IMAGINE US: by:

by Kidman, Jaxson

  * * *

  The jocks had the fire surrounded while the stoners hung out near the trees, right at the edge of the water. It was well known that the only reason Chad invited Brad was for what he brought. After what happened last time when Chad got way too messed up and beat up Brad, I was surprised that Brad showed up. For whatever reason, there were people who wanted to be near Chad and his buddies. Like it made them popular or something.

  The jocks shifted from the coolers to the ground. Everyone but Chad had their arm around a girl. Some were serious. Some were casual. Chad had himself drunk and high, staring at the fire with a wild grin, dreaming of his life. Telling stories of what he planned to do with his first million earned and what he planned to do when he signed his big contract. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind, as well as everyone who knew Chad and watched him play, that it wouldn’t happen.. But the repetitive stories got tiring and old. Not to mention everyone had sort of started to make out and let the night progress. Chad and I were the oldest couple, so it wasn’t as exciting as it used to be.

  He kept talking and I eventually went to have a cigarette.

  I wandered over to the trees where Adam stood with one foot up against a tree trunk, looking tall and cool. Brad sat on the ground, arms hanging over his knees.

  “I’m telling you, man. She drowned out there. She’s out there, waiting for revenge.”

  “Is this a ghost story?” I asked.

  “Not a ghost,” Brad said. “The girl. Becca.”

  “Becca?” I asked.

  “I don’t want to hear this again,” Stevie said.

  “I do,” Bobby said. “I believe in this shit.”

  “That’s what it is,” Adam said. “It’s shit.”

  “It’s the truth,” Brad said. “She came up here with her boyfriend. And he heard she was going to dump him after graduation. Which was true. She planned on doing it once they were settled in college. They were going to different colleges.”

  “See, the story keeps changing,” Adam said. “Last time they weren’t going to college.”

  “Then one time she was going, and he wasn't," Stevie said.

  "Shut up, man," Brad said. He looked at me. “It's all real, Elena. I swear on it. It's all real.”

  "What's the story, Brad?” I asked.

  “I’m trying to tell it,” he said.

  “Okay,” I said. “Everyone else, shut up.”

  I took a drag of my cigarette and eyed Adam.

  He was looking at me with devious eyes.

  Behind me sat Chad, lost in his own world.

  “So, the guy, the boyfriend, he takes Becca out on a boat. With a candle. One candle. And a single rose in a small vase. It looked romantic, but this guy had other intentions.”

  Adam stepped forward. “He wanted to get her pregnant and trap her into a life of struggling hell…”

  “What the fuck?” Bobby asked.

  Adam laughed. “Nothing, man. I’m messing around.”

  “You’re not paying attention,” Brad said.

  “I am,” I said. “I promise. Ignore Adam. He’s a jerk.”

  “Hey,” Adam said.

  I looked at him and grinned.

  He winked back at me.

  We were apart, but that distance meant nothing to what we both probably felt.

  “Becca was on the boat.”

  “What was her boyfriend’s name?” Stevie asked.

  “Mason,” Brad said. “Manic Mason.”

  “Oh, come on,” Adam said with a laugh.

  “Dude, it’s a fucking scary story,” Brad said.

  “Let him tell it,” I said.

  “Becca sat there and stared at the candle,” Brad said. “She touched the single rose and a petal broke off. A breeze suddenly kicked up and threw it into the water. It floated on top of the water. Becca leaned over the side to watch it. Because of how pretty it looked. That’s when Mason lost it. Right at the middle of the lake. He put his hand to the back of her neck. He said, ‘You can never leave me, Becca. I can never live without you. And now, I will never have to live without you…’”

  Brad stared at me. He reached into his pocket and took out a skinny and crooked joint. He lit it and took a deep drag, trying to look cool for effect.

  “So, he drowned her?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” Brad said. “He held her by the neck. Face in the water. The candle fell and rolled. It caught his pants on fire.”

  “Liar, liar,” Bobby said and laughed.

  “No, this is the good part,” Adam said. “Listen.”

  “What happened next?” I asked.

  “Mason was on fire. Literally on fire. And when Becca stopped struggling, he let her fall into the water. And then he sat there and let himself burn. The next day they found his body. Burned to ash. They never found Becca. Until she started crying from the water. All night. All the time. And when nobody came to help her… I mean, how could they? She was dead. Anyway, when nobody came to help, she started attacking people. On nights like tonight.”

  Brad took another drag off the joint and passed it to Stevie. He passed it to Bobby who then offered it to Adam.

  Adam waved him away.

  “Since when do you pass on smoke?” Brad asked.

  “I can tell you why,” Stevie said.

  Adam looked at me.

  It’s okay I mouthed to him.

  Adam shook his head. “I’m solid right now. And, Brad, your story is shit.”

  “Shit? How?” Brad asked.

  “Last time I heard that story, Mason drowned Becca and went home. Then he spent every single day going back out there to that spot. Police looked for her for months and months and couldn’t find her. Everyone felt bad for Mason that he lost the woman he loved.”

  “Wait a second,” I said. “There are too many details for it to be a crime thing. The candle. The rose. Who knew that?”

  “Mason,” Adam said. “He talked about it.”

  “So, this is real?” I asked.

  Adam walked toward me. “Very real. And if you’re not careful… Becca will come drag you out into the water…”

  “Oh, shut up,” I said. I punched his chest.

  Behind me, Chad burst into laughter.

  We all looked and there was Davison with his ass showing, bent over, getting close to the fire.

  “What the hell is that?” Brad asked.

  “Full moon and a fire,” Bobby said.

  “He’s trying to… pass gas,” I said.

  “What?” Adam asked.

  “They think if you, you know, fart… into a flame, it’ll make it bigger.”

  “And they think we have no brain cells,” Brad said.

  I looked at Adam and rolled my eyes. “Assholes.”

  “You can hang here,” Adam said. “We just get high and tell horrible scary stories.”

  “Tell her the one about the monster in the water,” Bobby said. “Some kind of alligator fish monster.”

  “I can’t wait to hear that one,” I said.

  “I’m going for a swim,” Adam said.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Told you I was going to,” he said.

  “Naked?” I asked.

  “Totally naked.”

  “Why?”

  He grinned and stepped back. “Why not?”

  “He owes me on a dare,” Brad said.

  “What was the first dare he refused to do?” I asked.

  Adam snapped his head and looked right at Brad.

  “Nothing,” Brad said.

  “Get moving, Adam,” Bobby said. “Maybe Becca will grab you and take you for a swim.”

  “I’ll show her my monster and she’ll run for good,” Adam said.

  They all laughed.

  I bit my lip. Wondering…

  I sucked in a breath and turned my head.

  I didn’t want to sit around a fire with Chad and the other jocks. I didn’t want to see Davison light his ass on fire. But I couldn’t stand here either
. The nose curling smell of the smoke was getting to me. Adam was high and about to go skinny dipping. I honestly just wanted to go home.

  “You should join,” Adam said. “Just for fun.”

  “What’s for fun?” a voice asked.

  Here came Janelle. Blonde bouncy hair and bouncy other things. Wearing her bikini top and super short, cut jean shorts.

  “Skinny dipping,” Brad said. “Wanna go?”

  “Sure,” she said.

  My jaw dropped as Janelle ran to the water. She took off her top in front of everyone, just showing her back. She dropped her jean shorts and jumped in. She yelled and splashed, calling attention to everyone else. A few seconds later, half of our gathering were going into the water. Some clothed. Some not.

  My eyes were distracted by the sudden change in scene.

  Brad and Bobby hurried to strip and run into the water too.

  When I finally found Adam again, he was shirtless.

  And it was ohmygod for a second through my body.

  His baggy pants were down his legs, the tight line of his boxers hugging a v-cut I didn’t know he had. He was toned and ripped. All that hiding behind an oversized t-shirt and flannel.

  Then he took off the rest of his clothes and I gasped, covering my mouth and telling myself to look away. When I did, I saw Chad standing in his boxers at the edge of the water. Staring right at Janelle and Maggie. They were jumping and splashing, not caring who saw what.

  By the time I looked back at Adam, he was already in the water.

  He looked at me and smiled. He put his hands up and shrugged. Then he waved at me to go in the water.

  I shook my head.

  He started to stand up out of the water.

  I suddenly wanted to be in the water.

  I took a step forward.

  A hand touched my arm.

  “Hey, there you are,” Chad’s voice said.

  I turned and faced him. “Hey.”

  “You have too many clothes on,” he whispered.

  “Are you going into the water?”

  “Fuck no. Come with me right now.”

  Chad slipped an arm to my lower back and kissed me. I followed him back to our tent. I didn’t emerge until morning.

  By then, Adam was already gone.

  19

  From Dirty to Clean

  ADAM

  (now)

  I sat on the edge of the bed and gritted my teeth. The pain raged through my shoulder so badly, my hand was balled up in a tight fist, the veins in my forearm throbbing. I stared at the wall and took a few deep breaths. The pain from my shoulder I could handle. But there was another pain that came with this too. An almost phantom pain that trickled slowly through my blood, spreading from my shoulder in opposite directions. To my head, my eyes, ears, and mouth. Down into my chest, my gut, and my legs. A sinking feeling that made me jittery and angry. My brain speaking calmly to myself that the pills would take away the pain.

  If I didn’t act quick enough, the calm talk turned into brutal threats.

  I shut my eyes and wavered left to right on the bed. My left hand clamped hard to my shoulder as though that would take the pain away. All it did, obviously, was add to the pain.

  So much so, I groaned and put my head back.

  There were ghosts that started talking to me then. Voices of the past. Those that tempted me before, now teased. Wondering why in the hell I didn’t grab Elena the night I had my chance. Why I just kissed her and stopped there. Why I didn’t turn and pin her against that old apple tree and kiss her again. Why I didn’t grab her hand and just run. Like we used to plan. To run away together.

  “Fuck,” I growled.

  A soft knock at the bedroom door chased all the voices away.

  “You okay, Adam?” Elena’s voice asked.

  “I’m good,” I said. “I’ll be right out.”

  I had been exploring the path of the right thing.

  I could almost sense Elena walking away from the bedroom door. In a matter of seconds, I reached for the nightstand and opened the top drawer. I took the old pill bottle out and popped off the cap.

  All I had wanted to do was save Elena all those years ago. Take her away from her pain, guilt and all that hidden anger.

  She needed me more than ever now…

  But I needed her to somehow save me.

  * * *

  “Will you tell me what happened to them?" Elena asked.

  “What happened to who?”

  “The diner.”

  "Gwen and Wally?”

  “Yeah.”

  My hand tightened around the beer bottle.

  We were sitting out back in the cool air listening to the crickets singing. An almost full moon hung in the sky with just enough light that I didn't need to turn on the back porch light. Out here, alone, I had spoken many confessions into the night.

  Now I had company.

  The best company possible.

  “Well, they were older,” I said. “They had been running the diner for years. When times got tough, they moved into the apartment above the diner. They lived to serve the diner. And when I had my chance at running it... it was… such a crazy time. After Janet died, I tried to give it all back. I actually wanted to sell the house and everything.”

  "To do what?” Elena asked.

  “Pack up and leave," I said. "I had no plan. I just wanted to leave.”

  “I'm glad you didn’t,” she said.

  “Cheers to that, sugar,” I said. I took a drink. The memories were like flashes of pictures, but sometimes they slowed down way too much. “I was lost for a little while. I never really loved her though. But I needed her. I’ll always hate a part of myself for that.” I looked at Elena. “You know?”

  She nodded. “I get it. But it sounds like you did a lot for her.”

  “Yeah. Except get her clean.”

  “Adam…”

  I waved a hand. “Sorry. You asked about the diner. It was maybe a year or so later and Wally wasn't feeling good. Right around breakfast time. Gwen sent him upstairs. He went back to sleep and never woke up.”

  “Oh, no,” Elena said.

  “Yeah. I’ll never forget the sound of Gwen’s voice yelling for me. After the diner closed, I was sitting at the desk, going through invoices. She yelled and yelled…” I let out a deep breath. “That night, I made her stay here with me. We had a cup of tea together at midnight. She cried and told me every story about Wally. And then she looked me in the eyes and told me to give her my hand. She took my hand and made me promise I would keep the diner open no matter what. She told me she was going home to die.”

  “What?”

  “I got her to sleep. She woke up the next morning. But that next night, she insisted on staying in the apartment above the diner. The following morning I went to open the diner and she wasn’t waiting for me with coffee like she had done every morning for so many years. I knew. I stood at the apartment door and cried like a baby. But you know what? She got what she wanted. A chance to be with Wally again. Even just a day or two without him was enough to break her heart. We had the funeral for both of them at the same time. I opened the diner and cooked for free for anyone who wanted to come in and pay their respects.”

  “That's a lot to go through, Adam,” Elena said.

  “Yeah,” I said. “It’s…”

  I felt something like a switch clicking in my head. I heard Wally’s deep laugh. His tight, death grip on the back of my neck when I was a punk teenager. The smell of cigarettes and beer on Gwen’s breath when she kissed my cheek and told me I needed to find a woman to have lots of babies with.

  I stood up and put my beer on the table and walked into the house. I slammed the door and looked right to my bedroom. Thinking about the nightstand. The only way to get those voices to shut up. That’s not what I wanted. Not anymore. Even if there was a sense of need that tried to take control all the time.

  I looked over my shoulder, gritting my teeth, knowing Elena was just o
utside on the deck. So much she didn’t know, which was for the better. Me falling for her was a given. But her falling for me…

  The door opened, and Elena stepped into my house like she had stepped into so many of my dreams. The girl who became a woman was everything to me. How she could look so casual and make my heart race was beyond me. The way she walked, her hips dancing left to right, her jeans making me feel a little bit jealous, which was ridiculous.

  “Need another drink?” I asked.

  Elena lifted her beer bottle and shook it. “I’m good.” She took a big drink and put the bottle on the table. “What about you?”

  “I’m good,” I said, mimicking her.

  “Sorry I brought that up,” she said. “I should have kept it to myself.”

  “No,” I said. “It’s okay. I just haven’t thought about it in a while. I actually still haven’t cleaned out the apartment. Or rented it out.”

  “Above the diner?”

  Elena kept moving closer to me before finally stopping and resting against the dining room table. The way her hoodie hugged all the right curves and the way her hair was down and messy… it was like she truly belonged here with me. Like we were finally together, the way I had always wanted it to be.

  “Yeah,” I said. “They lived there for a while. I cleaned it up a little. Packed up a lot of boxes. But I didn’t know what to do with it all. I don’t have the room here for storage. It just didn’t feel right to move the stuff.”

  “Nobody said you had to,” she said.

  “The rent would help.”

  “Are things… never mind.”

  I stepped toward her, towering over her. She stared up at me, swallowing hard, her hands slowly gripping the edge of the table.

  “I’m here, sugar,” I said. “I’m right here.”

  “Yes, you are,” she whispered. “And so am I.”

  “Is it my turn now to bring up some stuff?”

  Elena laughed. “Depends on what you want to bring up.”

  “You know what I want to bring up.”

  “Can we go back to the skinny dipping story?”

  “Oh, I get it. Distract me by making me think about you naked, huh? That’s not the worst plan in the world.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe I can do one better,” she whispered.