Syd

Today was the day. He was finally going to see her again. His best friend was coming down all the way from St. Louis and he had been counting down the days. Will and Sydney had been best friends ever since he poured a bucket full of sand on her head at the playground when they were three years old. Now don’t ask why, but after that, they were pretty much inseparable. They went to the same school, read the same books, liked the same movies, and ate their pizza the exact same way— rolled up like a roulade.

He hadn’t seen her in five years after her mom forced her to live a whole two states over. Mrs— well, Ms. Trevino didn’t want Sydney living with her dad after the accident because she didn’t think he would protect her and be the father he was supposed to be, being that he was never the husband she wanted him to be. And my god, what an accident it was. Will wished it had never happened. In a small town like Pawnee, Nebraska, it attracted more attention than anyone could handle. Will sighed as he remembered the headline from the week it all happened. “Pawnee teenager victim of fatal hit-and-run”.It made him shudder just thinking about it. The whole ordeal and the case that followed practically ruined Sydney’s life. And if it ruined Sydney’s life, it pretty much ruined Will’s life. But today was the day Will hoped to finally put it all behind him. He just wanted Sydney to have a good time today. The case had finally died down enough to the point where Will believed they could hang out in public like normal teenagers without having people stare at her or come up and apologize for all she’d been through. Today they would just spend time with each other the way they always used to. And Will couldn’t wait.

He had woken up that morning with a smile on his face. He went through his Saturday as any normal nineteen-year-old would. When five pm approached, he left the house so quickly, you would’ve thought he was late to meet the President. He hopped in his Mercury Marquis and dialed Sydney’s number before driving off towards her dad’s house.

The phone rang for a few seconds before she picked up.

“Syd, hey so I just left and I should be there in about 15 minutes. Are you ready to go?”

She shrieked before answering. “Yes of course I’ll be ready! Ugh I’m so excited to see you Willy, I can’t even tell you how much I’ve missed your stupid face!” she responded

He hated it when people called him Willy. But Sydney was the only exception. He chuckled.

“Ditto, Syd. I’m glad you’re home,” he responded. There was a slight pause before she responded.

“Me too, Will,” she said. “Ok, but I don’t want you to crash your car before I get to see you, so get off the phone!” she ordered. Will smiled before saying goodbye and hanging up the phone. He was so glad she was back.

As he pulled up in front of her house, he reached for his phone to call her when he realized his hands were sweating. Why was he SO sweaty? It’s not like he was meeting someone for the first time. This was his best friend, he shouldn’t have been so nervous. He didn’t even have to dial her number before he looked over towards her door that was already swinging open. How she knew he was outside, he didn’t know, but he was glad he wouldn’t have to risk smearing the sweat from his palms on his phone screen. As soon as he saw her, he hopped out of the car and walked towards her so they could meet each other halfway.

“Willy!” She screamed as she ran over to him, wrapping her short arms around him and giving him a hug so tight, he was convinced he was going to have a permanent indent on his torso.

“Oh my god, you have to fill me in on everything that’s been going on in this town since I’ve been gone,”

“Only if you tell me everything that happened while you were in St. Louis” he responded as he opened her car door for her. She giggled before sitting in the seat and allowing Will to close her door before getting into his own seat.

“Ok first tell me, is Dilly’s Ice Cream Parlor still here?” she asked him.

“Of course it is Syd, if it wasn’t, I would have been outta this dump a long time ago” he responded, laughing. She shrieked again.

“Willy can we go? Please, please, please, I’ve been dying to see if their ice cream tastes just as good as it did 5 years ago,”

“Syd, I didn’t even think this was possible but, I think it’s even better,” he said.

“There’s no way,” she exclaimed

“Oh, but there is,” responded Will. He pushed down harder on the gas, almost speeding down the small street as if he would die if they managed to get there any slower.

Once they got to the parlor, the pair practically raced each other trying to get inside. Sydney found them a table to sit at before Will got in line to order.

“Can you get me-”

“Two scoops of rocky road with one extra marshmallow on top and a spoon on the side?” Will recited Sydney’s order perfectly, which made them both laugh.

“I can’t believe you remembered that”

“How could I ever forget?” Will responded. By the time he got up and walked to the front, there was no line left and all he had to do was tell the woman what his order was. As he ordered the two ice cream cones, the woman working there seemed confused. He assumed it was because no one usually asks for such a specific order.

As he paid for the cones and the lady was getting ready to hand them to him, she continued looking at him as if she was confused.

“Are these both for you?” the woman asked. He chuckled.

“No, one’s for my friend. She’s the one I walked in with,” he said. She smiled at him and nodded her head before tending to the next customer that had just walked in.

Thinking nothing of the odd question the woman had asked him, he walked the ice cream cones over to the table Sydney was sitting at and handed her hers. She muttered a thank you and wasted no time before taking a lick.

“Holy shit, you were right dude,” she said, taking another lick of her ice cream cone. He smiled, watching her enjoy her ice cream as he thought about the last time he’d seen her this happy. It had been too long. He was brought out of his thoughts when she asked him to tell her more about what went on while she was gone and he did just that. He told her about graduation and how much everyone missed her. He spoke about his mother and his sister and how everyone had been doing. They talked for hours in the ice cream parlor just catching up and it wasn’t until they started playing a game of ISpy that Will spotted an old newspaper hanging up on the bulletin board towards the back of the parlor. He stopped talking to Sydney for a second, which made her wonder what he was looking at. Once she saw it, she grew visibly uncomfortable. The headline was all they could see, and that’s all they needed. ”Police officer charged in hit and run is fully acquitted” it read. Why would the parlor still have it hanging up like that? The case had been over for four years, the town didn’t need a reminder of how it ended. He looked at Sydney who was looking down at the table, not saying anything.

“I’m sorry, Syd. Do you want to go somewhere else?” he asked her. She gave him a halfhearted smile before nodding her head yes.

They got up and walked back to his car, both of them trying their hardest not to run back into the parlor and set the newspaper on fire. As soon as they got into the car, Sydney began to talk.

“I’m sorry Willy, I didn’t realize it still affected me so much. We can go back in if you want,” Sydney said. Will wanted to slap himself for allowing her to figure out what he was looking at. If he hadn’t hovered on it for so long, she probably never would’ve seen it.

“Sydney it’s fine. It’s not your fault those idiots decided not to take down a four-year-old newspaper. We won’t go back. Besides, the night is young and my best friend is finally here. There are better things to do,” he said, sending her a reassuring smile. She smiled back before putting on her seatbelt and moving a strand of her hair out of her face.

“So, where to next?” she asked

“You’ll see,” he said. He started the car and began driving to their next destination. He was excited. He knew Sydney liked surprises. This wasn’t really a surprise, but, he knew she had probably forgotten about it after five years and thought she might want a little reminder

They drove for about twenty minutes and they had been arguing about what they’d do in a zombie apocalypse.

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard! You would literally be the first one to die,” she said, emphasizing her words with her rapid hand movement. She tended to speak with her hands when she talked. It was something Will would always make fun of her about.

“So you’re saying that if I hid in a church, I would die quicker? A church is like, the last place a zombie would go. A grocery store is like the most dangerous place because everyone will want to hide there which means you won’t be the only one, and that means the zombies will be attracted to the areas where there are more people! Don’t you get it?” he responded. Their argument went on for a few minutes before they finally reached their destination, and Sydney stopped everything she was doing to look out the window.

“You’re joking. We haven’t been here since we were little kids” she said. She was referring to the park where they had first met each other.

“I know. I just wanted to see if the sandbox was still here,” Will said. It was dark outside, so you could barely see any of the playground equipment, but just next to what they believed was the monkey bars, was the old sandbox. They both ran over to it and sat down.

“This is insane, Willy. How old do you think this sandbox is?” asked Sydney as she grabbed a handful of it and let the tan granules seep out of her hands and back into the sandbox.

“My god, it’s gotta be at least 20 years old,” Will responded.

“How often do you think they change the sand?”

“I don’t know. That would be crazy though if the sand I dumped on your head is still in this sandbox,” said Will. They played with the sand like preschoolers and talked for a little while before Sydney pulled out a small metal flask from her jacket pocket. She opened it and took a swig of whatever was in it before offering Will some.

“I would love to, but I have to drive both of us back, and I’m pretty sure you want to get back home alive,” Will said, pushing the flask back towards her.

“Suit yourself,” she said, taking another swig.

They continued talking and Sydney kept on drinking and it started getting later and later. Somehow they got to the topic of how the park had been extended to the forest that lined it and the city was working to make it into the biggest park in Pawnee, which wouldn’t be hard, being that it was the only park in Pawnee.

“Yeah, now they need a whole park patrol unit since the park is expanding, they want to make sure no one’s here after hours. You better hope we don’t get caught, Syd,” Will warned.

“Oh please, no one’s out here this late. There aren’t even any cars parked around,” she responded. He noticed Sydney was beginning to slur her words and thought that maybe it was time to take her back home and let her sober up.

“Ok, it’s getting pretty late, I think its time to get you home,” She laughed, mumbling something that sounded like she had agreed with him.

“Wait, oh my god, look at that rock. It’s so pretty,” she muttered, pointing to a large stone that was sitting just outside of the sandbox. She picked it up, dusted it off, and put it in her pocket before turning back to Will and saying,

“It’ll remind me of today when I go back home,” she said. Will nodded his head and began helping her out of the sandbox. Just then, he was blinded by a bright light that came from the direction of where they’d parked the car. Upon further inspection, he realized it was the park ranger who was shining his flashlight on them. As if on cue,

“Hey, what are you doing out here?” he yelled, walking closer to them.

Will started to panic. He knew that if he found the flask of alcohol on Sydney, they were toast. And Sydney was getting visibly drunker by the second.

“Uh, sorry officer. We were just leaving,” Will responded.

The police officer shined the light on Sydney and noticed that Will was holding her up.

“What’s wrong with her?” he asked, walking closer to them.

Will hesitated. “Uh, s-she’s just not feeling well. I think it might’ve been something she ate” he stuttered. The officer scoffed.

“If her meal consisted of a whole bottle of vodka, then yes, that’s most definitely what it is. C’mon, I can smell it from here,” said the cop. This is it. They were going to spend the night in jail. Will could just hear his mother’s disappointment already. Sydney noticed how distraught he looked and thought that maybe she could make the situation a little better for him.

“I’m sorry officer, I promise I was the only one drinking. He didn’t do anything wrong. If you’re gonna take someone in, just take me,” she said, trying her best not to slur her words.

“Sydney no, what are you-”

“Now that’s not how this works. Drinking underage isn’t the only law you broke. You see the sign at the park entrance that says ‘no trespassing’. Did you think that was just for show?” he asked, cutting Will off. Will swallowed the lump that was in the back of his throat and his breathing quickened as visions of him in an orange jumpsuit invaded his mind.

“No, officer,” they said, almost in unison.

“Ok, so give me one reason why I shouldn’t take you both in right now?” he asked. Sydney and Will stayed quiet. But this only lasted for a few seconds before Sydney began to speak.

“Well, it’s just that,” she began as she walked closer and closer to the police officer.

“We’re just kids, and we don’t want to go to jail, officer,” she said. As Will listened to her, he got an eerie feeling. Like something bad was about to happen. She just sounded, different.

The police officer scoffed again. “Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you broke the law,”

Now, Will wasn’t sure, but he could’ve sworn that in the gleam of the officer’s flashlight, he saw Sydney smirk before doing something he didn’t expect. Something horrible. In one movement, Sydney took the stone out of her pocket, drew her arm back, then forward, hitting the officer square in the face with it, making him fall to the ground. Will stood there, horrified, watching the scene unfold. He was too afraid to say anything, thinking she had snapped and that he would be next. As the cop crumbled to the floor he tried to reach for something to defend himself with, but Sydney had the upper hand. She got on top of him and brought the rock down full force on his head over, and over again until you could see parts of his skull. There was blood everywhere. On the ground, on Sydney’s clothes, on her face, on her hands. Will didn’t know what to do. So he cried. Instead of helping the cop and trying to get her off of him, he stood there and cried like a fucking coward. Sydney didn’t stop hitting him. Even when he begged for his life, she kept going. And going. And going. After what seemed like 5 hours but was only 5 minutes, the officer’s screams stopped and Sydney stopped hitting him, and everything went silent. She took a deep breath before standing up and putting the rock back in her pocket and turning to Will.

“Glad that’s taken care of. Can you drive me home now, I’m starving,” she said as she began to walk back towards the car. Will just stood there, tears streaming down his face, not saying a word. When Sydney noticed that he wasn’t following her, she turned back around and walked over to him. He took a step back and tried to tell her to stay away from him, and that she was crazy, but all that came out were more sobs.

“Willy, don’t be scared of me. I’m not gonna hurt you. Look at me,” she said, she got closer to him but Will didn’t back up this time. It’s like his legs were bolted to the ground. He wanted to run. He wanted to scream. But he couldn’t do anything. Sydney cupped Will’s face with her blood-stained hands, absent-mindedly smearing the red substance on his skin.

“He was gonna take you to jail, Willy. He was going to take us both to jail. I saved us. I saved you. Think about how upset your mom would’ve been, Will,” she whispered in a soft tone as if she were talking to a pre-schooler. Will just shook his head as more tears stained his cheeks, mixing in with the blood and carrying it down towards his neck.

He finally got the courage to speak.

“Why, w-why would you do that Syd, what the fuck’s wrong with you?” he said, his voice almost a whisper. She sighed.

“Listen, I really don’t have time for this Willy. You know, a ‘thank you’ would’ve been nice. Anyways, I have to get home before my dad starts wondering where I am,” she said as she started walking towards the car again. Will continued to look at Sydney and all of the blood on her clothes and hands. When she opened the car door she smeared blood on the handle and on the windows.

“Let’s go, Will,” she yelled before slamming the car door shut and opening the visor mirror to look at herself. Will didn’t know what to do. So he did what she said. He glanced at the officer’s body on the floor one more time before running towards the car, getting in the driver’s seat, and driving off.

The car ride home was extremely quiet. He didn’t know what to say. He was afraid that if he said anything, he would end up just like the cop. So, he didn’t. They arrived at Sydney’s house after twenty minutes and Sydney grabbed her bag from the back, getting even more blood on the seats before,

“Thank you so much for today, Willy. I really missed you,” she said, before giving him a kiss on the cheek and getting out of the car. Before she walked inside, she spoke to him through the window.

“Oh, and if anybody asks, we were at my house all night, okay?” she said.

Will looked over at her, looked at her blood-stained face, and into her emotionless eyes and nodded his head yes.

“Awesome! Maybe we can hang out one more time before I leave for St. Louis on Monday,” she said. And with that, she waved goodbye one last time, and walked up the stone path to her front door, and disappeared into her house. Will sped away, driving 10x the speed limit as he tried his best to get as far away from that house as possible. The whole way home, all he could think about was the blood. There was so much blood. He was still shaking. As soon as he got home, all he wanted to do was see his mom. He got out of his car, ran through his front door, and into his house.

“Mom! Mom please, you have to help,” he yelled. As soon as he walked into the kitchen where his mother was standing, she took one look at him and screamed a scream so ear-piercing, it was likely she had woken all of Nebraska up. He didn’t know why she was screaming, but he didn’t care. He had to tell her what happened. They had to help the officer before it was too late.

“Will, what have you done?” his mother sobbed out.

“Ma, it wasn’t me, I swear mom,” Will responded.

“Mom we have to save him, please, we have to go no, he’s running out of time,” he continued. However, he was talking too fast and his mom couldn’t understand him over her own sobs.

“Honey slow down, who did this? What happened?” she asked

“Sydney just kept hitting him over and over again and she wouldn’t stop and I didn’t know what to do,”

Then she paused for a moment.

“Hold on, what did you just say?” she asked him. She sounded mad. Will understood why she’d be mad at Sydney for putting him in the position she’d put him in, but, Will’s mom seemed mad at him.

Will tried again to tell her what happened.

“Sydney and I, we hung out today and everything was fine until-”

“Is this a fucking joke? Will this is not funny, why are you saying that?” She said to him.

He was confused. He was telling her the truth. Why wouldn’t she listen to him?

“Mom I swear, I’m not lying! Sydney might’ve k-killed a cop and we need to save him-”

“Stop it, just stop it, Will! Have you been doing drugs? What the fuck is wrong with you? Why do you keep bringing Sydney into this?” she asked him, tears running down her face.

“Mom, Sydney was there! She’s the one that did this, I swear! Please you have to believe me,” Will cried. She couldn’t take it anymore. She slapped him hard, across the face before yelling,

“Sydney’s fucking dead, Will! She died five years ago! Stop telling me she was there, because I know she wasn’t,”

Will’s heart stopped. No. That didn’t make sense. She had been with him today, She had been with him at the ice cream shop and the woman who worked there had seen her! All they had to do now was go there and get her to-

Will’s thoughts were silenced when his mother shoved a newspaper clipping in his hand. He read it out loud. “Pawnee teenager killed in hit and run”.

“N-no, this isn’t right, she was just with me, mom, today. We-we we went to the ice cream parlor, and we went to the park and--please Mom, you have to believe me, you have to!” Will sobbed. He hadn’t imagined it. He thought back to how the day started. He got in his car and drove to Sydney’s house. Then he left Sydney’s house and-

No, he left Sydney’s house with Sydney

No. He left Sydney’s house. As he tried to picture her the way he’d seen her today, it was as if every mental image that his brain held from today was fading away right in front of his eyes. But Sydney had been with him. She had to have been. Because if she wasn’t, then that meant…

No. He refused to believe that. It was Sydney who had bludgeoned the officer to death, not him. It wasn’t him.

It wasn’t him.

It wasn’t him. Will stuck his hand in his pocket and felt something solid. He pulled it out only to find the stone Sydney used the kill the officer.

It was him.

Will began to cry more before walking a few feet to look in the mirror just to see that he was covered in blood. He had blood spatter all over his face, he had it in his hair, on his clothes. It looked like he had showered in it. As soon as his mother saw the stone in his hand, she ran to the phone and began dialing a number. Will knew what this meant.

He gripped the stone in his hand while he overheard his mother speaking with the 911 operator. Just then, Sydney placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You know what you need to do, Willy,” she said, before sending him a reassuring smile. He smiled back at her before walking into the kitchen.

“I’m sorry, Mom” was the last thing he said before disappearing into the kitchen.