A Friend in a Low Place

William J. Fung

During all of dinner, the singing went on upstairs, and no one said a word. Henry passed everyone by the kitchen, and went upstairs to listen to, and sing along with, his favourite song, Friends in Low Places by Garth Brooks, after just coming home from the bar (you'd actually have to refer to the song to know what I mean), where he had had a lot of rootbeer to drink. He could not have been more depressed, as his love interest, Cherry, had remarried that week, and this song was only fitting. His roommate, B.J., understood what Henry had gone through, since he too had gone through something very similar when he was two days too late in proposing to his love interest (a case of missed opportunity). Anyhow, B.J. empathized with Henry, and what he was going through, and decided to respect his privacy.

So Henry sat there in his room, blasting Garth on his stereo, singing along to yet another country song that has to do with losing something dear. He played the same song, over and over, until B.J., who is not a country music fan, had learned the whole song. After dinner, B.J. sat downstairs, leaving Henry upstairs to mope, and analyzed the lyrics of the song. He started to understand why that song had so much meaning to Henry, it described Henry's dismal situation to the letter, with a happy twist to it. Still, as he sat there, he began to think about his lost love, and became depressed as well. Since this particular song did not quite fit his situation, he had no means of therapy for his depression.

As time wore on through the night, Henry continued to play that song, with B.J. getting more and more depressed by the minute. At 1:17am, B.J. couldn't take it anymore. He had to get to sleep, but he couldn't do so with all that noise. He went upstairs to say goodnight to Henry, and to tell him that enough is enough. He knocked on the bedroom door...no answer. He knocked louder, thinking that the music was too loud for any peripheral noise to be heard...still no answer. He then decided to call him, but he was too tired, so he opened the door to discover Henry with his head down on his desk, apparently no longer singing. B.J. wondered how Henry could sleep with the noise. Then he saw the pool of blood on the floor, and realized what had happened. Despite the fact that this particular song had a positive tone to it, it failed in cheering Henry up. B.J. quickly turned off the stereo, and diagnosed the cause of the blood. He saw an exacto-knife in Henry's hand, and a large gash on the side of his neck. B.J. could only shake his head, thinking that he should have spent more time around Henry, teaching him how to be emotionally strong. He sat there, staring at his now dead friend, and cried. Then it occurred to him to check his pulse, to see if he was still alive. Surprisingly, he was, so B.J. shook his head again, thinking that Henry's not even smart enough to end it right. Realizing that the gash on his neck had clotted, and that Henry was only sleeping, B.J. went to sleep as well, deciding to call the paramedics in the morning.

Morning comes, and B.J. immediately calls the paramedics for Henry. He went to the hospital to see how Henry was after his ordeal. Henry did not want to see B.J. at the time, as he was bitter that B.J. wouldn't let him die. Eventually, Henry forgave him, realizing that he shouldn't have attempted to end his life. Henry then set out to avenge himself against Cherry, who had almost killed him.

Back to "During All of Dinner" listing

Back to Creative Writing

Back to Main

This page is hosted by Get your free homepage