High Tide (9781481413824)

by Stine, R. L.

  I nudged him and pointed to the door. Finally he turned and began to walk.

  “Listen to some music or watch TV or something,” I continued as we left the bedroom. “I think there’s a Dodger game on. You’re a big Dodger fan, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Great. Perfect.” I pulled open the front door. “Don’t worry about Ian. Really, I’ll talk to him,” I promised again as Sean stepped outside. “You just keep calm, okay? And think about talking it all over with Alyce.”

  Nodding again, Sean turned and hurried away.

  I shut the door and leaned against it. Whoa! I thought again. Close call.

  Sean could have killed me.

  Or Ian, if Ian had come home first.

  I took a shaky breath, then went back into the bedroom and started to clean up.

  At least nobody’s out to get me, I thought as I pulled off the shredded covers. I don’t have to worry about any more whispered phone calls or dead birds.

  As I flipped the mattress, a corner of it hit the radio and knocked it off the table. I picked it up and noticed the time. Quarter to seven.

  Raina, I thought. I have to meet Raina at seven. Better go now.

  But leave Ian a note. Warn him to stick around tonight.

  I hurried into the kitchen and yanked open the junk drawer, looking for something to scribble a note on. As I fumbled through the take-out menus and broken pencils, the apartment door swung open.

  “Greetings!” Ian called cheerfully.

  “Hi. I’m just leaving. I was just going to write you a note,” I told him.

  “What’s the rush?” he asked. “I walk in and you decide to split? Is it my breath or something?”

  “I’m going to the dock,” I told him. “But I have to talk to you later. So don’t go anywhere, okay?”

  “Okay. I don’t have any plans anyway.” Ian frowned. “But what’s going on at the dock?”

  “I don’t have time to go into it now.” I brushed past him through the door, then spun back around. “But I mean it, Ian,” I warned. “I have to talk to you. Wait for me here. It’s really important.”

  I left him standing in the doorway, still looking confused, and hurried out to my car.

  Questions whirled through my head as I drove down the bumpy lane and turned onto the road leading to the dock.

  Would Sean stay calm and wait for me to talk to Ian? Or would he go home and brood? Work himself up until he was ready to explode all over again?

  Maybe I should have stayed and talked to Ian, I thought. Or at least given him a hint about what’s wrong.

  What if Ian doesn’t stick around the apartment? What if he decides to go out, and Sean decides to go out, and they run into each other?

  Major trouble.

  I slowed the car for a second, then sped up again. Whatever Raina wanted to show me probably wouldn’t take long. And Ian said he didn’t have any plans.

  Besides, I promised Raina I’d be there. I didn’t want to let her down, not after everything that had happened.

  The docks were at the far end of the beach, where the shoreline curved in and formed a big cove. Small sailboats and motorboats bumped against two of the wooden piers. Water scooters were parked at the third one.

  I drove through the gate and pulled to a stop. As I got out, I glanced around.

  The sun was starting to set. Most of the boats and scooters had returned for the day.

  Except for a couple of fishermen tying up their boat, the docks appeared empty.

  My shoes crunched loudly on the pebbly sand as I strode toward the third dock. The big water scooters bumped and thudded softly as the water rocked them against the moorings.

  I shivered slightly, remembering last summer. Riding on the scooter with Mitzi. Mitzi falling off . . .

  I shivered again, then spun around at the sound of footsteps.

  Raina hurried toward me, her blond ponytail swinging back and forth. “Adam, hi. I’m so glad you came.”

  “No problem,” I told her. “What’s up?”

  Raina smiled nervously. “Well . . . I’m not sure where to start.”

  I turned and sat down on the step that led up to the dock. “Try starting at the beginning,” I suggested.

  “It’s so complicated,” she said. “But I really do have to tell you. I mean, everything is just all wrong, Adam. I . . . we . . . thought . . .”

  “Whoa.” I held up my hands. “I’m not following this, Raina. What’s all wrong?”

  “What happened,” she murmured softly.

  I stared at her, confused. What is she talking about? I thought. What’s going on? “Raina—”

  “Okay,” she interrupted. “Here goes.”

  Here goes what? I wondered.

  Raina took a deep breath. “I owe you ah apology, Adam,” she declared. “And an explanation. Actually, we both do.”

  Before I could respond, Raina glanced toward the end of the dock and waved. “Come on out,” she called.

  Footsteps sounded on the wooden planks.

  I stood up and turned around.

  And gasped as Joy strode toward us from the end of the dock.

  Chapter 27

  No! I thought. No way! This isn’t happening. I’m seeing things again!

  Joy’s shiny brown hair bounced up and down as she came closer. She wore white shorts and a yellow halter top.

  She looked real.

  As Joy locked her eyes on me, I shut my eyes. Shook my head.

  Don’t believe it, I told myself. Just stay calm and wait for it to be over.

  “Adam, it’s okay,” Raina murmured. She gripped my hand and squeezed.

  I opened my eyes.

  Joy hadn’t disappeared. She stepped across the boardwalk toward us.

  Joy is here. And Raina is here, I told myself.

  This isn’t a hallucination.

  I stood frozen, stunned, as Joy stepped up to me. She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me.

  I felt the soft warmth of her arms. Felt her hair against my face and her breath on my cheek. Heard her voice.

  “Adam!” she cried. “I’m so sorry!”

  She is here, I thought in amazement. She is alive.

  I pulled her arms away and stared at her. “I can’t believe this,” I declared in a shaky voice. “It’s unreal. No—it’s real! But I just can’t believe it! How did you get out of the ocean? Why didn’t anybody tell me?”

  Joy stepped back and exchanged a glance with Raina. “We didn’t tell you because—” Joy paused, blushing.

  “Because we weren’t supposed to,” Raina finished the sentence for her.

  “Huh?”

  I glanced back and forth between them. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Adam, Joy and I did something we really regret. The whole drowning scene was an act,” Raina confessed. “I still can’t believe we went along with it.”

  Joy nodded. “We feel really rotten for putting you through it, Adam.”

  I couldn’t speak for a second. I felt totally shocked. And breathless, as if somebody had punched me in the stomach and knocked the wind out of me.

  No wonder it wasn’t in the newspapers. Or on the TV news.

  It never happened.

  “How . . . ?” I choked out. I paused and took a shaky breath. “How could you do something like that?” I demanded. “And why? Don’t you know how guilty I’ve been feeling? Don’t you know what a nightmare the last few days have been?”

  “Yes!” Joy cried. “That’s why we decided to tell you. It wasn’t our idea to trick you, Adam.”

  She sighed. “That’s a rotten excuse, I guess, but we never would have done something like that on our own. You’ve got to believe that.”

  “Joy is right,” Raina agreed. “It was Dr. Thall’s idea. He asked us to do it. He asked Ian to help, too.”

  “Excuse me?” I cried. “Slow down—please! You’re going way too fast for me!”

  I rubbed my throbbing head. “What
on earth does Dr. Thall have to do with this?” I demanded.

  They hesitated. Finally Joy spoke up. “We shouldn’t be telling you any of this, Adam.”

  “But we decided we had to,” Raina added. “We couldn’t go on with such a terrible plan. Even if it did come from your doctor.”

  “What plan?” I demanded impatiently. “What does Dr. Thall think?”

  “He thinks you buried the memory of what happened last summer way down deep in your mind,” Joy explained. “And he wanted to try something really radical to get you to bring the memory up.”

  “Yeah. He decided to stage another tragedy in the ocean,” Raina said. “He figured the shock of what happened with Joy and me would shake you up—shock you into remembering.”

  She stared hard at me. “But it didn’t work, did it?” she asked sadly.

  “No,” I replied in a whisper, too shocked to speak. “No, it didn’t work.”

  “Adam, we’re so sorry!” Joy cried. “Really. We feel terrible. We were only trying to help. But the whole thing went too far. We knew how upset you must be. So . . . so we just had to tell you!”

  Raina took my hand. “Go ahead and hate us. We deserve it.”

  But I didn’t feel angry.

  I didn’t know what I felt. I was numb. Totally numb.

  “Please, Adam, talk to us,” Joy begged. “Tell us you forgive us. Talk to us about . . . everything. Maybe if the three of us sit down together, we can . . . you know . . .”

  That’s the one thing I don’t feel, I thought. I don’t feel like talking.

  My head pounded as I tried to unscramble all the thoughts racing through it.

  Get away, I told myself. I can’t even think straight. I have to get away and clear my head.

  Pulling away from the girls, I leapt onto the dock and began trotting out over the water.

  “Adam, where are you going?” Joy cried after me. “What are you going to do?”

  I didn’t turn back. I kept going until I stood at the end of the dock.

  “Adam, please!” Raina called. “Come back and talk to us!”

  I heard them chasing down the dock after me.

  No, I thought. Let me get away. Let me be myself so I can think!

  Joy and Raina drew closer, shouting my name.

  A wave rolled up against the pilings, spraying me with water. High tide, I thought. On my right, a yellow water scooter bumped against the swaying dock.

  That’s it, I decided. I’ll take a ride. At least I can be by myself out on the ocean.

  Fumbling with the rope, I untied the scooter and leapt onto it. As Joy and Raina ran up, I gunned the engine and roared out of the cove.

  As I rode farther and farther out, my head stopped pounding and the dizziness left me. I concentrated on driving the scooter for a while, bouncing over the rolling waves and feeling the wind in my face.

  But soon all the questions and thoughts crept back into my head.

  Dr. Thall had set the whole thing up. I still couldn’t believe it.

  He told me he had some radical new treatments, but I never thought he meant something like this. Something so cruel.

  But I told him I’d try anything, I reminded myself. So how could I be angry?

  I shook my head, squinting against the glare of the setting sun. I wasn’t angry at Dr. Thall or Joy or Raina, I realized. All they wanted to do was help.

  Maybe I felt angry and upset because the fake drowning didn’t work. It didn’t bring back any hidden memories.

  Gritting my teeth, I drove the water scooter in a wide turn, skipping and rocking over the waves.

  Would I be stuck for the rest of my life like this? Having nightmares? Seeing things? Trying to remember?

  Gunning the motor again, I leapt over a high wave. The scooter slapped down hard, pitching and tossing in the water. My head snapped back.

  And in the distance I saw another water scooter.

  A bright metallic blue scooter, slapping and bouncing across the waves.

  Roaring toward me.

  The rays of the setting sun glinted off the scooter as it came closer and closer.

  I squinted again, trying to see who was on it.

  The wind gusted. The driver’s hair blew back.

  Long blond hair.

  Mitzi!

  But Mitzi never drove a water scooter. Not even in one of my dreams.

  I shook my head, staring hard.

  The water scooter drew closer, filling the air with a roar. The driver’s face came into view.

  Ian’s face.

  I started to relax, then tensed up again as I spotted Mitzi’s hair whipping in the wind.

  Who is it? I wanted to shout. Ian? Mitzi?

  The blue scooter bounced over another wave, roaring closer . . . closer.

  Mitzi laughed and wrapped her arms tightly around Ian.

  Ian and Mitzi?

  Ian and Mitzi?

  Yes!

  “Yes!” I screamed out loud. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

  That’s it! That’s what I’ve been trying to remember all this time.

  I saw it! I finally pictured it!

  The memory just flashed back to me. The memory just sprang up from its hiding place deep inside my mind.

  Ian and Mitzi—together on the water scooter.

  Chapter 28

  I had slowed my scooter nearly to a stop. The waves tossed me from side to side.

  I was thinking so hard, I hardly noticed.

  I raised my eyes, expecting the other water scooter to be gone.

  Just memory. The other scooter was a bit of memory floating back to me, I thought.

  But I gasped in shock when I saw it roaring toward me. Still there. Still rocking over the waves.

  With only one rider.

  Ian.

  Ian riding toward me. Not a memory. Not a crazy picture from my mind.

  Ian.

  And as I watched him approach, a hot rage boiled up inside me. I gunned the engine and my scooter shot forward, pounding across the water toward Ian.

  Ian, my so-called friend.

  “It was you!” I screamed over the roar of the two water scooters. “It was you!”

  Ian swerved to the side, then circled around to face me again. His face seemed tense under his tan and his eyes were filled with fear.

  “You do remember!” he shouted. “You remember now—don’t you?”

  “Yes!” I screamed in fury. “After a whole year of lies, I remember everything!”

  “I knew it! That’s what I was afraid of. That’s why I came after you,” he yelled. “Now I have no choice!”

  Ian kept shouting at me, but the roar of the two engines drowned out his voice.

  I wasn’t listening anyway. The memory of last summer flooded my mind, rocking my brain like the waves that rocked my water scooter.

  Good old Ian, I thought bitterly. Always borrowing things. My clothes, my CDs, my car . . .

  And my water scooter.

  That’s what he did last summer. He borrowed my water scooter.

  And he borrowed my girlfriend.

  He borrowed them both.

  And Mitzi never came back.

  “You did it!” I screamed, feeling the hot rage boil up again.

  Gripping the handlebars, I spun the yellow scooter around in a tight circle until Ian and I were side by side. “You did it! You! You! Ian—you did it!”

  “It was an accident!” Ian screamed hoarsely. “We went for a ride. Mitzi fell off. I spun around to save her and the scooter—” He broke off.

  I whipped my scooter around, then raced up to his side again. “The scooter did what?” I demanded. “Tell me, Ian! I want to hear it. I have to hear it!”

  “It ripped open her head,” he shrieked. “So much blood . . . I was so scared! The water turned red and I couldn’t even look anymore! I just took off and raced back to the dock.”

  “And I was there, wasn’t I?” I demanded. “Wondering where my scooter was. Where Mitzi was!�
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  “Yes!” he shouted. “The minute I rode up, you knew something bad had happened. I was so freaked out, I could hardly talk. But you made me tell you. And when I did, you went into shock. You grabbed the water scooter. I tried to stop you, but you fought me off.”

  Yes, I thought. I remember so clearly now.

  I had to find Mitzi. I had to save her, even though Ian told me she was dead.

  “You threw me onto the dock. Then you jumped onto the water scooter and took off,” Ian continued. “You took it way out, where Mitzi and I had been. You rode in circles. Circle after circle!”

  I groaned, remembering that frantic ride. I tried to find Mitzi. I had to find her and save her.

  But I was too late.

  “All I could do was watch you from the dock,” Ian told me. “Riding around and around and around. And then, when you came back, I couldn’t believe it—you were hysterical, and you said the whole thing was your fault!”

  Yeah, I thought. I took the blame.

  “It was your water scooter. Your girl!” Ian shouted. “Your mind made some kind of leap while you were circling around out there. You went crazy. You—you suddenly thought you had done it!”

  “And you let me think it!” I screamed at him. “Didn’t you? Didn’t you?”

  “Yes!” Ian admitted. “I was so scared. So terrified. I—I let you believe it!”

  A whole year! I thought miserably. Ian kept his secret. He let me believe that I had killed Mitzi. He let me feel guilty for a whole year—for something I didn’t do.

  “You were supposed to be my friend!” I shouted furiously. “How could you do that to me? How could you let me believe I killed my own girlfriend?”

  “I told you—I was scared!” he cried. The water scooter rocked beneath him. “Besides, you were so crazy with guilt, you wouldn’t have believed the truth.”

  “How do you know?” I shouted.

  We bobbed side by side. So close I could have reached out and hit him.

  I wanted to. I wanted to punch him off the scooter. Watch him flounder in the water.

  The way Mitzi had . . .

  “You never even tried to tell me what really happened!” I cried. “You just let me keep believing that sick lie! And you got away with it. That must have felt great, huh, Ian?”

  Ian shook his head. “It felt horrible. I was scared all the time, wondering . . . wondering when you’d remember. Because I knew someday you would.”