Broken: Varsity 3 Sneak Peek

He sat in obscurity.

Encased by the moving shadows, the young man sat on the dusty bed in the middle of the room. The red neon sign flickered outside, and the rain casted its imprints over the place. It was some night in that little motel. Thirsty souls were all around, and they searched for that everlasting drink in a little bit of everything. But in all the restlessness, the man continued to drown his regrets with the harsh liquid dripping from his bottle of bourbon.

The last few years had been a horrible mixed bag for Scott Farlett. Falling deeper and deeper into the cavern of depression, he thought endlessly about how he got there. Was it the death of his mother? Or his brother? Or was it losing his power? Or was it the fact that Jensen and Nick were too busy with their troubles to stop him from dipping into a pool of drunkenness.

Or was it simply his mind breaking because of the things he had seen? The war in New York scared everyone in those boroughs, and beyond. The recovery had been a drag on the country. Hundreds of floors had been reduced to simmering piles of charred memories and jobs. The Athens’ money helped speed up the process, but even they had their limits when it came to rebuilding at entire city.

Scott continued to stare into space, his eyes still broken. Stubble scratched against his skin, and his hair ran low toward his shoulders. He once more raised the bottle toward his lips, and gulped down the harsh mixture as if it was water out of a glass. The taste no longer burned his throat, or his nostrils. It flowed freely, and provided warmth to his cold soul. As he lowered the object once more, a knock on the door grabbed his attention. But as it continued, he grew less enamored by the sound, and went back to his flask.

Knock Knock Knock!

The sounds continued as the man on the other side of the door continued to knock. After a few more tries, he relented, and propped his back on the door. He placed his hands on his pants, and let his head tilt back onto the door, creating a little thud as he did so. The man sighed, before looking down the staircase of the place. There two more men awaited. Turning his head back toward the door, he took out a picture, and began playing with it in his hands.

“I know this day is hard for you Scott,” started the man, “It was the start of all this mess. And I’m sorry that you’ve lost so much. God, you lost more than all of us.”

Scott peered toward the door as the man finished speaking. He slowly dropped his bottle to the carpet, and walked toward the door. He too propped his back against the frame of the door, and placed his hands on his knees. Positioning his head against the door, he chuckled quietly.

“You just won’t give up on me will you Jensen,” asked Scott.

On the other side of the door, Jensen laughed as his continued to play with a picture of him, Gale, and Nick.

“Well you know me, Scott. Always trying to save the world an’ all,” he said.

“Well we’ve done a pretty shitty job,” replied Scott.

“I could see how you could get that picture, especially when you hang out in a place like this.”

“It’s places like this that are the real world,” said Scott, “Not whatever fairytale you and Nick live in back in Athens.”

“That’s your home, Scott. It’s suppose to be that way,” responded Jensen, firmly.

“Nah, I’m good. I prefer to see the world how it is.”

“The world isn’t like this, Scott. It’s healing. Let me show you. What we…”

“Okay,” said Scott. He’s heard Jensen’s speech far too many times to sit through it again.

“But promise me I can come back to the real world, afterwards.”

Jensen sighed, and rushed his hand through his hair.

“Of course. You’re 20 years old. You can do whatever you want,” he said.

Jensen felt Scott’s body raise up from the door, just as Nick began walking up the steps. Scott grabbed his jacket off of the broken chair in the corner, before he grabbed his bottle off of the floor. He flung the door open, and stood in front of Jensen, just as Nick reached their locale. He laughed as he saw Scott’s disheveled appearance.

“You look like hell,” he chuckled.

Jensen nudged him in his side, but that did not stop Nick from smiling. He went to place his arm around Scott, but as he did so Scott moved forward, shoving Jensen and Nick to the side. He walked down the stairs, taking gulps of his bottle as he did so. Jensen looked over at Nick, and he still had a smile on his face.

“You’re in a peppy mood,” said Jensen, placing his jacket on his back.

“I just think it’s funny,” replied Nick.

“What?”

“That we continue to chase after Scott like a lost puppy.”

“We promised Gale, Nick.”

“We promised Gale that we would make sure no harm came to him,” started Nick, “We didn’t promise him we would babysit.”

Jensen glared across the room toward Nick. His eyes were tense, and his hands were in his pockets. He looked down at Scott, who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

“Go get in the car,” he said, throwing down the keys.

As Scott left the lobby, Jensen turned back to Nick, who was awaiting his fate.

“We are all he has. And it’s not our fault that that is the case, but we are family. And we are the only family he has,” said Jensen.

“I know, Jensen,” started Nick, “But we can’t keep doing this. It’s been four years of chasing Scott. It’s been four years of picking up pieces that we can’t put back together.”

“What would you do, if it me? If I was the one lost in the dark.”

Nick looked up at Jensen and said, “I would leave you alone to find the light.”

Jensen nodded, began down the stairs. Sighing softly, Nick followed suit, running his hand along the banister as he did so. A man, dressed in a suit coat and khakis, waited at the bottom of the stairs. His hair was thin, and his skin was wrinkled. As Jensen passed him, he nodded. Nick finally made it to the bottom of the staircase, and when he did, he placed his hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Thanks again, Larry,” spoke Nick.

“No problem, Nicky,” replied Larry, causing Nick to roll his eyes.

“Hopefully that’s the last time I hear those words come out of your mouth.”

“You said that the last four times,” laughed Larry as Nick sauntered out the door.

Fixing his coat tightly to his body, Nick ventured out into the rain as Jensen and Scott waited in the smoke gray SUV. Opening the door, he slipped into the front seat of the car. Scott sat behind him, still holding his bottle in his hand. He peered out the window, not saying a word. He had nothing to say to either of them. Jensen placed the truck in drive, and started on their journey away from the lively but desolate place. Scott’s eyes were fixed on the little motel as it disappeared into the distance, and soon the red glow of the sign no longer flickered in his pupils.

After starting out onto the empty highway, the boys continued to drive in silence. Scott continued to stare out of the window, looking at the passing signs with a confused look on his face. It was a route he had never scene before, and Athens was the opposite direction. Peering toward Jensen, he cleared his throat.

“Where are we going?” he asked in a mundane tone.

Jensen looked back at him, hands still on the steering wheel.

“To the City,” replied Jensen.

Immediately Scott became restless. He placed his hands in the pockets of his jacket, and began to fiddle around in his seat. Of all the places in the world, New York City was the last place Scott ever wanted to step foot back in. All of his troubles seemed to stem from that etched out skyline.

Before long they were surrounded by tall skyscrapers and a city that seemed to breathe. Construction cranes continued to dominate patches of the city, especially in the area surrounding the Tower. Time Square had lit its last new bulb only a few months ago, and the new white sidewalks that filled the city casted dust into the air. After everything that happened, the city that never slept continued to beat on with new life, and renewed focus. But while the buildings were new and the people seemed to forget, the soldiers that fought the war, the Scotts and Sanders of the world, would never forget that day. They would never forget the scars that were etched into their souls.

Jensen soon brought the car to a halt, stopping in front of the Tower. Its golden window panes glowed brightly in the night, and the newly placed windows provided crystal clear views into the worlds of its residents. For a few moments, the three young men sat quietly in the car. But after taking a deep breath, Jensen stepped out of the car, followed closely by Nick, and then finally Scott. Walking into the park, the trio battled against the cold that inherited the air around them. Briskly flowing through the young sea of cherry trees, the wind provided the only soundtrack to their walk. As they came up on that faithful clearing, Scott closed his eyes and his mind became filled with awful flashbacks. Stopping at the edge of the place, he ran his hands on the stone of the pillars. The bloodstains had been washed away from the granite, but they still ran through Scott’s conscious.

Jensen stood in front of the statue that now sat in the middle of the square. Alone in the night, Scott and Nick walked behind him, all of them staring up at the large monument. In portrayed three men, standing 10 feet tall with their hands placed toward their sides. The men’s faces were blank, the stone smooth to the touch as it faded into the carved hairlines. The base of the statue was a large circle, decorated with messages that had been scribbled onto it. But in all of it, only one word was engraved in its stone.

Remember.

Nick placed his hand on the cold surface next to Jensen, while Scott stood behind the two of them.

“Why are you two doing this to me,” said Scott suddenly.

Jensen peered over at Nick, who was trying his best to avoid Jensen’s glares. But soon he wavered, and looked deep into Jensen’s eyes. Getting the message scribbled in his brother’s pupils, Nick turned around to face Scott.

“Look, Scott,” he started, “I know I can be hard on you.”

“You think,” mumbled Scott, his eyes fixed on Nick.

“I know it may seem like I don’t care, but I truly love you. I love you so much, Scott. But I just think you have to find the light on your own.”

“And how has that worked out for you,” shot back Scott.

Nick stepped closer to Scott, while Jensen looked on with intrigue.

“No matter what Scott, no matter how you feel, or what you think you are deserved, the world owes you nothing. And it is a sad and dark reality. But as all of us know…it is reality. Now I am sorry that you have lost so much…”

Scott began to chuckle under his breath. Soon his little sounds turned into loud laughter, and tears began running down his tan skin. He slowly began to gaze up as Jensen looked over at him.

“You all think this is about a few lost family members,” chuckled Scott.

“You lost a lot Scott,” started Jensen, “Enough to break the strongest of men.”

“THIS ISN’T ABOUT DEAD RELATIVES!” yelled Scott. “This isn’t about my mom, or my dad, or Gale. This is about something so much worse. We used to be something, guys….We used to be heroes. And now we’re just people. There’s nothing special about us. Our money isn’t special. Our family isn’t special. Our town is for damn sure not special. We’re just normal. And that hurts more than anything.”

“Scott, you are still a hero,” said Jensen.

“Heroes don’t hang in sketchy motels and drink to make the pain go away, Jensen,” replied Scott.

Jensen looked over at Nick, before turning back around toward the statue.

“If we are not heroes, then what are we?” he asked, “If we’re not special then what are we? Are we just a bunch of people who saved the world? Because that happens every day right? Scott you saved the world. We…saved the world. And while those faces are blank, that doesn’t mean that it’s not you. It doesn’t mean that that statue isn’t for you.”

“We don’t deserve a statue,” said Scott.

“You’re right,” started Nick, “We deserve more than a faceless statue. But we can’t go back.”

Scott opened his mouth to say something, but soon closed it. Tears began running down his face, and his breaths became heavy. Water in his eyes, Scott looked up at his brothers.

“I’m just so lost,” he said.

Jensen stepped closer to him, and placed his hand on Scott’s shoulder.

“And that’s okay,” he started, “Because there’s no book on how to be normal again. After all shit we went through and all the crap we saw, it’s impossible to go back. But you can choose to let it eat you up, you can choose to let the past destroy your future…or you can write your own plan.”

Scott suddenly reached his arms around Jensen, and held him tightly. Slowly Scott’s cries became louder and louder, until his body was shaking with tears. Nick placed his hand on Scott’s shoulder, and let a tear fall from his eye.

“Come home, Scott. You still have to find the light on your own…but you can do it at home,” he said.

Scott stepped back from Jensen and cleared the tears from his eyes. He straightened his jacket, and brushed his hair. Looking up at the boys with the bleakness in his eyes, Scott guided his body to one side.

“I’m broken,” he started, “and I don’t know when I’ll pick up the pieces.”

“And that’s okay,” replied Nick, “Because so are we.”

Scott nodded as Nick came and put his arm around him. They began to walk back toward their car. Jensen peered up at their monument one last time. As he did, he felt a chill roll through his body. He looked closer into the darkness behind the statue, into the shadows. Stepping closer he clutched his fist.

“Jensen,” called Nick, breaking Jensen out of his thoughts.

“You alright,” asked Nick.

“Yeah,” started Jensen as he looked into the void of the night, “I’m fine.”

He turned around and started back toward his car. And as he walked, Jensen held his head low to the ground, and did not see the displacement of shadows that sat high up in the darkness of the cherry trees.