The Lies We Breathe

Chapter 16 Sunday, August 6th: What would you do?

Carter was still in the water. I could see him and a few others still chancing the waves. Some people made a circle on the beach and build a bonfire. We joined them and a few minutes later Blake also emerged from the house. Our eyes crossed but I could not read his expression. He didn't look angry though. He looked calm.

"Shall we play a game?" someone asked.

"Truth or dare?"

"Boring," said Josh. "We played that game already so many times."

A few other suggestions were made, but they couldn't agree on anything.

"I know a game," I blurted out at last. "It is called "What would you do?"" I don't know why I said that. Now I had everyone's attention on me

"All right, then, new girl. Tell us what the game is all about."

"What would you do if you were drunk driving on a lonely road in the middle of the night, and you hit a stranger? Would you stop and help, call an ambulance, and hand yourself in? Or would you leave the scene? Knowing that you were not seen and nobody would ever know it was you. You basically could get away with a crime. What would you do?" It didn't escape me the look Blake gave Liam. They knew something.

"Is that a game your father taught you to play?" someone asked and the others laughed.

"I would hand myself in," came an answer from an unexpected source. It was Blake and he was looking straight at me.

"Well, if I was drunk and I hit someone, and it would mean prison or getting away since nobody had seen it, I'd leave," said the girl beside Blake. I hint of disapproval washed over Blake's face but he quickly covered it up with boredom.

Meanwhile, some said they'd stay and others said they would leave.

"What if there was a chance that someone has seen you and it could be traced back to you?" I asked.

Some changed their answers.

"Well, if there was a chance I could get caught, then things would be different. Maybe I'd hand myself in, plead guilty, and get my lawyer to work out a deal. I could still walk out a free man," concluded someone.

Many agreed. I could see Blake watching me through his half-closed eyes. He looked very relaxed, stretched on the sand, but there was something about his posture that made me think that he could jump up any time and attack.

"What if it wasn't you who was driving?" asked Liam, surprising me. "What if it was your drank friend?"

"What do you mean?" someone asked.

"What if a few friends got together and one of them was driving? The drunkest of them all, the most inexperienced. What if he or she... Ladies, we don't want to exclude you, of course. So what if that someone hit a stranger? Would you hand your friend in or would you lie to save them?"

Blake was just across me, so I could see his eyes narrow even further. There was a warning in the way he looked at Liam.

"I'd save my friend," said Julie, Josh's girlfriend. "After all, the stranger is nothing to me."

I looked at Blake and our eyes crossed again. We both knew that we were watching each other throughout this conversation.

"We always save those we love," Blake then said simply. And it was as if he was only talking to me.

"That's right, Blake," said Josh.

I think we might be onto something. Most people are willing to do more for those they love than for themselves. What is more than one person was in the car? And now they might be covering each other up. So the lie becomes bigger, the stakes get higher. Blake said, "We always save those we love." There was something sad about the way he said it. Even someone like Blake loved someone. Whom did Blake love, I wondered? Who would he do anything for?