Clay returned to S of O on the day of the funeral. He returned with no fanfare. The students at S of O blamed him for the bad publicity the school was receiving. The school administration had no use for him. They wished he’d never come back.
In reality, Clay didn’t expose the drugs and corruption on campus. The FBI was already aware of what was going on. They had someone on the inside, someone that knew every detail of the drug operation, someone that knew everyone that was involved.
But the identity of that person was not revealed, nor would it ever be revealed.
Clay was the one that got the credit and the blame for bringing the FBI to the campus for exposing the drug trade. After blowing up the meth lab, Clay drove back to Kansas City. He made it to Elise’s house. He alerted her father to what had happened on campus. Elise’s father contacted his friend with the FBI. It just so happened that the FBI was only days away from breaking the case anyway. Clay only expedited that process.
Associates with the Kansas City mob were arrested the next day. One, a hitman, was arrested outside Elise’s home. Another was arrested outside the safe house where Justin’s mother and brother were staying.
The FBI and State police raced to the S of O campus when the person on the inside alerted them that Justin was about to be murdered. Drugs were found in a safe hidden in the athletic building on campus. Karl Gholson had the safe moved to a hidden room next to his office after the transportation building was blown up. Also, in the safe was a ledger exposing their sales network.
The drugs were scheduled to be loaded on a bus taking the basketball team to a tournament in Chicago on January 2. But after the explosion, the trip was cancelled, forcing the group to hide the drugs in a safe place.
Local and national news networks blanketed the campus. The drug operation was the leading story on most networks for several days. This became an embarrassment of epic proportions to a school that prided itself on its conservative, Christian values.
Clay came back to S of O that day, knowing that he was hated by most of the people on the campus. He came back as a sign of defiance. He didn’t give a rat’s ass for that school anymore. But he did care deeply for his freedom to do what he wanted to do. He was committed to graduating from college, to make something of himself. For all its faults, despite all the bad memories S of O gave him, they provided a free education. He couldn’t afford to go to any other school. Besides, he needed to make a statement to others that they couldn’t force him out, that they couldn’t intimidate him, and that he wasn’t afraid of them.
Visitors flocked to the campus on the day of the funeral. Television crews were everywhere. Flags flew at half-mast that day. The funeral was held in the campus church. It was, by far, the largest church in the area. Still, three hours before the funeral service, every seat had been taken. Overflow crowds were seated in the vestibule, and after that area was full, seats were set up outside of the church and in the gymnasium, where television monitors provided the service.
Clay wouldn’t go to the funeral that day. He couldn’t. The wounds of what had happened ran too deep. He couldn’t understand why people treated the man like a hero and why so many people were sad about his death. They didn’t know the dark side of him. Or, if they did, they chose to ignore it.
Sheriff Roscoe Dale may have died a hero in the minds of the hill people of the Branson area. But Clay knew him for what he really was, a sadistic murderer.
The local news media had spun the story that the local sheriff had been the hero, that he died trying to stop the drug operation. The national news media told a completely different story about the sheriff. They exposed him as corrupt and a sadistic murderer.
But the hill people had never trusted outsiders. They chose not to believe the national media. They chose to believe that Sherriff Roscoe McClain died a hero. The funeral lasted for nearly two hours. Dozens of people spoke. The entire S of O choir was present to sing nearly a dozen gospel hymns. Near the end of the service, thick, dark clouds descended on the area. The wind picked up, and the rain began, slowly at first and then turning into a downpour.
After the funeral service, the casket was carried to a hearse, and a long funeral procession began snaking its way through the back roads leading to the Branson Cemetery. Hundreds of people stood in the pouring rain on the sides of the road to pay their respect.
The funeral and procession to the cemetery after were fitting of a hero.
Clay spent his first day back on campus in his room, the same room he used to share with Justin. He was alone now. He was lonely, but he would never let anyone see that side of him. He had decided the night of the drowning in the pond that he would not let S of O ever get the best of him. He had decided that night that he would return to the campus, that he would graduate and that he would make something out of himself.
It wasn’t going to be easy. He would not have his best friend with him. Everyone on campus seemed to hate him right now.
Maybe, with time, he thought, people will understand what I did. Or, maybe with time, they will forget.
S of O would be better off for what Justin and Clay had done, but no one could see that right now. The school would not only survive, but it would thrive in the years to come. The memories of the bodies in the pond and the blood in the fountain would fade and eventually disappear.
The pond and its fountain would remain the centerpiece of the campus. It would continue to be a gathering place for students and faculty on warm summer nights and cool fall evenings.
Clay graduated from S of O three years later with a degree in criminal justice. His mother passed away during his senior year, and his brother was sent to prison for trafficking drugs. He had only one person show up for his graduation, a friend from the past.
His hopes of people forgetting and forgiving him never came to fruition while he remained on the campus. He was a loner those three years. He never had another roommate. But, for the most part, people left him alone. He learned to enjoy the solitude, or maybe he just learned to accept it.
There was no way in hell that he was going to quit, that he was going to leave school. After graduation, Clay went to work for the FBI. He would have a great deal of success over the coming years. He would find love and marry. He would have three children, a boy and two girls. Clay left the campus of S of O the day he graduated, and he never returned.
***
The wedding in Sikeston, MO, was huge. It was a wonderful May day, with not a cloud in the sky and perfect late spring temperatures.
Risa was a beautiful bride. She had been dreaming of this day since she was in middle school. She had been planning it for over a year. She was completely and absolutely in love. She knew soon after her first date with him that he was the man she would marry someday. He felt the same way about her.
She never went back to S of O. Instead, she went to Southeast Missouri State and graduated three years later with a teaching degree. Soon after graduation, she landed a teaching job in Sikeston. That was a good thing. Risa had no interest in living anywhere else. She was born and raised in Sikeston, and her family and friends were there.
The groom had graduated a year early and had taken a position with the Sikeston Daily News. He proposed to Risa two days later.
Richard had never loved anyone else. He had never even dated anyone else. The two of them were meant to be together. They had always been meant to be together.
But there was a time that she nearly left him. That was during her freshman year at S of O when she met a handsome boy named Justin. She fell in love with him for a brief time.
Richard had become withdrawn. She noticed that shortly after starting school at S of O. He was more secretive then and more distant. He worried about her more than before, and he had become controlling. It was that behavior that caused her to run into the arms of Justin.
He fell in love with her. Her love for him was real, but it wasn’t as strong as the love she had for Richard.
She never realized that Richard was involved in drugs. She only knew that he was in trouble and that he needed her. He kept her at the condominium for her protection. She had lost the trust of some of his associates because of her relationship with Justin.
She could have escaped the condo on numerous occasions. She stayed there for Richard’s sake because he wanted her to.
When the FBI raided the condo, they took Risa into custody. But she didn’t go to jail. Instead, she was taken into witness protection. Richard joined her a few days later.
That was when she found out that Richard had been working with the FBI. He was responsible for bringing down the drug operation in Branson. He was the informer. He was the hero. But no one other than Risa would ever know it.
***
Winters on the campus of Missouri Western in St. Joseph, MO, were brutal. The campus was located on top of a large hill on the east side of town. It was a relatively new school with few trees to block the strong winds that were prevalent in that area during the late fall and winter months.
Snow drifted with the winds, and temperatures fell below zero on many days. It was not a very forgiving place during those winter months. But winter gave way to spring and spring to summer, and when classes began again in late August, the campus took on new life.
Two lovers were joined together again. He had been alone during those cold, lonely nights of winter. Now he was with the one he loved. He had waited a long time for this moment, for the time they could walk hand and hand through campus, free and together, at last.
He had nearly drowned that cold November night in the pond. His lungs had taken in water. He had stopped breathing. But Richard jumped into the water. He dove down and pulled Justin’s lifeless body to the shore. Paramedics worked on him for several minutes. They transported him to the Branson hospital. He was in intensive care for nearly a week. When he awoke, Elise was sitting next to him, holding his hand tightly.
When she graduated from high school, there was only one college she applied to. It was the one where her boyfriend went.
They were both happy now, content with their lives and looking forward to their future together.
Justin went back to S of O one more time. It was to attend his best friend’s graduation. It was the first time the two of them had seen each other since the night the meth lab was blown up. After the graduation, they walked the paths through campus one last time, ending at the edge of the pond, near the fountain. They sat on the bench where Justin had met Risa long ago. They sat silently and drank a beer together, looking out at the fountain, shooting streams of water high into the air and arching them back down to the surface of the pond, where they created ripples that flowed to the shore. The pond was once Justin’s favorite spot to go. It was peaceful, tranquil, and a place of beauty. But that’s not what Justin saw that day. He only saw a symbol of an outward beauty that, inside, resided so many secrets and so much pain.
Both boys needed that quiet time at the pond together to remind them of what was most important in life, to remind them of why they could never let the past control their future.
They were the best man at each other’s weddings. Justin and Elise married two years after graduating from Missouri Western. They had four children, one boy and three girls. Justin never told his children about S of O and the fountain. He never told them about the murders, about the blood in the fountain, and he never went back to S of O again.
The fog still comes over the lake and swallows the surrounding valley, including the campus of S of O. But it’s a gentle fog. It comes in slowly, and when it leaves, the sun always seems to shine. The hills that surround the school hide many secrets. The hill people that live there guard those secrets. For a brief period of time, S of O played a prominent role in guarding those secrets. When they were exposed, it damaged their reputation, but only for a short period of time.
The school has prospered over the years. The students that go there receive a free education, a quality education. Everyone that goes to school there still works on campus. Their work is exchanged for a free education. It’s a unique place, nestled in the hills of the Ozarks, a beautiful, tranquil area where people work hard and are God-fearing. The pace of the Ozarks is slow. Warm, green summers give way to the cool, crisp days of Fall. The leaves on the trees change to the bright amber and orange colors of autumn. The three lakes surrounding the area turn majestic and quiet in the fall. Tourists have gone. Traffic is over. The lakes begin their slumber.
As the sun sets behind the mountains, a warm glow of colors shines down on the valley below, bouncing off the surface of the water and resulting in a rainbow of colors. This is a slice of heaven that few people ever see. It is what makes the Ozarks one of the most majestic places.
But long after the sun has set, after the dorms have been locked and the students are asleep, the cool temperatures of fall collide with the warm waters of the lakes and the fog creeps in, the winds pick up, and the echoes of the past can be heard between the ripples on the surface of the pond.
And, if you look long enough, you can almost see the white sprays of water jetting up from the fountain turn to red.
-THE END-