Collecting Rayne

by Havok, Rayne

  I wave my arms, building a momentum strong enough to move the dirt, kicking my legs when I can feel it give, the pain in them threatening to worsen if I do the wrong thing. But my mind is fascinated at the thought of escape, so I push it down and try to persevere.

  I feel the cool air and fight harder to free myself. The first exhilarating breath I take is cold and burns my lungs, causing a deep cough to erupt. I take my time and reacquaint myself with the task, pushing the rest of my shallow grave away from me. It’s morning now, I crane my neck to see the suns placement and realize- a fairly late morning.

  I look at my hands, filth and blood covers them, and I absently try to pick the grit from my fingernails. I’m still naked, bloody mud covered, but naked.

  My strength has returned and I know I must try to make it down the mountain, find some help, and pray to fuck I can get someone to listen to me.

  I survey the area when I’m able to stand and realize my friends are under my feet, I can’t tell where, the gravel is loose all around, but I know they’re there. I step carefully, not really wanting to face that truth head-on just yet.

  My core is sore, my insides bruised, and it makes hiking near impossible. The bleeding has stopped, luckily- the mud possibly acting as a clotting agent.

  I stumble multiple times, never actually falling, finally making it all the way to the bottom just as the sun slides in above my head.

  The car is still here, same as yesterday; when it was the only one in the small parking area. I get the magnet key stuck under the wheel well. The thought of my father brings tears to my eyes; all his over- protective tendencies feel so refreshing to me right now.

  I’m barely able to get behind the wheel from the shaking cries. I cough, choking on a sob, spit the mud from my lungs and mouth onto the ground and start the car. A new determination grows inside me to see this whole thing through.

  I wonder what the best course would be for me, I need a doctor, possibly surgery, but I know that if I go to the hospital, they’ll likely start in on that process right away, possibly contaminating evidence in the process. And I can’t risk that, I need the police.

  The station is only a couple miles away and I’m able to make it there quickly. I pull down the visor and foolishly look at myself, mostly out of habit to check my appearance before going in anywhere. But I’m taken aback by how shocking I look.

  Aside from the cut on my cheek, I had imagined some dirt and crud, but my entire face is misshapen and swollen. My eyes are red, veins swarm the whites, and my left eye is swimming in blood. My nose is crooked, and caked in blood. The slice across my cheek is actually gaping. I watch the tears leak out and fall from my chin. I wipe them away angrily and slam the visor up and out of my way.

  Leaving the car with as much gusto as I can muster, heading for the glass windowed entrance I pull the door open.

  A woman in uniform practically falls on her way to collect me just as relief crumples me to the floor, lightheaded and dizzy from the relief.

  “Get your asses in here!” she screams, her hands fussing all over my body. “God damn it, get the fuck in here!” Her panic is worrying me. My heart takes off and feels like it’s trying to break out of my chest.

  “I’m ok.” I try to reassure her, and hopefully myself. I hope I haven’t made the wrong decision by coming here.

  “You are going to be ok, honey, but right now, you are not ok.”

  I wake up to the woman smoothing my hair; there are three men in police uniforms around me. All waiting for me to come to, I suppose.

  When I try to sit up, she gently helps me. My muscles feel like rubber and I’m sore all the way to my bones.

  I have to clear my throat before I can speak, she hands me a cool glass of water that dribbles down my chin, my swollen lips unable to accommodate the eagerness of my thirst.

  “I need help.”

  “Oh, honey, we can all see that much,” she says, a little drawl to her voice that is not native to this side of the country.

  “We were attacked, my friends and I. They’re not alive anymore,” my voice hitches, but I try to make it through. “They’re buried on the mountain. So was I, but I got out.”

  Her hand flies to her throat and she gasps, “You don’t mean you were buried?” her eyes pleading with me to confirm her doubt.

  I nod. “Three boys, teenagers, maybe my age, I’m 18.” I’m rambling, I try my best to make myself more understandable. I start over, “Three boys attacked my friends and me last night while we were hiking. The four of us were heading down when the boys found us. They just sort of appeared, it gave me the creeps instantly. But we weren’t able to get away. They raped my friends. Me too. They raped me too. I watched them kill my friends and then I woke up under ground.”

  The tears flow freely now. She hands me a tissue.

  “Gabe, why don’t you see if you can find a map so she can point us in the right direction?”

  She turns back to me when we are alone, “Do you think you’d be able to do that? You know the area well enough to get him there?”

  “I can try, I mean, I know where we were.” I am handed a map, the zigzagging lines are all a blur to me, I don’t know if I could do this under normal circumstances, and I’m at a complete loss for where to begin.

  “K, this area is the marked hiking trail, is this where you guys were?” he looks at me, encouraging me with his eyes.

  “Yea, we were definitely on the trail, that’s not where I woke up though. The trail dirt would have been too solid to dig there. My friends are somewhere in the brush area off the trail, maybe the last third of the way down.” I shake my head, knowing I won’t be much help in precisely finding a way to help them. “I can show you.” I’m on my feet quickly. Knowing this is far more important than my pain, I’m able to pull myself together after a few deep breaths.

  “I’ll grab the keys, Gabe, you get her somethin’ to wear.”

  That leaves me alone in the room for only a second before she comes rushing back in.

  Gabe hands over an arm full of clothing and turns his back to me for privacy. The woman, whose nametag says Gwen helps me dress, pulling away the sheet someone had covered me with. It hurts to do the simple movements needed for such a simple thing, but I don’t let on how bad it is. Unless she’s looking at my face cringing she might not be able to tell.

  I don’t dare look down at my body, I keep my head trained on the stark wall across the room, I can’t see myself like this. It will be too much for me, and right now, I have to get them to my friends, we have to go get the evidence.

  We head to the car, Gwen helping me walk and Gabe opening the doors and waiting for us patiently. He gets behind the wheel and Gwen is in the back seat with me. It feels nice to have her here.

  “You want to call your parents, hon?”

  I hadn’t actually decided what to say to my parents yet, I don’t want them to come in all frantic and miss the important things, which are my friends. I just shake my head. “I’ll call when I know my friends are found.” I give her a half smile and feel my lip rip open. I quickly turn away from her to wipe the blood away before she can see.

  We park where I tell them the girls and I had yesterday and point him in the direction of where to find them. With me unable to really hike right now unless I have to, I’m left in the car with Gwen, hoping I gave Gabe enough information to find them.

  “When we get you back to the station, I’m gonna have you call your mama,” I can see the sadness in her face.

  “You have kids?” I ask, because it looks like she’s trying to navigate what it would feel like to have this news brought to her door.

  She nods, “I’d do anything for them, including rip apart someone who’d hurt ‘em.” She takes a determined breath. “We are gonna do everything we can to get these boys who did this to you. Get you a meetin’ with the sketch artist and get you a line up, all the things. You saw them right? Would you be able to describe ‘em?”

  “Yes, I
can do even better, I know their names.”

  She frantically searches her pockets for a little notebook she pulls out. “Why didn’t you say you knew the boys?” she struggles with the pen cap, her hands shaking a little.

  “I don’t know them, they introduced themselves to us…before, you know.”

  Her face is full of shock, like me, confused that they had done that.

  “Ok, I’m ready.” She’s pulled herself together and is poised with her pen at the ready.

  “The first one, his name is Everett, blonde kid, tall and lanky, but strong.” Her pen moves quickly, scribbling the info on the paper.

  “Ian was the next one, kind of a jock, dark hair, curls hung in his face. The third was Derek, he was a giant, thick and muscles, more so following the other boys lead, I was hoping he’d be helpful to us, but he turned out just as ba…” my sentence fades when I realize her pen has stopped.

  She fumbles for the door, “Gabe’s back, you hold tight honey.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Gabe

  “I found where the girls are, there’s not a trace of them unless you knew where to look. These bastards are in for a real rude fucking awakening,” I say to Gwen as she nears me. Her face full of panic and for a second I think the girl in the back of the cruiser is in trouble. Damn it, I knew it was too risky to bring her here before the hospital.

  “Gabe, she knows who the boys were.”

  “That’s great! Are they in the system, are they known to us?”

  She nods and I’m confused about her lack of excitement. “They’re known to us, specifically, its Everett and Derek.” She steps back from me, like I’d attack her for the information.

  “My Everett and your Derek?” I ask, my heart thundering in my chest. I take a deep breath, shaking my hands out to alleviate the tension. “Was this confirmed by physical description? You know all teenage boys have the same look about themselves at this age. How did you pull this outta what she said?” I ask her, hoping for a chance she’s wrong. Gwen is a good officer though, and it’s not likely she’s telling me this on a hunch. But still.

  “She had their names, full description. Ian was there too. Dane is not gonna be happy to hear this either.” she says mournfully.

  I go off, “No one’s going to be willing to hear this shit! A bunch of cop’s kids killing- brutally killing- and raping these girls! The town is gonna have our badges and the kids’ heads. This is real fucking life and those boys aren’t gonna see the outside of a prison cell and they’re barely fucking adults.” I’m thinking wildly about all the things these boys have just gotten themselves into.

  “I can’t have Derek in prison.” Gwen says, meekly.

  “I know that. You think I don’t fucking know that? The boys will have the book thrown at them, this is it for them, their whole fucking lives are over. We won’t be able to explain this away with some ‘boys will be boys’ shit.” I see the panic rising in her face, but I can’t stop myself, the consequences are insurmountable.

  CHAPTER 9

  Gabe

  Tears are flowing quickly down her cheeks; my words are too much for her. “I’m sorry Gwen, that was too far, I’m sorry.” I try to comfort her, but there is no way to ease this burden.

  “Derek’s future is too bright. He won’t be able to handle this, it will be too much for him.” She grabs hold of my shirtfront, gasping, as something just dawns on her; looking up at me, all color draining from her face. “You know what they do to young boys in prison. You know what they do to rapists in prison!” She’s frantic now.

  And I also know what they do to boys like ours in prison. “Cops’ kids, no less.”

  I catch her before she crumples to her knees. “Oh my god, we have to do somethin’.” She shrieks.

  “The something you are referring to is…?” I ask, leaving it open at the end to see where her head is actually at.

  “She knows them. Her testimony will hol’ up, she took us right to her friends. And for fuck sake, look at ‘er! If her friends look even half as bad as she does, they’ll be done for. And god forbid one of them not be 18 yet, that’s killin’ a kid, the jury will end their lives, they’ll get the needle for sure. She’ll kill our babies if we let her do this.”

  CHAPTER 10

  Bri

  They get back to the car. I turn around in my seat, pretending I hadn’t been watching them, the thick glass left me wishing I could read lips. The door comes open and I’m expecting Gwen to reenter the car, but it’s Gabe reaching his hand inside for me to take.

  “Come on, we need your help.”

  I grab his hand and let him help me out, Gwen is holding back, not looking at me. It feels strange, but this whole situation is strange, so I don’t let it get to me. I look at Gabe, who is talking now, confirming what I had told Gwen about the boys. Yes, I know their names, yes, perfect description. And, absolutely, I can recount everything they did to us. Even have DNA.

  I expect him to look happy, case closed and all that shit. But he’s not, I can tell.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask hesitantly.

  “Nothin’s wrong, honey,” Gwen comes quickly to me, putting an arm around my shoulder. She turns me around and starts to walk up the mountain.

  “Did he not find the bodies?” I ask, wondering if that’s the reason for the unease.

  “No, he found them, right where you said they would be.”

  “Then what are we doing? I don’t want to see them. If you’re trying to make me identify them or something. I would really rather do that later. I need to call my mom. Just let me do that now.” I’m starting to panic as her grip is tightening against my struggle. “Please just let me go.”

  The air is squeezed out of my lungs when Gabe comes behind me and hoists me into the air, strong arms gripping my torso. I feel the wound at my side tear open, the blood flows quickly down my leg but I still manage to kick and fight. “Why are you doing this, you’re hurting me, please!” I can’t imagine what the reason for this could be, my mind is reeling.

  I fight harder when the spot I dug myself out of appears. I can’t see my friends right now. I can’t be here. I shouldn’t have to do this. I should be at home getting ready to start college and be excited for everything I could do with my life. I should not be here where my friends died. Where I fucking died. I’m crying now and I can’t stop. I don’t have it in me anymore, I’m so tired already.

  Gabe sets me on the ground and before I can run, which a huge part of me screams to do, but Gwen is here, arms on her knees to bring her face to my height and her eyes are full of tears, momentarily confusing me into submission. “Honey, I’m sorry those boys did this. I can’t imagine the horror you and your friends went through last night. I can’t even fathom what it must have been like to go through that. You girls had a real horrible night.” She wipes the tears off my cheeks gently. “And it pains me, it really does. I can think of a lot of ways those boys would have the same fate dealt to them, over and over. They would be raped and hurt and stabbed, for more than one night.”

  I nod my head vigorously. “Exactly, karma will take care of this.” I’m eager for her to understand that I know all of this. “I know.”

  “I just don’t have it in my heart to let my boy go through that,” Gwen says.

  I don’t understand what she means right away but I ask, “Which one is yours?” when it dawns on me.

  “Derek, he’s my only boy, the sweetest thing really. I know you saw a little of that last night, you told me remember? Everett is Gabe’s kid, his only one.”

  “Great parenting,” I say sarcastically. “What now? You want me to keep quiet? Say I don’t know who did this to me? What?”

  “I just want you to take a step back,” Gabe says.

  I look behind me and see that that would mean for me to get back into the hole that I had dug myself out of just hours ago.

  “You’re going to kill me? Just like your kids did. And you fucking wonder what’s wrong with this wo
rld!” I shout, exasperatedly.

  I don’t take that step back, I stand my ground, disgust plastered on my face. I open my arms wide and close my eyes, drawing one last breath to say, “you better pray the devil doesn’t let me out of my cage,” before I feel the pain slam into my chest. Quickly, air rushes from my lungs. It’s agonizing not being able to draw in a breath, but that ends when the next shot I feel hits me in my head.

  CHAPTER 11

  Everett

  “Get your ass in here boy.” My dad says to me, not uncommon when he’s had a shitty day at work. I, on the other hand, cannot be brought down from the night we had. Not a single thing could ruin that.

  “What?” I ask when I see him in the kitchen. I realize he’s home earlier than usual when I notice the clock on the stove.

  “You know, I do a lot for you, most of which you don’t even understand at your age,” he says.

  I sit on the stool at the breakfast bar, feeling this is going to be one of those long father son talking to’s. “I know you do dad.” I hope that it speeds this process up if I’m saying all the right things.

  He comes to me, stopping only when his foot kicks the chair leg. He puts his face directly to mine, our foreheads touching. “There’s only one time I clean up a mess like this for you.” Before I can ask what mess he’s talking about, he tosses my baseball cap at me. The same one I left on the mountain last night, not realizing it until after I arrived home.

  “Where did you find this?” I manage to ask innocently before the back of his hand makes a connection to my jaw.

  “One fucking time, Everett. You make a decision like you made last night, and I won’t get rid of your evidence again.”

  “What…”

  He quickly cuts me off, “a girl came into the station today, messed up worse than you could ever imagine. Well, I’m sure you could imagine, since you were the one who did it.”