Chapter 30
It was later that day the two men had been fishing for several hours. George was still in a state of denial about his brother being involved in the death of two of his childhood friends. After Jennifer moved away George kind of forgot about her. To find out that not only did she die so long ago, but that his brother had a hand in it, which was something George was not equipped to deal with. It made him re-think how badly he wanted to hurt his ex-wife. He hated his wife enough to make her suffer for all the pain she caused.
He just didn’t hate her enough to see her dead. He hated dealing with death it was his worst flaw. Drake told him how hard it was being responsible for the deaths of two such young people. He said that it was what drove him to become a doctor; he had to condition himself to think of death as natural in order to bury the guilt he felt. He then told George how on rare occasions he would let some young people die on purpose, even if he could have easily saved them. He said it helped him deal with the pain knowing that even good people could die young.
George was starting to question everything about his relationship with Drake. Looking back on it the two never really were that close, Drake was a lot closer to Daryl than George. In fact looking back on it George had always been the dreamer, the other two were the practical ones. This was the first time he had to face the idea that he had romanticized his past. George was afraid to speak up during Drakes confessions; he just let his brother pour out his soul while he sat there listening, fearful for his own life now.
By late afternoon the two men had barely caught two tiny little fish, hardly worth the trouble of preparing into a meal. Finally they decided to call it quits. They were walking back to the campsite when Drake said
“This is been such a peaceful experience hasn’t it George? Why don’t we set up camp for the night and sleep out here under the stars, closet to the water?”
George was feeling a little anxious to get back to town after hearing what his brother was really like. He didn’t think it would be safe for him to sleep out here alone in the dark with no witnesses.
“I don’t think so. I would feel more comfortable sleeping back in town in a nice motel.”
Drake looked over at his brother with a look of confusion.
“Are you serious? Man when we were kids you always liked sleeping outside. You were the only one of us who enjoyed camping out, it was the rest of us who liked sleeping in a nice bed.”
George knew he had to choose his words carefully at this point.
“Drake to be honest, we’re not kids anymore, maybe I grew up. My back is kind of sore, I haven’t been getting enough sleep as it is, I just think, for me at least, it would be best if I had nice comfortable bed to sleep in, that’s all.”
George could tell by the look on Drake’s face that he was a little suspicious but he didn’t press the matter.
“Alright then why don’t we save you a couple of bucks and head back to my cabin? It’s not too far from here.”
George knew he couldn’t say no to that without tipping him off so he reluctantly agreed.
“I guess that would be fine, do you have a spare bed?”
“Tell you what brother, I will let you sleep on my bed and I will take the couch how does that sound?”
He nodded in agreement and the two packed up their stuff, walked over to the pick-up truck
Drake had concealed in the woods, and drove up to his cabin on the mountain.
Stephanie Bri 