Short Stories

his betrayal

his betrayal

Light travelled faster than sound. A searing flash of lightning streaked across the sky, blinding us temporarily, before the deafening thunder shook the cliff to its foundations and sent us sprawling to the ground.

It was as though God was angered by the sins we committed earlier. He found Owen's dead body down below and decided that we needed to be punished for his death. I felt like I could see a storm in the distance, with the sky darkening quickly and black clouds gathering above us.

Not long later it started to pour heavily. Ted and I ducked under the nearby tree, before I started to panic.

"God is punishing us for what we did! If we hide under the tree, we'll get struck by lightning!" I yelled, "Ted, what do we do? We killed Owen, what do we -- "

"Shut up, you moron!" Ted gripped my shoulder, his fingers sinking deeply into my flesh. "What are you saying? You've gone insane."

The rainwater that mixed with my tears tasted salty. I stared at Ted, who showed no signs of sadness or remorse.

"You're a man. Stop crying." Ted instructed, finally letting go of my shoulder. I massaged the spot he gripped where the pain was still throbbing.

"Why aren't you crying? We just killed our best friend." my voice was shaking. I still couldn't believe what we did. I had never killed someone in my life in this sixteen years, and the shock, fear and guilt -- it was too much for me to take in. "We're gonna get caught and go to jail. Aren't you scared?"

"God, shut it, would you, Chase?!" Ted barked, "We didn't kill him. He fell on his own." He paused before looking me in the eye. "And he deserved it, that bastard."

I stared back at him, speechless.

***

Rewind to an hour ago.

Owen, Ted and I were best mates. Ted and I had known each other since we were five. Our mothers have been best friends since their college days, and we could even be called brothers. We met Owen at the start of freshman year of high school. He came from a wealthy family with a privileged background, but he never bragged about it. He was humble, kind, and never used money to get his ways. That was what Ted and I admired him for, and we all got along like we'd never imagined.

It was Ted's idea to skip classes today and hit the streets. We never really bothered about school and grades, and it was something we did on such a regular basis that the teachers gave up on us. No, we weren't smoking and doing drugs at bars, we were just young and reckless, and wanted an adventure.

Ted took the wheel and somehow we got lost along the way. He wanted to go someplace new to hangout, but we ended up in the suburbs where it was just weed, sun and few cars.

"We were gonna go hangout at a mall. How did this become a road trip across America?" Owen complained, "My mum's definitely gonna kill me tonight."

"Stop whining, you mummy boy," Ted snapped, "I'm the one behind the wheel."

Owen rolled his eyes, but didn't reply. We both knew Ted had always been the rude and violent one. He had anger management issues and was always throwing snide remarks and insults.

Ted soon pulled over after an hour and a half on the road. "F*ck it. I don't know where we are. But there's a cliff there. Certainly we can get up there and get some rest."

"Are you kidding me? You want to hike a f*cking cliff in the middle of nowhere? How are we gonna get back?" Owen exclaimed. He was never athletic like me and Ted, and wasn't fond of heights either.