Melanie's Journey

by Michael Cross

  When we got back into the car I jumped ahead of Daniel to take the front seat and sit next to Mark. It was going to be a long drive and I took the opportunity to be closer to him. Of course we were all alert and started talking.

  As I was running things over in my mind I asked Daniel about the truck—wouldn’t someone notice it eventually and start an investigation? He turned to look at me, and in a satisfied, and yes bragging manner, assured me that it probably no longer existed—that the keys were in the ignition and that he had the means of making sure that a local Mexican gang that operated a “chop shop” was informed of the truck, and that it would soon be no more than untraceable parts. It would be days before anyone might notice this guy not being around and with his truck gone the likely explanation would be that he took off for who knows why.

  When we were approaching Portland I leaned towards Mark to ask if we could just keep going and spend the day at the coast, maybe near Tillamook. He liked the idea, as did everyone else, so even though it had been a long night, we continued our journey.

  When we passed Portland our conversation strangely enough turned to school. Lamb’s grade on my research paper was really bugging me so I started griping about his class and even accidentally blurting out that he was an idiot and a SOB, to which Daniel totally agreed. Without thinking I then scowled at Daniel and in a frustrated tone, maybe inspired by lack of sleep, I again asked, “If he is such a jerk then why do you help him on all his computer stuff?” Daniel shrugged and in a low, defensive tone responded, “I told you I have my reasons.” He then scowled at me in silence, and then turned to stare out the window, shutting off our conversation. It was only then I started to realize how distant and secretive he really was.

  As we drove the winding roads, and the night began to give way to the glow of early morning, it was only Mark and I who were awake. I was tempted to ask him about his family but he always seemed to change the subject whenever I tried. So we just talked a while about everything else from school to psychology to politics. It was fun and when he mentioned my upcoming birthday again I felt it mattered to him—maybe I mattered to him.

  When we reached the coast it was raining pretty hard. We stopped, looked inside the trunk for anything we might have neglected in the dark, then we all slept for a while in the car. After a couple of hours rest the rain had turned into a damp mist so we went out and hiked together on the beach, braving the cold but marveling at the waves pounding the rocks. It was beautiful, and even romantic, but that was something for Nicole and Daniel to enjoy at that moment. While we had to be the most talkative group ever, most of the time, at that moment we were strangely silent, perhaps connected at some higher level to one another—understanding each other as we bonded closer, perhaps losing our individual identities temporarily. It was a day I will never forget even though nothing spectacular occurred except the special feelings I believed we all felt for one another. I contemplated all the infinite possibilities the future could hold—maybe I was the only one doing this, but I desired all of us to be thinking the same way.

  Chapter 18

  Monday arrived and it was finally my 18th birthday! This was the big transition to adult life, I mean now I could vote, sign a contract…it was an interesting transition. It also dawned on me that I could now face adult penalties if I were ever to mess up and get caught. I was also keenly aware of how this could change the dynamics of my relationships.

  I was happy when I logged onto my computer and noticed birthday greetings from both Daniel and Nicole and yes, Mark as well! Nicole had sent me a card with some beautiful flowers expressing how much I meant to her, while Mark had sent a really cute and funny animated card that actually made me laugh. What a wonderful way to start the day.

  My mother had set out a cake and an envelop next to it—apparently she must have had to leave for work earlier than usual. I opened it up and found some money and a card. As much as I knew she meant well it just didn’t seem as special as my online messages. Of course later in the day she would call and wish me a happy birthday, but that was not all that memorable either.

  Soon after I arrived at school I stopped by Mark’s classroom, and was greeted by Nicole, Daniel and Mark as I walked in. I was hoping Mark would give some signs of any change of perceptions he might have now, any changes, any hints, but he was not letting anything show. They all wished me a happy birthday and we just talked about our wonderful day at the beach, and what was going on that week.

  Mark mentioned the debate tournament scheduled for this weekend but, to my surprise, Nicole stated that neither she nor I would be going. Mark seemed disappointed, but did not protest, “That’s okay I guess, Daniel and several others will be attending, and we can still have a good showing so you two don’t have to worry.”

  As Nicole directed me to follow her out of the classroom I asked her what was up—I mean, I would have liked to have gone on this trip, and maybe I wanted to spend some time with Mark, especially now that I was more ‘grown up” but she gave a pout and responded, “Melanie, I just thought you might like to do something with me on Friday.” I thought for a moment and asked, “Isn’t there school on Friday?”

  Nicole smiled and clutched her notebook close to her chest, “Oh come on, we can afford one unexcused absence, it’s not like it’s some sort of crime! Besides, this will be my birthday present to you.” I laughed at the irony, “Are you sure, I mean if we are alone together we might wind up…” She interrupted me, “Hey, only if we are lucky!” and then turned and left giggling.

  After this it was back to the ‘real world’ of school again. I went to Miss Green’s class, well, Cindy’s, and she started acting odd again. She sent everyone off to the library for research but stopped me and asked about Mark again. I was now convinced she was determined to find out more about him—it was embarrassing, I mean did she have a crush on him or something? I was tempted to say something about his skills at disposing of bodies, but of course I would control myself.

  And then I had to sit there in Lamb’s class, not being able to help the feeling that he got real pleasure out of humiliating me, and must have received great personal satisfaction every time I had to face him in class; him having the power to evaluate my performance and put a grade in my files. At least he could not bring me down since I had people who I really valued in my life to bring me happiness.

  When Thursday afternoon arrived I wished Mark and Daniel luck in Friday’s debate, and told them I hoped some of our team won awards. I could tell Mark was disappointed that Nicole and I would not be there but he said, “You two go have some fun, the juniors need to have a chance to win at something once in a while, don’t they?” I failed to see any reason to do them any favors, but when Nicole came over and asked me to make sure my bike was ready, I had to admit I was looking forward to Nicole’s treat. She said she knew of a place that was fantastic to explore, and the weather, while cold, was going to be dry which was great for this time of year.

  I was excited about the next day’s plans. Nicole asked me to be ready at 7am which was good because my mom would be going in to work just before that and would not bug me about missing school. Sure, I was regretting not being able to hang around Mark at the debate, but that was the price to pay for getting away from everything.

  The next day Nicole came over right on time and we loaded our bikes onto her car. She warned this would be a long drive but I suppose two hours would be no big deal. As we were driving along Nicole mentioned she had been to the university library late Thursday night and ran across an article in one of the Salem newspapers about the police finding the body of the pimp—but only two days earlier. That was good news as it meant any clues we might have missed had certainly been washed away by now. Nothing else was mentioned but his name. Nicole just went “Ewwww” and then joked, “I suppose with all this time going by he must have looked like some discarded Halloween costume—a real zombie!” I accidentally swallowed my soda the wrong way as we laughed at the morbid thought.<
br />
  We only spent a moment talking about the news and then Nicole changed the subject, “Did you know that Mark and Cindy are planning on gong out to dinner together next week?” My reaction seemed to startle Nicole, “What? Are you kidding me? They have nothing in common except maybe jobs and…age.” The news hit hard. Just as I got ready to burst out more in my diatribe Nicole grabbed my hand tight and tried to comfort me, “Hey, it’s just a dinner and I doubt it means anything so don’t worry—anyone who sees you and Mark together can detect the load of repressed libido and tension between you two. It’s like two people thinking the world will end if they accidentally let each other know how they feel—it’s really quite strange you know.” I replied, “Maybe, but he probably is afraid of saying a thing until at least graduation and I am not going to say a word and possibly make a fool of myself. And graduation is almost eight months away—anything can happen by then.”

  Great, here I was sharing too much of how I felt. And here we were talking about relationship taboos—artificial rules made by modern society labeling so-called inappropriate behaviors—yet Nicole and I had killed two people together by then. Nothing seemed off limits anymore.

  “Look, Melanie, if it’s any comfort, if they get too cozy maybe you will have to approach him—he’s a lot like Daniel you know…kind of a prude. Maybe you have to let him know how you feel about him—you might discover he feels the same way about you!” I just looked out the window and sighed. Nicole poked me, “Melanie—hey Melanie! Hey, I doubt you have anything to really worry about. They have been working together a long time but nothing has occurred between them.” I looked at her and just said “Yeah, I suppose you are right.” I was maybe a bit less anxious but still felt a strange sense of betrayal by Mark, even though nothing really technically existed between us yet. As Nicole continued to drive she urged, “Okay, just don’t think about it, let’s have some fun, okay?” At that moment I sort of regretted not going to the tournament. Hopefully I had not lost valuable time in connecting with him.

  We had left the main road and were then on an old country road. I had to be careful not to get car sick, as the sun created a strobe light effect through the trees, and as we passed around the curves the sick feeling only intensified. Then, Nicole turned down a road that took us by an area logged a few years earlier it seemed. It soon went from pavement to gravel but it was surprisingly level and nice. My sickness disappeared now that we were driving really slowly. The one thing I liked most was how remote we were. It was a beautiful day and perhaps in a while I would not be so annoyed at what Nicole had shared.

  We pulled off and parked near a stream. It was nice in the sense that you had the ultimate feeling of being alone—able to do whatever you wanted as you couldn’t even see us from the gravel road. Nicole asked if I just wanted to hang out there a while, perhaps just lay out in the sun since it felt oddly warm despite the weather forecast, and it being close to mid-November. As tempting as it was I really wanted to explore the area on bike, so we took them off the rack and proceeded to ride deeper into the seclusion of nature.

  Cycling is pleasant as you can converse with each other or just ride along in silence and not feel any pressure to have to interact. We rode about ten or fifteen minutes in idle conversation, generally commenting on the beautiful scenery and then about thirty minutes of barely talking.

  Then we saw a trail, more like an ancient abandoned road, but still suitable for hiking. We decided to park the bikes and explore it. I saw some tracks along the way and wondered if they were cougar but Nicole told me not to worry—there were two of us and cougars prefer to attack single prey, and Nicole had her gun after all which was re-assuring.

  After a few minutes we discovered a clearing, and we sat down to take in the solitude and beauty of our surroundings. “Hey, I’ll bet the guys would have loved to be here instead of sitting in a boring tournament.” Nicole commented. While I had never considered the thought of a competition as boring, I had to admit that compared to this she had a point. We found a large exposed rock, and we both laid there to enjoy the sun. I then suggested, “Nicole, we should all come up here next summer and go camping together. We could explore and do anything we please without anyone disturbing us—it would be awesome.”

  Nicole turned onto her stomach to face me and said that would be a wonderful dream and we could all be together since Mark had the summer off. I closed my eyes but my fantasy was disturbed by thoughts of Mark maybe drifting away from me. Could Cindy ruin the dynamics that seemed to favor the evolution of our relationship? Could she push me out of the picture?

  Then Nicole said we should start planning our summer soon. She said this could be the best time of our lives—all of us together, no one else involved. I liked that and I liked the idea that I was part of such a special group of friends. Yet I still felt threatened by Cindy. I guess I was truly romantically jealous for the first time in my life. I had to repress the thought, at least for then though, and enjoy the world around me. I raised myself up and looked at Nicole, “Thanks, I really needed this day to relax.” She then smiled and took my hand. What she said made me feel good, “No problem at all. I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather be with right now.”

  The only thing that disturbed the nature right then was the sound of a car in the distance—the only one we had heard all day. We returned to our bikes, since it was nearly noon, and we realized we had neglected to bring our lunch with us—leaving our food in the car instead. We started riding back anticipating eating by 1pm and then maybe exploring some more—we had plenty of time after all.

  We soon spotted a car parked just off the road. “Wonder what they are up to,” Nicole commented in a sarcastic manner, and conveying a sexual innuendo. I answered, “Well, they could be just nature enthusiasts, some lovers wanting privacy or maybe just someone getting high, you never know.” Then Nicole suggested, “Hey Melanie, if it is just some pot heads wouldn’t it be fun to do a prank—something to the car like removing a valve stem and watch them from a distance get all freaked out?” Seemed like innocent fun—more like typical teens than we generally allowed ourselves to be.

  Suddenly we both heard a scream off in the distance, but maybe not that far away. Nicole asked, “What was that all about?” and I shrugged my shoulders and suggested that we could check it out—maybe someone was hurt or maybe…we both looked at each other contemplating the same thing I believe.

  Just in case there was anything to worry about we hid the bikes in some thick brush and then followed what appeared to be an animal trail that was in the direction of the scream. I asked in a whisper, “Nicole, you were serious about having your gun in your backpack weren’t you?” She nodded but then cautioned, “No more talking, okay?”

  We noticed a clearing ahead at the bottom of the hill we were on. Then what we saw caught us totally off guard. In a small clearing was a somewhat heavyset man, balding, and dressed like he was going to the race track rather than being in nature. We quickly hid behind some bushes and peered through them—we saw that he was standing over a young woman, about our age, on her knees and her arms tied behind her back. He appeared to be taping her mouth shut while she was crying in a manner suggesting fear, desperation and pain. We were stunned...I mean, what had we wandered upon? Just then he walked over to a pack on the ground and removed a crowbar. He went back and looked at her for a moment—and then kicked her to the ground. Then, with one aggressive motion he crushed the bar into her right arm causing her to make a piercing scream despite the tape. Then he just stood there again, staring, as she writhed in agony…her scream having given way to the crying one associates with incredible pain.

  I whispered to Nicole, “Could you hit him from here with your gun?” She reached into her backpack slowly but then stopped and then pointed to the rock near the man. Leaning against the rock was a large hunting rifle. Nicole then whispered to me in such a faint voice only a person in a state of high excitement could hear, “Melanie, I’m not a bad shot bu
t if I miss, or just wound him, that freaking rifle is extremely accurate, and one bullet could tear my head clean off. If that happens I’ll be splattered all over these bushes and you’ll be tied up with that girl.” She paused and then speculated, “This has to be the serial killer whose been making the news.”

  I thought, what were the odds that we, of all people, would stumble across a serial killer out there, right then? Was it the kind of fate that you have when a woman is having an affair with a co-worker and they meet at an out-of-the-way café in another city and then, of all people, her husband’s sister comes into the same café while they are kissing? It is statistically almost impossible yet it does occasionally happen.

  Then again maybe some cosmic energy brought us all together, part of some plan, where our destinies would intersect. And then the question of “why” came to mind. Of course, it was all up to speculation, but no matter why we were there, witnessing what appeared to be a murder in progress, we were helpless to do anything about it.

  The guy then took his crowbar and used his foot to push the girl onto the side he had smashed, which she resisted since the pain must have been severe. Nicole then grasped my hand just before he swung the metal tool against her other arm with such force you could here the snap of bone. Just as before he then just stood there and looked at her.

  I had felt nothing of any sympathy, let alone empathy, for any of the people we had killed. Well, maybe a moment of connection with the young woman who had been my first…but then nothing later as I felt she too had deserved her sentence so to speak. Yet here was someone who was probably innocent, lured to this man in some manner and then brought to this final destination, her final moments in life. Yes, I could identify in a way with her—I mean this guy would have been just as satisfied to have me lying there as her. I wished we could in some way intervene, but I realized Nicole was right and all we could do was watch and hope he did not see us.