Hope you all enjoyed the first two chapters.
Oh, and in this story there are no Ice Hounds, just the DeGrassi hockey team.
Ch. 3 Drifting on an Empty Sea of Waves of Sadness
(DREW)
Grabbing their guns the two men leap over the back of the sofa, Dave jumps up and fires, hitting one in the arm. Bianca leaps up next, she fires too but misses. Adam stays low firing from the ground and getting one in the leg. The one Adam hits fires his gun but misses as he's struck by Adam's bullet. I duck behind the pool table aiming low and get one in the foot, he yells and then falls. Dave fires again and hits the one I just shot, Dave's bullet strikes him in the stomach as he falls to the floor. The gunfire must attract Alli and Clare because they come running around the corner. Alli gasps watching the one on the floor bleed out. The other one is still moving, but Clare pulls back on her bow and lets loose with an arrow. Either Clare is incredible with a bow and arrow or she gets incredibly lucky because the arrow hits the man in the chest. He makes a wheezing gasp, a gurgling sound and then he falls to the floor on his face.
"The cops are coming," Clare says as she sets the bow down, "ambulances too."
"We should go check on the others," Bianca speaks up.
"I'll stay here until the cops come, this one is still bleeding out," I tell them. I'm watching the one I hit, he's alive but barely.
"I'll stay with Drew," Dave says.
The others go downstairs to check on the injured, Dave and I stay up here. Watching the one guy bleed out, just as he begins to fade I start to hear sirens. We set down all the guns and the cops come in, they come in holding guns and order me and Dave to the ground. I know they're trying to figure out what's going on, but I don't like being handcuffed.
"What the hell are you doing? Not them, they're my friends, the bad guys are dead," Clare snaps at the cops. They both just look at her, then each other, neither one has gotten off me or Dave yet. "I called 911, now get off of my friends, we have injured down here that require immediate attention," she commands them.
Finally, the cops listen and get off of us, they call the EMTs in and Clare takes them downstairs. One of the cops stays here while Dave and I tell him what happened. The injured are attended by the EMTs, but all three are airlifted to the closest hospital. The rest of us follow the cops to the police station, in Owen's SUV, to give our statements. We call our parents to let them know we're okay, those were some interesting phone calls. Mom says she'll call Owen's parents. Once we've let our parents know we're alive we're separated to give our statements. At least one of the cops gives me a hoodie to put on so I can take off my snow jacket with Katie's blood spattered on it. When we're finally done we go to the hospital to see our friends.
"We're here to see Jake Martin, Jenna Middleton and Owen Milligan," Adam tells the reception nurse.
"Are you family?"
"I'm Jake's sister, our parents are all in Toronto they won't get here until tomorrow," Clare tells her.
The nurse nods and types on her computer a couple of minutes. "Owen and Jake are here, but Jenna was stabilized before being airlifted to Toronto Western. Owen is in room twelve upstairs and Jake in room ten. Visiting hours are over but you can see them for a couple of minutes."
"Thanks," I reply. We take the elevator upstairs and find Jake's room, we let Clare go in first but follow her in. Jake is watching TV but turns it off when we come in.
"How do you feel?" Clare asks him.
"Tired, but I'll be alright. They removed the bullet, they said I'd be okay once it heals. A few days in the hospital and some physical therapy. Did you call our parents?"
"Yeah, they're coming up tomorrow with the other parents. We all gave statements and the police station, and the two men are dead," Clare tells him.
"Good," Jake smiles.
"The nurse said we could only stay a couple of minutes. Jenna was airlifted out, but we want to see Owen before they kick us out," I tell Jake.
He nods, Clare kisses his forehead and we leave Jake's room for Owen's room next door. He looks like he's sleeping but when I lead the group in he opens his eyes.
"Hey," he says a little weakly.
"Hey, how you feelin'?"
"Out of it, they said I got a concussion and a couple broken ribs but looks like I'm going to make it. How are Jake and Jenna?"
"Jake will be okay, he lost a lot of blood, but a few days in the hospital and he can come home. Jenna was stabilized and airlifted to Toronto Western," Clare tells him. Owen nods and closes his eyes again.
"The nurse said we could only stay a few minutes, we'll let you get some rest," I speak up. We say goodbye to Owen and get back in his SUV.
"Drew," Clare speaks up from the backseat.
"Yeah?"
"I don't want to go back to the cabin. I'm pretty sure it's a crime scene anyway," Clare says.
"I don't think any of us want to go back to the cabin, let's go find a hotel," I reply.
I find a hotel and we get a room with two queen beds, we could have gotten two rooms, but I don't think any of us will sleep. Anyway, when I offered to get two rooms all the girls said no. We know the men are dead, doesn't mean any of us will sleep, I think we're all still in shock over it al. I know I am, I know Katie is dead, I saw her get shot, but it all seems so unreal.
I use the emergency credit card from Mom to pay for the room, I'm sure she'll be okay with it. All our stuff is still at the cabin, so once we're in the room everyone gets as comfortable as they can. Shoes and socks come off, most of us take off our jeans, that's about it. I turn on the TV while Dave and Alli claim one bed, Adam and I sit on the other and then Clare and Bianca put pillows against our legs and lean against us. No one sleeps, no one says much, we just sit there mindlessly watching TV for the rest of the night.
"We should get some breakfast, I'll call Mom and find out when the parents are coming up," I comment when I see the sun is starting to rise.
"I'm not hungry," Clare replies.
"We haven't eaten in almost a day, we need to eat," Adam tells her. She nods slowly in response.
We're all pretty stiff after not moving for a night, we get up and get clothes and shoes back on. I ask the hotel to hold the room for us, and then we go to a nearby diner. No one is extremely hungry, but we manage some coffee and a little food. After breakfast I call Mom and she says all the parents are on the road and they'll call when they get to into town. Owen and Jake's parents are going to the hospital first. After eating we go back to the hotel and stay until Mom calls. I tell her what hotel we're at and a short time later there's a knock on the door. Adam opens it and Mom hugs him tightly, Dad follows her in and hugs me, Clare's mom is hugging her so tightly that it looks like Clare is being smothered. Jake's Dad must have gone alone to the hospital with Owen's parents. Alli's parents and Dave's mom come in to hug their children, we find out Dave's dad is at the police station to talk to his fellow cops. Of course, Bianca's aunt didn't come, but my parents hug her. Since the parents took all day to drive here they take us to dinner and get some hotel rooms. The six of us stay in the same hotel room again, and none of the parents say anything about it.
The next morning the cops let us go back to the cabin to get our things, only none of us want to go back. Instead the parents go to gather our stuff, and the other cars, Mom gives me the keys to the minivan and we start driving back. Owen and Jake won't be released from the hospital until tomorrow, so their dads are staying to drive them back tomorrow in Owen's SUV.
Our drive back is solemn and silent, it's New Year's Eve and we should all be celebrating but no one wants to celebrate. I take us all back to my house, I don't even ask, but I'm sure that no one wants to go home to an empty house. Our parents, except for Owen and Jake's dads who stayed, and Owen's mom who went home to be with his little brother, arrive at my house a couple hours later. Mom orders pizza and we eat a little, we're awake at midnight but no one kisses, no one even says happy new year. Dave and Alli go home with their parents after midnight. Clare, Bianca and Clare's mom all sleep at our house. The four of us kids sleep in the basement, with the curtains closed and the door securely locked. Helen sleeps in Adam's room, I think she was able to get some sleep, but none of us slept.
New Year's Day the only thing there is to celebrate is that Owen and Jake get home that night. We do go to the hospital to see Jenna, but she's in bad shape and unconscious, we only stay a couple of minutes. When Clare and Alli begin sobbing we leave the room. School resumes tomorrow, and I have no idea how any of us are going to make it through.
(CLARE)
"Are you sure you both want to go to school?" Mom asks.
"I don't want to be home all day," I reply stabbing my spoon into my oatmeal.
"Me either, even hobbling through school on crutches will be better than staying here, alone, in silence," Jake replies.
He came home last night, driving back with Glen, Owen and his dad. Jake is on crutches, unable to put weight on his leg right now. He was happy to be home and out of the hospital, but he only slept last night because of the drugs the doctor gave him. I stayed on the phone all night with Adam and Drew. None of us could sleep, I'm sure Alli was on the phone all night with Dave.
"Alright, but if either of you needs to come home for any reason call me or Glen and we'll come get you," Mom tells us.
I nod before getting up to put the rest of my oatmeal down the disposal. Helping Jake with his backpack I take the keys and drive us to school, Jake can't exactly drive with his leg. When we get to school we find the road in blocked by police, and a swarm of reporters outside the police barricade. Apparently, word has reached Toronto about what happened up at the cabin. The reporters begin to swarm the truck, I almost hit one of them. Officer Turner and some other officers force them back and wave us through. I park the truck and get Jake's crutches out of the back. Once he has the crutches I start to grab our backpacks from the back before a hand reaches in to get Jake's.
"Need a hand?" Owen asks.
"You're here, how's your head?" I question.
"It's okay," Owen replies as Jake begins hobbling on his crutches and we walk just behind him. "Doc said to take it easy though and go home if I have a headache. And no sports for two weeks which really sucks, that means no hockey. I figured here was better than being home all day alone though. Can't believe the reporters found out so fast, they were even at the house. They found out it was our cabin, Tris almost fainted when he opened the front door this morning and had his picture taken."
"I'm glad they weren't at our house this morning, I would have hurt one of them. Where is Tristan?" I inquire realizing I haven't seen him but presumably he and Owen got there just before we did.
"He ran ahead, he didn't want to take the chance that a reporter was smart enough to sneak through the ravine."
"Oh no, you don't think they will do you?" I query and begin looking around as I expect a reporter to jump out at us at any moment.
"They might try, I tipped off Turner and called an old friend that still hangs out at the ravine. He said he'd keep any reporters from getting through," Owen says, and I let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm going up the ramp through the garden, no way am I doing the front stairs with these things," Jake says getting slightly out of breath.
"We'll come with you," I tell Jake.
We go through the garden and Owen holds open the door. Jake hobbles as far as a bench and sits down, so we sit with him. We're only sitting a couple minutes before Bianca wanders over and joins us.
"Where the hell were you last night?" Owen asks her.
"Slept at Chloe's, didn't think Mrs. Torres wanted me at their house anymore," Bianca shrugs.
"You can stay at our house tonight, I am not going another night worried about you," Owen says in a scolding tone.
"You're cute when you worry," Bianca grins pinching Owen's cheek and he scowls at her, "anyway the bad men are dead, nothing to worry about."
"The bad men are dead, so why isn't it any easier to sleep at night?" I question without expecting an answer.
Instead of an answer Drew and Adam join us, they say nothing just lean on the wall next to us. Then Alli and Dave join us, and here we all are, survivors of two psychotics. Two evil men who happened upon us in the woods, killed three of our friends, injured three more, wanted to rape me and Bianca, but we survived.
When the bell rings for first period it grinds at everyone's nerves. It's shriller and louder than I remember, it sounds like a scream to me. I inadvertently grab the arm of the person next to me, it's Owen's arm, but he doesn't seem to mind, actually he sort of hugs me with his other arm. We all move slowly, getting up and walking to our first classes. Jake and Drew have the same first period, so Drew takes Jake's backpack. Owen and Bianca part from us as well, but Dave, Alli, Adam and I have the same first period class. We sit at our desks and the teacher begins taking attendance when an announcement comes over the intercom.
"Clare Edwards, Bianca De Sousa, Alli Bhandari, Dave Turner, Jake Martin, Owen Milligan, Drew and Adam Torres to the principal's office."
I hear kids whispering, no one says anything out loud, but I hear them whispering as the four of us leave class. We meet up with the others before we even get to principal Simpson's office. When we do enter his office, we see Officer Turner is with him, and I get a sinking feeling in my stomach.
"What's going on Dad?" Dave asks.
"Jenna died," Officer Turner reveals, and I feel sick all of a sudden. I lean on the person behind me feeling my legs begin to falter. It's Adam and he puts an arm around me.
"How? When?" Alli questions. I see that she's leaning heavily on Dave. Jake is the only one sitting, but his head is down, and I can't see his expression.
"Earlier this morning, the hospital didn't know who to contact. They don't know the exact cause yet, but they believe it was her injuries. They think her internal injuries were more severe than they realized, and that they may have missed some internal bleeding. The press doesn't know yet, we'll keep it that way for as long as we can. We're trying to keep the press from getting any of your names, but the press has their ways," Officer Turner informs us.
"None of you need to be here, you can go home any time today or tomorrow. We'll be holding a memorial service here at the school tomorrow for Katie, Marisol, Mo and now Jenna too," Principal Simpson says.
"I don't want to go home, but I don't really want to return to homeroom either," I speak up and everyone else nods in agreement.
"An announcement is being given in all the homeroom classes right now. Miss Sauvé is informing K.C. personally and she'll be meeting with kids in the auditorium today. She's offered her office to any of you that want to be here but not be in class today," Simpson tells us.
"Yeah, I think I'll go there," Adam says.
All of us walk slowly to Miss Sauvé's office and sit down. Jake sits on the sofa, sitting sideways to put his injured leg on the sofa. Bianca sits at Jake's feet on the sofa. I hop onto Miss Sauvé's desk, Owen and Adam do the same on either side of me. Drew sits in her desk chair, Dave and Alli take the chairs on the other side of her desk. We sit in silence until the bell rings and it startles me to the point of gasping. Then it's back to sitting in silence, in our own thoughts, we don't even move when the lunch bell rings.
"Principal Simpson said I could find you guys here," Eli says walking in. He gives everyone a sympathetic look, but he walks over to me and Adam. "Can I do anything? Get you guys some lunch?"
"I'm not hungry, thanks anyway Eli," I reply.
"Yeah, me either," Adam says.
"Are you sure you all want to spend the day here? I'm betting you haven't moved since you got here," Eli comments.
"I don't want to be here, I don't want to be home. I can't explain it I just don't," I tell him.
"You don't have to explain it, I know how you're feeling. I didn't want to be anywhere after Julia died. Why don't you all go to my house, my dad is off work, so he'll be there if the media does manage to find you, and my room is clean now," Eli remarks which makes me and Adam smile. "My place is more comfortable than Miss Sauvé's office. I'm sure my parents won't mind."
"Thanks Eli, being at your place does sound better than this," I nod.
"Yeah, I'd rather be there," Adam agrees.
"Me too," Drew says standing up.
The others nod in agreement and it's settled. Eli holds his hand out to me and I get off the desk. Having sat on it for the last three hours I realize just how stiff I am. Everyone is, we all groan as we get up, and walk slowly to Principal Simpson's office. Of course, we'd walk slowly anyway with Jake hobbling on crutches. Simpson says we can all go to Eli's, Adam comes with Jake and I in the truck, Alli goes with Dave in his car and Owen takes Bianca and Drew. Getting out of the parking lot is the hard thing, the reporters are swarming all the cars that are leaving. It's a good thing that it's lunch and we're not the only ones leaving.
Eli must have called ahead because Bullfrog is waiting for us. He opens the door and lets us in but doesn't say anything. Jake seems to decide that going up the stairs is too hard because he sits on the sofa. Bianca, Owen, Dave and Alli stay with him, Adam and I go up to Eli's room, the padlock is gone now, and the room is clean. Drew follows us and we all sit on Eli's bed. Back to sitting silent again. Feeling a familiarity in Eli's room, feeling safe, and the lack of sleep I drift off, waking sometime later to Drew screaming. Adam and I both bolt up, guess we all fall asleep.
"Drew, Drew wake up it's just a nightmare," Adam says loudly while shaking his brother. Just as Drew's eyes shoot open I hear running up the stairs.
"You guys okay?" Owen asks. Bianca and Bullfrog are just behind him but when he sees that we're all okay Bullfrog leaves.
"Drew had a nightmare," I tell Owen as he and Bianca come in the room.
"A nightmare that happened, Katie's dead. They shot her in the head right in front of me," Drew says before putting his head down and breaking into tears.
Adam begins rubbing Drew's back, I put my hand on his arm and Owen sits on the bed near me, but Bianca leaves the room and goes back downstairs. I wish I could be more comforting. Nothing we say or do can take that memory from Drew. Eventually Drew cries himself back to sleep, Adam lies down with his brother and I feel heavy with sleep again, soon I'm back to sleep.
This time I'm the one with the nightmare, waking up with a quick gasp, it's late afternoon and I'm sandwiched between Owen and Adam, everyone else is asleep. Everyone except Eli, he's sitting at his desk doing homework, or at least he was until I woke up, now he's looking at me. Not wanting to wake the others I carefully slide off the bed, I walk out to the hallway and Eli follows me. Quietly closing the bedroom door behind us I sit on the top step and he sits next to me.
"It will get better Clare, the pain, the hurt, that empty feeling, time will lessen all of those," Eli tries to assure me.
"It's not just that, I miss Jenna and am feeling her loss and shock that she died. I suppose they never told us Jenna was okay, but they said she'd been stabilized, guess it was foolish to think she was going to be okay. When we saw her in the hospital she…no, she looked bad, but it doesn't change that I thought she'd be okay with time. I knew Katie pretty well from working on the paper, but we weren't really friends, I'm sad that she died, I feel awful that she was shot right in front of Drew. Mo and Marisol, I didn't really know at all, I'm sorry that they died, and I feel the loss because they died, not in the same way I feel Jenna's. More than all that, I don't feel safe Eli, not really. I know the men are dead, I helped to kill one of them, yet knowing they're dead I still don't feel safe, not at home or really at school. It's hard to go to sleep, and every time I hear a noise outside or in the dark I think it's one of them coming after us again."
"Do you feel safe here?" Eli asks.
"Yeah," I smile at Eli, "I do feel pretty safe here. Did we all fall asleep here?"
"Jake and Bianca are asleep on the sofa, Alli's parents came and got her and Dave decided to go home since his dad is home. Because most everyone was finally getting some sleep we didn't want to wake you guys. My parents said everyone could spend the night, everyone that wants to anyway."
"I'd like to sleep here. Guess I should call my mom," I comment.
"When Alli and Dave went home we called everyone's parents, we weren't sure when people would wake up. Everyone's parents said it was okay, or to call them if you wanted to go home. Are you hungry or anything?"
"Not really, but I haven't eaten all day I should probably eat."
Eli smiles and takes my hand. We go quietly down the stairs and into his kitchen. Bullfrog and Cece must be out or in their bedroom because I haven't seen them. I make myself a sandwich and Eli sits with me. Everyone else wakes up in the next couple of hours and everyone decides to stay the night. Jake, Bianca, Adam, Drew and Owen all manage to eat a little, about as much as I did. Mom and Glen bring Jake and I everything we need for tonight and tomorrow; Audra and Omar do the same for Adam and Drew. Owen's mom brings what he needs and brings Bianca a new toothbrush and a change of clothes for tomorrow.
Even though I slept most of the afternoon by ten I'm ready to sleep again and so are the others. Jake, Bianca and Owen sleep downstairs while Adam, Drew and I sleep with Eli in his room. Eli gives me the bed and he sleeps on the floor with the other boys. Even though we all wake up after a nightmare at some point that night we do get some sleep, much needed sleep.
Despite the sleep I wake up Friday morning with a heavy feeling, but maybe that's because I'm not looking forward to the memorial at school today. We all get ready for school, no one eats breakfast including Eli, and then we make a motorcade to school. Jake, Bianca and me in Jake's truck, in Owen's SUV he has Adam, Drew and Eli. There's reporters at the school again but the cops are holding them back and we're able to get through.
All classes are canceled today, when homeroom would be starting we all gather in the auditorium. Dave is here, but I don't see Alli. Miss Sauvé leads our group in, which includes Eli this morning, but not Alli. On the stage are Katie's parents, K.C. and four other people I believe to be Mo and Marisol's parents, but I've never seen them before. On the screen behind the podium pictures of Katie, Mo, Marisol and Jenna are playing in a slideshow. I don't know about the others, but I find the slideshow hard to watch, thinking of them only makes me think about what happened at the cabin.
"Dave, where's Alli?" I question him.
"She's not coming, she said she just couldn't and she wanted to stay home. I offered to come over and she said she just wanted to be alone," he replies.
I nod, I know how she feels, at this moment I don't want to be here either. Adam is sitting next to me, he must know how I feel because he puts his arm around me.
"We'll get through it together Clare," Adam tells me.
Owen, sitting on my other side, takes my hand. I give each of them a small appreciative smile and the service begins. Principal Simpson talks about each of those who have passed, then one of their parents gets up to say a few things. Since Jenna's family isn't here K.C. talks about her, and I begin crying on Adam's shoulder. Simpson lets other people come on stage to talk if they want, one of the girls from the power squad talks about Marisol, a girl from the soccer team about Katie, a guy from the football team says a few things about Mo and Connor talks about Jenna. When the service is over Principal Simpson encourages kids to talk to the grief counselors and remind everyone not to talk to the media. Other kids start to leave, our group begins to get up, but we stay where we are, I think we're not sure where to go or what to do now.
"You killed our children," Marisol's mom hisses at Owen. Her words are laced with venom and the tall muscular football player flinches.
"Owen didn't kill anyone, two psychotic men found us. They killed Katie, Mo and Marisol, injured Owen, Jake and Jenna ultimately killing her and tormented the rest of us. Owen had as much control over what happened as you did when you let your children go on the trip," I snarl at her as hot tears run down my cheeks. Marisol's mom pulls back and then hangs her head in shame.
"Thanks Clare," Owen smiles.
"I think we should go, everyone can come back to my house," Eli offers.
"Yeah, I don't want to be here anymore," I nod.
"I'm going to go check on Alli," Dave tells us.
The rest of us go back to Eli's and spend the rest of the day mostly in silence as we all sit in his room. We don't spend the night tonight, around dinner time we all go home or get picked up. Jake and I spend the rest of the night watching TV and not sleeping. There's a public memorial today at Riverdale Community Center. I don't want to go, but Mom says it will do me and Jake good. Reluctantly, Jake and I get dressed and we go to the community center with our parents. As soon as we get there Jake and I look for the others. We see Owen, Drew, Adam and Bianca in one corner and we go to them.
"Have any of you seen Dave or Alli?" I ask. They all shake their heads. "Maybe, I should call Alli, I probably should have called her yesterday," I comment getting my phone out.
"Clare," Adam says touching my arm and nodding behind me. I turn to see Officer Turner approaching us, he has a grim look on his face and my heart begins to pound.
"Kids can you follow me for a moment?" Officer Turner requests.
"What's going on? Where's Dave?" I ask nervously.
"Let's go out to the hall," he repeats.
Jake leads the way on his crutches, Owen and Bianca follow, Drew behind them, Adam takes my hand and we follow his brother. Officer Turner follows us out and, looks around and when he sees people close by he takes us around the corner where we're alone.
"Dave is at home. Alli was found by her parents this morning, it looks like she committed suicide," Officer Turner informs us.
My heart starts pounding so rapidly and hard I feel like it's hitting my ribcage. My breaths go shallow and tight as I feel like I can no longer breath. I feel as if all the blood in my body has been drained out. "Alli's d…" I start to say but can't get the words out and the ground comes up to meet me very fast.
I'm so mean, but it's a short story and chapter 4 is up now.