This Summer Could Kill Us

Chapter 7

Damen huffed and grimaced at her, “Shut the fuck up,” he said, his hands tight at his sides.

Everyone in the room then lost control and started shouting out insults. I sat there quietly, unable to even move. Everything around me seemed to move in slow motion. Finally when my friends began to shut down I glanced at the microwave. It was 5:16 and I felt absolutely no need to go back to sleep. How could I? After everything that’s happened tonight I wondered if I’d ever sleep again.

“What are we going to do?” Shailey shuttered, her voice breaking with every word. That was the big question wasn’t it? I was too young to do this. I was too young to be thinking about my friends dying, especially them dying in such a crude way.

   “We should be calling the police,” Savannah commanded, “what the hell else are we supposed to do?”

My hand coursed through my tangled hair as I thought of a response. I came up with nothing and watched the others get the same reaction.

Dylan took his phone out of his pocket and examined it, “No signal.”

All of us groaned and then the room went silent. “We should go back to the docks,” Calla grumbled. I nodded my head, we needed to go back and get help.

Will, who had been leaning up against the wall, began walking to the steering wheel of the boat.

“Wait!” I yelped, causing everyone to jump, “shouldn’t we do something about Bryce’s body?” Once again, everybody shook their heads and tried to brain storm.

“Should we bring it with us?” Sam perplexed.

“I don’t know about the other guys,” Grayson said, his arms hugging Kassy comfortingly, “but there is no way in hell that I’m touching that thing.”

Then men in the room nodded their heads in agreement. “Then it’s settled,” Byron said his hands wiping away the tears in his eyes, “Let’s get out of here.”

Will, Bryon, Grayson, and Dylan worked together to get the boat off the beach, and soon we were floating away from the horrid island.

Callan still sat close to me his head lying in my lap. I stared down at him lovingly while running my hands through his soft feather-like hair. His eyes slowly began to close as he fell into a deep sleep. I felt envious of him, I wish I would just go back to sleep and forget everything that had happened. The only downside of that would be forgetting about Bryce. Bryce and I had known each other since first grade. I would never want to forget such a person that had impacted my life so greatly.

It would probably take another hour to get back to the dock, and for that whole hour nothing happened. Nobody moved; everyone stood still as if our lives had been paused. I didn’t know what to do. Hell, I haven’t had to think this hard for such a long time. I had hoped that this summer all I’d have to think about was what college I should choose. From this moment I sensed college would be a lot farther away than I thought it would be.

“Guys,” Will alleged his expression one of pure shock and disbelief. I shook Callan off my lap and walked over to Will’s side. Out the window was a scene I could have lived without. House boats were on fire, and the little stores that were there for supplies had been broken into. Glass was scattered everywhere. People screamed for help and ran from bodies that were somehow being brought back to life. My heart shattered and I broke yet again. Tears coursed down my cheeks, and I didn’t even try to stop them. It was pointless, nothing could stop them. I let them fall freely, and I wondered if they would ever stop.