Dead, Sweet Boy (Book One - Dead, Sweet Series) Page 6

  “Yeah, whatever Tarzan, just don’t cry when you see a water snake.”

  Rick flinched a little and looked around the boat quickly. “Snakes? They won’t get in the boat will they?”

  “It hasn’t happened to me yet, but I don’t know. Come on big boy, get moving.”

  Our voices echoed as we laughed and joke. Once in awhile I would rock the boat back and forth to freak him out. I knew where we were from the lights of the houses way up past the banks. We were getting pretty far, and by the look of my captain, he was getting tired.

  “My turn,” I ordered. “It’s my boat.”

  “Oh sure, you get to take us down stream. Big help.”

  Trying to get past each other to switch places in my small boat was a joke. He actually stood up and thought he could switch that way. “Sit down Rick! You’re going to tip us over.”

  It almost happened, scaring both of us in the process. So from our knees, we reached out our bodies to switch places. His new belt got caught in the lace on my top, putting us in a very precarious position. We started to laugh as the boat drifted. The harder we tried to get loose from each other, the worse it got. Rick reached down to try and untangle us, grabbing at my breast by mistake. He gave out a little yelp when he realized what he had a handful of, making me laugh so hard I thought I might wet myself.

  “Sorry Sunny,” he laughed. “Wow maybe you’re right. I am a perv.”

  I couldn’t stop laughing and air was a problem. Then he did something both unexpected and horrifying. He cut one. Louder than a chainsaw.

  “What the frick Rick!” It rhymed. And the rhythm of it was cause for more belly busting laughs. “It’s not funny,” I gasped. “It stinks.”

  “The bur…gers,” he laughed. “I forgot to tell you the one…set back to a good burger.”

  “Get me out of here Rick. Right now!” I was serious and I wanted out of the situation, but I couldn’t stop laughing even though I was starting to get angry. Leave it to a guy to get lost in a fart moment. He was no help. “We’re stuck. You’re going to rip my new top. Rick!”

  It took another couple moments to stop laughing. We both stopped when the boat hit shore and critters scrambled.

  “Rats!” Rick screamed like a girl. I needed a bathroom quick. Next, he almost ripped my top as he strained to push us away from the shore with his ore. Once we were back in the middle of the river, we both sobered from our laughter. Every time we struggled to get loose our faces would end up in each other’s laps, something about my lack of that kind of experience made me panic a little.

  “You aren’t going to fart again, are you?”

  “I can’t get it loose. Take your top off.”

  “What? Are you crazy? Take your belt off.”

  “Oh yea, I didn’t think of that.”

  “Convenient.”

  Poor Rick was positioned so awkwardly at this point that he couldn’t struggle against his own weight and release his belt from his pants at the same time. So that night I removed my first belt from a boy’s pants. And then I don’t know what got in to me. I kissed him with his belt hanging from my top.

  Maybe it was the struggle of our bodies while we were hooked together, or the fact that we were laying there touching and I wasn’t crawling out of my skin. It surly wasn’t the fart, but the laughter helped. Whatever it was, it was enough to pull me to his lips. He sighed and kissed me back. First my kiss and then his. The moment we were about to get lost in a mutual kiss it happened. It was loud.

  “What was that?” I whispered, once we jerked apart from each other.

  Rick straightened himself up and grabbed the oars. Something very large was approaching through the woods of the river bank we were closest to. It was too dark to see what it was, but it didn’t seem to care that we could hear it. As fast as he could, Rick started to paddle and the thing followed. “How far are we?” he whispered.

  “Pretty far. Oh frick! It’s following us.”

  Rick put everything into each stroke and I believe my little boat had never gone so fast. I wanted to cry and I wanted to scream. The thing, whatever it was, sounded so large. The thump of its steps made me go weak. If it caught us there was no way we would get away from it. My hand went up over my mouth to keep me from screaming.

  “How far now Sunny?”

  “Far. Go faster.”

  Something changed in the river air. It was suddenly cold and the atmosphere got even darker – chilling. Just barely, I could see branches on the shore move like a warning, each time the thing took a step.

  “It’s evil, oh Rick, do you feel that?”

  “It’s okay Sunny.”

  “It’s gonna get us.”

  Rick didn’t answer. I figured he felt the same way. When we were finally close to my dock I let him know, but he angled too sharp and headed us into the bank. A huge splash from the other side of the river, made us flee into the sharp bushes on the bank. We ran for our lives to my house. Once we made it to my pool, I turned on the flood lights and lit up the back yard. From my knees I searched the property with my darting eyes. Nothing. “Where is it?”

  “I don’t see it,” he answered. Rick picked up a shovel that had been left propped up against the house.

  Chapter Seven

  I Need You to Turn To

  And I wonder sometimes and I know I’m unkind

  But I need you to turn to when I act so blind

  And I need you to turn to when I lose control

  You’re my guardian angel who keeps out the cold

  (Elton John’s, Elton John)

  “What are you kids up to?” It was my father, sitting on a lounge chair by the pool, with a drink in his hand.

  I tried to explain what we had been through, but my father couldn’t take his eyes off the belt that was hanging from my top. He didn’t have to say anything about it, because by the look on his face, he had his answers. When Rick tried to explain too, my father wouldn’t look at him. And as if Rick didn’t exist, he interrupted.

  “Sunny, it’s late. I think it’s time for your friend to go home.”

  “Dad, there was something out there. I swear.”

  “Well then it’s a fool stupid thing for the two of you to be out in a row boat in the middle of the night.”

  “It’s early; we were just having some fun.”

  “That row boat seems to be a source of a lot of troubles for you. I think the night is over.”

  There. He finally said something of meaning to me. It wasn’t as straight forward as he should have made it, but he said it. This was his way of confronting me for what I had done, and it stank.

  “Like I said. It’s early.” I took Rick’s hand and went into my house. I was ready for it if only my father would bring it on. I wanted him to yell at me and to ask me what I was thinking. He never said a word about it to me. He never even asked me what I was thinking to burn a house down. Even his lawyer knew enough to confront me about that one.

  We went to my new room first to fix my wardrobe. “Turn around,” I whispered. Once I changed my top, I threw the other one to the floor. Rick picked it up and very easily removed the belt. We both smiled, even though we were still shaken by what we’d been through.

  “Maybe I better go,” he offered.

  “And leave me here with my father and the monster? Oh you truly are my hero.”

  “I think he’s pist. What if he doesn’t let me come around anymore?”

  I rushed to the bathroom because I couldn’t hold it anymore. I spoke loudly through the door as I rushed. It freaked me out a little to be alone. that thing, whatever it was could have been right outside the bathroom window. “Oh, listen to you,” I said, as I rushed out of the bathroom, without turning out the light. “What was that – that thing? It was something. It was real. Are we on the same planet Rick?” I snapped at him, as I led him to the other room. The poor guy plopped himself on the couch my mother had moved to the little room, to start the feel of my TV room.

 
“Which monster is worse?” he asked. “Your dad who I can see or that thing?”

  Neither of us could come up with an answer or explanation for what we encountered in the river. There weren’t any legends in our parts to support such an experience, and we thought for sure it couldn’t be a person. We were too far from the pines for it to be a bear and a bear wouldn’t jump into the water like that. At least I didn’t think so.

  While we were talking, my mother came into the room with of all things – snacks. It was so out of character for her and to top it off, she caught part of our conversation. The weird thing was that Rick and I rolled with it. We told her everything and she listened. This was different.

  “That’s just horrible. Maybe we should call the police,” she suggested. She believed us right away, and I could tell that she was frightened.

  “That’s a good idea,” Rick agreed. “Yeah I think you’re right.”

  “Wait a minute. Are you two crazy? Do I get a vote? You want to call the police? Look, I don’t think I want the police here. The town already thinks I’m scary enough,” I protested. All I needed was more trouble with the local cops.

  “Well whatever it was that you two had chasing you could come up to the house. Did you tell your father?”

  I stood and went to the window to see if my dad was still there or if he had been carried off. He was drunk. “Yes, we tried to tell him, but he got obsessed with the belt caught in my top. He wanted Rick to leave. Maybe it’s not safe for dad to be out there asleep.” I saw her eyebrows raise a little when I mentioned the belt thing, but I didn’t feel like explaining.

  “I’m not sure any of us is safe,” my mother said. “It might be some kind of large animal that’s confused and out of its element. Oh my God. What if it has rabies?” When she got to her feet, I knew she was going to call the police. I tried to stop her, but Rick was on her side. She believed us, and she wasn’t accusing me of anything. It was so out of character, that for a short moment, I forgot about our dilemma and watched her walk away.

  When she left the room I returned to my protest. “Fine, I don’t want anything to do with the police. They already think I’m crazy.”

  My back yard was lit up with police activity for over an hour and even though it was uncomfortable, it was also sort of a relief. They found nothing. Whatever it was, beast or man, it was no longer around. My dad sobered up enough to say that he didn’t see a thing, and it was Rick who told our story to Officer Perez. When he tried to ask me questions, I signaled for Rick to talk. Except for nodding my head to say the story was correct, I didn’t say a word. Not until the subject changed.

  “So are you saying there haven’t been any other reports like ours?” my mother asked.

  “Not exactly,” Perez answered.

  “What does that mean?” Rick asked.

  “Well we’ve had some reports around the river and the cemetery of a young man walking around in the dark. They say he’s a ghost.” Officer Perez looked at me once and then put his head down. I knew then who he was talking about. People were seeing Mack. Could it have been Mack that frightened us?

  “Have you had a lot of reports like that?” I asked, not looking up. I didn’t expect the sightings to be real, but something deep inside wanted it to be true. It would hurt, but I wanted to see him. There were the times I thought my inflicted mind saw Mack. Maybe I wanted to know I wasn’t crazy. I was torn.

  “Let’s just say there have been several that have been reported, and more that people are talking about that weren’t reported. It’s very unusual.”

  “Is it Mack?” This time I looked Perez in the eye.

  “Sunny!” Rick barked.

  “Is it?”

  Perez looked to my mother as if he wanted her to stop him from answering. When she didn’t, he blurted the answer out harshly. “The people who are talking say it is. I haven’t seen him myself. But it started the night after he died. So you can see how that fuels the rumors.”

  Rick jumped to his feet and argued, “That’s ridiculous. It’s not true Sunny. I’ve heard the stupid stories, but they aren’t true.”

  “Hey, I’m just answering her question. We don’t make up the calls for help.”

  “So what? Are you saying that’s what we experienced? Because it’s not. My friend Mack would never frighten us that way. What am I saying? I can’t even believe I’m in this conversation,” Rick defended.

  It was shocking to consider that Mack might be haunting the town and the river. What I felt couldn’t have had anything to do with my sweet boy. The presence in the river was evil. It meant to harm us, I was sure.

  “We’ll have an officer check on your property a couple of times tonight. I think we’re going to have to wrap this up now.”

  My mother walked Perez to the door and thanked him for coming out so quickly. Rick followed her around the house and helped to make sure that we were all locked safely in. We said good night and watched her go up the stairs. She looked so tired. Halfway up the stairs she turned around to say, “You can stay on the couch if you want Rick. It might make Sunny feel safer. But hear this. It’s on the couch or you’ll never step foot in this house again. Understood?”

  Rick nodded and gave a funny little wave. What else could he do? The perfect day had ended so appropriately. I felt like I deserved it somehow. And when Rick offered to stay, I couldn’t let him. It was so weird of my mother to invite Rick to stay over and not think anything of it. What did she think? That Rick was going to replace Mack? That wasn’t going to happen.

  “Maybe she’s right Sunny. You can sleep in your room and I’ll be in here if you need me. I think I should after all that’s happened.”

  “I’ll be fine Rick. Really.”

  “You didn’t buy that bull crap about Mack did you?”

  “It’s way too late to go over this now. I don’t know what to believe, except the whole town seems to be talking about Mack haunting them. I guess it’s better than having them say he went to hell.”

  Rick firmly planted his feet to the floor and his fists to his hip. He couldn’t respond to that. So he stuck to his guns about staying. “I’ll stay for awhile just to make sure. Why don’t you get ready for bed and we’ll watch a movie. If nothing happens, I’ll leave. Deal?”

  “Do I really have a choice? My mother is on your side even. Imagine my father finding out. Oh for God’s sake, could this night get any weirder?”

  I went to my new room, grateful for a moment alone to think about Mack. It wasn’t a subject that I wanted to discuss with Rick. It might make us both fall apart again. Not something I could handle at that moment. People were talking about Mack like he was some phantom. If only I had questioned Officer Perez a little more. Was there more to the story?

  A few tears sprang to my eyes as I washed my face and brushed my teeth. If he was haunting the town, why wouldn’t he come see me? My old room. If he were going to come see me it would be in my old room. Quietly I snuck upstairs and into my old room. It was creepy to think that he might be there in a form I could never understand, but if he was there I wanted him to know that I was looking for him. So I sat myself on my bed and listened. Nothing.

  “Are you there Mack? Have I been seeing you too?”

  So he wasn’t in my room, at least that I could tell. Maybe I was relieved. It was like asking for an angel, and what would I do if one really appeared? I went back downstairs to find Rick waiting for me. He was looking through the collection of movies in the cabinet. When he couldn’t get my input, he grabbed the remote and changed channels while we talked.

  I didn’t sit so close. The kiss, mixed with the true contents of a horror flick, made me consider the closeness we shared earlier. There was no doubt that I made a mistake. He was going to make more of it than I was prepared to commit to. It was just a kiss, I think. We were just friends. He wouldn’t hold me to it.

  It didn’t seem to bother him that I chose the over - stuffed chair rather than sitting next to him on the couch
. Honestly I became miffed that he didn’t question my distance. Maybe the kiss didn’t mean anything to him. I shook my head and slid down in the chair. My leg started to bounce.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked. “You’re nervous.”

  “I’m always nervous. I’m on medication you know.”

  “Well it’s not working,” he said with a smile.

  I stopped my bouncing leg abruptly. “You know that we won’t be able to tell what was out there, because the cops have probably left foot prints all over the place. We shouldn’t have called them. And my boat is probably on its way to the ocean by now. We didn’t tie it up.”

  “You should go to sleep,” he said calmly. It was making me more nervous that he couldn’t pick a station to watch.

  “I told you. I don’t sleep well. If we didn’t call the police, we could have gone out in the morning to see if there was any evidence like tracks.”

  Rick sighed and changed the channel again. “Try to sleep Sunny.”

  I wasn’t about to let it go. If he wasn’t going to talk about the kiss, he should have been talking about what Perez said about Mack. “Is it true Rick? Is the whole town talking about Mack?”

  “Of course they are. It was so tragic,” he winced. “Come on Sun. What else would you expect?”

  My throat got tense. It was so difficult to consider the tragedy, and sometimes it was hard to get the picture of him hanging from a rope out of my head, even though I didn’t see him like that. My breathing sped up and I stood to my feet, trying to change the picture in my head like the channels Rick couldn’t decide on. Pacing was a usual part of my nights. I paced before the nightmares and after, trying to put thoughts together that would drown the noise in my head.

  Poison Girl, by HiM, started playing in my mind. It made my anger for Linda stir.

  I did it all just for her

  I did it all just for her

  And love’s heart is death

  For me and my poison girl

  I was locked into the song and harmonizing while the band sang.