Chapter 1
“Whoo!” I looked next to me at Penelope. She was clapping and staring off at the water. “Go Carter!” she yelled again. She just was so oblivious to how much she was smiling. I looked at the dark sky and glimmering black water. I could see Carter coming up on his surfboard. Then he lost balance and went under. Penelope stopped clapping and her face fell. We all waited a second but after we didn’t see anything I ran for the water. Apparently all four of us did. I swam deep enough I almost drowned. I searched frantically splashing the water trying to feel for him. I yelled out his name
“Carter!” I heard 3 other voices echo mine. What do I do? Where is he?
“Carter!” I yelled again. Sure he had wiped out but he always came back up. I could feel the tide getting stronger and after ten minutes of searching I decided to get out. Maybe I could see him from the shore. As I approached the shore the tide kept pulling me back. I saw a dark lump in the damp sand and called out to Mason.
“Mason I think I found him!” I ran against the tide. Mason got there when I got there and started pumping on his chest and counting. I turned to Penelope.
“This is your fault.” she said.
Wait this isn’t what happened.
“He’s dead because of you.” This never happened. I felt something behind me and turned. It was Carter with a deep gash in his forehead dripping blood.
“Look what you did to me” he started crying.
I turned back towards mason but there was nothing there. This is not how it happened. Wake up! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! I yelled at myself. Wake up.
I sat up startled. It took a moment to catch my breath. I wiped the sweat off my face with the back of my hand. As I looked around for any sign of him I noticed the time 4:30 as usual. I saw the picture frame of him on my dresser him and me I laid it face down. I didn’t want to see his face. I got up and stood in the pool of light from the moon. A full moon tonight. I got dressed in the dark and quietly walked down the stairs. I stopped. Why am I trying to be quiet? She’s not going to wake up. Not even a hiroshima bomb in my mom’s room could wake her up. Especially when shes drunk. I trampled down the steps and turned the corner. At first all I could see was the couch and the table beside it, but as my vision got clearer I could see the empty beer bottles. I walked out the front door. On my runs in the morning they make me calmer. I run along the rocks that line the beach. I avoid looking at the water because everytime I do I can see him going under. We always have lived near the beach. It was my dad’s favorite before he died. My mom prefered the country but since she wants to be close to my dad she keeps me here. Though half the time she doesn’t even remember my dad because he’s always so drunk. I don’t know which is worse her torturing herself by living near the beach after my father’s death and drowning herself in alcohol or me running along the beach scared to look at the water and scared to close my eyes at night. Even though it’s not the same beach it still freaks me out, its water deep enough to drown.and if it’s water deep enough to drown its water deep enough for me to see carter wipeout.
At school I’m always alone. I don’t talk to anyone. I’m alone because I like to be alone because I’m the only one that still sees him. Which is completely upsetting considering the fact that I wasn’t the only one there. Somehow everyone else continued with their lives like nothing happened. Mason went back to his perfect surfer/football life with his friends. He was a bulky, sandy blonde hair guy. Then Penelope went back to her life of complete mathletes and perfect GPA. She was a burnett with extremly long hair and an extremely complex way of thinking. Then Jesus who had went back to his families mexican restaurant and his basketball friends. He was a brunette with skills to dribble like no one else. They all moved on but I’m not sure how. Everytime i close my eyes i see it. I mean we used to go to the summer house that Carter’s brother owned every summer since 6th grade. Then after last summer when carter had his accident no one speaks about it.
