Saturday, February 25, 2012

The Sixteen Year Club - Pt. 2

The ride home down the winding back roads through Macon seemed to fly by as we all chatted away in the back of my mom’s SUV. I’m sure she had to be a little annoyed, we were probably loud and I know we didn’t really take breaths in between switching subjects and rambling on about something we liked. She was nice enough to let us stop off at Kroger though. We bought drinks, cookies, and potato chips to feed an army, or five kids that planned to stay up all night playing video games and watching random movies we had all seen several times already.

David wanted to stop and drop his costume off first. I had a feeling he’d be going as Optimus Prime for several more years with as much time as he put into that thing. He never did go in that costume again though, not hard to put together why. If I had to bet, I’d think that even all of these years later it’s sitting somewhere in storage; too important to throw away, too devastating to keep close.

We arrived at the house. I put up my costume and changed clothes as the guys grabbed the game consoles and movies they wanted. With arms full of material possessions we considered most valuable at the time we made our way through the yard and near the edge of the woods. Just before the old run-down dog pens my dad built a white metal building with two small windows and its own generator sat against the tree line.

I turned the lights on and checked that everything was working. David immediately went to the TV and started hooking up the games while Brian set up the drinks and snacks along one of the hardly touched work benches. Stan and Derek were talking as both plopped down on the old brown couch, leaving us to sit in the stools or the old beanbag chair from my room. They were discussing the trip the youth group was taking in December up to go skiing.

“I’m gonna fire up Star Fox,” David said handing us each a controller.

“Nah lets watch a movie.”

“Which one,” Brian asked Derek. “I know we’ve seen all the ones you grabbed.”

“We should watch Goldfinger again.” Stan really did like all of the James Bond movies.

I was about to pitch my idea when there was a knock at the door. After a second it swung open and my mom stepped in looking us over. I’m not sure if she thought she’d find anything else really, but after she was satisfied she turned to me.

“Jason I’m going to bed, I have that meeting in the morning, early.” I nodded. “And Stan, your mom wants me to drop you off by your house on the way, so I’ll come get you, just be ready to go.”

“Yes, Misses Blunt.”

Derek and Brian smiled at my mom. She smiled back and took one last look around.

“Don’t mess up any of your father’s things.”

“Yes ma’am,” I said as she nodded and shut the door behind her. I saw her begin the uphill walk back to the house with the lights on in the living room windows. It wasn’t much longer that I noticed the lights in the house had gone off and my mother had gone to bed.

“So what did we decide on,” Brian asked as he popped open a soda.

“Don’t think we did,” I reminded as I took a seat and picked up a controller. I’d mess around until everyone else could decide. David was excited about playing the game though so he soon followed and then Stan did as well. We played for several minutes until David tried to get either Brian or Derek to join in with us.

“We should go do something,” Derek said looking out one of the small windows across the darkness of the yard. “Its Halloween night and we are just sitting around.”

“We are doing something,” David remarked as he performed a barrel roll on the video game.

“Not what I meant twerp,” Derek called out to the youngest one of us. I never completely understood their relationship the way it was but they got as long as well as Brian and I did, it was just different. “Let’s go do something.”

I was preparing to side with David, as I usually did. I was perfectly content with staying in and playing games and doing what we always did. Maybe it was because of what night it was, or that we had done the same thing so many times and secretly we all, or most of us at least, wanted the cycle to be broken. I’ve thought about what made us leave the safety of that shed in our usually safe neighborhood for fifteen years and I’ve never come up with an opinion on it better than just ‘fate’.

“We could go for a walk in the woods.” Why would I say that. I didn’t like that idea. And with time to think upon it I shouldn’t have with that feeling I got earlier that day. It was out there though and Derek, Brian, and Stan were all about it.

“Awesome, grab the flash light,” Derek said as he crossed the room to where he had placed his helmet and bat from his baseball player costume. He picked up the bat and slid it up under his shoulder, his arm holding it in place as he looked for his jacket.

“I don’t,” my concerns were not only ignored but intercepted by both Derek and Brian.

“You said your mom was asleep right.”

“We won’t be gone that long.”

How could I argue. David tried with his eyes but before I knew it I had the Maglite in my hand and we had all grabbed snacks stuffed in our pockets. We were in the woods in a few footfalls since it was so close. I was going to take them down my normal path, I knew how to navigate it without the flashlight even. We could go to the creek and watch the water flow under the moonlight, it looks cool like that. Mostly we’d just throw rocks and talk about random things.

“We should go this way,” Derek interrupted my thoughts.

“huh? Since when do you know these woods.”

“What, you don’t want to try something new?” The others couldn’t seem to think of any reason not to agree with Derek’s suggestion. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I didn’t like this idea. Before I could think of what to say, if I could have thought of something to dissuade them, it didn’t come to me. Soon I found myself watching the others walk in front of me instead of me leading the group.

David started up some random conversation about a comic book he had read that finally explained something that happened fifty-five issues ago. Brian and I argued that there was no way that the writer could have set that up because they had switched writing teams since them. Soon Stan and Derek were talking about some old Corvette his dad was restoring and that he wouldn’t let Stan touch. It seemed pretty fun actually, we hadn’t wandered too far from the tree line. I could have led us out at any point. This was fun, I wasn’t sure why I had that feeling at the beginning.

That was until I saw Derek slowing down, looking around. He wasn’t aimlessly wandering, trying to play it cool. He was looking for a specific path that wasn’t mine, and wasn’t one he knew well or maybe at all.

“What is it,” I questioned stepping forward.

“Give me a second.” He was quick to be defensive.

“Where are we going,” Brian asked as Stan picked at something oddly off-colored on a near-by tree.

David started to yawn but stopped abruptly at hearing Derek’s frustrated question.

“Which way to Dana’s house?”

“What,” we said almost as a collective in our own ways. “What do you mean,” it had already come together though. “You wanted to go there the whole time. You just didn’t want to ask me to lead you. Why do you want to go there?”

“Just to,” Derek was never great with words unless he was trying to woo someone. “See if we can see her. Just take a peek, snoop around.”

“Dude, that’s not cool.”

“No, it’s a sweet idea.”

Brian’s words almost threw me off guard. It wasn’t that I couldn’t see him agreeing with Derek, more to the point that I thought he’d see how this could go wrong. He wasn’t the most careful person in the world but I didn’t think he’d jump in head first like this.

“Ok,” Stan chimed in. “Let’s do it. Could be cool.”

I wasn’t surprised at Stan either. “But guys,” my plea was unheard and poorly put together to be honest. I couldn’t think of a real reason not to go other than the fear of getting caught. The only person that I knew would side with me against doing it was David. He was getting tired and he was never up for doing anything that had the slightest remote possibility of getting you in trouble. He was younger too and didn’t care about girls in the slightest yet, it seemed. So you can imagine my shock when he just shrugged and made a sound that was probably supposed to sound like ‘I don’t care’ through the mumbling.

“Come on, I know it has gotta be around here somewhere,” Derek said with his thumb jerked in the general direction.

They were all looking at me now. I was the only one that could lead them to her house without them having to go out to the road first, even then in the dark the others might not remember what it looked like. I could though, I passed it every day and always seemed to look at it as we drove by. The pause while they all stared at me didn’t help, this was the peer pressure I had been warned of, it was just if someone was offering me drugs at least it’d be more evident and I wouldn’t have agreed.

“Alright, let’s go.” In agreeing I had to convince myself I wasn’t doing this because I was hoping to catch a glance of her.

I was a fourteen year old boy going on fifteen and it was something I secretly wanted to see, even if I wasn’t willing to admit it to the others at the time. We had our own odd conversations about girls and sex from time to time. Derek usually starting most of them and I think they made David a little uncomfortable. Derek told a famous story about him hanging out with Sybil and Sterling Jessup, the twins. They were apparently hanging out by the pool one day and the way Derek tells the story is Sybil convinced them to all go skinny-dipping. He’s told that story more times than I can count, but the truth was that he was the only one of us that had ever seen a girl naked that wasn’t in a magazine or on National Geographic television shows.

I took the lead and showed them the way. I seemed to be the groups guide in many ways, but tonight I was leading them the wrong way, even if it was the way they wanted to go. I had thrown my own cards in though with my desires. I had given our blessing on our trip and I’d regret that moment for the rest of my life.

Dana’s house, or rather her Grandfather’s, was the last one down past mine in the cul-de-sac. It was a two story house with old grey Sears vinyl siding and was one of the only one without any Halloween decorations. Their backyard was really just a big steep hill that stretched to the woods, and that was where we came out. From the back of the house we could see two sets of lights on. Both lights were upstairs on different sides, which made since because it was close to midnight. We saw the light on the right die out, we took a guess that it was her grandfather’s room.

We were moving quietly, stepping over sticks and trying not to crunch leaves. The moon was bright, but not quite full. Clouds were moving over head as the winds blew and beat against our faces. It wasn’t cold as much as it seemed the night was uppity and uncaring. We moved silently, communicating with our eyes and small gestures as we circled the house. The noises of the night didn’t scare us away as much as it masked our approach. We were probably quieter than we needed to be, so careful where we placed our heels.

We all paused under her window. The others weren’t as sure but I knew it was hers. On the slowed ground we had an almost perfect view into her room. The white walls were off-set by thing purple curtains on the sides that had been pulled back and several pictures and posters hung about her walls. A ceiling fan held four globes of light with only two shining that lit up the room. We stared for a few minutes and watched. I thought we might have expected too much or wasted a trip until Derek pointed out that her door had opened. It was hard to see but he was right, I saw it close back slowly. Perhaps calling this a waste was brash.

“What am I,” David tried to ask in a hushed voice before we all turned at close to the same time to shush him.

We all looked up in time to see Dana come into view brushing her hair. She really was beautiful, and she seemed so humble about it, not like Jessica who was less naturally attractive and tried to push it on you more. Dana had this smile. She had an air about her that made her seem like she was the eye of the hurricane, nothing effected her. Everything else just passed her by and was pushed away. She seemed to know no chaos but what she wanted there. Maybe I’m glamorizing it a little but I remember being in a world where only she and I existed for a moment. It was like the other guys weren’t there, but for all I knew I wasn’t there to them at that moment either.

She vanished from view again and my heart sank. Ok, so I am probably remembering it a little more romanticized than it really was. There was that second though. I lived so close and I never came down to see her. Was I betraying myself all this time? Did I have feelings for this girl other than her being the beautiful girl that I had seen all of those times.

I heard either Brian or Stan sigh, wasn’t sure which one. Perhaps they were expecting more but I had just wished I could watch her brush her hair some more. I’m not sure if what happened next answered my wishes or just leapt over them. When Dana appeared back in the window, between it and her closet, she began unbuttoning her shirt. I saw David’s mouth fall open out of the corner of my eyes on the right, on the left Brian’s smile got wider as each button came apart from its cloth captor. Soon the red and white flannel shirt she was wearing cascaded down her shoulders and was peeled from her wrists.

She was left standing there with her beautiful brown hair falling lock by lock onto her bare skin. Her off-white colored bra almost the same color of her skin, enough to excite us with its appeal to resemble the tone of her flesh. The shirt was a distant memory now though as she paused, not aware she was posing for us. She turned her back to the window and her hands reached up to the back of the bra, fingering the clasp and quickly popping it free. Her shoulders shrugged as the straps fell to each side, leaving a soft pair of creases in her skin.

“Dude,” Derek let slip loose in a quiet whisper.

We waited with baited breath. Soon Derek wouldn’t be in his exclusive club with his one great story. We were sharing a story at that moment and my blood was pumping. We just had to see her turn around for it to all be perfect. She turned but not in the way we were begging. She vanished behind the wall again and when she came back there was a new tan colored shirt that was quickly wrapped around her. She turned and looked over her shoulder out the window.

“What,” Derek said out loud. “Come on,” I heard Stan agreeing with him.

I’m not exactly sure how loud they were; admittedly I was a little distracted and saying similar things in my mind. Her look though, even knowing she couldn’t have really heard us, made us usher each other back further into the darkness away from the house.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Brian said. “That was almost perfect, it was sweet.”

We were far back enough there was no way anyone could hear us. I heard the others talking and couldn’t help but notice David was quiet. I shouldn’t have been surprised but I wanted to make sure.

“You ok?”

“Yeah,” he told me with a slow nod, not actually looking at me. His eyes were still fixed on Dana’s window.

I was about to chime in with the others but saw the other light come back on. I elbowed Brian and tried to motion to the others. We saw the light and then saw Dana moving again. We moved a bit closer and as we approached we could hear the second knock on the door, it had to be her Grandfather.

“Should we go?”

“There’s no way that old man could have heard us.”

Derek was right, but that feeling was coming back. I was getting a little worried. The others didn’t want to move though, I could see it by how intently they stared. The door swung open and an angry visage stood in the doorway. Her Grandfather glared down at her in his gray pajama suit. Honestly, he always looked like that. He could have been thanking her for something and I’d have been none the wiser. It wasn’t long before he confirmed it though. He waved an arm and yelled at her. We couldn’t make out what was going on but I noticed Dana held her cordless phone up in her hand as she argued with him. They argued back and forth, it was odd seeing Dana frustrated and upset, very different from her normal demeanor.

“What’s going on,” David whispered in my ear. I didn’t know what to tell him though, I just shook my head.

Finally the conversation stopped and her Grandfather shut the door. She looked frustrated and put the phone back down before making a face of agitation. I felt for her, for her anguish. Though my mom and I had never gotten into many arguments at all my dad and I had it out a few times and of course he was never wrong.

She went back towards her door and her hand brushed the light switch. The tan shirt fitting around her loosely, moving with her body as the light went out and she plopped down on her bed. There was a pause before the second light went off again and the house fell still and quiet. The odd thing was we were quiet too. The hush that had fallen on Dana’s house had affected us as well, until Derek spoke up and said something we were all thinking.

“He’s a dick to her too much, we should teach him a lesson.”

---

“What are you suggesting,” I asked with concern in my voice. “You want one of us to sneak in there and do what exactly?”

Derek jerked his finger at Brian, his motion building up the enthusiasm of the plan. “Brian’s pretty much still in his costume, his face is still smudged up and painted and he he’s mostly covered.” Brian nodded, agreeing he was the best choice. “Brian climbs up there,” he pointed to the lattice structure on the back of the house. “He sneaks in through the middle window, see how it is slightly open?” It was, and it almost looked as if the house had made our plans very inviting. “He takes this,” Derek said holding up the baseball bat he had been carrying with him, “and spooks the old man. Scare him shitless.”

“That sounds dangerous,” David finally said something. “What if he has a heart attack or something?”

“David’s right, a lot could go wrong.” I said my piece but was immediately confronted by Brian’s accusing stare.

“What, you don’t think I can do it?”

“Sure he does,” Derek answered for me. “And before you spook him, see if Dana’s room is unlocked.”

“What do you want him to do, grab a pair of her panties,” Stan said almost as a joke.

“That’s a great idea.”

I didn’t like this. The plan seemed simple but there were so many variables. Brian wanted to do it though, he felt like he had something to prove. Maybe he thought he could be the hero.

“What if David’s right,” I had to try something. “What if Brian scaring him gives the old man a heart attack. He’s old as hell.”

“Guy survived Vietnam, and he’s mean as sin, nothing is going to kill him.” Brian and Stan both nodded agreeing with David’s remark.

“Maybe I should go, I’m quicker than Brian,” and those words were my last mistake in that ordeal. Now Brian felt more challenged by someone he considered his equal.

“I’m doing this,” Brian said, determined.

Brian took the bat from Derek and turned back to the house. He eyed his path as I thought for something else to say, there had to be another way to argue this with him. In my wildest dreams they called the cops, Dana hated us for breaking into her room, or worse her Grandfather had to be put in the hospital. I hated myself for thinking that if the last one happened she could come live with us for a while, and that there was a silver lining in everything.

“You got this,” Derek said encouragingly. I felt like I should have been chiming in as well but nothing came out.

He took his first few steps before pausing and looking up at the house. I’m not sure if he was having second thoughts at this point or just making sure the lattice structure would hold him. Either way none of us spoke but our collective breath was held in anticipation. The soft release coming when his hand reached up and pulled his body up that first rung. His legs pushed and his arms pulled, Brian was able to do it fine. He tightened his jacket around him, zipping it up. He slid the wooden baseball bat into the back of the bomber jacket and made sure it wasn’t going to give him any trouble while climbing.

He climbed quietly and reached the window. This was the only part it looked like he had some trouble, more figuring out how he was going to pull himself up than the actual act of doing it. He hung there for a moment before managing to get his elbow up on the ledge where he could support his weight. His free hand slid the window open quietly. There was another pause as he lifted himself up and fell head first into the window, controlling his speed with his elbows so he didn’t make a noise or straight out fall in. I watched as my best friend disappeared into the house and gave us a quick thumbs up through the open window. Then he was gone.

To this day I’m still not sure what exactly happened with Brian in that house. I know he never made it into Dana’s room. I know Dana, nor her Grandfather, ever realized that it was Brian or any of us for that matter, but they both saw “the intruder” as he would be called that night. From what Brian would tell me over a year later he went to scare the old man, just like they planned. I guess once a soldier, always a soldier. Brian had a mark on his eye when we saw him so I’d have to assume he either ran into something or got belted. There were more reasons than just pride that he refused to talk about it. I imagine though that Brian was caught off guard by quick the old man reacted upon being woken up from slumber into a scare. I imagined him having something by his bed, his old hand still strong and cracking Brian across the eye with something.

That was all in retrospect though. I can imagine Brian running out of the house, not knowing the layout he went the only way he knew how to. With Captain Crowne in full pursuit and swinging at him though he lost his grip. We saw him step out from the window quickly, his mostly cloaked face turned and his eyes looked at the old swinging juggernaut gaining on him. We saw some type of an object, it looked like it might have been the butt of a gun, or a club. Whatever it was Brian didn’t want to get hit by it again and he leaned back to far and fell.

I watched in horror as my best friend fell over two stories down from the window. His arc through the air hurt him further, as his body fell at the bottom of the hill, falling further than it would have on either side of the house. He landed awkwardly, and I know I wasn’t the only one that mentioned remembering the cringe-worthy sound from the impact. His body flopped and rolled over fully twice, planting him well under the overlapping trees.

I wanted to run to him but fear gripped me. Captain Crowne was looking out the window now and Derek put his arms out to each side to stop Stan and I from moving.

“Dana, get me my flash light.”

“What’s going on Grandpa?”

I heard their exchange as the old man’s eyes searched the woods. He looked up and down at the base of the hill from his window perch. I was stunned, I wasn’t moving. I didn’t want to get caught but I wanted to go to my friend. What if he was hurt? Luckily Stan was thinking. He motioned for us to fall back more. I didn’t want us to retreat and just leave Brian there, I couldn’t do that. He didn’t want us to leave though. Like a real military strategist he was planning to fall back and loop around behind Brian. The trees would protect us from the old man’s sights.

We followed Stan, slowly. I thought I heard David sniffling. Maybe he was crying, or it could have been his allergies. I couldn’t worry about that right now. As we moved further away from Brian I imagined him in the hospital and this thought did not sit well with me. I closed my eyes and re-focused. Stan had the right idea. We were coming up to Brian and I could almost see him. A light flashed from the window and caused all of us to pause. Captain Crowne now had his flashlight, and much like in the jungle he knew someone was hiding in the brush with bad intentions. I don’t know exactly how long he searched with that beaming bright light, but he was up top then down below.

We all felt the trepidation of proceeding any further but there was no telling how long that old man would keep searching. He might never give up. We had to do something though. We could see Brian’s body not moving. David started to stand. Stan and Derek quickly jerked him back down with angry glances. He said something below a whisper. It wasn’t hard to make out though. He thought we should have told him. Maybe we should have.

I’ve thought day in and day out what might have been different if we had just run out there. If we had just waved our arms and yelled for help, he could have called an ambulance or maybe even knew some emergency medicine himself. Now with a bit more clarity over the whole situation in my mind I realize there was nothing he could have done. Nothing any of us could have done. And at that moment I was too afraid of getting caught.

Derek and Stan were slowly moving up. I left David and came up behind them, realizing what they were doing. Brian’s body was covered just enough by the canopy of leaves. We pulled him in by the boots on his feet and brought him over to us. Before I really got a good look at Brian something else caught my eye, a lighter colored object that had been revealed when we slid him. Derek’s bat lay just above Brian’s head just two or three feet away. The handle of the bat was darker than the rest with something that seemed to almost shine under the moonlight. Blood.

“Brian,” Stan whispered. I repeated his name even softer, almost a whimper.

He was pale. Even under the bright white light of the moon he looked paler than he should. We were kids. We didn’t know what to do. Our friend had fallen and he wasn’t responding. I wasn’t even sure if the others had seen the bat, seen what I had seen. It didn’t matter though. Stan put his hand under Brian’s head to raise it, thinking maybe he needed air, when he pulled his hand back though it was wet with blood. The red liquid stained his hand and caused him to quietly panic, mouth gaping open, hand trembling. This is the moment where we all began to freak out.

The light from Crowne’s window disappeared. He had finally given up his search, but it was much too late. We still didn’t want to be heard and fear shook us all. Before I knew it I was trying to pick up his body, a moment later Derek was helping me as we carried him away from the house and back further into the woods. I wanted to take him back to my house, to call my mom. She’d know what to do. We were heading that way until I felt Derek pull in another direction.

“What are you,” I shot out but he growled at me.

“We can’t go back to your place.”

“He needs help,” I exclaimed in a voice I almost didn’t recognize as my own. “He needs a doctor.” I didn’t know how I would accomplish this but it was going to be done.

We were moving down into the clearing as Derek realized I was still trying to go back to my house.

“Stop,” he said with the loudest tone any of us had used that night. “We can’t go to your mother!”

I was emotional, irrational, and wasn’t thinking clearly. I’m not sure if it was my fault or Derek’s, we were both pulling. I fell down and Brian’s body fell almost on top of me.

“No,” I yelled as I slid out from underneath him with as much fierce speed as I could. I yelled his name again as I looked down, horrified at the sight of my best friend. He was lying there and unmoving.

David was the first one to act. He reached forward and placed two fingers on the side of Brian’s neck. He left his fingers there for a moment and then placed them on his wrist. Finally he leaned down and placed his ear to Brian’s chest. I was about to say something as Derek pushed me with his hands hitting flat against my chest.

“You couldn’t just follow me,” Derek was angry, and had a desire to be the alpha male. “We could have helped him.”

The tone of his voice told me he wasn’t as mad at me as the situation. In a different scenario I would have swung on Derek at that moment but something told me he was beating himself up already. The truth was, although it was Derek, Stan, and even Brian himself that wanted this the most, the only person I blamed was me.

“He’s dead,” David choked out. The words didn’t register, maybe not even to the person that said them. “I can’t, I can’t hear his heart, nothing, no pulse either.” David’s lip quivered as he forced the words, “what do we do?”

“Dead,” Stan asked disbelieving.

“The bat,” I said finally. “When he fell his head hit the bat.”

“He can’t be dead,” Stan said motioning down to Brian.

Derek turned and started to walk back the way we came.

“What are you doing,” my question was almost yelled. It had barely registered that Brian was dead and I couldn’t believe Derek was walking away.

“I’m getting the bat,” he said with an almost scary calmness to his voice. “If it has blood on it, it’s not a good idea to leave it out there.” He took in a sharp breath. “I need it anyway, that old man mis-treats Dana and he just killed our friend.” He balled up his fist and stepped towards me. “Brian’s dead, he’s dead. Don’t you get that?”

“And killing him is the answer,” David asked finally coming to grips. “We need to call our parents, we need to call the police.” He paused and stood yelling. “We should have told Mr. Crowne like I said!”

“Shut up David!”

“Jesus Derek,” Stan interjected. “Don’t bite his head off. He’s right, we should be telling someone, not trying to cover this up.”

“Guys,” my voice cracked and I gave up right then, I couldn’t speak. My eyes just lingered down on my broken friend. Brian’s expression was a little bit of a shocked look and a tinge of pain in his eyes. He was scared when he went back out that window, Crowne scared him, and he fell and died like this. I couldn’t understand why this happened. It was just supposed to be a harmless joke, a prank, funny.

Derek stopped. I fell to my knees. Stan and David were talking to each other but I couldn’t hear, or more accurately not understand them. Derek joined back in on their argument and I know at one point Stan asked me to back him up. I didn’t respond though, I couldn’t. My eyes were fixated on Brian’s face and my hand was shaking. None of us had cell phones whatever we decided to do we needed to carry him. It was cold and I wasn’t going to leave my best friend out here in the cold. What a silly thought considering the full situation.

I don’t know why I did. Now that I’m much older I kind of realize that it is stupid for me not to believe in God or at least the potential of the God-like entity. Then though, church was my place to socialize and keep in good with my parents. When you aren’t going to church regularly your parents always think you’re up to more bad stuff then you really are. I never really understood that. For some reason though, right then and there I began to pray. My eyes didn’t close, they never left Brian. My heart reached out though. My mind raced and thought of him, thought of what happened and how sorry I was. I was so genuinely upset and sorry but the thing that came through the most was my pleading.

I begged. I begged God not to take my friend or to take me instead. I begged and offered everything up as sacrifice. I told him I’d never sin again, that I’d give up anything I held of value if he’d just leave me my family and friends. I was solidly stuck in the third stage of grieving and was determined that if I did this one right I wouldn’t have to go any further down the list. I had already done the denial part, that’s expected. Derek and I got mad at each other when we weren’t really mad at each other but at what happened. That’s two.

I know I wasn’t the only one begging and bargaining. I know that for sure, and not just because David said it out loud at one point. No, as I gazed down at my best friend’s cold lifeless body we all hoped and prayed for his safe return. I prayed to God, I prayed in general. I was willing to do anything to bring him back and as it turned out so were the others. We might have been angry at each other right then, angry for letting ourselves talk each other into a position where he got hurt. We loved each other though, through everything, even all the little differences and all of our mistakes.

The ground was cold but suddenly it grew colder. We all shivered but they didn’t seem to notice. I stopped my praying to whomever would listen and looked up at the sky. Something flew in and out of the bright circular light in the shape of the moon. Birds, large black birds that landed on the near-by trees. A devastating thought hit my mind, were they here for Brian? I wouldn’t let anyone or anything hurt him. I stood up from my knees, thinking I’d soon need to protect my friend; even if he was already dead. Derek was saying something about calling the police on Captain Crowne and Stan was trying to convince him to just run to the nearest house and ask to use the phone.

“My dad is going to kill me,” Stan said but there was just no meaning behind that phrase when someone had actually died right there in front of you. Brian wasn’t going to go home and his parents were never going to see him again unless you counted the funeral.

David wasn’t saying anything. He had since given up the argument realizing that no one was in a position to want to listen. That wasn’t why he was quiet now though, he realized the same thing I did. Between Derek and Stan’s bickering there was something strange.

“Quiet,” I called out.

I was surprised they listened and stopped but maybe they thought I was about to tell them what they should do. I was the leader of the group in a strange way, I kept everyone together. This was my biggest test for that.

There was silence. When everyone had stopped talking there was complete silence and it was deafening. I would have never compared myself to a survivalist or even a great hunter but I spent my fair share of time in the woods and I know this wasn’t right. The only time the animals were quiet was when a stronger predator was around and they felt endangered. We weren’t that predator though. There were no sounds from the insects or the birds or even a distant howl. There were at least three birds above us in the trees but they said nothing, they made no sound. Those large black birds just kept looking down on us, eyeing us strangely.

The animals weren’t it though, the night itself seemed to have been hushed or gagged by some unseen force or prospect we missed. There was no wind like there was earlier. I couldn’t hear the trees moving even slightly. I cupped my ear and heard nothing at all. Everyone was looking at me for answers but no one said anything. Even if they didn’t grasp the full scope of the silence they could tell something was wrong. We were out here in the woods with a dead friend and suddenly we weren’t sure if there was something else wrong. I was about to comment on the silence when someone else’s voice broke it.

“Well hello there fellas.”

The voice that called out wasn’t one of ours, and it sent a shiver down all of our spines.

Monday, February 13, 2012

The Sixteen Year Club - Pt. 1

Every fall the changing leaves remind me of Brian’s dead body. The orange, tans, browns, and faded greens all mix together in a dull collage of that night, the night they had formed an eerie wreath around his pale lifeless body. As we stood there and looked upon the body more leaves fell on him. The wind carried them over and scattered them across his skin as if to camouflage him from what happened. We all approached in what felt like slow motion. There was a deafening silence that only the wind dared break. It bellowed against our ears and sent a shiver through us all that shook deep.

His eyes were dark under the night sky and that blackness burned holes into my memory. I can remember him laying there on the leaves in that old brown bomber jacket clear as day. I had never seen a dead person in my life before; my best friend was my first. Every year around this time I start to see his dead face creeping back into my mind. It’s bothered me for the last sixteen years. The cold wasn’t the only think making me shake though. I knew that I couldn’t hide from the truth any longer. Soon, I would have to watch Brian die a second time, for good this time.

***

We were so much more innocent back then, most of us at least. It was 1995 and we were all fourteen years old, except for David who was thirteen, but we were all in the same grade because of when our birthdays fell. It was the eighth grade, high school was quickly approaching and we had no clue how much of our lives should have been ahead of us. My name is Jason Blunt and I had lived in Macon Georgia since I was four and had known my best friend Brian Sloan just as long. We just clicked, and our parents were glad to support this new blossoming friendship because both families were new to the area. We met at an old Pentecostal church in what had recently become a bad part of town. It was the same place we met Stan Davis two years later.

The three of us grew up together over the next few years hanging out and attending the same school. Stan’s parents weren’t always cool with him hanging out with us and we were never sure why. It seemed strange to us and his father was always trying to give us advice and talk to us about Christ when we would watch James Bond movies or ask to go to the arcade. We hung out when we could though and church was always a good excuse to do just that, one that anyone’s parents would have trouble denying us. As we grew older the church was trying to build up its youth population so under a fresh out of college youth pastor named Pierce we formed the new youth group with a few others.

None of us were really into the whole religion thing that much, church was a means to an end. Stan was probably the most God fearing out of all of us, but that was probably because of his dad. We all liked Pierce, he tried to relate to us and not talk down to you when you didn’t know something or made a mistake. The youth group had become what Pierce wanted it to, a safe haven for a group of kids to get along and discuss the pains of growing up. For us though, it had centered on us and become our own personal social pool.

Derek was athletic and his parents were driving him to go all the way on a scholarship in football, he was having trouble telling his dad that he was more interested in wrestling. Derek came across a bit egotistical but he was good at heart. He saved David from catching a beating one day in the seventh grade and the two had been friends ever since then. They were the perfect example of opposites attracting in unconventional circumstances. Even though Derek knew all of the other jocks and the pretty girls, which made us just a bit jealous, he never ignored us or pretended we didn’t exist. That was what mattered.

Derek and David joined the youth group with us. They appreciated the outlet as much as we did. It didn’t hurt that Derek liked Dana and Jessica. The two girls of the youth group had been at the church almost as long as I had. I always wondered if that was why I was never attracted to them like the others were. They felt like my sisters in a way. I never knew that Dana liked me until well into college but we were just never meant to be.

Even Derek had trouble approaching Dana though. Part of that was her grandfather. Her parents had been killed in a car accident when she was only eight years old, it was heartbreaking. She went to live with her grandparents but at the age of twelve her grandmother died when she went in for heart surgery. Captain Lou Crowne, Dana’s grandfather, sued that doctor for everything that he could. His pain had become anger and he took it out on everyone. It didn’t help that the man’s first tour of duty was at the end of Vietnam. He wouldn’t talk about the war or his time in the military. He was just angry and bitter at everything. The deacons of the church even had to ask him to step down from his position on the church council because of how he treated everyone.

Dana herself could barely stand him. She was always doing something wrong in his eyes and he wouldn’t let her date or even have boys call the house. Once, the captain had even insinuated that the youth pastor of all people was trying to court her which didn’t sit well with Pierce’s wife Shelia. Jessica was the only one Dana could really hang out with outside of school or church.

Her grandfather thought since Jessica was a girl from a good family his precious offspring was safest with her. That was a laugh. Jessica was a rebellious kid who had a drunk for a mother and a closet homosexual father. Her mother’s misery had been passed down and Jessica was convinced that unless she could marry a rich husband or make it in acting or something like that she was doomed for a pathetic life. Her dad was a highly recommended local dentist with his own practice and her mother loved the money he had made, he was good with money. Jessica had decided that after trying her mother’s stash of alcohol at twelve that at fourteen marijuana would be her new addiction of choice. She had dated mostly older boys and although Dana was pretty good at keeping her mouth shut we had all heard that Jessica had already given multiple blowjobs to boys at the school she went to. Jessica was anything but a good influence on Dana and was constantly talking about all of the new things she was trying with boys or with drugs. I know Dana had tried to pot at least once but I think that was it.

We all had problems. I was struggling in school and my teachers were trying to convince my parents I had ADD or a learning disability of some type. My mom was pretty wise on the subject though, she knew I could do it; I just needed to put my mind to it more. Brian had started having night terrors and not sleeping. Derek was getting into fights constantly and getting detention. David spent so much time in front of his television and his computer that you could barely call him sociable. It seemed like he always managed to say the wrong thing to whomever he met. Stan was just depressed. His parents were riding him hard that if his grades didn’t improve they were going to make him drop out to work with his dad in the mechanic shop he co-owned. He had become sarcastic as shit too, to everyone. Through all of this though, we still liked each other, and our group stayed together.

It was Friday October 31st and school was passing by quickly. We had all gathered for lunch and were talking about the plans for the night. We were too old to trick or treat but still had more fun than we wanted to admit coming up with costume ideas. Pierce had thought ahead though and scheduled a kind of fall festival thing at the church. It couldn’t really be anything about Halloween, but it was something to do together as friends.

“So what are you going as,” David asked me as he scooped what was left of his mashed potatoes up into the plastic spoon. David always ate too fast so he wouldn’t be late for class.

“Have to see after I stop by Wal-Mart, still trying to find gloves for one costume or might switch it up at the last minute.” Lying to them I realized how much everyone was going to like my costume, it was so simple but I had never seen any of my friends do it before.

“Still not saying what it is huh,” Brian said sitting down with us. In one hand his tray and in his other his unfinished math homework. “It isn’t a competition Jason.” This, coming from the guy who most thought it was.

Derek wasn’t paying attention. He had been looking over at Melanie Roberts for most of the conversation. Stan elbowed him in the side as he began talking, “not sure how long I’ll be able to stay.”

“What,” Derek asked with a double purpose.

“My dad,” Stan continued. “He doesn’t really even want me going, but my mom talked him into it. He said I can’t dress up unless it’s something from the bible. He’s really against Halloween.”

“Oh come on that blows.” “Yeah dude, no way I could do that.” David chimed in to agree with Derek. I remember wanting to say something about Stan’s dad, but in the end it was still his father and I wasn’t sure how he’d take it.

Brian looked over at David. “You still doing that Power Rangers costume you thought was so cool?”

“No,” David shot back. “I told you, I’m going as Optimus Prime. My brother is going to help me finish the shoulders when he gets off of work.”

Derek sighed at David before looking at the rest of us. “Isn’t there anything else going on?”

“You don’t want to go to the thing at the church?”

He looked at Stan. “There has to be something else going on tonight, right? I mean look at all of the people in this lunch room, they have to be doing something, have some sort of plan.”

“Yeah, they probably have stuff at their own churches,” I chimed in as I wiped my hands with the napkin, finished with the school pizza.

“No,” Derek almost coughed out, unsatisfied with my answer. “Like I don’t know, like a party or bonfire or something.”

We all looked at him for a moment but no one really had anything to add. Brian looked up at the clock and shoveled a last few spoonfuls into his mouth before standing.

“I need to go finish this math homework before Mrs. Schroder kills me. I’ll see you guys tonight.” We all nodded to him.

David was up soon after and waved goodbye as he went back upstairs. As I saw them walk away that was when the idea popped in my head. I looked at Stan who was trying to suck the last few drops from his bagged milk.

“Stan, you think your dad would let you spend the night at my house tonight? It’s not a school day tomorrow and my parents won’t care.”

“I don’t know, I guess I could ask my mom before dad gets home,” he sighed. “That is if he doesn’t call me down to the shop to help out.”

“What do you have in mind,” Derek asked interested.

“We can talk to the others. After the thing at the church we can hang out in the shed, play some games, do whatever.” I watched Derek’s expression fade, it wasn’t what he wanted.

“It’s something I guess.”

The rest of the day went by and I tried to think of something fun for us to do over the night. I loved scary movies and I liked watching David get scared watching them. We all liked video games but most of us got tired of David winning all the time. I wracked my mind on the bus ride home but part of me was actually excited to go to the festival at the church. I would get to hang out with the guys and the others there, free food and candy, hell I was never bored with the other guys around anyway.

I got home around 4:00, mom was still at work. I turned on the television as I put my costume together. I had been ready though and now found myself bored. After playing video games for a bit and making sure everything was set up in the shed with my brother’s stuff out of the way I decided to take a walk.

Leaves crunched beneath my tennis shoes as I made my way back through the woods behind my house. I had walked back that way a hundred times, I knew the path well and although I usually took the jaunt with someone else I couldn’t help but feel confident out there. I found a large stick that I was using as a cane, and to knock against the other trees as I went. We lived pretty far out down off of the highway and you couldn’t hear the cars from the woods. My favorite part was the small creek that ran through just before the sand pit.

I’ll never forget that feeling as I reached the creek that day. It was a little cool I guess but it was Georgia weather and sometimes it didn’t really get chilly until Thanksgiving. I felt a chill, a cold snap that caused me to shiver and shake for a few brief moments. It was pretty quiet until I heard a whir and a small splash into the water.

Across the creek and down a bit from me an old man sat on an old tree stump with a tackle box next to him and a new rod in his hand. I saw his white beard and wrinkled face under his faded green fishing cap with the wide floppy brim. I didn’t know him though and with the chill I had felt I wasn’t about to approach him. I knew people fished in this creek from time to time but this was the first time I had seen anyone doing it, especially alone.

I watched him for a moment before realizing he hadn’t seen me yet. Now I didn’t want him to, even though I had done nothing wrong and I was probably overreacting. When you are younger though, fear is nothing if not irrational. I turned to leave. I think he saw me but even if he hadn’t my pace quickened, wanting to escape like I had done something wrong to this man. As I went back intot he trees I looked over my shoulder at him, trying to see if he had noticed me.

That was when I saw the man in black for the first time. His face was obscured by the old man’s hat and several limbs from the near-by trees. The black jeans and pale skin of his arms against the dark clothes stuck out but I didn’t stop, I wouldn’t have. Whomever it was stood behind the old man off to the right a little bit. What was he doing there?

I saw him but it was out of my peripheral vision and I wasn’t sure if that could be trusted. I remember that was the first time I stood by myself in the woods so shaken. It was a feeling I would have the opportunity to become acquainted with again much too soon. My confidence had wheezed out of me with the lost breath. I turned and headed back home, so close to an outright run.

---

I was ready to go thirty minutes early. Mom apologized and we picked up fast food on the way to the church, with her work schedule that was becoming the norm to be honest. My mom, Lisa Harvey-Blunt, worked tirelessly as a supervisor for the cable company in town. She worked long hours and from what I could tell got little in return.

My dad wasn’t home, which was becoming a trend. He originally worked at a paper plant here in town but one day he was offered his dream to work in Major League Baseball. In High School he played baseball and tried to in college but had some sort of injury or something. Now he was a talent scout for the Atlanta Braves and was always having to leave. I had no siblings, and although my dad loved me, I don’t think I followed in footsteps as a wannabe baseball legend like he wanted to be.

Even though he was gone I think my parents still loved each other they had just become, different I guess. My mom would always speak about my dad in the past, never really in the present. When I started college they weren’t even sleeping in the same room. I think their dying within a month of each other though really cemented that thought in my mind that they did truly love each other, it was just, different.

After having eaten my cheeseburger and fries we arrived at the twin buildings of our quaint little church. As I got out of the car police sirens screeched by a few yards away from me, heading to some particularly more troubled spot in the neighborhood no doubt.

“To minister to those who need it, you must worship where the needy are.” I had heard pastor Bell say that a hundred times to different members of the congregation whenever the idea of moving the church would rear its head. I always thought that was a pretty smart statement, but with all of the crime that went on in the area we had lost several people from the group whose parents wanted a ‘safer environment’. That and a few other small things kept our group small, so I wasn’t surprised not to see the parking lot spilling over the brim with cars as I looked around.

It didn’t matter though, my friends were there and we could turn any situation into a fun one together, or so I thought at the time. The double doors of the fellowship hall opened to the sounds of some Christian rock song about zombies and Lazarus and the smell of the chemicals used the power the $29.95 sputtering fog machine from Wal-Mart. The stage lights had all been covered with orange and yellow filaments to change their color and give the hall more of a Fall feel.

The tables had all been moved from the center and along the walls different stations of candy, food, and activities had been set up. I smiled seeing my friends scattered across the different opportunities for us. Even Derek, who usually thought that the church set up things that were too juvenile for us, was smiling and seeming to have fun. Youth Pastor Pierce had really out-done himself this time.

As everyone saw me, one-by-one I say the guy’s facial expressions approving of my costume that I had kept secret from them. David, dressed as a cardboard Optimus Prime was the first to notice me.

“Oh that is so cool! Why did I not think of that,” his exclamation of effigy alerted the others who smiled or laughed and each gave their own remarks.

“You’re such a nerd,” Brian said laughing. “Actually I’m kind of jealous.”

His hobo costume was simple, inexpensive, but he had put work into it. The clothes he wore were intricately torn and dirtied as was his face with large smudge marks and a purposefully damaged cardboard sign that read “Will tell jokes for food”.

Derek was dressed as a baseball player. If my father would here he’d be more proud of Derek’s costume than my own. I am pretty sure Derek used to actually play baseball, so this wouldn’t have been too hard for him. The outfit looked complete though with a real baseball bat and helmet that he had either acquired or managed to keep from when he played. He had black lines under his eyes and several packs of Big League Chew he kept stuffing into his mouth to finish it all off. He gave my costume an approving nod and smirk as he pulled away from his conversation with Jessica.

“Always trying to show everybody up,” Stan said with a smile on his face. The comment seemed to be less of an insult from him, as he had no costume to speak of other than an Atlanta Braves Baseball cap that rested backwards on his head. He wasn’t kidding, his father hadn’t let him come in costume and I’m sure there were still some other words he chose to say to his son about coming to this thing.

Pierce had made it seem Halloween-esque still without anything that someone could particularly hone in on what made it feel that way. He was much more laid back than any of the other youth pastors the church had ever had. Everyone liked him more for it though, even a few of the parents, like Brian’s mom, who thought their children deserved the fullness of a rich childhood.

The girls finally approached. Dana looked as beautiful as ever. She was dressed as an angel, part of her costume from the play the church did last year. She had large paper white wings and a necklace that she borrowed from her mother. A gold painted halo rested itself on her head with the help of a bobby pin. Her brown hair was in one long braid that wrapped around her neck and hung over her left shoulder in front of her. I remember what made that costume perfect though was her smile. I could see her being a true angel.

“Cool costume,” She said being polite. I wasn’t sure if she knew what it was from or was placating, either way it sounded genuine.

“See, so now you’ll have to look at him all night.” I heard Brian’s words and was instantly. He was correct on his lore for my costume, but I was still getting used to the idea of girls like Dana paying me attention.

“True,” she said coyly, “unless I want to run away from him.”

Excited that she knew, at least from that comment, I put my white gloved hands over my eyes so that the drawn black and red expression was seen and I pretended to cower for a moment.

“Oh cool! She knows what you are.”

“I don’t, are you a retarded ghost?” Jessica’s question was probably defensive at David’s elation of Dana knowing what I was. I didn’t take it personally but I think she felt left out being the only one who didn’t get it.

“He’s a Boo,” Dana said looking at her friend.

“From Super Mario Brothers,” David finished. “You have to constantly look at them or they’ll attack you.”

Jessica ignored the young nerd’s spirited explanation and glanced at her friend as if mesmerized by her admittance to this piece of video game knowledge.

“I am babysitting after school you know, I play games with the kids.”

“Oh, cool I guess,” Jessica said to me in an attempt at recovery after seeing she was standing alone on that one. Jessica had come dressed as a princess, but she had chosen to spike her hair and make a few other accessory choices that caused me to be unsure of what she really ended up as.

On the other hand, I had known what I wanted to go as from the beginning. As soon as we all started talking about costumes back in September I knew mine had to be cool. I came up with the idea while cleaning up my room one day and used my dad’s shed to gather my materials and make it. I could have just thrown a white sheet over myself, drawn the face and called it a day. I didn’t want to do that though, I wanted the white gloves and white pants. I painted the face on so it would stand out more and made a couple of different versions until I found the one I liked. Then I used some old plywood pieces and cotton stuffing to make myself look like a plumped up Boo ghost. I even went as far as to find a white scarf to hide most of my face; I wanted as little skin showing as possible. I thought it added to the effect.

I had always liked making things with my hands thought. It’s probably why I became a carpenter. I liked impressing people with what I could do. Give me some raw materials and a place to work, I could build almost anything.

“Have you guys seen this food they made for you?” My mom’s voice broke in at the end of our conversation. We hadn’t, in truth we had been too busy focused on each other. There was food, music and games. A few other teenagers had wandered in from different churches or families that didn’t always come. I noticed Kevin, Skylar, Shepherd, another girl whose name I thought was Paula and her sister who was older. Chris, a guy who was in college by that point actually came up and complimented me on my costume. It felt good, I won’t lie. I looked up to Chris in a way. He had started his own car modification business with a friend while he was still in school. They would all trick out their cars and go hang out in this one area of town that they could race. Not sure why I thought that was so cool at that age, but I did.

“Mom said yes,” Stan said nudging me on the arm as we were in the line to get food. “I can spend the night; I just have to be back early tomorrow morning, in case my dad needs me at the shop.”

“That’s awesome,” I replied sincerely. “I’m surprised your dad is letting you.”

“I’m,” he paused, “not sure if my mom told him. This way she can say we decided here and he wasn’t around to talk about it, also her way of sticking it to him for not helping with this event.”

“Yeah, every other day he’s here as soon as the doors open.”

Stan made a face, “as long as this doesn’t cause them to argue.” He piled an extra slice of pizza on top of the other food on his plate; you’d have thought he never ate. “I think tonight will be a ton of fun though. Just us guys with the TV in your shed right?”

“Yeah,”

“Oh good,” He paused and something resembling a smirk crossed his lips as he tried not to laugh at the joke he had been setting me up for. “We were thinking you might try to invite Dana.”

“What,” I exclaimed as if the idea had never crossed my mind.

“Hey, Derek wouldn’t mind, and unless I’m remembering wrong I even think your best friend told you to ask her out.”

“Brian doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” My words sounded hollow, even to me. I saw Brian approaching and quickly changed the conversation by pulling him in. “Stan’s in for tonight, he can come.”

“Sweet,” Brian said, it was his never favorite word of the month, “didn’t see that one coming.”

Derek was over by Jessica, talking to her about her costume or something. I nodded to him and pointed at Stan to let him know what we were talking about. He mouthed the word ‘cool’ before going back to what he was doing. David was talking to Pastor Bell about his Optimus Prime costume and how he and his older brother made it. I did have to admit that he put a lot of work into it. We didn’t do anything like a costume contest but if we had, he probably would have won.

Pierce called us all up with the few others around our age. He had some series of overly simplified games for us to play for candy and small door prizes. Everyone took pictures of us in our costumes, they would go up on the bulletin board Sunday morning and there was one group picture of all of us that I really liked. I told my mother I wanted a copy of that one and I meant it, I still have that picture to this day. By the end of it everyone had gotten one though, all was fair and there was balance in our world. The music played on as we enJessicaed the different events of the night. As nine o’clock approached I overheard Pastor Bell and Pierce talking about the attendance and how it wasn’t quite what they were expecting. I made sure to tell Pierce how much fun I had before I left.

Half an hour later everyone was helping clean up. Most of the work was done so slowly all of us trickled outside into the parking lot under the bright street lamp. Dana had taken off her wings and Derek his helmet. I followed suit, glad to shed the extra weight and look semi-normal again. Dressing as a ghoul was fun but I was kind of glad it was one day a year. David was the last to start removing the excess parts of his costume, he was just too proud of it.

“That was fun,” I don’t know why I said it, perhaps to reaffirm to my friends what I had just told our youth pastor.

“Yeah I guess,” Derek’s words were quicker than expected but in truth they came as no surprise. “Now the real fun can begin.”

Jessica was quick herself. She picked up on a loose thread like a batting furious cat and began to unwind it with each pull. “Oh yes, now you boys can go hang out in Jason’s shed and what? Play video games? Look at magazines? Tell ghost stories to each other? You’re always so negative.” Had she just said the last part to Derek I might have agreed with her.

“What are you going to go do, your hair?” Brian was quicker to defend us than I was. His retort wasn’t the best thought out one but it was accurate. Jessica spent a lot of time trying to make herself look prettier, it was her hobby. Later I’d realize it was her attempt to compete with Dana, a competition that only she was aware of. “I think it’ll be sweet, and my mom always says kids our age need socialization.”

I always thought I was what kept our group together in the beginning. I arranged our hanging out and called everyone. I played mediator when two of us got into an argument and tried to keep Derek’s negativity, which Jessica was right he did have, in check. I didn’t realize until later thought that part of what made our group so strong was Brian’s levity. It was a trait that I had not mastered and one perhaps that he didn’t realize the truth importance of for us.

“I don’t think anyone was saying it wasn’t fun, I know I was glad to be here.” Dana spoke with the voice of reason, a voice that called my attention. I first met her here at church but Dana Crowne lived less than a block away from me in a cul-de-sac that overlooked the small man-made lake. I can’t say how many times we passed the house, or that I just thought about walking down there to see if she wanted to do anything. There was the fear of her Grandfather of course, but the captain wasn’t the only thing keeping me away, at that point though I couldn’t put it into words.

We talked for several more minutes about our night and not wanting to go back to school on Monday. Our discussion was abruptly stopped by the roaring choke of the old Ford truck’s engine rumbling into the parking lot. A hush fell over all of us as the night became louder with the sounds of the aged vehicle.

“Guess that’s my ride,” she said politely to exit the conversation. “Text me,” she told Jessica, who silently nodded, as she headed towards the truck with the cantankerous old man in the driver’s seat. His eyes seemed to be driving me back inside, like by standing outside of the house of God I was doing something I shouldn’t be.

We all said good night to Dana in one form or another, other than Jessica but it was a bit hollow. I still argue we weren’t afraid of him, but anyone outside of our group probably saw fear for what it really was. We watched as the truck drove off and sputtered down the decrepit road. There was a silence for a moment before someone spoke.

“He creeps me out,” Jessica said fixing her hair, “and he treats her like crap.” Her declaration was followed by another pause.

“Old dude needs to lighten up,” Derek spat out first.

David tried to play peacekeeper, “come on guys,” he always did, even though he didn’t really like the old man he didn’t want to see us upset. “We should probably go help finish cleaning up.”

“Someone needs to lighten him up,” Brian said agreeing with Derek’s notion.

Stan looked like he was about to say something along those lines as well but the side door swung open and his mother’s voice interrupted. She called him over to talk to him before she left.

“Let’s go,” Brian said. “Soon as we get cleaned up we can go hang out at your place.”

I nodded and headed back inside following Brian. David followed behind me but Derek stayed behind and exchanged some words with Jessica I didn’t hear. I guess it should have been no surprised those two got married, but I remember us all still being a tad surprised. I guess you’d just have to have seen the way everyone interacted with Jessica and Dana. They might have been friends but they were so different it almost hurt. Jessica was cynical and couldn’t care less what you liked or cared about unless she found a way to fit it into what she was doing.

Stan said goodbye to his mom as she left and the four of us went in and helped finish up the cleaning. We were happy to help because we knew it would give us more time doing what we wanted to do. Had we known what was to come, we wouldn’t have been so eager to leave.