November 8, 1980
I feel like this might sound crazy, but I think Riley has changed a lot. I know it might sound weird, but I've read some of my old writings about Riley here in my journal and reading them back made me think about how he is now. Like for example, I remember back then he used to be so talkative and always wore a smile on his face that felt genuine. He was always so nice and that was one of his biggest weaknesses. Now, he doesn't talk much to people. He'll join a conversation, but not all the time, and the ones he mainly talks to the most are just me, Hope and Eveyln. Riley doesn't talk with Harrison like he used to and doesn't get scared with Harrison like he used to either. When Harrison tries to intimidate him, Riley doesn't even flinch anymore. He just looks dead into Harrison's eyes and walks off. The first time he did that, Harrison was so shocked and embarrassed that it was the funniest thing I had seen in a long while. I know Riley is not a fighter, that's for certain. But I can always tell when he's angry. Glares. It's his key way of throwing people off. He's known as the cotton ball of the jail, so getting glares from him is always so threatening. Although they don't scare me because I already know he's not gonna do anything to me. Even if he could fight, Riley and I have been friends for a while now, so I know he's not gonna try and hurt me. Previously as I mentioned, Riley asked me to go to the bathroom and have a talk with him, so when I came over to the bathroom I saw him leaning up against the wall of the bathroom, twiddling his fingers, looking nervous as ever. Then when he caught sight of me, he picked up his head and spoke in a serious manner he usually tries not to have,
"Hey Franklin. Thank you for coming. I really needed to talk to someone about this and Evelyn wouldn't understand this much…" My eyebrow rose as my curiosity grew.
"What is it?" I asked. Riley was unusually scared to speak about his problem. It was so out of the ordinary to see him this way. Sure I know he has his secrets, but most of the time, he'll be honest and speak at least to me without much issues. After a few seconds of silence, Riley reluctantly spoke,
"It's about Harrison…" I rolled my eyes, completely tired of hearing about that guy. If I had to choose to live in an apartment with Harrison or become a target for a shooting range, I'd be nailed up to a piece of wood and let them start firing.
"What about him?" I asked. Then, for a moment, it felt so peaceful until Riley spoke words that I just can't get out my head for the life of me,
"Me and Harrison are dating now…" I was in complete shock. Why on god's green's earth did Riley agree to be Harrison's partner? It seemed so odd and made no sense. I thought Riley hated Harrison, but I felt like I was proven wrong. And another thing. HARRISON LIKES GUYS?! I mean, looking back at it now, it makes sense. The dude stays away from girls all the time, so I suppose he'd find an attraction for men at some point. Still shocking either way.
"Why..? When did you two start dating?" I asked, slowly feeling like I was losing my mind. Riley didn't look me in the eyes as if he himself was embarrassed for saying this aloud to me.
"Ok, well… This started after you and him fought that day. I… I thought that the reason he acted this way was because of his past. So I wanted to get to know him and see if there was any way I could help him. That's why he hasn't been talking to you lately. I told him if he wanted to date, he'd leave you. He agreed and we've been dating ever since." Riley explained. For the first time in a while, I felt… angry. Not angry as in my usual anger. Like really angry. I just couldn't understand why Riley decided to take the risk of dating this clearly unstable ass wipe.
"Why are you telling me of all people? I'm pretty sure Evelyn or even Hope would be able to try and understand you. You know I'm not good with this feeling shit." I asked him. He finally got the courage to look me in my eyes and answered,
"Because Evelyn wanted us to not hide anything from each other… And honestly this wasn't something I could just bring up so easily to the girls. I've known you for a while and I just trust you enough to be believe that you would just listen to me…" he looked away and put his hand his other arm,
"Plus, this has nothing to do with them. I'm not adding them into problems that they don't have any part in." He said. I couldn't help but sigh. It was hard to really respond to this situation, especially since I couldn't see the logic in it. I understood that Riley wanted to help Harrison, but I had thought he'd give up on that idea and instead stayed as far away as he could. I don't know how he did it secretly, but whatever the case was, I didn't know what to say, and Riley knew too with how quiet I was. I saw him quiver slightly as he took a deep breath.
"I know you're upset and I know this might seem like a very bad idea… but I'm willing to take what comes to me if anything does happen." He said, trying to soothe my anger, to no avail.
"Even dying?" I asked him,
"I told you what he did to his girlfriend." I continued. Riley reluctantly nodded which still baffles me.
"If it's what it takes…" he said before continuing on with kind eyes.
"It's why, if something were to happen, I'd like you to carry on Lance's request in saving his sister." My eyes widened in shock. Me? Did it have to be me that carries that burden? With determined eyes, Riley told me,
"I'll keep fighting to the end. Lance's sister is one of the reasons I still play these games, but if I don't make it, I would at least be at ease to know that you would be able to and probably do it better than me." I was still so confused and with all this information crashing down on me with one bathroom talk, it was all too much to handle. Not in an emotional way, but rather a mentally draining way. I took one breath before responding with,
"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you. You're only lucky I'm doing this because this is payback for the things you did for me. That and I don't want to be fighting with anyone else. Just don't get hurt for god sakes, alright?" I saw Riley's smile grow and saw him nod in agreement.
"Thank you, I really appreciate you, Franklin. You're my best friend and I'm lucky to have you to talk to, even if you're not very good at it." He said with a chuckle at the end of his sentence. Even though I was upset, there wasn't much I could have done to change this. But Riley seriously needs to evaluate his decisions because this might be one of the riskiest choices he could have ever made and it's probably something he's gonna have a hard time trying to climb up himself. I don't know, this feels so wrong in so many places, but like I said, Riley's weakness is that he's way too nice. After that little convo in the bathroom, we walked out. Unexpected to us, Hope was there, sitting on her bed and playing with her hair. She also had a bandaid on her nose, something I did not know we had access to. I mean could you blame me? This place kills people yet they care enough to give us the minimum amount of aid to make us somewhat feel better to then try and survive till the next game. What a bunch of bullshit. Hope eventually looked up and gave us her usual smile, but a little part of me felt like it was fake. I have this weird ability to sense when something is fake or not. It's always been a thing I could do but it's never been as useful out there than it is in here.
"Hey Franklin! Hey Riley! What are you guys up to?" she asked with curiosity sparking all over her face.
"Well, we just came back from using the bathroom. Nothing too interesting." Riley answered. Total bull obviously.
"Ah, cool. Yeah I've been doing nothing either. Just playing with my hair. Evelyn has been sleeping ever since our discussion so I had no one to talk to." She said, Riley nodded, but I couldn't stop looking at that bandaid on her face. It was so defining and it was just right there.
"What happened to your nose?" I bluntly asked as I pointed at her nose. She looked at her nose before giggling.
"Oh this? Well, I just accidentally tripped and fell to the floor. It left a mark on my nose. I'm all good though, just something that I needed a bandaid for." She explained, but by the way she looked so awkward talking about the story, she's definitely lying. I can easily tell when she lies that it's not even a struggle. Usually when she's awkward that's when you know she lies. Her poker face is so easy to see through, but it seems like I was the only one that picked up on it since Riley chuckled and joked a bit about the bandaid which to be fair, he has his only problems he has going on so it makes sense he wouldn't notice off the bat. I don't know how Hope got the cut on her nose, but I'll tell you this, I have a hunch that she didn't trip. I think it was on purpose. I didn't say anything because even though I felt like I knew what happened, I could be completely wrong and then I'm the asshole, so I made sure to not say anything about the bandaid after that. I really needed to write this stuff off my chest, so many events have happened in one day and it's so hard to write them all down in said day. I don't know what's gonna happen next, but as far as I know, this game feels like a prison inside of one bigger prison and that right there is not a good sign at all. And I thought I was the odd one, believe me. I'm far from it.