You Are the Key

Chapter Twelve:

Zo parks the golf cart by the bank and I nod for Jackie to turn on her flashlight. I help them up and show them the way through the trees. The lake lies beyond, shimmering and glowing with the first few rays of sunshine. The heat hits hard, even though it’s only five in the morning.

My footsteps slow as we reach the clearing.

“Why would he come out here?” Zoe asks and looks around; wondering if this is where we’re supposed to stop walking, like this is it. I shake my head.

“This isn’t where he is, it’s that way…” I nod to the left and manage to move my legs. It’s only a few more seconds of walking, but a day’s exhaustion adds to the weight on my shoulders every step I take. We make it to the clearing and I look up at the trees, expecting to see him blue faced and hanging from a rope.

But he’s nowhere to be found. Jackie catches my movements and shines the light up in the trees, so we can see into the higher branches.

Nothing.

“Maybe he called a taxi and is on his way to the airport or a bus station?” Zoe suggests but I shake my head.

“He doesn’t have a credit card, and he never has money, so he’s here somewhere.” I close my eyes and breathe in deeply. The smell of Brandon… it’s here. In the air. It’s swirling around in the thick breeze.

Jackie starts looking in the woods around us, and disappears behind the large boulder. My heart swells. I’m king of the world!  I hear Jackie shriek in surprise. “Oh no…” She frets to herself, and then rounds the boulder to face us. I walk towards her and Jackie shakes her head. “Don’t let her come over here.” She tells Zoe and without a second thought, she grabs me.

“Let me go.” I say darkly and fight against her hold.

“Don’t let her…” Jackie shakes her head and starts to weep.

“Zoe! Please!” I wail and buck against her, trying to take steps forward. “Is it him? Is he okay?” I ask and Jackie holds up a hand. A few of her fingers are smeared with blood.

“I only wanted him to get better… I mean, I don’t know what went wrong.”

“What’d you do?” I scream and tear out of Zoe’s hold, stalking towards Jackie. “What’d you do?” I grab a fist full of her shirt and toss her aside.

“You shouldn’t-”

“Shut up!” I spin around and point a finger at Jackie. “Or I swear I’ll cut your tongue out of your fucking head! I don’t want to hear it anymore! Just shut up!” I shout, tears streaming down my face. When I round the boulder, I see his crumpled body, broken and bending at odd angles on the moss ground. Missing a shoe, hair clumped with blood… I can’t even see his face.

His beautiful face.

I sob and run towards him, cradling his bloody body in my arms. A rib protrudes through his side, still trickling blood, but it’s cold. Not warm. Eyes blurry, I smooth the hair out of his face and ignore the crack in the back of his head.