I woke up to the cawing of seagulls, the scent of salt, and the warm touch of Astrid's body right up against mine. The blanket Astrid and I were laying on was curled, messed up, and extremely uncomfortable but it hadn't taken any fun away from the romantic dinner Astrid and I had on the beach last night.
Listening to the cawing of the seagulls and the soothing sound of the waves lapping on the shore was relaxing, to say the very least. To have a romantic evening on the beach, Astrid and I had set up a dinner. We picked a rock cliff protruding from the sandy beach to eat dinner on. It was at least ten feet above the water, so the waves would never 'soil' our dinner. The dinner was fantastic. We put up scented candles around the two of us to make it more romantic. The seafood we ate and the 'secret wine' (the reason I say 'secret' is because we're minors and I stole it from my dad's wine cellar) made the beach theme all too romantic.
After we ate dinner, we danced along the shore of the beach, hand-in-hand, running back and forth between the waves. The romantic evening had everything in store: a dinner, a dance along the waves, and the finishing touch (if you know what I mean).
As I rubbed sleep away from my eyes, I remembered every detail about last night: the holding hands, the dinner, the dance, her lips against my lips, the cawing of the seagulls, and the lapping of the waves...but my thoughts were interrupted by Astrid's waking up.
"Good morning," I said, kissing the edge of her jaw rhythmically, gently coaxing her awake.
Astrid started to stir, stretching her arms to either side of her, yawning, and rubbing sleep away from her eyes with her hands. She slowly opened her eyes, yawned once again, and then kissed me on the cheek. "Good morning, Sam," Astrid spoke.
Astrid finally sat up, the effects of sleep still evident on her. Astrid looked around, confused, obviously wondering where she was. It was probably the wine we had last night taking a toll on her. But then she remembered and she smiled. Following the smile, Astrid planted a quaint kiss on my cheek yet again.
After a ten-minute make-out session, Astrid looked a little more awake now. Astrid sat up on the blanket, covering her head with her hands. Astrid sighed and tried to stand up, but wobbled, and fell back down. "Whoa! You need a little rest. How much wine did you have last night?" I asked, a worrisome expression upon my face, but sarcasm was evident in my tone of voice.
Astrid sighed a second time, rubbing her forehead, as if that would make it any better. "I don't know," Astrid said groggily. "I guess I'm just not as tolerant to alcohol as you are. Here...Someone who's experienced at drinking alcohol is going to have a milder reaction to it then someone who's not experienced," Astrid said.
Astrid always feels a need to explain everything to a further extent, sometimes to the point where you can't explain it any further. That's why I like Astrid. She's compassionate, caring, funny, and beautiful. Also, she helps me study for tests and quizzes a lot too. She's the best girlfriend anyone could ask for, and I'm happy she picked me to be her boyfriend.
Astrid was one of the smartest people going to Dark Falls High School. Last year, in her freshman year, Astrid was in the top 5% of GPAs in her grade. This year I bet she would do even better.
Astrid has blonde, curly, below-shoulder-length hair and piercing blue eyes. Her skin is in between pale and tan, the perfect amount of light and dark.
But my thoughts were interrupted by Astrid. "Uhh...are you okay. You look like you're dozing off. Has the wine affected you too?" Astrid asks, her voice heavenly, sarcasm in her voice too.
I tend to day-dream about Astrid a lot. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about you," I say, trying to make my voice sound as romantic as possible, in order for what I just said to sound normal to her.
"Oh, Sam...you've always been the romantic type," Astrid says, leaning in towards me. We kissed each other again for what seemed like a few seconds, but was actually around ten minutes. Time passes quickly when you're kissing the most beautiful and smartest girl in the Dark Falls town. That is for sure. But ten minutes in, Astrid pulled away frantically, and quickly stood up. "Hurry, hurry! We need to get off the beach," Astrid yelled crazily.
"Whoa, whoa! Astrid, what's wrong?" I frantically ask.
Astrid eventually calmed down a bit, but it took a good two minutes. "Sorry," Astrid apologizes, "it's just that people are going to start coming here pretty soon, and if they see us here, my parents will get so mad at me."
"Wait, but if your parents don't see you here, it'll be fine. They won't know you slept on the beach overnight, and they won't know we're dating," I said calmly.
"No, you don't get it. If anyone sees me on the beach with you, they will know by sundown. My parents are like the wealthiest people in the town – not to brag or anything – and if anyone sees us here, its big news. Big news spreads like wildfire in a small town like this," Astrid said, her breaths coming in quick gasps now.
"Whoa, Astrid! Calm down. Remember the three C's now. What are they again?" I asked, using the method of asking calm questions to try to calm her down. It was something Tanner, one of our friends, made up so that we weren't so anxious and stressed all the time.
"Calm, cool, and collected," Astrid said, progressively starting to calm down.
"Good, now just calm down. If we leave now, we'll be out of here before any residents arrive," Sam said.
A worrisome Astrid nodded and took hold of my hand, gesturing for me to start leading the way to the exit of the beach. It would be easy because workers didn't start arriving until 6:30 and it was currently 6:23. But we would have to hurry. The Dark Falls Island Beach was a relatively small beach, and the Dark Falls Island had a relatively small population, so you had to get here by at least 7:00.
It took Astrid and I about seven minutes to reach the exit to the Dark Falls Island Beach. By the time we reached the exit, we were barely able to walk anymore. My legs were burning, my chest was heaving, and my head lolled to and thro. Astrid and I took a second to catch our breaths and then neared the exit. The exit to the beach contained three small spaces, almost like cubicles, and there was a bar jutting out from the side of each cubicle, so if you pushed the bar forward it would signify that someone left the beach at that current time. Astrid and I would have to climb over the bar and out the cubicle in order to leave the beach undetected.
So that is exactly what we did.
But on the way coming out, an employee had just arrived, and I gestured for Astrid to hide inside a cubicle. Hopefully this particular employee wasn't working in the exit cubicles, or else Astrid and I would be screwed.
I stepped out of my cubicle and turned my head, so that I was looking at Astrid. "Astrid," I whispered, so low that it was barely audible, "can I see your purse?" Astrid, reluctantly, handed me the purse. I guess she was just fearful that the Dark Falls Island Beach employee was going to find us here. I started sifting through the purse. When I found what I was looking for, I pulled it out of the purse and handed the purse back to Astrid.
"Pepper spray? Really," Astrid says accusingly.
"If he comes over here, I'm going to spray him. He won't be able to see who we are if his eyes have been sprayed with pepper spray," I replied, gesturing towards the pepper spray bottle.
After waiting for five minutes to see where the Dark Falls Island Beach employee would go, the employee starting walking towards the cubicles...where Astrid and I were. I got ready to spray the pepper spray as the beach employee neared the cubicles. The beach employee didn't even realize what was happening when I jumped out from behind the cubicle and immediately sprayed him with pepper spray. Before he could react or even tell what we looked like, Astrid and I were already running away from the employee and within two minutes we were far enough away where we could rest for a minute.
"Are you okay?" I ask Astrid, desperately trying to catch my breath at the same time. Trying to catch your breath and talking don't go well together. That is for sure.
"Yeah, let's just meet back up at the library. I'll text Gwen to come," Astrid says hurriedly, obviously trying to catch her breath too.
"I'll text Tanner to come too. What time?" I asked.
"9:00. That's when the library opens. See you later, babe," Astrid replies, kissing me on the cheek.
I hug her and then make out with her for seven seconds, not a second longer though. Astrid and I couldn't be seen here, especially not like this.
"Bye, Astrid," I said.
"Bye, Sam," Astrid replied.
We then went our separate ways. But I had a long walk ahead of me. That was for sure. On my way home, things got a little interesting, though.
* * *
After I left Astrid, I started to walk towards my own house. I only lived one mile away from Astrid but I had to take a different route to get to it. The walk from the beach to my house was forty-five minutes, but I figured I would find a taxi somewhere between Point A and Point B. But in the meantime, I just walked it out. It was about 7:15 right now and the sun was slowly edging over the trees, but not quite yet.
I lived on the east-coast side of the island, with pretty much everybody else that lived on the island. One of the major cities on the island was on the East Side: Dark Falls Town (technically also a major city in California). On the West Side, there were basically only tourist attractions – like museums, shops, historical sites, etc. – and business sites.
Astrid had to do a project on the history and geography of the island a few years back, and who do you think she asked to help her study? Me, of course. It was almost like I had been doing the project myself, based on how much I knew about the island now. I guess the facts just stuck with me all these years.
But I wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong idea. I'm an average kind of guy if you're talking about academics. The only thing I'm an expert at is sports, especially football –
But just as I was turning the corner onto Frederick Street, someone bulldozed right into me. I fell to the ground, my heels turned upwards instead of being level with the ground. My head smacks the ground which created a loud diapason in my ears). The person that ran into me fell right on top of me, making the experience all the more horrible. "Get off," I scream, but the person doesn't oblige. I was getting really angry and hysterical now.
My attacker starts swatting me with his puny little arms, yelling and screaming, tears in his eyes, the rivulets of water cascading down his cheeks and onto my shirt. In my perspective, this was probably the weirdest attack ever. Eventually, my attacker became hysterical enough that I just pushed him off and pinned him to the ground. Ironic, right?
The person who attached me was wearing a black ski mask, and it only showed his eyes and nose. His clothes were ragged and muddy from rolling on the ground and his jeans had holes in them like no other. My attacker probably weighed about 110 pounds, which was pretty skinny, considering that he was none other than Howard Finchman, a puny, nerdy kid now in 10th grade, just like me.
"Howard Finchman?" I ask.
"Hello, Jackass Sam," Howard replied. I pulled the ski mask off, revealing his acne-covered face and bony nose and cheeks. This kid had hardly any fat on him.
"You do know that nickname never caught on, right?" I asked; now I was just having fun with him.
"Will you let me go already? This position isn't exactly comfortable..." Howard spoke, his voice punctured by the amount of weight on his lungs (my hands).
"Now you know how I feel," I said, smiling down at him, as Howard's face started to turn red. I finally lifted my hands off of his chest. The red faded from his face, but this only gave him confidence. Howard immediately stood up and punched me in the face. I guess I just wasn't quick enough to block it, or else Howard would be on the ground right now, blood trickling out of his nose.
But I hadn't been quick enough, so I had been punched in the face. It hadn't really hurt though, since Howard had been the one to throw the punch. His bony knuckles did kind of hurt a little when they met my nose, though. You see, when you punch someone, it makes them extremely angry, and anger only gives someone more strength than they already have. In that case, it would give me enough strength to break his nose.
But something else happened. Something bad.
I was getting ready to punch Howard in the nose, but my hand wouldn't curl into a fist. It wasn't until green fire shot out of my hand, and it aimed towards Howard, that I knew why my hand wouldn't curl into a fist. When the fire stopped originating from my hand – I don't even know how that's possible – I rushed toward Howard, but there was nothing I could do. The left side of his face was completely burned off. There was no outer skin left, and blood lay in sticky splotches on the cortexes of the pink, inner skin. His left eye was blackened at the edge and was red at that same corner, also burned from the green fire. The left side of his head had no hair left on it and was bloody in certain places. There was also a water-filled blister forming on the left side of his head. I had shot fire through my hand and I had...had...killed Howard.
This had to be a dream. I pinched myself and felt the slight pain. This wasn't a dream.
I had to get rid of Howard's body. I had to or else I could go to jail. The fire might have some of my DNA in it because it initiated from my hand. The police could find out that I killed Howard if I just left him here, so I tried to hide his body.
I kicked Howard's body with my foot into a tight-spaced alley between two houses and rushed to my house to get a shovel.
* * *
I ran all the way to my house, which took about twenty minutes, snuck into my father's shed, grabbed a shovel and ran back to Howard's body.
When I got to the alleyway where Howard's body was, I sank to the ground and breathed heavily. I could hardly breathe. I reach into my backpack – the one I had taken to the beach – and grab a water bottle. I drank the whole thing in gargantuan gulps. I almost chok on the water, but I feel better now.
When I look into the alley to drag Howard's body out and into the woods, there's no body to be found. I started hyperventilating. Was Howard really dead? Maybe he got up and ran away? Maybe...
I don't have time to think about it. I have to get back to my house, clean up, and go to the library to meet Astrid and our friends. I run back to the house, wary of every possible hiding place, just in case Howard could be hiding somewhere, ready to get revenge. But what if he really is dead? What if someone took the body? What if someone knew...?
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