Midnight Cove

Chapter Twenty-Three: Note Goodbye

I reached the main house and flung open the back sliding glass door. I stepped through the doorway into Terry's kitchen. I scanned the place not sure what I was searching for. I spotted him, face down on the floor near the kitchen sink. I rushed to his side and nearly broke my neck. The ground was slick with blood. I looked at Terry; it looked as though he had hit his knees first and then his face. There was blood pooled around his head but it looked wrong, there was too much. The white tile floor was covered in a dark purple bloodstain. It looked like someone had spilled a bucket of paint.

I knelt by his still form. "Terry?" I said somehow hoping he was still alive. He didn't move and I placed my hand on his back, gently shaking him. "Terry?" I said again, the tears flowing fast now. But his body was rigid and I could tell he wasn't breathing.

A loud scream burst from me and then a sob. It sounded foreign, as if it was not me but some feral animal. I draped my body over his and gave into my grief. I don't know how long I laid there crying on top of him, long enough that my tears became dry sobs. My eyes burned, swollen and red, and my lungs and sides ached but I couldn't leave him. I didn't want to let go. Terry had been as a father to me. I had never known a kinder or more gentle man than Terry. It seemed so wrong for him to die.

"Coral, come on honey, get up. He's gone." Cove. I had never before felt such a raw surge of hatred flow through me at the velvety sound of his voice. I ignored him, I wasn't going to leave Terry. Cove reached his hand under my arm trying to help stand me up.

I yanked my arm away from his. "Get away from me, Cove!" Vehemently, I growled at him. "This is your fault," another sob broke through me and I collapsed my upper body onto Terry's slumped form.

"Coral," Cove said again. He was trying to help, but I didn't want his help. I didn't want him at all.

"You get away from me," I said, and turned around to look at him. "I hate you, Cove. I hate you!" I screamed, but I didn't have any energy left and my voice was hoarse from all the crying. I turned back to Terry and rested my head against his back. He was cold. Cove was right, he was gone, but still I wouldn't get up. Not yet, I couldn't. I could sense Cove standing there debating as to what he should do. When finally, he turned and I heard his footsteps fall quietly away.

"Goodbye," I whispered. It was for both Terry and for Cove.

Over the next few days I was in a daze. I had called the police and they dispatched an ambulance and a coroner. I had to watch them haul the only person I had resembling family, away in a body bag. There was no next of kin, no family to notify. Terry, like me, hadn't any living relatives left, but he had friends.

It was unbelievable how many people showed up to the funeral to pay their last respects. There were silver haired old men wearing suits and beautiful women from every age group. There were young men with long hair that wore black board shorts and flip flop sandals. It was a beautiful ceremony and not a dry eye to be seen. I had Terry cremated so that his ashes could be spread at his beloved beach. We even took his favorite longboard from his tour days and set it adrift. I think he would have like that, to be one with the ocean forever.

Goodbye.

At the wake, I was approached by a very tall thin man in an expensive black suit. He didn't look like a typical friend of Terry's. His skin was sallow and pasty, as if he spent his whole life indoors.

"Miss Woods?" He offered me his hand to shake. His large bony hand engulfed mine.  "My condolences on your loss."

"Thank you." He looked out of place, but he was sincere and I forced a small smile as a comforting gesture for the seemingly uncomfortable man.