Melanie's Awakening

by Michael Cross

  The moment of truth was closing in. We put the things in the trunk of his car and headed off. It was not all that long before the housing divisions gave way to dry, undeveloped land that was hardly inviting. In about thirty minutes of weaving through canyon roads I could see a dam. “It’s not long now Melanie!” Daniel called out. Little did he realize the dark irony of his statement.

  Soon we parked by some docks. He directed us out to the boat and told us to load everything on board. It was only a few minutes later that he started the engine and steered the boat out to the middle of the reservoir. Nicole and I pretended to be enjoying the breeze as he raced the engine and took us around the lake. The sun was low on the horizon and, just as Nicole had predicted, he stopped the engine and relaxed in his seat. Nicole opened up the cool chest and took out a soda for me and a beer for her and for Daniel. The process seemed underway.

  We all sat quietly watching the sun sink behind the hills as Daniel polished off another beer. Once the sun disappeared the skies turned dark rather quickly and there was a strange calm feeling as we sat there in the most remote section of the lake. It was not long before Daniel asked for the whisky bottle and Nicole handed it to him, and apologized for drinking some at home – actually to explain why it had been opened. It seemed like a little bottle, though I was not an expert on alcohol. He drank a few times from it as he stared off into the distance. He took one last gulp and turned to us, “Hey Nicole, get one of those sixteen ouncers for Melanie – maybe it’s time our alcohol virgin joins in with the rest of us slobs and has a beer!” Nicole hesitated but then I turned to her and motioned for her to get me one. She handed it to me and I opened it – glaring at Daniel but also giving him a smile, I hoped he remembered this moment in the eternities.

  I could smell the odor of the beer, to me it smelt like urine. For the life of me I could not understand the appeal of this nasty drink. However, Daniel must have noticed my reluctance to take my first taste of alcohol. He laughed, “Oh come on Melanie, drink up! I’ll tell you what, let’s have a contest, whoever can finish off their beverage first gets Nicole as the prize! Are you on?” I had no idea what that was supposed to mean but I still hesitated. “Not up for it, huh Melanie? I didn’t think you were.” The anger swelled inside of me as I said, “Sure! Nicole count to three and we will see who wins.” Nicole nodded sheepishly and counted as Daniel and my eyes met, both of us frozen in an emotionless stare.

  Once she hit “Three!” I forced myself to gulp down the bitter concoction – all the while watching Daniel quickly swallow his secret potion. I was almost completely finished when he announced, “Done!” and started laughing. He boasted and taunted me all at once, “I guess we know who the real man is now, don’t we Melanie? But hey, don’t feel bad... in a while you will see that this stuff has the wonderful effect of erasing the demons of the past.”

  Daniel sat down on the bottom of the boat and became quiet. Nicole asked how he was feeling and he just sat there, no words, no real facial expressions, it was as if he had been lobotomized. We sat quietly in the seats of the boat and waited to make sure the drug had taken effect. Daniel’s eyes soon closed. Nicole glanced at me, then Daniel and then repeated the motion several times. About five minutes later he slouched over and appeared totally passed out.

  Neither of us said a word, we could hear people partying off in the distance but other than that there was silence only interrupted by the splashing of water as the boat rocked gently in the dark. After about ten minutes Nicole whispered, “I did not expect him to finish off the whole bottle, I am not sure…well, I better check his pulse.” Nicole felt his neck as she explained that she had placed three tablets into the bottle. One was enough to cause you to pass out, but three was, well, enough to make sure you did not wake up. Combined with the alcohol Nicole feared he might die before he could be thrown off the boat and take water into his lungs. It was far more plausible, she explained, that he fell out of the boat and drowned rather than just dying there.

  I looked all around the lake once Nicole whispered he still had a pulse. There was nobody near us, just shadows of the hills against the bluish, moonless night sky. The only real light was now from stars and little campfires way off in the distance. Nicole turned to me, “Okay, let’s hurry and get this over with.” I tapped her on the shoulder, “You are totally sure about this, right?” and she nodded in a quick, nervous manner. I could feel the adrenaline as I looked at Daniel and thought about him taking the one person out of my life that mattered to me most. Nicole and I gathered together our combined strength and lifted Daniel up and then gently tossed him into the water – all the while trying to be as quiet as possible.

  My eyes were adapted to the dark well enough that I could watch Daniel. He first sank below the water, but then surfaced with his arms out and face below the surface. His body started to struggle, it seemed he was trying to twist around and propel his head out of the water. His arms were moving around frantically, chaotically attempting to swim, or to grab onto something, but to no avail. A couple of times his head did manage to poke above the surface and, gasping for air, you could hear that he was gagging on water in his throat. He kept up these motions up for about a minute. Then he seemed to just give out – the thrashing was replaced with only sporadic movements, causing small ripples to hit against the boat.

  At that moment I realized a certain sense of power – we could, I believed, pull him out and save him if we wished. I thought about how this was so fitting since he could have revived Mark in the same way but did not. Now it was his turn to die at the hand of a friend. Once a couple of minutes passed by I knew his fate was sealed. No matter what, he was dead – there was no turning back.

  I looked at Nicole. She was starting to cry. She stumbled back and caught hold of the side of the boat before collapsing onto the bottom. She curled up and started to shiver. I went over to her and held her tight for perhaps five or ten minutes, in total silence. Then Nicole said, “Thank you Melanie, but now we have to make sure we are convincing for the police.” We went over our story several times so no matter what we gave the same account – that we were out for a good time and Daniel had drank too much. Nicole would tell the police that he had been a nervous wreck lately and was taking tranquilizers like candy. She again assured me that he had been taking a variety of medications, and any analysis of his blood would verify that. She took the whisky bottle and washed it out and then dropped it overboard so as to hide any possible trace amounts of the tranquilizer, just in case. Then she said we should both take in just enough alcohol to be drunk, but not so much that we might say something to give ourselves away. After that she said we should start screaming and catching the attention of people on the other side of the lake. It would be a bonus if they came over to help, but otherwise we could manage to return the boat.

  Well, I almost threw up as I managed to take in another beer and some vodka directly from the bottle. For some reason I liked the sensation it gave me better than the beer. I continued to take drinks until I heard Nicole clear her throat. She commented, “That’s enough Melanie, I don’t need you passing out you know.” Nicole was holding a half-full glass of some other beverage but she quickly tossed the contents overboard and said it was time to start our act. We looked at each other, took deep breaths and began to scream Daniel’s name out and acting as if we were truly in desperate need of assistance. I was even able to fake loud sobbing sounds – all in all we should have received an award for our acting skills. In a short time, maybe ten or fifteen minutes, we heard a boat motor and some voices, “Hey! Is everything okay?” Nicole cried out, “My husband, oh please help me my husband fell overboard!” A guy on the boat turned his spotlight onto the water, searching across the darkness, and then, suddenly, the light illuminated Daniel’s body floating face down. The top of his head was bobbing up and down between the surface and the depths of the lake.

  The two men on the boat used a large fishing net to catch Daniel’s body and drag it to their
boat. They struggled to pull the lifeless corpse aboard as we leaned over the edge of our boat and watched the drama, Nicole crying and acting hysterical and yelling, “Daniel...oh my God, Daniel!” Our boats came together and I could see him lying on the bottom of our “rescuer’s” boat. He had a puffy, bleached appearance already, water oozing out of his mouth. One of the guys tried to do CPR but the contents of his lungs and stomach gushed out and the poor guy fell back for a moment before rushing to the side of his boat and throwing up. Neither man attempted any more lifesaving measures.

  Nicole was doing a great job with hysterics – one of the guys climbed over to our boat and tried to calm her down. I took the more “in shock” look and just stared at them. Nicole acted as if his comforting was having the desired effect and she came over and held me. The guy who had come over volunteered to steer us back to shore.

  Soon after we made it back an ambulance and two sheriff’s cars arrived. People at the dock had gathered around to see the drama, or maybe just to get a glimpse of a dead body. You could hear the loud chatting on the police and ambulance radios, and the area soon was lit up with bright lights. Nicole had wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and soon a young deputy came over to ask about the “accident.”

  It was only a matter of minutes before another police car arrived. Out stepped a large, fat guy in a sheriff’s uniform who looked like he had stepped out of a cheap movie – the perfect caricature of a small town cop. He had a large moustache, his shirt appeared at least a size too small for his bulging gut, and he walked as if he were some king on his way to a throne. He went over to Daniel’s body, lifted up the blanket that the ambulance people had placed over him, and looked for a moment. He shook his head and came over to us.

  He first approached my direction, looking me over as he strutted, “Was that your husband?” I said no and looked at Nicole. He then said, “Miss, I would appreciate if you could leave us alone for a few minutes, but don’t go far, I need to talk with you as well.”1 walked over to the side and soon a deputy came over to ask me questions.

  I gave the deputy the story Nicole and I had rehearsed – we were all having a social time together and we were drinking. Daniel fell overboard and we could not save him. He took down my statement and then asked me to breath into some devise that checked sobriety. He looked at the results, “I see. I have to insist that when we are done with taking statements that you not drive home by yourself miss – if you do I will personally see to it that you are arrested for drunk driving”

  Just then the fat sheriff came back over to talk with me – his badge identified him as “Sheriff Murdock.” He took the deputy’s paper he had used to write my statement down, glanced over it, and then scanned over me – quite intently I might add. He offered me some coffee, but I declined and he commented, “You and your friends should have been drinking coffee this evening and maybe she would not be a widow now.” He continued his lecture, only pausing to take deep, forced breaths that sounded more like labored grunts. He resumed talking, “You know, your guy friend there is not the first we have had to fish out of this lake. Every year some dumb college-aged kids come down here, get on a boat and try to live it up. Next thing you know we have a corpse – you would think they would know better, wouldn’t you?” I did not respond, I was just appalled at this walrus lecturing me. For all he knew my best friend had just died and yet he saw fit to make a point? Then he asked me about the evening and I gave him the same answers I gave the deputy. He thanked me and told me not to leave.

  The police went back and forth, now just talking with Nicole, or looking at Daniel’s body, or talking with the ambulance personnel. I needed to find a place to go to the bathroom and some bushes in the shadows gave me the perfect place. Once I was done I wanted to rest. I walked back and found a large oak tree and sat down on the side shaded from the lights. I would wait there for Nicole – I certainly hoped she gave the right answers. As I leaned my head back and looked upwards I heard the policemen’s voices. They were walking over to the tree. I remained silent, carefully trying to listen to what they were saying.

  One deputy made the comment, “I hate these cases – why do young people have to mix alcohol and boats together?” Another commented, “Did you know they had only been married a half a year? They were high school sweethearts, he had served in the military, and now she’s a widow.” The other responded, “Yeah but she sure is good looking, she won’t have any trouble finding someone else, heck, if I run into her in the future I’d definitely ask her out!” Then I heard the voice of the fat sheriff began to utter something I would never forget, “Hell, are you crazy? She’s a real freak case if you ask me; now her friend...that’s a totally different matter.” The deputy laughed, “Oh come on Sheriff, your wife would kill you for even noticing.” They all laughed before the sheriff answered, “Yeah, but did you get a look at her tits? I would gladly tell the wife I had to work late, while I showed that young slut what a real man is like.” The deputies laughed, but in what I interpreted as an embarrassed manner – perhaps so as not to insult their superior.

  I was furious to hear him describe me in that manner though. Here was some fat, disgusting excuse for a man, probably married to some middle-aged woman who looked just like him, making sexual references to me? How dare he? I stayed quiet, the last thing Nicole and I needed was to make a scene, but I thought about what this guy would look like under a knife! I quietly found amusement imagining using a rather large blade to slice his gut open. I had almost forgotten why everyone was there in the first place as I let my mind enact a fantasy of vengeance.

  Eventually the cops went back to whatever they had been doing, and I sort of snuck back over to Nicole. She had finished talking with everyone and just as the ambulance people were preparing to lift Daniel’s body into their vehicle, she walked over and asked to see his body again. She wept as they placed the body in the vehicle. Then she walked over to me and held me as she continued to cry. The fat sheriff came over to us and said that Nicole would have to sign some forms, and that he wanted to see her in the morning in his office. I asked if there was a way to get back to town without driving, and he said I could drive back – I had just exceeded the legal limit barely and by now it should be okay.

  We got in the car and drove back to town, but were somewhat scared to say anything yet. Once we saw the lights of the city Nicole burst out, “We did it! Oh my God, everything worked out. Wow!” Still, it still seemed weird. I had helped kill someone I knew, someone I had thought about, and someone who had been so much of Nicole’s life. I was amazed by how easily we had pulled it off and how Daniel had fallen into the trap though.

  The next few days were quite busy. Nicole called all Daniel’s close relatives to tell them the news of his death, which seemed unsettling for her. She also had to fill out paperwork and then arrange for his body to be transported to Portland for burial in a week. Nicole asked if she could stay with me for a while, to which I said she could stay as long as she wanted. Nicole then said she would have to re-pack the things she wanted and that she would save some of Daniel’s mementos for his mother. The rest she said would be thrown out in the trash. It was her way of breaking free of Daniel’s memory.

  Nicole and I stayed at the hotel that evening and talked about the future. She was unsure of what she wanted to do immediately. I told her not to stress, she at least did not have to worry about rent or food or anything like that. For the immediate future, and perhaps beyond, we could be back in Portland together…besides, we did share a passion for many of the same things in life. I would only have to make sure Sara never found out.

  I suppose it was going to come up eventually, and after our pizza was delivered she began reflecting on the past, when we had experimented as a couple. She apologized for how she had behaved and blamed herself for the breakup. She said a lot of it was seeing Daniel every day at school and then trying to keep our relationship a secret. The stress had manifested itself in her being a “total bitch” and s
he said she would not be so hard to get along with now. She totally avoided the sexual aspect of our relationship however and I wondered what she was expecting now. I mean, would we be just friends and roommates or something more? I supposed I would wait and see what happened. For now it seemed we could just be best friends again.

  The next day we started the process of cleaning out her apartment. Nicole showed very little sentimentality as she loaded up Daniel’s possessions into black garbage bags and piled them against the wall. I volunteered to take the bags down to the dumpster as she cleaned. The last bag was somewhat heavy and I could not lift it into the bin. So I took some things out of the top in order to lighten the load, and as I was doing this a small blue backpack caught my eye. I opened it and noticed a school album from our senior year. I was curious if I was in it as I thought my mother had sent a picture to the school from my sitting, but it had been a confusing time period. Nicole called and I decided to zip it up and stuff it into my car to check later.

  Soon we were set. Nicole took her keys to the landlord and when she came back she was happy. She said the landlord had a son who was looking for a car and she had sold Daniel’s to him for four thousand dollars! She said she would celebrate by paying for a nice room on the way up this evening and treat me to dinner when we arrived in Portland. As she got into her car I marvelled that in just the last few days I had seen Daniel, helped to kill him, and basically liquidated everything he had accumulated in his short life. All that was left now was the funeral and it would be as if he had never existed, other than a memory of course. How odd I thought that what he had considered important was soon to be in a landfill, and he would be in the ground as well.