have all the vaults, harboring my dark memories, burst. I was ready to burst and burn. Tears run down Gunner's cheeks. FREAK: Gunner... do you... want my love? GUNNER: You just... don't expect that. Gunner turns around, and walks up the stairway, back to the roof. The flashback ends and the camera returns to the park. KEVIN: Uuhhh, Gunner, you can sit this turn out on the alcohol. I think you need some pure grain water right about now. GUNNER: Pure grain water... Ha, good one. FREAK: Gunna'.... How many fingers am I holding up? She flips him off. GUNNER: Right on... One! FREAK: And your prize, a free lap dance! She walks over, and sits on his lap and does a few moves, but, Gunner's head falls against her chest. She picks it up and holds it, as his face is directed towards hers. She moves in slowly, then gently bites his nose. FREAK: Aw, you're so indigestably cute. GUNNER: And, the same, to you.... Indigestible like a wine that costs six dollars per gallon. SPIKE: Spacebag! LILY: Aw, spacebag is so nasty... I drank a lot of that once and threw it all up. GUNNER: (in a rather awkward moment, to Freak) Why am I alive? FREAK: Oh, baby... You're alive because your everday moment is poetry in my existence. I'd cry a universe if I found out anything bad happened to you... and, I was very worried about what happened to you yesterday. GUNNER, VOICE OVER: Maybe it was the fact that I was extremely drunk beyond belief, that made her feel comfortable with normal language saying what she felt -- or maybe it was the extreme drunkenness that let me think so. Either way, she is a beautiful girl, and I love her. Every part of her. Freak kisses Gunner and gets off his lap, returning to her normal spot. Gunner stares at her, with a sort of, "Whoa, you spoke normal look!" She goes back to, as it looks, doing hemp. She notices him staring, smiles, turns to him, stops hemping, and then puts her hand on the side of his face and pushes. He stops smiling and looks around. The camera shows from the side of Gunner, and then he just falls over and his eyes close. KEVIN: Is he all right? Someone want to check on him? SWEEP: You're closest? KEVIN: Yeah, but -- aw, fucking fine. Kevin leans over and takes Gunner's pulse. KEVIN: There's a beat. SPIKE: That means he's still alive! KEVIN: I know what it means, you douchebag. SPIKE: Well, sorry for assuming the best. KEVIN: You know, I'm not even gonna try and interpret what that means. SWEEP: He's trying to get you to admit that you're gay! Even though you're not! KEVIN: Why I oughtta'... LILY: Oughtta' what? Imitate 40's cartoons? She smiles, and so does Kevin. They bicker a little bit as the camera fades out to complete white. It fades back to normal, as the camera shows Gunner sleeping on a park bench. He slowly wakes up, grumbled. GUNNER, VOICE OVER: When I finally came to, after passing out that morning, I had no idea of where I was or how I got there. I was asleep on a park bench, but I certainly don't remember crawling to it. I guess my friends picked me up and placed my lazy ass on it. I suppose, there's some sort of warmth, some sort of serene beauty in that idea... Some people did something to make me feel good, knowing that the only result would be me feeling good, without me knowing that they had a single thing to do with it. God bless the world... He gets up off the park bench, noticing he has a makeshift bandage, held on my some rubber thing, and safety bins, on his arm. He looks at it, and shakes his head. GUNNER, VOICE OVER: I have no idea how that got there.
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