[eviljeff]

The Final


The alarm blipped twice, stealing Andrew's attention from his tattered physics book. He folded a corner to mark his place. Amazing that two cardboard covers could hold Newton, Maxwell, Faraday, and almost a pint of fluorescent yellow ink. He deposited them into his gym bag to mingle with Chaucer and the others.


***


The gray box chirped, the red diode turned green, and the sickly gate arm crept open. Andrew waited for a clear path before walking through, rather than humping the gate impatiently like most gym goers. People were oddly eager to visit this brightly lit dungeon of self-loathing. For the eleventh night in a row, the distracted attendant informed him that the main courts were open. Andrew smiled as a polite person might and headed toward the basement court.


***


The phone blared, beckoning Andrew from his nap. He answered and assured his mother that she hadn't woken him. A small lie, part of a larger deception he'd been perpetuating since high school. On the night of the prom, he'd promised his mother to be a gentlemen - kiss on the cheek only. During the father-son caucus, he'd tacitly promised the opposite, quietly accepting a prophylactic and pat on the back. Minutes after the limo had pulled away from his house, Andrew's faux date had shed him like a prom dress. Andrew had spent the night lying on a damp park bench creating constellations in his tuxedo. His parents deserved some level of insulation.


***


The greedy register pinged as it hastily thrust itself toward Andrew's crisp bills. Andrew tucked the newly purchased bright orb into his bag, thanked himself for choosing whatever sporting goods store he was in, and exited through the automatic sliding doors, which forgot him instantly. The bored clerk had made a point of giving him a receipt, so Andrew waited until he was outside before discarding it. There was no need to be rude.


***


The faded basketball thudded its complaints as the youths bullied it around the asphalt battlefield. Andrew sat patiently nearby in the browning landscape, noshing on a book. The periphery always held a welcoming spot for him. During chapter twelve, the ball was slapped out of bounds and into Andrew's penumbra. Andrew picked up his new friend, admiring the cracks and peeling stripes. It certainly had enough signs of use. He gingerly placed the weary ball in his bag and left the new one behind for the bewildered players to welcome.


***


The soggy garbage pile sighed as Andrew pawed through its nethers. The beer bottles had been easily found, but their companions remained elusive. The devil, having been released from it's brewed and bottled form, was now in the details - the caps. The irony hung with him as he patiently continued his search.


***


The pencils clawed maniacally at their flimsy adversaries, inflicting leaded scars at the will of the frenzied young scholars. Andrew calmly spilled his knowledge onto the exam sheets, humming like a baker pouring batter into a pan. With time to spare, he presented his symphony to the unimpressed wooden box. Another 'A' would fit neatly into his collection at the registrar's office. Reduced to four lines of archaic transcript font, this semester would be indistinguishable from any other.


***


Silence enveloped Andrew as he entered the gym's basement. He set down his burden and turned the light dial, giving sixty minutes of life to the forgotten court. He set the bottles to the side, as if he didn't want them interfering with his practice, and left the caps next to them in a tidy stack. He picked the ball out of the gym bag and walked across the court. The door to the next room leaned open, hibernating against the concrete. Andrew had never dribbled a ball or scored a basket, so it was ironic that only a perfect shot would send the ball accidentally through the doorway. He crossed through the gateway and let his last prop bounce into the welcoming abyss. There was no need for further ceremony. Andrew exhaled fully, dropped into the pool, slammed his head against the edge, leaned back, closed his eyes, opened his lungs, and sucked in his poison.