high tide (J.M)

Boneyard

Arlo sat on an old, well-worn tree that had fallen long ago.

She watched as people slowly filled the beach and just analyzed the crowds.

The girl couldn't shake the anxious feeling that twirled and twisted in her stomach. She wished she could be someone else right now. If her mom found out what she had done..well she didn't know what the woman would do, but she knew that it would be bad.

Arlo picked at the frayed threads on the bottom of her shorts as she recalled that days events.

"Arlo!"

She looked up to see John B holding up his hand. He had a questioning face as he mouthed asking if she was okay and he flipped his thumbs up.

She gave a small smile and nod to match as she held a thumbs up.

The air grew cooler the closer it got to sunset.

The brown skinned girl was staring at the ocean happily, the warm beer had settled in her belly and provided a much needed sense of release. She hadn't even noticed the boy across the beach.

His name was Danny and he was a tourist visiting from Oregon. Most girls on the beach eyed him, he was properly attractive. He had dark and wild curls with tanned skin, broad shoulders, green eyes, and a blinding smile.

He had been looking over at Arlo for the past hour he had been there trying to work up the courage to talk to her.

Unfortunately Danny wasn't a great guy, but Arlo didn't know this yet.

After getting a second red solo cup of beer the boy approached Arlo.

"Excuse me, is this spot taken?" He smiled wildly as Arlo turned to look at him.

He was cute, definitely not her type, but she would be nice because he was obviously a tourist.

"Uh, no." She gave a small smile.

After handing her the cup and sitting beside her, the boy dove into conversation.

Arlo didn't find him all that entertaining, he was talking to her about things she already knew. Lots of his facts were wrong but Arlo knew he was trying to impress her so she felt bad.

Part of her wanted to walk away, but the other part wanted to be a nice girl who would make conversation.

So she stayed, and she talked to the boring boy and downed his nicely brought beets for another hour until the sunset and he asked for her number. Truthfully she didn't even remember giving it to him, she didn't remember walking away for the boneyard with him.

The conversation had grown easier and the beer made it easier to laugh at his jokes.

For a while it was kind of fun, but then she felt tired. Her stomach hurt from the lack of food and things were spinning and Danny's hands found ways to inch across the canvas of her skin.

The girl didn't know what to do, it felt kind of nice that someone wanted her but it also felt awful.

Danny leaned into her ear to whisper something but she couldn't even process the words. She felt like she was on fire and all she wanted was for the world to stop spinning.

Arlo tried to push the boy away but he grabbed her hips so harshly it felt as though his fingers would leave bruises.

She was panicking now, he was groping her and she couldn't tell if he wasn't listening to her words or if maybe the words just weren't coming out.

The girl's skin was hot and now she was on the ground and sand was sticking to her damp skin and and her hands jumped at danny's face and his did the same.

It seemed as though it would never end but suddenly her face was pounding and there were loud bangs and Danny was gone and Arlo was emptying her stomach contents into the sand.

Arlo still felt awful but perhaps a little less sick. Her body was going through every possible emotion in the span of mere seconds. She tried to fight the dizziness that shook through her body and she weakly rushed to the boneyard. Well less rushing and more limping and jogging.

Although Arlo's vision was blurred, she could tell that only the pogues remained and were seemingly yelling.

She watched as Kiara was seemingly holding John B while JJ and Pope were yelling.

Arlo's adrenaline was crashing and she knew it.

"Guys, what's going on?" She said ignoring the metallic taste filling her mouth.

It was then that the group turned to look at her. Blood was spilling from her nose and down her face and mixing with salty tears. Her hair was wild and her lips seemed swollen.

Kiara's stomach sank at the sight.

Arlo wiped at her mouth and drew back her arm to look at the blood that had been smeared on it.

"I think I need to go home." She mumbled.

The group rushed her and john b to the van. The smell of weed and marsh water was more nauseating than comforting at that moment. Pope drove while john b was wrapped in a blanket and kiara tried to wipe away Arlo's blood. JJ was simply panicking while trying to fight back the rage fueled adrenaline that pumped through his veins.

The group tried asking Arlo what happened but all they could understand was that some guy named Danny was a fucking asshole. The rest was just gibberish

By the time they got to Arlo's house, she was sick and sad and exhausted. Luckily she was able to sneak into the house and her bedroom without being caught.

After that, it all went blank for her.