| |
Misty, woke earlier than usual the following morning. For a moment she thought that maybe last night had just been a crazy dream, but then she saw the muddy socks on the floor. Damn, so much for peace of mind. She thought. Getting up and showered quickly. Surprised at how much mud and grime was still on her. Especially, in her hair. How it got in there was anybodies guess. When she came out Chris was standing there, looking just as resigned as she felt. “Don’t forget our shoes out in the shed.” He whispered, trying to keep his voice down.
She simply nodded in response. They could hear their parents moving around downstairs. Last thing they wanted to do was give them a heads up that they'd snuck out the night before.
Together they went downstairs. They could hear their parents downstairs talking, which was weird because they should be at work. Even weirder was the fact that they hadn’t made breakfast, which was a staple of theirs when they stayed home. Something they'd done ever since they'd been kids. Instead of breakfast, they instead found both of their parents sitting at the table with untouched cups of coffee in front of them. Their mother was pale and had tears running down her cheek. Misty swallowed nervously, Chris and her looked at each other. Both of them wondering the same thing. Which family member had died. The last time they had walked in on scene like this was two years ago when their Grandmother had passed.
Neither one of them talked. Their father grumbled and cleared his throat. As always he was the one to give them the bad news. He looked up from the table and up at them. “Sit down kiddos, I got something I want to ask you and it's really serious.” He told them, finally breaking the silence at the table. That caught them off guard, they gave each other darting looks wondering how their parents had figured out about last night. And more to the point why their mother was taking it so hard after all it had just been a bit of harmless fun. Steeling themselves, they slid into chairs on the other side of the table facing their parents head on.
“What's up dad?” Chris asked before Misty had a chance. She kept looking at her mother hoping that maybe she would give something away. Were they in trouble? Did their parents know they’d snuck out last night? Misty wondered, but then decided that was unlikely after all her parents wouldn’t be acting like this just over something small like that.
Their father cleared his throat loudly, the way he always did when he was speaking about something that made him uncomfortable. “Are you guys doing drugs? And please don’t lie to me.” He said his eyes pleading.
“No.” They both said in unison. If their parents weren’t being so weird at the moment, they probably would have laughed.
“What about Travis did he ever use them?” Their father asked, looking between them. The way he always did when he suspected they were up to something. Or knew more than they were letting on.
“Not that I know of.” Chris told them looking to Misty for support. She shook her head if he was that was the first she'd heard of it. In Beacon Hills, they were lucky if they could sneak the occasional beer. It wasn't like there was a big party scene around town. If there was they sure as hell wouldn't be spending their nights trekking around a muddy, old swamp. Misty thought miserably.
“Why do you guys think Travis is on drugs?” Misty asked, looking between both her mother and father confused.
Their mother got up and went to the stove to begin making breakfast. Her hands were still shaking, but the siblings knew their mother well enough to know that more bad news was on the way and she didn’t want to be at the table for it. Misty did her best to steel herself for the emotional blow, she assumed was coming.
“Look they found Travis this morning face down in his bathtub.” Their father said. “He’s dead.” He told them.
Chris shook his head and Misty tried not to cry. “There’s no way, he could be dead we just saw him.” Chris blurted out. Misty's eyes went wide, the last thing they needed on top of this was to get in trouble as well.
“When?” Their father asked.
“Yesterday, before dinner.” Misty added before Chris could put his foot any further into his mouth.
“And you didn’t see anything suspicious?” Their father asked them. "No needles, or other paraphernalia? What about a bong? That brother of his is in college, he could brought one back with him?"
They both shook their heads. The realization that Travis was dead, slowly sinking in. Travis, who had been their friend for as long as any of them could remember. Who, had big plans and dreams of getting out of this town. Was now gone. And all his dreams and plans were gone with him. There was a lump in Misty’s throats. She wanted to believe that it was Travis she was so upset over. And she was truly upset about Travis, but another part of her knew that she was also afraid. One, look at Chris showed he was feeling the same way. After all, Travis was the strongest out of all of them and if something could drown him, what chance did they stand?
While their mother laid breakfast out in front of them, both siblings were lost in their own thoughts. The whole family ate in complete silence. The siblings both thinking the same thing. How do you stop a murderous ghost?