We’ve Gone Too Far #2
“Okay, I’m in.” Desiree walked to the edge of the deep end. Everyone called it The Well, though, since it went down twelve feet.
She shook off her flip-flops and dipped her foot in the water. “Feels nice, you guys!” She started to pull her shirt up over her head, but before she could take it off, Jeannie ran over and pushed her in.
Desiree yelled “Hey!” before she went under. She popped up a few seconds later. “Oh, you are such a bitch, Jeannie!” Desiree splashed water at her.
“That’s for the razzing you gave me in the woods!”
We all laughed, then stripped down to our underwear and jumped into The Well with Desiree.
It was like we were little kids again. We played Sharks and Minnows, dove to the bottom to pick up quarters we threw in and raced each other end to end. We took turns diving from the high dive, which was a lot scarier at night than during the day.
The pool was always crowded all day, with obnoxious middle schoolers who liked to dunk girls and pick splash fights with anyone around them. They kept the lifeguards busy and usually got benched at least once a day. So it was really nice having the entire pool to ourselves tonight.
We swam under the rope to the four-feet-deep section so we could stand up and touch the bottom. We rested against the wall and laid the back of our heads on the pool edge, our bodies bobbing and floating in the water.
“I’m so glad we did this, you guys,” said Jeannie. “This is the best night of the entire summer.”
We all mmm-hmmed in agreement.
“I hate to break up this beautiful moment, but I gotta take a leak.” Weed lifted himself out of the pool and swung his feet onto the concrete.
“Lots of trees over that way,” Randy gestured.
“Yeah, I think I’ll just go up to the locker room since it’s always open. I’ll be right back.” He walked up the grass hill to the main entrance building.
“Man, I wish the snack bar didn’t have a lock. I got the munchies big time.” Randy laughed.
“Once Weed gets back, we’ll head over to my house. There’s plenty of snacks there. What time is it, Des?”
“Almost 11:30.”
“Yeah, it’s almost time for MTV.” I couldn’t believe how excited I was for this. I was a little embarrassed, but I don’t think the others knew just how stoked I was.
“Let’s get out and air dry so we can leave as soon as Weed gets back.”
“Good idea, Randy.”
He got out first. “Careful, the cement is kind of slick.”
After we were all out, I cupped my hands around my mouth. “Weed, let’s go!” I yelled.
“Oh, my God, Paul,” Desiree whisper-shouted at me. “Don’t be so loud. There are houses around.”
“There are no lights on. Everyone’s sleeping; they can’t hear us. Take a chill pill.”
“Maybe Weed fell in,” Jeannie joked.
I sighed. “I’ll go check on him. He can be such a pain in the ass sometimes.” I started up the hill towards the locker rooms.
A god-awful scream from the cluster of trees by the fence we climbed made me stumble and fall on the grass.
“What the fuck was that?” I looked down at Randy and the girls. They were like statues, not moving at all, their eyes wide with terror.
I stood up. “It’s okay,” I called out. “Probably a fox in heat or some—”
Whatever it was screamed again. My stomach tightened and I couldn’t swallow. It’s just an animal, just an animal, I told myself.
I saw the thing bust out from the woods, shrieking like a banshee. Brown fur covered its face and chest, and horns extended from the top of its head. It ran towards Randy and the girls.
“It’s the Goatman!” Jeannie screamed. She ran away from it, paying no attention to where she was going, shrieking and crying in terror.
I got a better look at the thing as it drew closer, running on two legs. Goddamnit.
“Jeannie, it’s okay!” I yelled. “It’s not the—"
She tripped on a deep crack in the cement and went down hard, slamming her head onto the concrete edge of the pool.
Her head bounced up with the impact, then landed in the water.
The rest of her slid in and sank to the bottom.
Blood colored the white concrete bright red, and wisps of blood floated and swirled on top of the water.
I jumped in the water and pulled Jeannie out.
I carried her to the grass and started CPR.
After a few minutes with everyone standing around watching, I finally had to stop.
Blood dribbled from her mouth with each compression, and the brain matter from her cracked skull had spread in the grass.
I knew she was gone for sure. I grabbed a beach towel someone had left behind on a chair that day and covered Jeannie up.
I turned to the others. Weed had taken off the mask that covered his head and upper body, his face white as a sheet. I ran at him, ready to beat the shit out of him.
“Paul, I’m sorry! It was just a joke! I found the mask in the woods tonight and hid it when we got here. I didn’t mean for anything bad to happen. Please, Paul. I didn’t mean to hurt her!”
He kept babbling as I approached him.
“You killed her, you motherfucker!”
“No, it was just a prank! It’s not my fault!” Weed took a step back, but not far enough to keep my fist from connecting with his jaw. He fell on his back then quickly got on his hands and knees.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He screamed and cried, spraying blood and a couple of teeth on the ground.
I turned to Desiree. Her eyes were wide and scared.
“You knew, didn’t you? That’s what you two were whispering about on the way here.”
“No, Paul! We just wanted to give Jeannie a little scare. We were just going to have a little fun!”
“Shut up, you fucking bitch!” I screamed in her face, practically nose-to-nose with her. “Don’t you lie to me. Don’t you dare,” I threatened in a tight quiet voice. “You knew she was terrified of the Goatman.”
She sobbed and backed away, landing on one of the deck chairs. She rocked back and forth with her arms wrapped around herself, crying and saying she was sorry over and over.
“It was just supposed to be a joke. Just a joke,” she kept repeating between sobs.
“Paul, you know we would never have done this if we knew what would happen!” Weed said.
I couldn’t take it. “Shut the fuck up, both of you!” I screamed, ignoring the scraping rawness in my throat.
“Hey, Paul.” Randy put his hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him. Tears ran down his face. “We gotta call the police. You know that, right?”
I nodded, letting myself start to cry as well.
“There’s a phone in the lifeguard’s office. Come with me, you can’t stay here.”
“What if they run off?” I asked in a voice that I didn’t recognize as my own.
“They won’t. Come on.” He gently pulled on my arm until I started walking with him up the hill. We went through the locker room that led to the office. I stood by the door and listened to the rotary dial make its slow trek to “9” and back before “1-1” clicked faster.
“Hello? Yes, I’m at Towne Aquatic and there’s been a bad accident.”
“It was fucking murder!” I screamed.
Randy put the receiver mouthpiece under his chin and whispered to me. “Shhh. It’s going to be okay, Paul.” He put the phone back up to his mouth. “Yes, I’m here, sorry. A friend of ours is hurt and needs help.”
I just stared at him, wondering how he could be so calm. Nothing would ever be okay again; didn’t he know that? I walked away and pushed open the building’s front double doors, setting off alarms.
“Paul, wait!”
I turned to look at Randy. He looked scared. He put his hand over the mouthpiece. “Please.” I don’t know if he said it out loud or just mouthed it. I couldn’t hear anything over the alarms. It didn’t matter.
***
I walked home in a daze, barely aware I was just in my underwear.
Vaguely I wondered if anybody would see me.
I entered through the basement sliding door like I always did when I knew my parents would be asleep.
I grabbed one of my dad’s Budweisers from the drink fridge and fell onto the couch.
I grabbed a pen off the end table next to me.
I punched a hole in the side of the can, put my mouth against it, and pulled the tab, shotgunning the whole thing.
I used the remote to turn to MTV, even though I didn’t care about it anymore.
Some group I never heard of was singing about video killing a radio star.
…we can’t rewind, we’ve gone too far…
I dropped my head into my hands and waited to hear the sirens I knew were on their way.
The End