Whisper Down the Lane, Clay Chapman [best short books to read txt] 📗

there it is, right outta the blue. “How could I ever forget that?” Know what I’m saying?

BELLAMY: I have nothing to hide.

BURSTYN: See…Richard, when you say stuff like that…Hate to break it to you…

BELLAMY: What? What?

MERRIN: It makes you sound like you have something to hide.

BELLAMY: But I don’t—

BURSTYN: Maybe you don’t want to remember. Maybe you’ve done something and you’re trying to hide it from yourself. Shit like that happens all the time.

BELLAMY: You can’t be serious. Are—are you serious right now?

BURSTYN: You’d be surprised what people lie to themselves about. People lie to themselves all the time. You just gotta be honest with yourself, Rich. Come clean.

BELLAMY: I haven’t done any—

BURSTYN: Only a matter of time, Richard.

BELLAMY: Whoa, wait…Hold on. Just—just hold on. What’s going on here?

MERRIN: Get it off your chest.

BELLAMY: You—you don’t think I—think I actually did this?

BURSTYN: Come on, Richie…You don’t have to deny it. Not with us.

BELLAMY: I’m not denying anything!

MERRIN: We’re going to find out what we want to find out, sooner or later. And if we find out you’ve been lying to us, well, then, you’re in a whole heap of trouble.

BELLAMY: There’s nothing to—

BURSTYN: You came in here…all on your own. That says a lot, don’t you think?

MERRIN: Speaks volumes.

BURSTYN: The truth shall set you free, as they say.

BELLAMY: But I—I didn’t…I…

BURSTYN: You’ll feel better if you do. Get it off your chest. All of this goes away.

MERRIN: Like a dam breaking.

BELLAMY: Jesus Christ, what the fuck is this? What are you doing?

BURSTYN: Let it go, Rich. Tell us the truth.

BELLAMY: I think—I think I’ve said enough.

BURSTYN: Oh, now you’ve had enough? You’re done now?

BELLAMY: I want to go home now.

MERRIN: In a little bit.

BELLAMY: I want to go home.

BURSTYN: What if we want to keep you a little longer?

BELLAMY: You…You can’t do that. Can you? You said so. I’m here of my own—of my own volition.

BURSTYN: Yeah, that was before. This is now.

MERRIN: You’re a person of interest. Your story is really interesting to us.

BURSTYN: We’re just getting to the good part. Don’t hold back on us now, Richie. Stick around. Just a little longer. Just to chat. That’s all we want. Hand to God.

MERRIN: You’ll feel better. Getting all this out of your system.

BELLAMY: Would you stop saying that? There’s nothing to—

BURSTYN: You think that, maybe, there was one day? In class? Just you and—

BELLAMY: No—

BURSTYN: Maybe, just maybe, Sandy is looking for some help…

BELLAMY: Oh, Jesus—

BURSTYN: You’re her teacher. She looks up to you…

BELLAMY: No.

BURSTYN: No?

BELLAMY: I—I can’t see myself doing this. Any of this. I—I just can’t…

BURSTYN: Nobody ever does, believe me. See it.

MERRIN: That doesn’t mean they didn’t do it.

BURSTYN: Seeing is believing. So it’s better to just…flip the blinders on.

MERRIN: Maybe even imagine it’s someone else doing it? “It doesn’t even feel like I’m doing it, somebody else is.” “It’s just like watching a movie.”

BELLAMY: No. No. No no no…

MERRIN: Just tell us. Tell us what you did.

BURSTYN: Think of it as a flick. “It didn’t feel real. It was like watching a movie…” Something like that. So tell us what happened in the movie of your life.

BELLAMY: I—I think I’m—I’m going to be sick. I need to go to the bathroom…

BURSTYN: Keep it together, Richie. Just for a little while longer.

BELLAMY: Can I get a—a trashcan? A bucket?

BURSTYN: Quit playing around, man. Buck the fuck up.

MERRIN: Breathe, Richard. Just breathe. In, out…In, out…

BURSTYN: Better now? Got something on your mind that you wanna get out?

BELLAMY: No…

MERRIN: It’s for the better. You’ll remember. Sooner or later.

BURSTYN: They always do.

BELLAMY: But—why? Why don’t I remember? Why wouldn’t I remember?

MERRIN: Would you? Would you really want to remember something like this?

BURSTYN: Better to bury it. Stuff it in a box. Lock it up in the back of the brain.

MERRIN: And toss away the key.

BURSTYN: You never know what else is back there. Maybe something that happened to you when you were a kid, with a family member. An uncle, maybe a neighbor, something you’ve tried to forget for a long time now…

MERRIN: History’s repeating itself.

BURSTYN: That’s where we need to go, Rich. That’s what you need to remember.

MERRIN: Crack it open. Key or no key.

BURSTYN: Get it off your chest. Relieve yourself.

MERRIN: Unburden thyself, son.

BURSTYN: Let it all come flooding out.

BELLAMY: I…I’m not…

BURSTYN: This victim shit isn’t doing you any favors. Coming in here and claiming you’re all innocent isn’t helping. Fuck that noise. What would help you now, the only thing that’s gonna save your ass, is you starting to tell the truth.

BELLAMY: If this is true then—then it’s a part of me I don’t even know about.

BURSTYN: That’s understandable. Wall it off, right? Hell, I would. But now you need to take a sledgehammer to that wall and break through. Bust it down.

BELLAMY: I—I can’t—I don’t want to remember…

BURSTYN: But it’s there, isn’t it? Somewhere in the way, way back?

BELLAMY: I…oh God…

BURSTYN: There it is. You can see it, can’t you?

BELLAMY: Oh God…

BURSTYN: Almost there…Almost got it…Just a little bit further…

BELLAMY: No. Please, stop.

MERRIN: We’re trying to help you, Richard.

BURSTYN: We want to help. Make it easy for yourself. Do the right thing here.

MERRIN: It’s not what you remember, it’s about what you don’t remember.

BELLAMY: I don’t want to…want to remember any of it.

MERRIN: See? Your brain is working overtime to keep you from remembering. It’s trying to protect you by forgetting. Instead of you racking your brain over what you remember, start with what you don’t…

BURSTYN: Think of Sandy…

MERRIN: Yes—think of Sandy. Do it for her.

BELLAMY: For Sandy…

BURSTYN: That’s it. For Sandy.

BELLAMY: For Sean.

MERRIN:…Richard?

BELLAMY: (…)

BURSTYN: Hey. Richie? Where’d you go?

BELLAMY: I want a lawyer.

BURSTYN: Ah, come on…Don’t do that. Not now. Not while the getting’s good. We were just getting somewhere! You go that way, you lawyer up on us, Richie, I swear to fucking Christ, on my mother’s fucking grave…We will come after you. We will come after you so fucking hard, you won’t know what hit you. You’ll get down on your