The Girl in the Lake

by Victoria Michaels - AKA-Angela Knight

  “Hey, Buddy, whatcha drinkin’,” Virgil asked an amiable grin on his face.

  “That there’s a mock Ol’ Fashioned,” the bartender answered. Tommy watched as Virgil and the bartender gave one another a fist-bump-hand shake that looked like something from a long-ago club membership. He realized the bartender must be one of his former bullies, but he could not place him yet.

  “Well, I think I’ll have me one o’ them mock Ol’ Fashioneds too!” Virgil laughed and the bartender shook his head then turned away to make the drink. Virgil now turned his attention to Tommy, who had been sitting there quietly, “So, I ain’t see you around here before. Name’s Virgil,” Virgil held out a hand and Tommy took it, “Virgil Spencer. Spencer’s Tow Truck Driving,” he proclaimed pumping Tommy’s hand up and down in a friendly manner.

  “Tom Coleman,” Tommy introduced himself, bracing for the inevitable change in mannerism once Virgil recognized who he was, “from Portland. I’m here on a visit.”

  The face of the new acquaintance changed rapidly as recognition settled in, but not how Tommy had imagined. The smile twisted into a quiver, the nose crinkled, and the eyes narrowed. Virgil immediately began to cry. Not a big sobbing cry, but a defeated whimpering snivel of sorrow. “Man, Tommy…Tom…I am so sorry.”

  Now it was Tommy’s turn to react, “What? Why are you sorry, Virgil?” Now Tommy was not one hundred percent sure that Virgil actually recognized him.

  “Tommy…I…we…I caused you so much trouble in high school. I remember. Don’t you worry, I remember. I’ve changed, though, I really have.” Tears streaked down Virgil’s cheeks. Is there not one person in this horrible town who has any happiness left in them? Tommy thought.

  “He really has changed,” the bartender had returned with Virgil’s mock Old Fashioned, and now Tommy felt a tinge of recognition, but still could not place the name, “We’ve all changed, Tom. For the better. Well, most of us, that is.”

  Virgil put a hand on Tom’s shoulder and Tommy felt his entire body tense up, waiting for a punch in the gut, memories from his youth spilling into his mind. “Tommy, I beg your forgiveness. I always wondered what happened to you and your family, leaving right after graduation and all. Man, I regret being such an asshole all those years. It took a toll on me, but like Frank says, we’ve all changed.”

  Frank! That’s right, Frank Mcleod. He was the one that never really started anything, just did what the others told him to and backed up their stories. Tommy had never felt Frank was all that bad. Looks like things turned out okay for him; for both of them. “Well…,” Tommy started cautiously, “I guess I’ve changed too. I mean…I never wrote any more false news stories.” Virgil and Frank both chuckled, instantly remembering the article Tommy had written about them in the school newspaper, accusing them of crimes around the area. “I hope you both didn’t get in too much trouble over that.”

  “Nah,” Virgil shook his head, “not with the police anyhows. My parents, though, that was a different case. My dad actually believed your story and he gave me quite the whoopin’. Then he set me to doing hard chores for the next couple of months every day after school so I couldn’t hang out with the guys. Just made me meaner, I think.”

  “Oh no, I am sorry for that Virgil,” Tommy was now, but at the time, he had hoped that something like that would happen to the bullies.

  “Tommy, I have learned over the years that a person causes their own happenings. Karma’s a bitch, and that bitch came after me big time, let me tell ya!” Virgil took a sip of his mock Old Fashioned and held it front of his face, “Tasty! I think I may have found my new favourite drink.” He took another quick sip and continued, “You weren’t the only nerdy smart kid we took after, you know, Tommy. Anyone who acted a little weak or said something a little too brainy, we were all over them. I don’t believe I understood back then why I even wanted to be so mean, but after counselling and working hard on myself, I have come to. I wanted to feel bigger, more important, superior in any way that I could. My dad…he was not such a nice guy to us kids…my brother and my three sisters…but we survived. Each one of us acted out in a different way, but I am so grateful I was able to get myself under control.”

  “How did you?” Tommy ventured. Frank just stood next to the two listening in and nodding.

  “After grad, we all decided to go out to a bush party. Pret’ near the entire school population were there, including my twin sisters and my older brother. Some assholes from Winlock were there too. Guess what?” Tommy raised his eyebrows and shook his head, not knowing what Virgil was trying to indicate, “They were high school bullies in their town. In Barrington, we just called them assholes.”

  “Did they do something to you?” Tommy was curious as to how large and mean someone would have to be to take on Virgil. He was formidable looking now in his seventies, but as a teenager? He had been a beast.

  “Not to me. Not to Frank either,” Frank shook his head, and allowed Virgil to continue, “Not any of our guys. Bullies don’t do that, you see, Tommy. We don’t pick on people our own size. We save it for the vulnerable; someone who can’t defend themselves. Or someone who they care about.”

  Tommy was on the edge of his seat now, wondering what had happened, “Who?”

  “There was a campfire. Hell, not just a campfire, I guess you’d call it a bonfire, bigger’n a small car if I remember, and I do. Kids were sitting around it laughin’, drinkin’, and roastin’ marshmallows. But mostly drinkin’. Like I said, my twin sisters were there. There were identical twins, no one could tell ‘em apart, sometimes not even me. Ha, ha! These assholes from Winlock decided it would be funny to drive their truck through the bonfire. Yeah, super funny. People went flying in every direction, running to get out of the way of the logs and burning ash that was sent airborne.”

  “Did anyone get hurt?”

  “Not then. A couple of burns and somebody tripped, I think, but most people got outta the way. But then…they turned their truck around.”

  “Holy shit, they did it again?”

  “Not the same. This time they steered directly for a crowd of teens who had gathered off to one side of the embers and ash. Drove right through them and ended up crashing their fucking truck into a tree. One of them was hurt pretty bad, hit his head on the windshield and broke it, but the others were fine.”

  “What about the crowd of people,” Tommy knew there had to be more.

  “They hit Joanna, one of my twin sisters. Janice, the other twin, ran to her and held everyone back from touching her. George Freeman wanted to carry her out to the highway and flag down a car because everyone was too drunk to drive, but Janice wouldn’t let him. Instead, she told George to run out to the highway and get someone to call an ambulance, and the cops. Both showed up in about thirty minutes. That was the longest thirty minutes of my life, I think. Me and Frank and Billy held those assholes down the whole time. Even the one with the smashed head. We didn’t want them leaving.”

  “What happened to Joanna, did she die?”

  “Nah, but she’s in a wheelchair now. Broke her back. Now, I ain’t saying Joanna and Janice were the nicest girls ever, after all, they were my sisters and you remember what I was like,” Tommy did, “but no one deserves to be run over for no fucking reason. Well, I think that was my day of reckoning. I saw that I was a bully, doing things like that to people I didn’t like, for no reason other than they were different than me. Heck, that coulda been me who drove through that fire. Maybe not that fire, but if it was in Winlock. The other way ‘round.”

  “So, is that when you…straightened yourself out?”

  “Nope. Bully is deep, you know. It took me a few more years. Yeah, I stopped picking on weak people and nerds, but then I became the opposite, beating up guys who thought they were tough. But again, for no reason other than they were posturing or just there. One night, I got an assault charge. I tried to explain that the guy was an asshole and I had to put him in his place, but the cops didn’t see it that
way. They put me in the can for five months. I had to do counselling and community service. That’s what turned me ‘round. Best thing that ever happened to me. They did like a twelve-step program.”

  “Were you an alcoholic?” Tommy asked glancing down at Virgil’s barely touched drink.

  “I was never much of a drinker, not more than two, and hardly every night. No, my nemesis was feeling unworthy. That’s all. Just needed to feel important. Until then, I didn’t realize that helping people could make you feel important. After counselling and community service, I realized I liked helping people. I started volunteering at the thrift shop, then with the Legion. Then I got a little older and lucked into buying a used tow truck from this guy going out of business in Castle Rock. After I got married, Cherri Lockland’s my wife…you remember her?” Tommy nodded, “Cherri and I had a couple of little ones and I decided to become a Scout Leader. Can you believe it, Tommy? Me, a Scout Leader.” Tommy could not, but here he was, Virgil the changed man.

  “What about you, Frank? Was that your day of reckoning as well?” Tommy finished his Old Fashioned and Frank brought him another one.

  “Heck, Tom. I was a follower. I did whatever those guys wanted me to. Not saying that I was not just as culpable as they were…no, no…I did pretty bad things. But as soon as Virgil changed, I did exactly what he did. And yes, I found it much more rewarding than being a bully. I actually went to College, if you can believe it! Ha! Took accounting. Worked as a CPA for forty years, and after I retired I bought this place,” Frank motioned with an arm wave to the pub and its patrons, “I always love a good story, and this place is loaded with them. It’s a great way to keep in touch with people.”

  “And Billy? What happened to him?” Tommy looked from Frank to Virgil and back again. It was Virgil who answered.

  “Some people you just can shake the mean outta,” Virgil said thoughtfully, “He broke off with us and hooked up with different guys who were even meaner than we had been. Eventually, he started doing petty crime, like the stuff you wrote about in your article years before that, Tommy. But he didn’t stop there. The crimes got worse and worse. Got locked up a few times – short stints mostly. Then, he hooked up with that Greg Bennett. You know, one of the guys that was involved in the Donna Richardson disappearance. Well, at least he was there that day. Billy and Greg did a couple of break ins near Portland, over $5,000 and Billy was carrying a gun. He got 5 years for that one. When he got out, the first thing he did was hold up a liquor store. The owner had a shotgun behind the cash register – guess he’d been held up before – anyhow, shot Billy right in the chest. Bullet went clean through him and left a hole the size of a baseball ‘parently.”

  “Jesus,” Tommy whispered, then, “What about Greg Bennett? Do you know what happened to him?”

  “Last I heard he went to jail right after that. Rape. The girl was like 14 or something like that. Her parents found her all beaten and bloody and she told them he had picked her up when she was walking home from school. It was a long walk and a hot day, so she took a ride from him and he pulled into the bushes and raped her. I did hear Greg got out a couple of years ago. Not sure where he is now, though.”

  The men reminisced until closing. Tommy never let on why he was in Barrington, nor anything that either Kenny or Cheryl had told him. He walked back to his motel room at 2 am, mulling over the stories they had shared. This crooked little town carried more secrets that he had given it credit for, and his feelings towards it were starting to lighten. If Virgil Spencer and Frank Mcleod could change that much, who knows what else could have changed over the years.

  Chapter Nine

  Running down the West Side Road the next morning, Tommy was 30 minutes in when he realized he was at the infamous corner. The corner that had taken Danny Campbell. It had been described to him as sharp with a precipitous drop to a rocky ravine. When he reached the corner, Tommy stopped and walked around, looking over the edge, trying to imagine how Danny could have sent his truck careening down the hill to end up on the rocks at the bottom. From his assessment, the truck would have had to have been going extremely fast; faster than the speed limit, and then some. Had this accident been more purposeful? Maybe Danny, like his wife Cheryl and his best friend Kenny, just couldn’t take the guilt anymore. Had he plunged his vehicle off the cliff at a high velocity, hoping to end the terror? No one would ever know.

  Tommy turned to start his run back to the motel and looked over towards Cheryl’s little home. Even at this early morning hour of 6, she was sitting out on the patio smoking a cigarette. Tom held up a hand and waved. Without acknowledging him, Cheryl got up and went into her house, closing the door behind her. Shaking his head, Tommy ran back to the motel and took a shower.

  He arrived at Kenny’s trailer about 8:30 am, again parking next to the Dodge Ram. Today felt different – quieter. Tommy entered the little trailer and made his way toward the bedroom at the end of the hall.

  “Good morning, Kenny. Got us some breakfast. I hope you’re up!” Tommy tried to sound cheery. His greeting was met with silence.

  He entered the room and stared at the unmade empty bed, then looked toward the bathroom. The door was open, and the light was off. Tommy took a step towards it and saw a foot just on the other side of the bed. Quickly making his way around the end of the bed, he saw Kenny sprawled across the floor, flat on his stomach. Tommy placed the bag of food on the bed and knelt next to Kenny, pressing two fingers to the exposed neck. There was a pulse.

  “Kenny…Kenny? Are you okay?” Tommy tried to remember what he had learned in that first aid class Betse had insisted he take two years ago, but he wasn’t sure what to do next. Hopefully, Kenny would respond, and it wouldn’t matter.

  “Ah…oh…what? How the fuck did I get down here?” Kenny’s gravelly voice was barely audible, but at least he was talking.

  “I found you this way, lying on the floor. Were you heading to the bathroom maybe?” Tommy supported Kenny’s shoulder to help him roll onto his back and sit up, still on the floor.

  “Yeah, I think so…ah Jesus Christ…look. I’ve fuckin’ peed my pants.” Kenny and Tommy both looked down at his sweatpants that had a dark stain on the front. Kenny gasped and began coughing a gurgling sound churning up in his lungs. He put an arm to his mouth and when he pulled it away a large glob of red-green jelly jiggled on his sleeve. Tommy pulled a hanky off the bed side table and quickly wiped the glob away, then tossed the hanky back on the bedside table.

  “We’ve got to get you to the hospital, Kenny. There is no way you can stay here alone. Another fall like this might kill you, and they wouldn’t find you for a week.”

  “More’n that,” Kenny chortled through his coughs, “ain’t nobody but you been out here for more’n two weeks. My cousin Cherri usually comes around once a month or so to drop off groceries, but my brother Bobby only shows up when I call him.”

  “Well, it’s obvious you can’t even do anything with the groceries if she does bring them,” Tommy crouched behind Kenny and slipped his hands under Kenny’s armpits, gently pulling him to a partial standing position and easing him over to the bed. Kenny sat on the edge of the bed; shoulders slumped. After a moment he titled his head awkwardly to one side and looked up a Tommy.

  “Can you take me to the hospital? Don’t want no ambulance. Besides, it’d take over an hour for one to get here from Castle Rock. And if they ain’t got one in the bay, then they send it out of Portland, and that could be three hours. I don’t feel right, Tommy. I…I’m not sure I can wait that long.”

  Those words hit Tommy hard, for more reasons than one. He was worried about his old friend. True they had not seen one another in years and had lost touch, but Kenny and Danny had been kind to him in his time of need as a teenager. He knew deep down that Kenny was not a bad person. Not like everyone thought. Tommy also wanted to hear the rest of the story.

  “Don’t worry, man, I fully intend on telling you what happened with Donna. You know…the whole sto
ry,” maybe Kenny had read it on Tommy’s face, but that is what Tommy needed to hear, “the whole truth, man, and nothing but the truth.” Kenny laughed a true clear laugh this time. It went on for a moment then faded into a rasp as he began coughing again.

  “Can you walk?” Tommy was not sure if he could carry this guy, even if he did look like a bag of bones.

  “You help me, and I can get there,” Kenny agreed, trying to push himself to standing.

  “Wait a sec,” Tommy pulled a duvet off the bed and wrapped it around Kenny’s shoulders, then he grabbed a comb off the dresser and tidied Kenny’s hair, smoothing the grey stragglers across the balding top of Kenny’s head. Kenny gave him a weak smile.

  With the food bag in one hand Tommy wrapped a full arm around Kenny’s waist and sat beside him on the bed. Then he braced with his legs and tightened up his abdominal muscles. Rocking gently back on the bed he whispered, “One, two, three…” then planted his feet, leaned forward and pulled Kenny to a standing position. The man weighed nothing.

  “How you feeling, Kenny?” Tommy had awkwardly loaded the deteriorating Kenny into the passenger seat of his SUV, and they were headed to the town health centre. It only had eight beds, but they were not often full, and there was an emergency department. Tommy would head to that entrance first.

  “K,” Kenny responded dryly, “just thirsty. Got anything in here to drink?”

  Tommy handed Kenny and orange juice from the breakfast bag he had brought with him, helping with one hand to direct the straw into Kenny’s parched lips.

  Chapter Ten

  That evening Tommy arrived back at the hospital carrying a shopping bag and his briefcase. At emergency this morning the medical team had rushed them as he practically dragged Kenny through the doors. They threw Kenny’s deteriorating body onto a stretcher and wheeled him away, ignoring Tommy. The receptionist told him to come back this evening…during visiting hours…if he wanted to see how his friend was doing. If he makes it, Tommy had thought.