Tragic Falls

Chapter Three

I woke up Saturday morning to the annoying buzz of the alarm clock on my night table and groaned. I wasn't ready to wake up yet. I stretched my hand to turn off the alarm and ended up knocking it down to the floor when that didn't work.

I grabbed my head with both my hands trying to soothe the shooting pain. What time did I sleep last night? I thought, as I fell back to yesterday's events which were still fresh in my mind. And the nightmares... But before I could ponder on that any longer I heard my mother calling me from downstairs.

"Dylan, Alex is here."

Oh. Great. I groaned again and struggled to untangle myself from the sheets for a quick shower and a bottle of Tylenol.

"Okay." I called back as loud as my headache aloud me to be. "I'll be down in a minute."

                    *  *  *  *  *  *

"So..." Alex started, munching on my Cap'n Crunch. I on the other hand sat on the kitchen table opposite to him with not much of an appetite. "I'm just gonna come out and say it... You look like shit, bro."

"Thanks," I muttered trying to adjust my eyes to the morning light streaming from outside through one of the windows with the curtain tilted to the side.

I managed to reason with my mom to end her vacuuming adventure shortly coming downstairs with my hands pressed tightly to my ears and bloodshot eyes, but the curtains had to be drawn, because, and I quote 'Its a beautiful Saturday morning.'

Alex frowned. "Seriously though, you okay? You seem to be taking this a bit more harder than any one at school."

I looked up and gave him the best glare I could manage. Did he seriously forget that-

"I mean, I get it." He continued as if he read my mind. "You're the first one to see Leam's body... But, I'm just saying-

"So where's Luke any way?" I asked trying to change the subject from me even for a while. "Haven't seen him at the funeral either."

"He's visiting his grandpa at Sunny dale or something." He said finishing the last of the cereals and getting up to put the bowl in the sink. "So, what did you want to talk about last night?"

I swallowed. By the queasy feeling rising in my stomach, I could tell that I would never get used to breaking this news to any one. Alex not noticing any of my anxiety pulled his phone out of his khaki pants pocket and started typing something.

"Umh, Alex?" I began.

"Uh-huh?" He said his hazel eyes still glued to the bright screen.

"Leam was murdered. Mrs. Lockwood told me that at the funeral as she left. Turns out the investigation is being reopened again." I blabbered in a single breath.

"What?" He slowly looked up now with a raised eye brow and a look of disbelief clearly plastered on his features.

"Who-

"Mrs Lockwood."

"When-

"At the funeral... I just told you that, don't you listen?"

He slowly placed his phone on the table between us, face down and swallowed, the last ghost of humor that was permanently etched on his face disappearing.

"That's messed up," he said after a moment of silence.

"I know." I said running my hand on my face. "I know."

"And why would she tell you something like that if it hasn't even been clarified enough to be released in public?"

"Wish I knew."

"Its probably because you were the one who saw him and called the cops. Right?" Alex said with uncertainty.

"Probably."

"This is messed up."

"Yeah. You said that already."

"I know but-

I gave him a sharp look knowing he was going to say it again.

"Yesterday, as everyone was leaving I noticed some one wearing all black staring at us at a distance."

"Well, duh," Alex said looking at me like I asked him how to spell 'orange'. "It was a funeral so what do you expect?"

"No Alex," I said in absolute annoyance. "I mean like... All in black, like a hoodie, hand gloves and everything. I couldn't even see their face... Its like they were staring at all of us."

"O-okay."

"And before I could tell anything they were gone just like that." I snapped my finger to make a point.

"Maybe you saw Holden or someone you didn't recognize..."

"They call Breckenridge Falls the smallest town for a reason, Alex." I explained patiently. "It's because everybody knows everybody."

"Yeah, I know." Alex sighed. "Can you believe that class starts on Monday?"

I nodded absentmindedly.

"I mean come on, there should be like another free week or something. The golden boy died for crying out loud. And his grandparents helped build up this school so like..."

Alex kept ranting on and on as I thought back to the hooded figure holding an umbrella. Everyone was at the funeral, standing close. So, who could it be?