indie from mohawk's point of view
indie from mohawk's point of view. written by the one and only strawberry blonde, timmy.
-note: sincere apologies to those of you i have never known. how much of this is real and how much isn't. i don't even know.-
exactly 5 minutes before the end of class, mohawk woke up. once again he had done it. 5 minutes into the class to 5 minutes before the end. very few people could sleep in class as much as he did. was it really something to be proud of? did he really care? it was a way of getting him through dull classes, when he showed up.
he rubbed his eyes to get them to focus. 3 more minutes...2 more minutes...the teacher was trying to ignore the simultaneous sounds of books closing and bags being opened. but she knew when she was beaten and decided to end the class on time.
he was up and out into the halls. what did he have next? was it worth showing up? he stared at the faces flowing through the halls. friends and enemies, people he didn't know at all went by. he avoided them. no need to get stopped by someone for some meaningless conversation.
there was some sort of assignment due the next class; as usual he hadn't done it. screw it then, he wasn't going. might as well get some more sleep. he went and found one of his out-of-the-way places and nodded off.
some more sleep made him feel better. maybe there was something to do in the cafeteria. eventually he got there, no need to hurry.
acid was there, doing just as much as mohawk was. mohawk sat down.
"anything happening?"
"nothing, as usual." indie walked by. her appearance reminded acid of the big news. "well, actually there is something. did you hear about face?"
"yeah. indie broke up with him, right?"
"no, not that, he'd dead."
"huh?"
"he od'd on something or another."
"really." no big loss. he had never liked face. he didn't like what the asshole had done to indie. but indie had loved him. "does indie..."
he looked over to her, she was talking to tabloid.
"...well, she's talking with tabloid, so if she didn't know she does now."
"yeah i guess so." acid agreed.
but when indie had finally extracted herself from tabloid, she didn't look upset. her face didn't reveal anything. if she was upset mohawk would have known. either she hadn't heard the news yet or had buried her feelings deep inside. as she walked away, mohawk thought about going over to her and saying something, but immediately dropped the idea. was it his place to tell her? was it any of his business?
with nothing better to do, he went to his classes and almost managed to pay attention. the day went on. there was some sort of party tonight. he'd probably go and get drunk for no reason.
*
mohawk slept in late on saturday. he really did not want to get up. his brain pounded against his eyeballs. his throat was dry. too much to drink as usual.
finally, he got up. a couple of glasses of water and some extra-strength tylenol hit the spot.
it was already the afternoon. might as well head over to the store and see if anyone was there. skater and acid were. they hung around and sucked on some slurpees. zero showed up; she was getting some food for indie and herself.
"how is indie, you know with face and all..." skater asked.
"oh, she's fine, she's holding up."
for no reason they went back to indie's place.
indie appeared normal enough, whatever normal was for her. but mohawk saw her arm; there was a bandage covering it.
shit, what had she done now? sometimes she was the most self-destructive person he knew. yet she still was his friend. apparently face's death had affected her. that bandage probably hid some nice new slashes. mohawk was going to say something to her but decided not ot. she wasn't talking and neither was zero, who obviously knew something.
eventually he got home. the phone rang; it was neo.
"you're back?"
"yeah, yeah, no laughing."
"i knew it wouldn't work out. so are we going somewhere tonight?"
"of course, why do you think i called? i need to get seriously blitzed."
"that's a surprise." it wasn't. "i'll call acid."
eventually they go to the bar, found the right bartender, and got reacquainted with vodka. at least it got rid of what was left of his hangover. neo went wandering and mohawk found himself the chair he needed. vodka, beer and tequila helped the three of them pass the rest of the night. they went and bugged the dj to play some real songs, but of course he didn't. they knew he was lying cause they'd heard him play good stuff before.
eventually neo got his ass politely booted out and they stumbled into a taxi that drove them to their homes.
*
the weeks slipped on. mohawk dragged his way through time and space. school was almost over. sleep and alcohol made the days go by.
*
another friday and they had gotten sloshed again. when they got into the taxi, neo directed it to indie's place. none of my business, mohawk decided as he directed the taxi to his place, but if it works for him. he crawled into his bed and passed out.
as usual he woke up late. tonight was the night. time for another gig. mohawk called up skater and acid and they agreed to meet at indie's, which always seemed to be open. skater actually thought of grabbing some food on the way there. they arrived at the house at around the same time. acid decided that they should bring skater's doughnuts downstairs.
mohawk followed skater down. neo was in bed with indie. of course, mohawk had expected him to be, but it still was a shock. he didn't want to intrude on their privacy. he paused and so did skater, who was thinking the same thing, but acid told them to come down. neo, of course, didn't appreciate the intrusion. he asked them why they were there. mohawk reminded him of the performance that night. quickly, he and skater retreated from the basement, stealing doughnuts on the way. zero made coffee but he refused and found a beer instead.
after the gig was a blur. tobacco and alcohol and marijuana fuzzed the night. the others had come to the show. after that they had blurred from place to place, each spot getting them that much more wasted. what the hell had they done tonight, he had no idea. he remembered at some point challenging neo to a centurion. already half-drunk, neither of them lasted. somehow indie had gotten them into his car. she was the only one remotely sober and was driving.
"put on some music," mohawk slurred in demand.
"sure." indie turned on the stereo.
"not this shit, who put rancid in my car?"
indie knew what music he wanted. she found some green day and put it in. everybody else groaned; they didn't appreciate his musical tastes.
when it got to basketcase, neo stirred. "let's sing."
the rest of the car was subjected to the classic world's worst performance of basketcase. off-key noises came from neo and mohawk as they tried to sing along, "it all keeps adding up. i think i'm cracking up."
eventually they ended up at indie's. mohawk looked at skater; she glanced back. they found htemselves together up in zero's room. they had nothing better to do.
*
a noise woke him up. he looked at skater but it wasn't her. it came again from the hall and sounded like indie. quickly he pulled on his clothes and went towards the hall.
he got as far as the door and stopped. at first he thought something had happened to her in the night. then he realized that she could have done something to herself. not again. her face was a mass of cuts and scratches. her hair was a bloody mess. she was moaning to herself. what had she done now? without thinking he pulled her up and helped her to the bathroom. he had to shove her in the shower. time to clean up the mess. he turned on the water and indie finally reacted. she washed her head and turned off the shower. when she stepped out of the shower he wrapped a towel around her wet clothes. carefully he dried her face, it wasn't as bad as it had first looked but it was going to be a long time before she could face herself in a mirror without flinching.
the poor girl, you almost couldn't trust her with herself. she would probably need warming up. mohawk helped her down the stairs to the kitchen. he sat her at the table while he made her some tea. why had she done this? she tried to avoid his stare, instead examining her tea cup, as if it had the answers she needed.
finally he said, "get out of those wet things and change after you've finished your tea." she wasn't doing anything without some prodding first. but she just stared at him, a new look on her face. without warning, she began to let the wet towels and clothes slip off her body. she presented herself to him, right in front of him, daring him to accept. he didn't need this, she didn't know what she was thinking. he averted his eyes and got out of her way.
"i can't, indie, now that i have skater..." it was a good enough reason. he couldn't bear to tell indie that anything more and he'd be dragged too far into her life, too deep into her problems. he'd have to help her completely then, and he didn't feel up to the task. he was barely working on his own personal demons.
he found an interesting design in the wallpaper to stare at while she changed into some dry clothes. finally, eons later, she signalled that she was done. he picked up her wet clothes and helped her down to the basement. neo was sleeping down there. disposing of the wet clothes, he helped her into bed and left for the upstairs. it was early morning and already he needed a drink.
go home.
zero's point of view.