by Adam Smith
“We better head back now.” Says Fiona with a smile as we sit up in the tray naked. “Might just get dressed first.” I Say with a smile. We get dressed and drive back to the pub. Mark and Sandy come out to meet us in the car park. “You’ve been gone a while, did you find anything out there?” Says Mark. “Yeah found one wailer, then we just went for a drive.” I reply. “A drive. Ok mate.” Laughs Fiona. “Wow Guys really? Anyway I found Lewis’ MP3 player when I was in his room and it’s got a favourites playlist on it. I think we should play that while we burn him.” Says Sandy. “Yeah good idea, I’ll reverse the ute up.” I Say. “We’ll go and grab some beers if you two want to get the fire ready.” Says Fiona. The girls walk off to grab some beers, I reverse the ute with Lewis’ body in it up the pile of wood, Mark and I drag him into the middle then pile some more wood over his body, we grab a few jerry cans full of petrol and diesel and cover the entire pile with it, we make a trail of petrol back to the utes and where the girls are standing. “Start that playlist Sandy.” I Say, she turns the stereo in the ute up and hits play. The music starts playing, the first song is ‘Down’ by Blink 182. We all Cheers our beers together and say. “For Lewis!” I light the petrol trail, the flames rush towards the pile and it goes up in flames like a small bomb going off. Mark throws a bottle of Lewis’ favourite vodka into the flames. We stand around watching in silence for a few minutes, just his favourite music playing in the background. We then start to talk, laugh and drink in memory of our lost mate. The smoke billows up into the clear night sky as we head to bed I turn around look at the fire and say. “Love you big fella.”
I sit bolt upright covered in cold sweat, my heart is pounding. It’s light outside, the smell of smoke in the air. Am I dreaming or having a flashback? The distinct sound of an approaching helicopter and automatic rifle fire in the distance. “Is that a fucking chopper?” Asks Fiona as the sound becomes louder and louder until the chopper is overhead.
Written by
Adam 'adska' Smith
© 2018
