Buddy’s Swan Dive ©Marcella B. Ware
(From my Skinny Stories series)
“Did you hear that?”
“No”
“Listen!”
They both knelt silently on the wet ground behind a bush, and listened to the ordinary sounds of the night.
“I still don’t hear anything.”
“Shhhh!”
Suddenly there was a short low moan in the distance.
“There, you think that’s him?”
Alice looked down into Bel’s big, frightened eyes as she waited for a response. One of them was already closing from the swelling.
The low moan came again, but louder, and closer.
“Oh god it is him, he is coming, oh shit.” Bel said.
They knelt silently and listened to the rain from earlier that night dripping slowly from the trees near by. The rain had done very little to cool the hot night.
“What do we do now?” Bel asked.
Alice wiped sweat from her face as she thought; “If this guy finds us, even as hurt as he is, he’s going to try and kill her, maybe even me. If we go to the woods it will take all night to get to the road on the other side. If we try to get back to my car we have to pass him. We have to attack him or try to trap him, get to the car and get to town to call the police.
“Why didn’t I grab my phone, we could call the cops why the hell didn’t I grab my phone?”
Alice watched her friend slowly lose her cool as she thought.
“Bel shut up. If the phone rang out here he would find us. We have to figure out how to get around him, or attack him.”
“Are you fucking crazy? That drunk bastard just got hit in the head with an iron frying pan and all it did was make him wobble. Wobble! He just stood stupid a few minutes! He didn’t fall down why didn’t he fall the hell down!?”
“Ssssh! Yeah I was the one that did it, I saw! He’s getting closer and we can’t make it through the woods.”
“Oh fuck no I'm not going in those dark ass woods.”
Alice took her friends hand and said,
“No, we can’t I said, so were going to have to get ourselves out of this. You’re brave, I'm brave, and we’re smarter than his whole family combined. We can do this.”
Bel seemed to calm. Her friend was right they were smarter and sober. They would find their way out of this.
~*~
“Beeeelll! Where you at girl? When I get you and your stupid friend you know I’m gonna be mad so, you better make it easier on ya. Just come out Bel.”
Buddy looked around the darkened land through his bleary eyes searching for some clue as to where the women had run. He was angry his head hurt, and his buzz was waning. He was in no mood for this crap and planned to make them pay for ruining his good night.
He had good luck at the poker tables and Linda’s liquor house and a little more luck in the mens room with Linda’s little sister Shelly. He paused in his search for Bel and Alice for a moment to think back on Shelly. He smiled thinking of her big, pale, easy ass.
“I should have just gone to Kooters house “he mumbled to no one.
He frowned as he thought, “all I did was ask what was for supper. I don’t give a fuck if its 3 am, I'm hungry. Man should get to eat when he’s hungry but no that lazy bitch didn’t save me anything. Got her fucking friend over, let her eat, but did they save me one thing? So I popped her so damn what. Needs to learn.”
He reached back and felt the large knot on his head. It was damp. He looked at his fingers and saw blood in the pale light coming from the street light by the house. Seeing the blood refueled his anger.
“Beeeelll! God damn it if I have to look for you you know I'm gonna beat the shit out of you girl!”
~*~
Alice stood and walked a little from their hiding place. Bel was waving her hands for her to come back but Alice had to see where he was.
She came back to Bel and said, “I see him; he’s just over by the pile of sand.”
She looked behind them at the dark woods. They went on for a long time. She knew because she and her ex boyfriend use to hike them. From behind Bel’s house, if you went straight you would come to the main road that eventually led to town; but if you went more north, just a little more north you were headed for a long walk through deep brush and wood.
She knew the way to the road, but knew Bel was terrified of woods, even in the day.
“Listen you’re going to have to be brave and go a little into the woods.”
“Alice I can’t I can’t I can’t you know I can’t.”
“Listen we’re not going out of the light. You will be able to see around you and see the light I promise. We just need to get there to the entrance and get a better hiding spot. He’s about to walk right over here.”
“Oh shit no I can’t please don’t ask me to.”
“Do you want to go out there and try to fight him? He’s drunk and mean and hurt. He’s gonna do his best to kill you this time Bel, and I have no weapons.”
“Beeeellll! I’ve had it with you bitch, I'm sick you and your shit. I find you, I’m gonna spend the whole night showing you and your bitch friend just how tired I am! Fuck it, no one will miss you! Either of you! Worthless whores”
Alice looked at her friend’s swollen eye and the bit of blood that had trickled from her nose. She wanted to hug her and tell her she was so sorry she was hurt but knew instead, if they were to live, it was better to stay strong.
“Son of a bitch!” Buddy yelled in the distance.
“Bel listen we can make it to the woods without him seeing us; then we can go along the inside of the woods back toward the house. I have my car keys so we can just get in my car and leave. I can find a branch or stick to fight with if I have to and we can throw rocks away from us so he focuses in the other direction.” “It will never work Alice; he can always find me, always.”
“No it will work this time Bel because he’s not looking so much for me, so follow me.”
Bel’s face was a mask of fear and thought. Alice kept looking toward where she saw him hoping he wasn’t closer yet.
~*~
Buddy tripped on a shovel and fell face first into a small pile of wet sand. He got to his knees cursing and spitting. He sat back on his heels as he brushed the sand from his face.
“Son of a bitch!”
He looked over at the big pile of dirt with an angry sneer on his face, as if he were blaming it for his fall. All that sands he had dug a year ago trying to build a pool Like most projects he started it was nothing more than an unorganized mess of dirt piles, a big roll of plastic he found years ago and piles of cinder blocks and bricks. He had dug a hole 7 feet long, 4 feet wide and 7 feet deep more or less. It had taken him and 3 drunken buddies 2 liquor filled days and nights to get that far. They stopped work all together one day to wait for his friend Kooter to bring his tractor over to try and pull up 2 huge roots that stuck out of the ground like boney knees. Buddy liked to say they were going to pull up old man tree by his knees and burn them just for fucking up his pool, but they never did.
He felt his right pocket to make sure his fall hadn’t broken the pint he had there. He fished it out and took a drink. The liquor burned his lip and he winced. “Uuuh must have split ma lip.”Fuck it” he laughed and took another drink.
He put the pint away then stood and looked again toward the bushes and car parts that littered their side yard.
He thought he heard something there earlier so he stood still and listened.
~*~
Alice watched her friend as she debated their choices in her head. Time was running out and she wanted to goad her into making her mind up faster but knew it would be better in the end to let her work it out.
“Ok you’re right. We can make it to the woods without being seen.”
Alice smiled and turned toward the woods. She stood stooped and walked off a little again then came back and said,
“Ok, he’s making his way through the tires so we have a few seconds till he gets to the bushes. Come on!”
Bel stood and took Alice’s hand. She took a deep breath and said, “lets go!”
They ran straight to the tree line then slowed so they could make their way into the woods. They got past the smaller trees and bush to the darker deeper tree line behind tall trees.
“Stop please stop here” Bel said.
Alice stopped and looked back to where they had come from.
They could see Buddy clearly as he kicked a tire in the pile near the bushes in which they were just hiding. He seemed to turn directly towards them, as if he could see them. Bels hand tightened on Alice’s.
~*~
Buddy staggered around the tires he had piled in his side yard. He stopped and kicked a tire as he fished his bottle out of his pocket.
“I sure wish I still had that Cuda those were on.”
He thought of the finest car he ever had and how his good for nothing brother wrecked it on Ocean road at the curve. It rolled down the steep hill and landed on its crushed roof. His brother died. Buddy was so upset that the car was totaled. Most of the people who knew his brother were inclined to feel bad for the car as well.
Buddy’s anger flared again.
“I can’t have nothin’ I can’t have a damn thing.”
He looked at the woods for a moment thinking of all the nice things he had in his life others had ruined or taken and his blood boiled. He suddenly realize so many of the bad things that had happened recently happened when he decided to live with Bel. She made him lose his job by not waking him up in the morning; she nagged him about his drinking and talking about women, and made his stop watching porno. She even made him let his brother use his car to go get beer because she said he was too drunk to drive and his brother agreed. He just took the keys and ran and Bel made him so upset he passed out when he tried to chase after him. Enraged he yelled,
“Belinda Marie Harker, I am gonna kill you!”
~*~
Bel started to back up, her heart racing with fear, but Alice stopped her.
“Shh, be still, wait..”
She slowly crouched and felt around the forest floor. Her hand finally found a small stone. She stood and threw it as hard as she could to the small group of trees to their left, away from them.
It sounded like it the side of one of the trees. Buddy looked in the direction of the sound and mumbled “now I got ya fucking whores.”
He tipped his bottle and drained the last of it then threw it down. It smashed against something they couldn’t see. He staggered off toward the sound with more steam than he had been showing. As soon as he was further away Alice pulled Bel in the opposite direction inside the tree line. They almost made it to the back of the yard close to the house when they stopped short. Their way was blocked by some of the rusted out car bodies Buddy had abandoned there. They stood looking at them catching their breath and feeling the misery one can only know from thwarted plans.
~*~
Buddy ran into the little clump of trees sure he would find them cowering together behind the biggest tree. He jumped around it growling “yes!”, but no one was there. He quickly weaved between the trees wanting to find them, wanting to hurt them.
Finally realizing there was no one in the small clump of trees had started back the way he had come still mumbling threats in low angry tones. Now he walked closer to the tree line looking in as he walked. He was a hunter and sure he would see them.
~*~
“Lets just run for it.” Bel said.
“No he’s facing us now, and we both know even drunk he runs really fast.”
“What do we do?”
Alice thought about it a second and said, “well we really cant go around the cars. We would have to go deeper in the woods and there are so many stickers over there we would be trapped. Maybe we do have to run.”
They stood watching Buddy as he roamed the side yard like an angry zombie and tried to summon the courage to just make a break for it.
Alice kept looking around, thinking. They were almost behind the pile of sand, maybe they could walk out slowly to it and duck down fast, go around it, around the house and then break for her car. It was in the front yard not far from the house.
She leaned in and whispered her thoughts to Bel.
“So you think it’s ok?”
“I think he will be closer any minute, so yes it’s a good idea.”
They started to move forward, but as Alice stepped forward, she felt something tug her leg. She looked down and saw that the leg of her jeans was caught on a piece of rusty metal sticking out from one of the cars. She pulled on it a few times but it wouldn’t come lose.
“Bel, help me.”
Bel turned and saw the problem and tried to get Alice’s pants free from the jagged metal. They pulled and wiggled the material but it wouldn’t free its self. Alice even tried pulling hard trying to rip the fabric.
“You’re going to have to pull harder and rip them.” Bel said.
She backed up as Alice repositioned her self in order to give the pants leg a hard pull. Just as she did the whole side of the car she was stuck on pulled free with a loud rusty groan. They looked at each other and silently screamed “oh shit!”
Alice pulled very hard once more and felt her pants rip free but it was too late. Buddy started laughing and screaming, “there the fuck you are! I got you now bitch and I’m gonna beat the fuck outta you!”
They started to run toward the sand pile. But instead of running around it Alice ran up its side. Bel followed. Buddy missed grabbing her shirt by inches. Alice stopped at the top, realizing there was a huge hole beyond it.
She turned sharply to the left and down the bank back toward the yard. Bel, screaming now, followed.
Buddy reached the top and yelled, “Now I can see you haha yeeess now I see you bo”…
The women stopped and turned when they heard his words cut off followed by a hard thud. Buddy was gone from the top of the hill.
“Where did he go?”
Alice started to walk toward the pit but Bel stopped her.
“No, what if he's fallen behind it? He’ll just come after us anyway come on!”
Alice walked on anyway. She got to the pit and looked in, but it was dark. She grabbed Bels hand and ran with her into the house. She grabbed some knives out of the butchers block and handed Bel one.
“Where’s a flashlight?”
“Lets just go!” Bel pleaded.
“No I think he fell into the pit. I want to know if he’s out or just going to come after us again. I want to tie him up if he’s just out so we can at least have a head start back to town!”
Bel knew the truth he would just get in his car and chase them. God only knew what he would do to them on the road. She went to a cupboard in the kitchen and grabbed a flashlight. As they left the house Alice grabbed a tangle of small ropes sitting on an old table beside the front door, and threw them over her shoulder.
They walked slowly back to the pit together. Alice took the flashlight and approached the pit slowly. She turned on the light and shone it into the pit. At the bottom was Buddy. He was lying on his stomach but his head was facing the sky.
“Oh Jesus!” Alice shrieked as she backed away.
“What, oh god what! Bel cried.
“Oh ,Bel, he’s dead.”
Bel came up to Alice and took the flashlight. She looked in. Buddy’s eyes were still open and some sand had fallen into the, and there was a trickle of blood coming from his nose. She looked at his neck and saw how it twisted un naturally and bulged
“Oh my oh god oh my oh, oh my.”
Alice came up behind her , dropped the un needed ropes and put an arm around her friend.
“Well, we better go call the police.”
They walk slowly in silence to the house. Alice pulled out her cigarettes and lit one, then climbed onto the counter and sat beside the phone. Bel went to the refrigerator and brought back 2 beers. She sat on the high stool in front of the counter next to Alice. They opened their beers and took a long drink from them.
Alice held out her pack of smokes to Bel, but she just smiled weakly and shook her head.
They sat in silence and rested as they finished their beers. Alice looked at Bel and saw her face was dark and in serious thought.
“What are you thinking about Bel? Are you worried we will be in trouble?”
“No I was just wondering. You think that mean bastard will haunt me?”
Alice almost laughed, then thought better of it.
They sat looking at each other as a sluggish, cold wind blew in through the open door.
The End
(From my Skinny Stories series)
“Did you hear that?”
“No”
“Listen!”
They both knelt silently on the wet ground behind a bush, and listened to the ordinary sounds of the night.
“I still don’t hear anything.”
“Shhhh!”
Suddenly there was a short low moan in the distance.
“There, you think that’s him?”
Alice looked down into Bel’s big, frightened eyes as she waited for a response. One of them was already closing from the swelling.
The low moan came again, but louder, and closer.
“Oh god it is him, he is coming, oh shit.” Bel said.
They knelt silently and listened to the rain from earlier that night dripping slowly from the trees near by. The rain had done very little to cool the hot night.
“What do we do now?” Bel asked.
Alice wiped sweat from her face as she thought; “If this guy finds us, even as hurt as he is, he’s going to try and kill her, maybe even me. If we go to the woods it will take all night to get to the road on the other side. If we try to get back to my car we have to pass him. We have to attack him or try to trap him, get to the car and get to town to call the police.
“Why didn’t I grab my phone, we could call the cops why the hell didn’t I grab my phone?”
Alice watched her friend slowly lose her cool as she thought.
“Bel shut up. If the phone rang out here he would find us. We have to figure out how to get around him, or attack him.”
“Are you fucking crazy? That drunk bastard just got hit in the head with an iron frying pan and all it did was make him wobble. Wobble! He just stood stupid a few minutes! He didn’t fall down why didn’t he fall the hell down!?”
“Ssssh! Yeah I was the one that did it, I saw! He’s getting closer and we can’t make it through the woods.”
“Oh fuck no I'm not going in those dark ass woods.”
Alice took her friends hand and said,
“No, we can’t I said, so were going to have to get ourselves out of this. You’re brave, I'm brave, and we’re smarter than his whole family combined. We can do this.”
Bel seemed to calm. Her friend was right they were smarter and sober. They would find their way out of this.
~*~
“Beeeelll! Where you at girl? When I get you and your stupid friend you know I’m gonna be mad so, you better make it easier on ya. Just come out Bel.”
Buddy looked around the darkened land through his bleary eyes searching for some clue as to where the women had run. He was angry his head hurt, and his buzz was waning. He was in no mood for this crap and planned to make them pay for ruining his good night.
He had good luck at the poker tables and Linda’s liquor house and a little more luck in the mens room with Linda’s little sister Shelly. He paused in his search for Bel and Alice for a moment to think back on Shelly. He smiled thinking of her big, pale, easy ass.
“I should have just gone to Kooters house “he mumbled to no one.
He frowned as he thought, “all I did was ask what was for supper. I don’t give a fuck if its 3 am, I'm hungry. Man should get to eat when he’s hungry but no that lazy bitch didn’t save me anything. Got her fucking friend over, let her eat, but did they save me one thing? So I popped her so damn what. Needs to learn.”
He reached back and felt the large knot on his head. It was damp. He looked at his fingers and saw blood in the pale light coming from the street light by the house. Seeing the blood refueled his anger.
“Beeeelll! God damn it if I have to look for you you know I'm gonna beat the shit out of you girl!”
~*~
Alice stood and walked a little from their hiding place. Bel was waving her hands for her to come back but Alice had to see where he was.
She came back to Bel and said, “I see him; he’s just over by the pile of sand.”
She looked behind them at the dark woods. They went on for a long time. She knew because she and her ex boyfriend use to hike them. From behind Bel’s house, if you went straight you would come to the main road that eventually led to town; but if you went more north, just a little more north you were headed for a long walk through deep brush and wood.
She knew the way to the road, but knew Bel was terrified of woods, even in the day.
“Listen you’re going to have to be brave and go a little into the woods.”
“Alice I can’t I can’t I can’t you know I can’t.”
“Listen we’re not going out of the light. You will be able to see around you and see the light I promise. We just need to get there to the entrance and get a better hiding spot. He’s about to walk right over here.”
“Oh shit no I can’t please don’t ask me to.”
“Do you want to go out there and try to fight him? He’s drunk and mean and hurt. He’s gonna do his best to kill you this time Bel, and I have no weapons.”
“Beeeellll! I’ve had it with you bitch, I'm sick you and your shit. I find you, I’m gonna spend the whole night showing you and your bitch friend just how tired I am! Fuck it, no one will miss you! Either of you! Worthless whores”
Alice looked at her friend’s swollen eye and the bit of blood that had trickled from her nose. She wanted to hug her and tell her she was so sorry she was hurt but knew instead, if they were to live, it was better to stay strong.
“Son of a bitch!” Buddy yelled in the distance.
“Bel listen we can make it to the woods without him seeing us; then we can go along the inside of the woods back toward the house. I have my car keys so we can just get in my car and leave. I can find a branch or stick to fight with if I have to and we can throw rocks away from us so he focuses in the other direction.” “It will never work Alice; he can always find me, always.”
“No it will work this time Bel because he’s not looking so much for me, so follow me.”
Bel’s face was a mask of fear and thought. Alice kept looking toward where she saw him hoping he wasn’t closer yet.
~*~
Buddy tripped on a shovel and fell face first into a small pile of wet sand. He got to his knees cursing and spitting. He sat back on his heels as he brushed the sand from his face.
“Son of a bitch!”
He looked over at the big pile of dirt with an angry sneer on his face, as if he were blaming it for his fall. All that sands he had dug a year ago trying to build a pool Like most projects he started it was nothing more than an unorganized mess of dirt piles, a big roll of plastic he found years ago and piles of cinder blocks and bricks. He had dug a hole 7 feet long, 4 feet wide and 7 feet deep more or less. It had taken him and 3 drunken buddies 2 liquor filled days and nights to get that far. They stopped work all together one day to wait for his friend Kooter to bring his tractor over to try and pull up 2 huge roots that stuck out of the ground like boney knees. Buddy liked to say they were going to pull up old man tree by his knees and burn them just for fucking up his pool, but they never did.
He felt his right pocket to make sure his fall hadn’t broken the pint he had there. He fished it out and took a drink. The liquor burned his lip and he winced. “Uuuh must have split ma lip.”Fuck it” he laughed and took another drink.
He put the pint away then stood and looked again toward the bushes and car parts that littered their side yard.
He thought he heard something there earlier so he stood still and listened.
~*~
Alice watched her friend as she debated their choices in her head. Time was running out and she wanted to goad her into making her mind up faster but knew it would be better in the end to let her work it out.
“Ok you’re right. We can make it to the woods without being seen.”
Alice smiled and turned toward the woods. She stood stooped and walked off a little again then came back and said,
“Ok, he’s making his way through the tires so we have a few seconds till he gets to the bushes. Come on!”
Bel stood and took Alice’s hand. She took a deep breath and said, “lets go!”
They ran straight to the tree line then slowed so they could make their way into the woods. They got past the smaller trees and bush to the darker deeper tree line behind tall trees.
“Stop please stop here” Bel said.
Alice stopped and looked back to where they had come from.
They could see Buddy clearly as he kicked a tire in the pile near the bushes in which they were just hiding. He seemed to turn directly towards them, as if he could see them. Bels hand tightened on Alice’s.
~*~
Buddy staggered around the tires he had piled in his side yard. He stopped and kicked a tire as he fished his bottle out of his pocket.
“I sure wish I still had that Cuda those were on.”
He thought of the finest car he ever had and how his good for nothing brother wrecked it on Ocean road at the curve. It rolled down the steep hill and landed on its crushed roof. His brother died. Buddy was so upset that the car was totaled. Most of the people who knew his brother were inclined to feel bad for the car as well.
Buddy’s anger flared again.
“I can’t have nothin’ I can’t have a damn thing.”
He looked at the woods for a moment thinking of all the nice things he had in his life others had ruined or taken and his blood boiled. He suddenly realize so many of the bad things that had happened recently happened when he decided to live with Bel. She made him lose his job by not waking him up in the morning; she nagged him about his drinking and talking about women, and made his stop watching porno. She even made him let his brother use his car to go get beer because she said he was too drunk to drive and his brother agreed. He just took the keys and ran and Bel made him so upset he passed out when he tried to chase after him. Enraged he yelled,
“Belinda Marie Harker, I am gonna kill you!”
~*~
Bel started to back up, her heart racing with fear, but Alice stopped her.
“Shh, be still, wait..”
She slowly crouched and felt around the forest floor. Her hand finally found a small stone. She stood and threw it as hard as she could to the small group of trees to their left, away from them.
It sounded like it the side of one of the trees. Buddy looked in the direction of the sound and mumbled “now I got ya fucking whores.”
He tipped his bottle and drained the last of it then threw it down. It smashed against something they couldn’t see. He staggered off toward the sound with more steam than he had been showing. As soon as he was further away Alice pulled Bel in the opposite direction inside the tree line. They almost made it to the back of the yard close to the house when they stopped short. Their way was blocked by some of the rusted out car bodies Buddy had abandoned there. They stood looking at them catching their breath and feeling the misery one can only know from thwarted plans.
~*~
Buddy ran into the little clump of trees sure he would find them cowering together behind the biggest tree. He jumped around it growling “yes!”, but no one was there. He quickly weaved between the trees wanting to find them, wanting to hurt them.
Finally realizing there was no one in the small clump of trees had started back the way he had come still mumbling threats in low angry tones. Now he walked closer to the tree line looking in as he walked. He was a hunter and sure he would see them.
~*~
“Lets just run for it.” Bel said.
“No he’s facing us now, and we both know even drunk he runs really fast.”
“What do we do?”
Alice thought about it a second and said, “well we really cant go around the cars. We would have to go deeper in the woods and there are so many stickers over there we would be trapped. Maybe we do have to run.”
They stood watching Buddy as he roamed the side yard like an angry zombie and tried to summon the courage to just make a break for it.
Alice kept looking around, thinking. They were almost behind the pile of sand, maybe they could walk out slowly to it and duck down fast, go around it, around the house and then break for her car. It was in the front yard not far from the house.
She leaned in and whispered her thoughts to Bel.
“So you think it’s ok?”
“I think he will be closer any minute, so yes it’s a good idea.”
They started to move forward, but as Alice stepped forward, she felt something tug her leg. She looked down and saw that the leg of her jeans was caught on a piece of rusty metal sticking out from one of the cars. She pulled on it a few times but it wouldn’t come lose.
“Bel, help me.”
Bel turned and saw the problem and tried to get Alice’s pants free from the jagged metal. They pulled and wiggled the material but it wouldn’t free its self. Alice even tried pulling hard trying to rip the fabric.
“You’re going to have to pull harder and rip them.” Bel said.
She backed up as Alice repositioned her self in order to give the pants leg a hard pull. Just as she did the whole side of the car she was stuck on pulled free with a loud rusty groan. They looked at each other and silently screamed “oh shit!”
Alice pulled very hard once more and felt her pants rip free but it was too late. Buddy started laughing and screaming, “there the fuck you are! I got you now bitch and I’m gonna beat the fuck outta you!”
They started to run toward the sand pile. But instead of running around it Alice ran up its side. Bel followed. Buddy missed grabbing her shirt by inches. Alice stopped at the top, realizing there was a huge hole beyond it.
She turned sharply to the left and down the bank back toward the yard. Bel, screaming now, followed.
Buddy reached the top and yelled, “Now I can see you haha yeeess now I see you bo”…
The women stopped and turned when they heard his words cut off followed by a hard thud. Buddy was gone from the top of the hill.
“Where did he go?”
Alice started to walk toward the pit but Bel stopped her.
“No, what if he's fallen behind it? He’ll just come after us anyway come on!”
Alice walked on anyway. She got to the pit and looked in, but it was dark. She grabbed Bels hand and ran with her into the house. She grabbed some knives out of the butchers block and handed Bel one.
“Where’s a flashlight?”
“Lets just go!” Bel pleaded.
“No I think he fell into the pit. I want to know if he’s out or just going to come after us again. I want to tie him up if he’s just out so we can at least have a head start back to town!”
Bel knew the truth he would just get in his car and chase them. God only knew what he would do to them on the road. She went to a cupboard in the kitchen and grabbed a flashlight. As they left the house Alice grabbed a tangle of small ropes sitting on an old table beside the front door, and threw them over her shoulder.
They walked slowly back to the pit together. Alice took the flashlight and approached the pit slowly. She turned on the light and shone it into the pit. At the bottom was Buddy. He was lying on his stomach but his head was facing the sky.
“Oh Jesus!” Alice shrieked as she backed away.
“What, oh god what! Bel cried.
“Oh ,Bel, he’s dead.”
Bel came up to Alice and took the flashlight. She looked in. Buddy’s eyes were still open and some sand had fallen into the, and there was a trickle of blood coming from his nose. She looked at his neck and saw how it twisted un naturally and bulged
“Oh my oh god oh my oh, oh my.”
Alice came up behind her , dropped the un needed ropes and put an arm around her friend.
“Well, we better go call the police.”
They walk slowly in silence to the house. Alice pulled out her cigarettes and lit one, then climbed onto the counter and sat beside the phone. Bel went to the refrigerator and brought back 2 beers. She sat on the high stool in front of the counter next to Alice. They opened their beers and took a long drink from them.
Alice held out her pack of smokes to Bel, but she just smiled weakly and shook her head.
They sat in silence and rested as they finished their beers. Alice looked at Bel and saw her face was dark and in serious thought.
“What are you thinking about Bel? Are you worried we will be in trouble?”
“No I was just wondering. You think that mean bastard will haunt me?”
Alice almost laughed, then thought better of it.
They sat looking at each other as a sluggish, cold wind blew in through the open door.
The End
