Simpler Things

Part 10: I Don't Dance.

              We walked up to the group of teenagers. Cliché as it is, we needed answers. This bastard decided to make me the main character of his twisted games, I'd make him regret it.
"Hey-" Megan beg to say bit was cut off by the tallest one.
"We don't want to buy any girl scout cookies." He began chuckling. The rest of the group didn't join in.
"Sorry for my friend," said a black haired man, "He's a few margaritas in. I'm Jack." He stuck out a hand. I shook it,
"Hi Jack, my name's Alyson, this is Megan," As I gestured Megan did a little wave. "We're old friends of James." Signs of grief flashed across every one's faces. The tall one walked away mumbling. Another voice chimed in, this time the female of the group,
"James was a good person. He was the puppy of the group." She looked at her feet, brushing her short hair out of her face.
"So you know he passed, uh-" I said, as the female chimed in,
"Claire." I nodded,
"So you know, Claire?" I finished. She nodded. Jack spoke up,
"Do they know who... murdered him yet?" I didn't know how to respond. I was trying to figure this out, but I couldn't tell him that. My father, the lead detective on the case, was suppose to be figuring this out.
"I don't know, we're just here for closure." Megan responded. My words had caught in my throat, and started collecting.  I wouldn't be able to breath soon. Megan put a hand on my shoulder, some of the stress released, allowing me to breath.
"Well, we better get going-" I cut him off.
"Wait." I said, "When did you see James last?" Jack had a flicker of thought,
"He went home a week back with some guy. He was wearing a black sweater, I-I didn't see his face, but he was tall."
"Well, thanks for your time." Megan said. Jack waved as the group walked away. I was left standing next to Megan, the club music seemed far away.
"Well that's it, I guess." The music intensified as I was snapped back to reality. "I'm gonna go find a bathroom!" She shouted. I realized the club music was actually getting louder. Megan walked off into the crowd. I looked around. There were mostly men in the bar, almost half of them were shirtless. Yikes. I thought I should try to find a seat.
         I sat down, waiting for Megan. Studying the crowd. They all seemed so happy. I had forgotten what that was like. All of this with James... just left me feeling like a caged animal, left without any answers.
A tall man came in to my sight. He walked quickly through the crowd. I got up before I could think and began following him. Jack's words rang through my head,
He was tall, wearing black sweater.
I repeated it in my head, each time I became more confident that this man was James killer. The one who had been slipping me notes, even. He left our of a door. I followed, bringing me to the pier.
             I stood alone. No one was around me. The man had just... disappeared. With no evidence. I felt the hope drain out of me, melting into the ground. I stepped further away from the club. The fast pace of the drum was faint now. I got closer to the large lake. There wasn't anything else in sight, no tree lines. Just water. It was pleasing, looking at the dark black water, the moon created a differing white ball of light that reflected. It felt peaceful. A cold breeze brushed into me, making me shiver. I realized, the weather was getting colder. Fall was upon us. Or at least soon. Up here in C-
           Loud crunching steps uprooted my thought. They quickened as I looked behind me, just a couple feet from the end of the dock. A large silhouette of the man I had followed charged me. I stepped back defensively, bringing me closer to the cool dark water. He brought out his arms and shoved me into the water. I reached to grab on to something, anything but nothing was there. The man ran away as I fell into the cold water.
              My clothes were soaked, my breaths were shortened. I went under the surface, the cold water surrounded me. I pushed myself to the surface, my breaths become irregular and short. All my brain could process was, Hypothermia. Get. Out.
         I reached for the dock edge, but it was too far up. I kicked for the bottom but the water was too deep. my chest felt compressed, my shivers became more frequent. I didn't know how to get out. And then a hand reached down clutching my arm. It tried to pull me out as a feminine groan let out above me. It was Megan. She pulled harder, and eventually got me up out of the water. My body felt frozen, I was scared to breath in the cold air.
"What happened!" Megan said, her eyes wide with shock.
"I-I... I was-pushed." I said between breaths. I felt the water leak out of my hair down my back, making me feel even colder. A set of headlights pulled around the corner, as a old Nisan pulled in.
"I called Charlie, don't worry, your going to be okay." Megan said as the door slammed.
"What the hell happened?" Charlie didn't hold back his anger.
Megan didn't bother explaining, putting me in the backseat, wrapping me with the emergency blanket my mother had put in the car. I'd thank her for that later.
            We drove home in silence, the heating in the car killed the silence. I leaned against the car door, looking at the dark sky. The town was mostly silent, but a siren erupted breaking the silence. Charlie pulled over as the sound got closer. A ambulance rushed past us, behind two cop cars. Charlie pulled back into the lane and followed them. We were a minute away from our house when the vehicles pulled over.  I recognized the red bricks and green roof in the darkness of the night. And I didn't want to know what happened.