Gone

This was a tragedy. None of it ever meant to happen. Only meant to be a quiet, fun weekend. There was only six of us involved, yet we did nothing. We are innocent but nobody believes us. Why would they believe us when there's so much to the contrary? When we could have done it out of anger?

It all started when Logan got drunk. Too many beers and too much ego. He was on a cloud of high spirits, puffing out his chest in front of the girls... Grace in particular. It had taken quite a lot of persuasion to get the girls to come on this trip; a two-day sleepover in the bush- around a kilometre from the nearest town. Grace wasn't impressed with Logan's drunken display, her body language showing it when she crossed her legs, pursed her lips and drummed her fingers on the esky lid. But Logan wouldn't give up. I'll admit we were getting really annoyed with him. It wasn't until he' tried to put his loose, drunken lips on Grace's that she finally reacted, slapping him so hard she left a bruise on his cheek. It obviously got through to him then, as he grabbed another VB and stormed off. Grace brushed herself off and returned angrily to her tent, followed by her friends Janice and Ellie. Letting us know they had no plans to venture out again by shutting off the lamp. We had no choice but to follow Logan or risk him being hurt in his inebriated state, never once thinking they could be the actions that changed our lives...

'Where were you last night at 3a.m.?' the detective asked. One question that could change our fate. We had no choice but to relay everything in as much detail as possible. We slogged our way through the events before he stormed off and, being curious, the detective urged us to continue.

After the girls returned to their tent, we had to follow Logan. We could hear him crashing and thundering through the undergrowth, cursing loudly as he stumbled or spilled his liquor. We followed the sound of his voice and the clumps of grass, broken twigs and general path of destruction left in his wake. He stopped and turned around when he could see our flashlight. His eyes alive with anger, his fingers shaking with rage and his mouth twisted as he mumbled a slew of hate-filled words. We stayed a few feet away as he let off steam- kicking logs, rocks and the ground as he smashed his VB bottle on a thick tree trunk. Edging closer and closer to an old opening to a closed coal mine, not realising the danger he was in. Thinking our leaps forward to catch him was the indication for chase, causing him to leap backwards and begin to turn. Not knowing until he was falling- our fingers unable to grip, brushing against his arms as his body fell- tumbling,scrabbling into the black abyss.

'So, Logan Fynch fell into the abandoned shaft?' asked the detective, raising his eyebrows, clearly not believing us. We all nodded, doing our best to maintain eye contact.

'Really? Why did you wait so long to call an ambulance? Or even the police? He could have been alive!' the detective said accusingly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Jordan looked down at his hands and spoke. 'We did call an ambulance. And the police. But first, Gabe and I climbed down the shaft to find out if Logan was alive.' He looks at me. 'We took the flashlight while Hayden ran back to the girls. Janice was the only who could get service from where we were so we used her phone. We found Logan spread out on a pile of boulders, his limbs splayed out at irregular angles. Neither of us could feel a pulse. Hayden got back and helped us out of the hole.' He slumped down further.

The detective leant forward and clasped his hands on the table. 'Are you sure Logan fell into that mine shaft? You didn't move him or bury him anywhere?' He looked at us, his gaze stony. 'Because we did not find any trace of a body. Only some drag marks where something large, quite possibly human sized, was dragged away, without any remains. So, how do you explain that?' The detective sat up straight and crossed his arms.

Gabe looked up slowly, clearing his voice as he searched for the right words.

'Detective, while we were down in that shaft, we heard something. Something... bad. It was clear we weren't the only ones down there. Whatever was down there sounded dangerous. And it wasn't alone.'