Chapter Four
For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
Luke 12:2
Morning came and went, as did the afternoon, and the town went on as usual in the heat of summer. Yet a certain gloom and fear of upcoming events hung heavy in the air, no one knowing what it was or just what it meant for them. To the town it was just another hot, humid, sticky July day in Epson, South Carolina. The teens and kids in the town were swimming at Deer Lake while their parents worked, packed for vacation, or joined them for a day of cool refreshing fun.
Of course as always the Epson five were together, hanging at a secluded spot of the beach that they had long ago claimed as their own. Their favorite sport was in full swing, literally, as the sixth swing and dive competition of the season called for the next challenger Jacob Raleigh. While the others cheered him on or teased his future failure Michael had other things on his mind, things he could not shake no matter how hard he tried, things that ate at him like a cancer. Finally unable to hold it in any longer he turned to his best friend.
“Jeremy?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“I mean without you thinking that I’m crazy or making fun of me?”
“That serious?”
“Yeah, well maybe. I don’t know. It’s just really weird and it’s beginning to get to me. You know?”
“Let’s move back so no one else hears and I promise not to laugh or tell any of the other guys if that’s what you want.”
“Thanks man. I appreciate it.”
The two moved further back onto the beach where the woods staked their claim and they’d have at least a small amount of privacy. Nervously, Michael described the dreams that had invaded his sleep over the past few nights and the fear that they brought. “I mean you know me Jeremy, I don’t scare easily, but these nightmares wake me up screaming some nights. At first I thought that it was just a coincidence or something, you know, from reading that book and the storm and all, but something happened that…” he had gone too far to stop now and he had to purge himself of the weight that had grown on his mind. “… well it really terrified me.” His secret was out, he was scared.
“What was that?”
“You know the attack on old man Farley’s cattle?”
“Yeah.”
“I dreamt about it.”
“That’s no biggie. If I thought about it long enough I’d have dreams about it too.”
“No Jeremy, you don’t get it. I dreamt about it the night it happened! Before anyone knew what happened!”
“You mean you predicted it?”
“Sort of, but it was worse than that.”
“Maybe you’re psychic?”
“Maybe, but I had another dream last night and it was even worse. It made me sick and it…”
Before he could finish a scream of pain rang out and their train of thought was lost as they glanced up to see William struggling to keep his head above water. Without thinking the four other boys dove in after their friend and dragged him to the shore.
“What happened, Chris?”
“He was trying to break the record and swung out too far or something ‘cause he hit the water and came up screaming.” Blood was pouring from a gaping wound in Will’s left leg and his shin bone was protruding into the sand. Too freaked to act the boys could only kneel and witness the gruesome sight until Jeremy began barking orders.
“We need to get him to the hospital. Chris… Chris, look at me. Run to the other side of the beach and get your dad. Tell him there’s been an accident and that Will’s broken his leg and he’s bleeding. Jacob, you go get some limbs so we can splint his leg and Michael you can use our shirts to tie his leg to the splint.”
“Jeremy I… I can’t… I…”
“Fine, just hold his hand and let him squeeze it when he needs to. Splinting his leg is probably gonna hurt even more, but it needs done.” After sending the others on their missions he turned his attention to the injured Will, “Will, it’s gonna be all right. We’re going to immobilize your leg so that it doesn’t get worse. You’ve broken it pretty bad. Do you know what happened?”
Confused and in terrible pain he tried to clear his foggy head long enough to think of what really had happen to him. Finally the memory returned and between gasps of pain he told what he could. “I swung out further than ever this time and I was yelling to… to Chris when I hit the water. I… I started to… go down in the water hard, but I hit something, something harder. I felt my leg go limp and… it hurt. I got scared and couldn’t swim.”
“I felt something too Will.”
“Obviously, you didn’t feel enough.” Michael interjected
“What do you mean?”
“Jeremy, your leg!”
“What about it?”
“It’s bleeding too!”
“It’s probably just some of Will’s blood from where we pulled him out.”
“No man, your leg it’s gushing blood! Look!” Michael was relentless.
“Fine.” Jeremy inspected his leg and found a piece of glass was embedded into his calf, the blood really was his. Adrenaline pumping, Jeremy, reached behind him and pulled the shard from his left leg, then ripped a piece of his shirt and tied it around his hemorrhaging appendage. No sooner was the knot tied than the other boys returned one carrying splints and the other followed by a huffing father. His own injury forgotten, the group worked to stabilize William’s leg before Chris’s father rushed the crying boy to his car. All five teens and two adults piled into the SUV, leaving their possessions on the sand by the water’s edge temporarily forgotten.
The hospital smelled of disinfectant and the fake odors of canned fragrances, and despite the sultry summer day outside, inside the hospital it was downright freezing. Will was taken back to emergency with no waiting, the hospital was experiencing another one of its lazy days in a sleepy town, while the group of friends told and retold the events of the afternoon again and again. It wasn’t until Michael was recounting his version to the town sheriff Franklin (Frank) Marshall that he remembered Jeremy and his gashed leg.
“Okay Jeremy, my name is Dr. Boyd and I’ll be taking a look at that cut of yours. By the way your friend talks it was quite a gusher.”
“Michael tends to over exaggerate when it comes to stuff like that.”
“Stuff like what?”
“You know, blood and stuff. He acts all tough and weird and stuff, but he hates the sight of blood. Actually I think it’s just a scratch.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because I didn’t even notice it was there for one thing and for another it didn’t really hurt when I removed the glass.”
“Well let’s just have a look and clean it out just to be safe.” Dr. Boyd unwrapped the makeshift bandage and irrigated the wound with an antiseptic wash to find that it was indeed only a scratch.
“Bad news Jeremy.”
Jeremy’s calm demeanor was shook and his heart pounded, “What do you mean?” he said with a shakiness he wasn’t aware of.
“Well son, I don’t know how to tell you this, but you won’t be getting any stitches to show off to your friends. Sorry.”
Relieved and slightly angry Jeremy released his breath. The doctor dressed the cut with little more than a Band-Aid and sent him on his way. He emerged from the e.r. to a throng of excited friends and parents.
“What’d they say?”
“Did you get a lot of stitches?”
“Will’s getting thirty-two stitches and a cast.”
“Yeah, they said that the water helped to slow him down and it kept his leg from being torn off completely.”
“Isn’t that cool?!”
“Will was hurt Chris, that’s not cool. He won’t be able to swim for the rest of the summer and neither will we.” Michael had become irritated over Chris and Jacob’s nonchalantness. Their friend had be
en hurt and decided to set them straight.
“What do you mean ‘Neither will we’?” After their scolding neither Chris nor Jacob wanted anything to do with Michael and refused to speak. A practice the five were very familiar with whenever one offended the other, but like any other argument it was only temporary. The longest fight had in fact lasted only two weeks and it wouldn’t have lasted that long if it wasn’t for the fact that one of the boys had been away with his parents at the time. So in turn it was up to Michael to fill Jeremy in on all the commotion that had taken place in the few short moments of his absence. “Well we can swim, just not in our spot.”
“Why not?”
“Sheriff Marshall said that it was off limits until he had a chance to find out what you and Will got hurt on and remove it from the lake. Will won’t be able to hang for a while, because of his injuries they had to put him on some pretty strong pain medicine that puts him to sleep sometimes. The morbid twins over there were right about his fall though. The water did slow him down enough to keep him from almost losing his leg.”
“Wow,” To think that you could lose a body part just by diving into something.
“What about you?”
“Huh?”
“How many stitches did you get?”
“Oh, none.”
“None?”
“Yeah, it was just a scratch after all.”
“But the blood was gushing all over the place.”
“Well it was nothing, see.” Jeremy pulled up one side of his measly bandage and showed the gawking group his pathetic little cut. Satisfied and a little disappointed the group turned their attention back to Will and waited. When the time came to marvel at his gash they found him sleeping like a baby and the leg bandaged up like a mummy. He would be released the next day, so the gang returned to the beach to gather their belongings then grabbed some food at their favorite haunt. A dull finish to an exciting day, all they would talk about for months to come would be this day… they thought.