Little White Lie
Chapter 6
By: Jenn
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Billy’s POV
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I heard the door open and shut, and looked up, hoping Benji had come back. My heart sank a little when I saw Paul, but at least it wasn’t Joel. I couldn’t stand seeing Joel right now. I definitely couldn’t stand being alone with him. Paul was into the cover-up with him, though, so it was almost as bad. I wanted Benji. I felt safe when Benji was around. The dreams couldn’t get me when Benji was around. The voices couldn’t reach me. Aaron couldn’t get to me as long as I wasn’t alone.
“I hear you’re not doing so good,” Paul said, sitting down on the edge of the bunk opposite me.
I shook my head in response, not meeting his eyes.
“It’s gonna be ok, Billy,” he tried to reassure me. “It’s gonna work out. We won’t go down for this.”
“It’s not that,” I said softly. Then, as if a flood gate had been opened, I burst and spilled out everything I hadn’t told my bandmates up to then. “I don’t care if we get caught. It’s just that… we watched someone die, and now we’re lying about it and you and Joel are acting like it doesn’t even matter and it really scares me that you can both be so detached with this.” Paul nodded his head as if thinking, but never answered me.
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Benji’s POV
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Joel scared me more in that moment than he’s ever scared me before, and yet I couldn’t help but laugh. His threat sounded so ridiculous when I played it back in my head.
“You’re losing it, bro,” I said. Joel released his grip on me and stepped back.
“No, I’m just the only one who seems to realize how important it is that you dumb fucks don’t land me in jail,” Joel replied.
It became a pattern with him. He began to talk solely about himself, as if he were the one who would get in trouble if anyone ever found out the truth, as if only his future were riding on the secrecy. He stopped caring about the rest of us.
He stopped talking to us too, if he didn’t have to. He became paranoid. He became suspicious of everyone that spoke to him. He thought everyone knew something, he was certain everyone was ready rat him out. Once we got back home, he spent most of his time locked in his room – as if the simple deadbolt on his door would keep out the SWAT team with their guns and dogs and battering rams that Joel was certain was coming for him every time the phone rang, or every time the doorbell sounded. In away, it was probably better that he stayed in his room. It was at least better for Billy. He lightened up once he was back home, but too many more encounters with the fanatical Joel probably would have broken him. I began to relax, too. I started to believe that Billy and Joel would be ok, and that we could go on with our lives. I started to believe we’d gotten away with it. I started to think like Joel. We did it, no one will catch us now, I caught myself thinking more than once. We didn’t get away with it, though. We all thought we had – until everything came crashing down one afternoon.
Our lie, what had become our entire reality, fell to pieces when I clicked the TV on that day. As if by fate, a news station came on. The sound came through before the picture, and the volume was up high enough to attract Paul and Billy from adjacent rooms in the house. I turned it down once I heard the first few words, not wanting Joel to find out. The image of a female news anchor faded in as the three of us sat around silently, listening to the most devastating news we could possibly hear.
“The body discovered three days ago by a local fisherman has been identified as that of Aaron Escolopio, drummer of mainstream pop-punk band Good Charlotte. The band claims that Escolopio quit the band unexpectedly over a month ago, about the time it’s estimated the body had been at the bottom of the lake. Police are currently looking to bring the four band members, Joel Madden, Benjamin Madden, Paul Thomas, and William Martin in for questioning regarding the incident.”
I heard Billy sob quietly to himself and watched Paul chew on his lower lip nervously as they flashed our pictures across the screen. It was official, we were wanted by the police. I heard footsteps in the hall and quickly clicked off the television before Joel entered and saw anything.
“What was that?” Joel asked, obviously noticing that the TV had been on.
“N-nothing,” Billy stuttered. I nodded my approval at him. I quickly shot him a glance telling him not to speak again.
“Ok… cool,” Joel said, looking at each of us in turn. I held my brother’s gaze, knowing that if we all looked away he’d get suspicious. After what seemed like forever, Joel shrugged and walked out of the room, heading upstairs.
“That was way too close,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Uh… Benji?” Billy asked timidly. I looked at him. “Um, if they’re looking for us, doesn’t that mean they’re gonna come here soon?” I nodded silently before saying, “We can’t run from it anymore.”
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Joel’s POV
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I had a feeling they were all trying to hide something from me when I came into the living room that day, but at that point I really didn’t care. I had more important things to worry about. I’d just heard on the radio in my car that Aaron’s body had been found and the four of us were wanted for questioning. I knew it wouldn’t be long before the police came to the house, and didn’t plan to be around when they did show up. I figured it was best that I leave by myself and make a clean break. It was getting too hard to pull the rest of the band along. They didn’t seem to realize how important it was that we don’t get caught. I knew Billy was ready to crack any minute and knew that it was best if I put as much distance between him and I as possible before that happened.
I was almost finished packing – taking as little I thought I could – when I heard a vigorous knocking on the front door followed by a stern voice.
“Police, open up!”