Beachside Conversation
I wanted to you to know I love the way you laugh.
I want to hold you high and steal your pain away.
I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well.
I want to hold you high and steal your pain…
Ash stared intensely at the photograph he held in his hand. It was his favorite picture of them.
His friends.
Gary, Drew, Paul, Dawn, May and Leaf.
They were his best friends. They still are in spirit.
His gaze intensified. That picture was the perfect representation of them.
He never thought about how dear this picture could ever be to him.
Ash looked up with a scowl and stared at the waves crashing onto the shore of the beach. He wore cargo pants and Drew's green shirt and sat barefoot in the sand, watching the waves crash over and over again. He hoped they would crash into him and pull him into the water. The sun shined brightly and people smiled and ran happily.
How?
How, he wondered, could they be so joyful? How could the sun shine? How could the world spin when his best friends had died? When they had been burned alive? And the cherry on top when he had been graced to continue living?
Sure Paul had joked about how he wished he could die on sunny days but Ash doubted that he had ever meant it.
Because I'm broken when I'm lonesome and I don't feel right when you're gone away.
You've gone away.
Ash was so concentrated on the ocean that he didn't notice a red-haired girl wearing white shorts and a yellow tank come sit next to him. He only noticed when she spoke to him.
"Hi."
That's when he looked. He had never seen her before in his small town. She was obviously tourist.
"Hey," he said before directing his eyes back to the waves.
"I'm Misty."
"Ash."
Ash looked over and saw Misty's penetrating gaze. "Are you okay, Ash?"
"Just dandy."
"No, really." She placed a hand on his shoulder. Her eyes sympathetic, almost inviting him to tell her his story. His guilt.
Before he could think, the words came out. "My friends died. My best friends."
Her eyes stayed sympathetic but there was a new glint, was it understanding or sorrow?
She took her gaze from his eyes and slowly took the photo from his hands. "Is this them?"
Ash nodded, "Paul, Drew, May, Gary, Dawn and Leaf."
"The girls are pretty."
Ash shook his head. "No, they're beautiful."
"What happened to them?" she asked quietly.
Ash stared into the sand.
The worst is over now and we can breathe again.
I want hold you high and steal my pain away.
There's so much left to learn and no one left to fight.
I want to hold you tight and steal your pain…
"Hurry up Ash!" Drew yelled. "This is going to be the best festival ever."
Gary took the phone. "I'm seriously missing out on some girl-on-Gary action. You better hurry."
"Excuse me?" Ash could hear and recognize Leaf asking her boyfriend of 3 months.
"Err…nothing babe," Gary replied.
Paul spoke now. "Anyway, the point of this is that if you don't show up soon, we will ditch you."
"Paul, don't be mean!" Ash chuckled as Dawn took the phone. "No need to worry Ash! We won't leave you. Well maybe Paul but he can be a loner by himself."
"Is there anyway else to be a loner?" Dawn's stepbrother Drew asked.
"DREW SHUT UP!" Dawn burst into flames.
May took the phone. "As you can hear, come before World War 3 starts."
"Ha, I'm on my way. Tell Dawn not to bite off Drew's head," he replied before hanging up.
…
He texted Drew as he walked up the boardwalk. The night sky was clear with starts twinkling distantly. The array of different lights filled the beach and the boardwalk as the festival for the annual Summer's Day tradition was attracting everyone in the town.
Ash looked everywhere for his friends when he finally heard Dawn's loud voice.
"Drew, don't even try to say that. You can barely speak English."
"Dawn! Be quiet and take the picture!" May commanded, forcing Dawn to stand next to Paul as she focused her camera.
Ash finally saw them as he saw Paul with his arm around Dawn. He walked over to them and smirked as he saw Paul's arm around Dawn even after May and her camera had moved on.
"What's going on here?" he asked Dawn and Paul who instantly moved away from each other. Paul glared at Ash while Dawn blushed and looked at the Ferris Wheel. Leaf and May exchanged a look and Drew chuckled silently. Gary was the only one confused.
"What is going on? Did I miss something?" he asked, looking around.
"Oh just nothing," May said while giving Dawn a look.
Gary crinkled his eyebrows and looked at Paul. "If there is a secret and no one is telling me…"
"Stop acting like a five year old, Gary." Drew flicked his hair.
"ANYWAY," Leaf yelled trying to change the conversation, "I bet I can beat all of you in those games."
May accepted the challenge, "You're on."
"I want food…" Drew muttered. Ash saw Gary nod, but it looked like he was agreeing with something else.
"Yeah, we'll meet up with you guys. Paul?" Ash noticed Gary said Paul's name with a different tone. Whatever it was supposed to mean, Paul quickly picked up on it.
"Of course."
If the girls picked up on the equivocation of their language, they didn't show up. But Ash sure did. They weren't getting food. They were up to something. But why didn't they tell him?
The guys wandered off and Ash waited 10 seconds before making an excuse to go to the bathroom and went to follow them.
He followed them to the sketchy dark back of the boardwalk.
"So why have you called us here?" He heard Drew ask.
The 3 figures stepped forward into the light revealing, Brendan, Lucas and Rudy.
Brendan, Lucas and Rudy were three guys that they were enemies with. Their fourth Kenny had died in a motorcycle race with Paul years ago.
Ash strained to hear but he froze when Brendan spoke, "It's time to settle the score Drew. Speaking of, where's Ashy-boy?"
"Your invitation didn't include him," Paul growled.
"It doesn't matter," Rudy stepped forward. "We have Dawn, May and Leaf. Be at the church by 8 or you won't see them again."
Gary's gaze burned, "What? You guys are sick."
"No worries," Drew whispered to Gary. "Ash is with them."
Ash's eyes widened as he turned and ran to the games. He passed through people, sliding through the crowd. The finally reached the games, where the girls were nowhere to be seen.
Where were they?
He looked frantically and his heart dropped as he heard Drew calling his name. "Ash! Hey Ash!"
He turned and forced a smile. "You guys eat quickly."
Gary looked around with a sense of worry, "Where are Leaf and the other girls?"
"I don't know. I went to the bathroom and when I came back they were gone. I was looking everywhere."
"What!" Drew's eyes bulged. "If Lucas puts one hand on my sister, he is a dead man."
"We need to get to the church," Paul told them. "Ash, listen to me. Get the cops and make them come to the church. Don't ask."
Ash nodded and ran off headed towards the police station.
…
Everything after that was a blur.
"Officer Wallace! Officer Wallace! You need to get down to the church. Something bad is about to happen."
Wallace saw the frantic eyes, nodded and took Ash with him in the car. After that all he remembered nothing until they had reached the church.
Red and orange danced before his eyes. Flames roared. The church was on fire.
"Backup, we need a fire truck down to the church immediately." Wallace was giving orders through his walkie talkie. He was silenced by screams and yells for help coming from inside.
There were people inside the church. And Ash had no doubt who those people were.
Wallace had to keep Ash back as the fire department came and put out the fire, but by that time the screams had stopped and when the fire was out, there was nothing but ashes left.
"Ash, do you have any idea who set this fire?" Wallace asked.
"Brendan, Rudy and Lucas."
"Brendan Birch, the mayor's son? Are you sure?"
Ash nodded, his gaze fixed on the church. The wind gently ushering the remains of his friends into the unknown.
"Do you know who was in the church?" Wallace asked, keeping his pencil ready on his notepad.
"Gary Oak, Leaf Green…"
...
"…May Maple, Drew Hayden, Dawn Hayden, and Paul Shinji. Today we remember those who lost their lives in the fire that destroyed our church. The culprits of these murders and destruction have been apprehended and put behind bars. Let the memories of these six young adults with their lives ahead of them never leave our memories. The reconstruction of the new church requested by Norman Maple will be their memorial. Let them live on."
Ash bowed his head as Wallace finished his speech. The "funeral" of his friends had brought the entire town. Maybe of their classmates from their high school offered him their condolences. Mayor Birch apologized for his son's behavior. Dawn's mom Johanna had offered to have him for dinner, but he declined. He couldn't be near Dawn and Drew's stuff. None of theirs. Not now.
The flood of black surrounded him.
The day of mourning still lasted.
"If only…If only I never followed them. If I had stayed with the girls, they wouldn't have been kidnapped. The guys would have never had to go to the church and those douchebags would have never locked them in. They would be alive. Or if I had just followed them to the church and fought Brendan. I'll never know what went down at the church and I'll never be at peace. I've lost everything. I'm lonely with no friends."
"That's not true. You have a friend who understands you entirely."
"Who? Who could I possibly have?"
She placed her hand over his.
"You have me."
She smiled and he smiled in return. He would take her smile on hope.