Posted: May 9, 08 2:04am
(This my entry in the Fiction Addiction excercise. It's hardly deathless prose, and I can only wish that it were really fiction).
Raj’s eyes flickered as the slight, blonde teenager sauntered somewhat too casually to the beer cooler. She pulled out two twelve-packs of Coors and lugged them to the register, no mean feat for a 5’1”, 103-pound sixteen-year-old. Kids buying alcohol could be a police sting, he knew, but he recognized Krista. Cover your ass, he thought. “I must see ID please.” She fished out her fake ID for his perfunctory inspection. He took her money quickly to get her out of the store before anybody saw her.
Triumphant with having both a fake ID and a new genuine driver’s license, Krista turned her mom’s Toyota toward Megan’s house for the party.
The party itself was a sore point between Krista and Sandra, her mother. Krista waited until Thursday night to ask permission to go to the Friday party, knowing Sandra would not have time to check things out too closely. “Is Megan’s mom going to be there?” Sandra interrogated her. “Sure. I guess,” Krista said casually. In fact, Megan said her mom had a date, but the party was okay with her. Megan’s mom was so cool for an old lady.
She took a deep breath: “Could I like, drive your car?” Oh crap, Sandra thought. Now this is starting. Her father can barely pay support, much less buy her a car, "Is Kyle going to this party? Why don’t you just ride with him?” she asked. “Kyle’s going with Eric,.” Krista lied. (One of the benefits of having Kyle as a stepbrother was that they covered for each other. )
“Besides, Mom,” she smiled her most appealing smile, “It would be so awesome to come home from the party and throw the car keys on the hook like you and Mike. Oh, God Sandra thought. What am I going to do with this kid? "Well, okay, I guess. You and that car better be back by midnight or you’re grounded. Got it?”
"Krista Bruce”, she said announced to the guard at the entrance to the subdivision. “The O’ Fallon party.” The tall gates opened slowly as he found her name on his clipboard. She could hear music thumping from the speakers as she parked carefully along the cul-de-sac. Laughter floated from the back yard..
She struggled to get the heavy beer out. A voice at her elbow said, “Here, let me help.” A tallish boy with curly dark hair took the beer, tucking both twelve-packs under one arm and extending his right hand, “Hi, I’m Mark.” Krista shook it gave him the benefit of her cutest smile: “I’m Krista.”
Cindy O’fallon waved brightly when she saw Krista. “Hi, sweetie! Who’s your cute friend?” Mark blushed at this attention. “Uh…I’m Mark. I’m a friend of Josh’s.” “Well, hi Mark, I’m Cindy. Put your beer in the cabana by the keg and make yourself at home.”
Megan’s cousin Josh and some guys from Whitehall Academy were the band. They were loud, Krista, thought, but okay. The cabana was piled high with pizza, chips, wings, and cookies. Krista offered Mark one of her beers and opened a can for herself
A gaggle of blondes and near-blondes with nearly identical heads of long, straight hair rushed up, squealing, to hug Krista.
Girls... Mark thought as he edged himself to a group of boys. He heard the tallest girl gush “Ooooh, Krista…he’s so CUTE! Are you like, going with him or anything?”
Before she could answer, the babble moved to other topics--who was at the Mall today and who was wearing (or not ) whose ring. Krista saw Mark talking to Kyle, who was looking at her and flexing four fingers against his thumb, imitating a rapidly-moving mouth, his sign for “Krista-speak” as he called it.
She glared at him, popped another beer and got a piece of pizza. Everybody says eating fattening stuff keeps you from getting drunk, she thought. It’s not like I’m some kind of alcoholic or something. As the summer sky darkened, more kids flocked in. Beer flowed, and an acrid smell drifted from behind the cabana, competing with the redolent pizza boxes.
The band thundered energetically, if not musically. Some couples were dancing, but mostly boys hung with boys and girls with girls. As the sky became darker, the pool lights came up, so that the light arced up through the blue water and glinted on the young faces. The boys and girls began to pair off and disappear into the shadows. Krista found herself with Mark , whom she had been watching all evening.
He had a beer in each hand. Krista accepted one. “WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE BAND?” he yelled over the din. “OKAY, I GUESS”, she yelled back. They shouted pleasantries at each other until the band finally took a break.
The silence was like a drink of cool water. Mark led her to a bench in a quiet courtyard with climbing roses perfuming the humid night air. A small trickle of water from a fountain and a chorus of crickets were the only sounds. Fireflies wafted in and out, signaling for love.
Krista was feeling sleepy and dazed from the beer, the band, and the greasy food. Mark slipped his arm around her and they talked about school, sports, and music. He asked for her phone number.This is nice , Krista thought. He’s nice.
When he kissed her, she was ready. She knew how to kiss boys. Other things too, but it's not like she was some kind of slut or anything. He put his tongue in her mouth, which was sort of gross, but she allowed it because she didn’t want him to think she was frigid or something.
As he reached to cup her breast, she saw his watch: 11:25. She pushed away, exclaiming “Omigod! My mom will ground me if I don’t. get the car home by 12:00.” “I could follow you home and we could come back”, he offered. “That’s okay. Mom wouldn’t let me come back this late. ” She swayed slightly as she hurried to the car. Worried, Mark decided to follow her anyway.
Krista opened the car window and turned up the air to wake herself up. She fastened her lap belt, tucking the shoulder belt behind her. “’Bye! Call me!” she waved and smiled.
Sandra’s car and his truck left the subdivision and drove down the parkway. Suddenly, she turned left without signaling and he had to turn hard to follow. The road wound through a dark tunnel of trees, then misty horse pastures, then more trees. He had to speed up on the winding road to keep her taillights in view.
Suddenly, the taillights jerked to the right and jolted up and bounced erratically as the Toyota hit a bank. In the glow of his headlights, he saw a rag doll with blonde hair and a pink shirt flop out of the driver’s side window, the lower body held by the lap belt, before the car rolled over.
At the house, Sandra, awake and uneasy, told her husband, “Krista was supposed to have the car home by midnight.” “Damn it, she’s GROUNDED!” , Sandra raged. She called Krista’s cell, but there was no answer—the phone rang and rang and rang.
It took Mark, frantic and shaking, three attempts to call 911 on his cell. Out of the truck and running frantically to the steaming wreck, he garbled something to the operator. Somewhere, he heard a cell phone, ringing, ringing, and ringing.
At 2:30 a.m., the police cruiser pulled up at the O’Fallon house. “Young man,” said the Sergeant to her passenger, “a lot of people screwed up here, and your friend died. You’re going to tell them.”
Kyle saw the police car first: "Oh, shit. The neighbors called the cops about the noise", before he saw Mark, escorted by a uniformed officer. Seeing them, the band stopped. Silence swept from one end of the backyard to the other. “Go ahead,” the Sergeant ordered. Mark, white and shivering, could only stammer “Krista…Krista….”
A girl screamed. Then another and another until the air was rent with shrill screams from hysterical, sobbing girls. The boys stood mute and shocked. The officer looked at their adolescent faces, a little blurry in the pool lights, She saw the beer, smelled pot and thought of the crushed child on the winding road. "Here we go again..." she thought grimly.
Other police cars pulled in. Crackling radios filled the air. “I am Sergeant Brown,” she announced crisply, “you are all under arrest. You have the right to remain silent…” The shocked, tear-filled faces became angry and indignant. Kyle’s voice rang out roughly: “ AW FUCK! WE’RE GROUNDED!”
EPILOGUE: (Not part of the original story submitted)
This is a fictionalized version of a younger cousin's death. The mother of the girl who gave the party received a fine and community service for reckless endangerment, having helped the kids set up the keg and then taking off on a date. Some kids were acquitted of charges--the rest paid fines and did community service. Two of them were killed within the next twelve months under the same circumstances.
-VJW
