The Lake

Chapter Six

Sammy Welch wasn't a popular boy. He knew that. He didn't need reminding. It seemed some of the kids at school thought he was oblivious to the fact, but he wasn't. He just didn't care as much as they thought he should. He had a friend in Troy, and that was enough. It was a shame he couldn't come to the woods this afternoon though.

Sammy had found an awesome spot to swing, two huge trees that looked as though they were hugging each other, with big, thick branches intertwining and then forking off into a perfect vee. They were thick enough to hold Sammy and a small car, and the gap was enough to swing through without any concern that you would cop a face full of trunk. He was hoping him and Troy could tie some rope and try it out, but Troy had that thing with his father. Dammit, he was going misty eyed. He couldn't help it. He missed his father. And his mother. It had only been three months, give or take a day or two. They'd been there one moment, they were gone the next.

They had driven up to the next town to get some medicine for Sammy, medicine they couldn't get in Riley. To get in or out of town there was a single dirt road, under a small bridge that provided a walkway for people to get across, without having to traverse the rough dirt road, and the trees that littered the edges. Sammy had been sick for a few weeks, and the doctor had prescribed him a powerful antibiotic. His first course had worked perfectly. It had him feeling well again. That was no good for Sammy. He had been having a rough time at school, and wasn't quite ready to go back yet. He played sick for the doctor, to get a few extra days, maybe even a week. His act was enough to fool the doctor into thinking he needed another course of penicillin. So another script was filled, and his parents had another four hour drive to get him the antibiotics that this time, weren't needed.

Simon let his parents take the drive because it gave him another week off school. Even when the rain starting coming down heavy, he didn't say a word, continuing the ruse that poor little Sammy still wasn't right. Off they went, and Sammy stayed at home, reading comics whilst lying on his bed, as comfortable as could be.

Kids get bored. Sometimes, when kids get bored, they could get destructive. In Riley, one of the destructive outlet for the kids was to throw pebbles down at passing cars. It was extremely rare for cars to pass on that road, as the only people coming in were generally those that were coming back home. Usually cars returning would take that road carefully, fully expecting a little pebble to bounce off the windshield. With the rain coming down as heavy as it was, the last thing Sammys parents expected were kids to be loitering on that bridge. And with the drops as big as the pebbles, it wouldn't have given them much of a fright anyway. So rather than take the road as carefully as they usually would, Sammys father picked up speed. It was almost eight, and poor little Sammy hadn't eaten dinner yet. They had to get home, give him his medicine and fill his tummy. They loved their Sammy.

But something did drop off that balcony that night. And it wasn't a pebble. It was a rock bigger than a bowling ball, and heavy as one too. It crashed straight through the windshield, landing directly on Sammys fathers crown. This started a chain reaction, a series of events like a row of dominoes falling, one thing causing another, and another, and so on. Once he was unconscious, his feet became dead weight, placing even more pressure on the accelerator. His left hand, holding the steering wheel, dropped, forcing the car sharply to the left. Sammys mother, shock holding her still for only a second, instinctively grabbed the steering wheel and swung it to the right. This would have been ok, had she not overcompensated, and turned the wheel so quickly. Although it was a dirt road, it was hard dirt, closer to clay. The grip on the tires was wearing thin as it was, they were due for a change, but they held it off to pay for Sammys medicine the first time around.

Once the wheel was swung back to the right, the car rolled. Not a gracious roll, as you would sometimes see in a Hollywood film. This was violent, like watching two moose butting heads. The first collision, when the left side of the car hit the ground, left an imprint in the dirt road, indicative of the force of it. But that first collision paled in comparison to the next one, the one where the car hit, roof first, into the big tree. The first collision would have broken bones, and perhaps had them recuperating for weeks, if not months. But it was the second blow that did it. The roof crumpled like a tin can under a heavy boot, the amount of pressure that impacted the top of the couples heads crushing vertebrae and spinal columns with ease.

It's hard to say when they died, as no one saw the crash. Well one person did. The person on the bridge. They never were able to find out who that was. The only other two people that were there, Sammys most unfortunate parents, died almost instantly.

Sammy was in bed when it happened, comfortably reading his fourth or fifth comic for the evening, wondering what his parents would make him for dinner.