Ghost of You

It all happened fast, too fast for my own good: the body weight of Carl slamming into me; my throbbing head and swimming vision; my lungs burning as I tried to search for air but found no resource of it; the painful grip on my ankle. My heart was tap dancing, a painful ram in my chest.

And then he was there. His long black hair fanned out around his head as he darted down toward me. I let out a frantic scream, squeezing shut my eyes. He went by me, down lower and lower until he was blending with the darkness at the bottom. The grip on my ankle suddenly disappeared. I flailed my arms around frantically, trying to find the surface. An arm wrapped around my torso and jerked me up awkwardly.

My head broke the surface and I gasped for air, the cold water pressing like needles into my skin. Luke pulled himself up next to me, taking a large breath and diving back down. Great, so he's a lifeguard, too?

My head hurt too much, I felt paralyzed in the water. I inhaled, the breath painful in my lungs, as I felt myself starting to float down again.



I blinked my eyes, my muscles aching as water pooled from my throat and out onto the cement. The voices of everyone mixed together like a bad drink, the ground seeming to spin beneath me as I choked up more water. I craned my neck to get a better view of what was going on. Everyone was huddled into a large circle, police officers pulling random kids to, what I assume, question. I recognized Luke instantly, and it took me a minute to notice he was crying. Not far from him stood his father, Eli, and Luke's older brother, Emmett. They, too, were being interrogated by the police.

I pulled my blue towel closer around my trembling form, pulling myself to stand on my unsteady legs. I instantly flopped into the nearest beach chair, pulling my legs to my chest and hugging them tightly. Two uniformed men came over, one crouching down beside me and one standing in front of me, a notepad and pen in his hand.

“Are you Tom?” the one crouching down said.

I nodded my head, my teeth chattering. “W-what's h-ha-happening?” I asked, my voice in a high pitch.

The officer standing looked pointedly to the officer next to me, then directly at me. “We need you to explain everything that's happened since you arrived here.”

I took a shaky breath, going into detail of how Georg and I arrived and were waiting for Gustav to appear, about water volleyball with Luke, and about remembering being pushed underneath the water.

“And that's all I remember,” I summed up.

The officer standing in front of me scribbled down notes in his pad. “A witness said you were speaking to Luke when you froze, saying you seemed to have seen something.”

I shrugged, lying through my teeth. I knew I couldn't tell them the truth, they wouldn't believe me if I did. “I thought I saw Gustav.”

“Then what?”

I shrugged one shoulder. “I don't remember. I just remember being pushed underneath the water.” I looked to the officer next to me. “Now can you tell me what's going on?”

The officer next to me stood up, hooking his thumb through his belt. “Carl DiMarco jumped into the water atop you,” the officer took a large breath, “and drowned.”

I stared, bewildered, at him. “W-what?”

“Your friend, Luke, jumped in not long after and pulled you to the surface. He went back to get Carl, but it was too late to save him. You were too … out of it, you could say, and started to drown yourself, when Luke's older brother, Emmett, jumped in and pulled you from the water.”

“So he's dead?” I asked, my voice shrill, hoping to be corrected.

Both officers removed their hats, nodding. I leaned back into the beach chair, closing my burning eyes while I pulled my towel tighter around my shoulders, curling up into fetal position.

“Are you alright, son?” one of the officers asked, leaning down next to me and feeling my forehead with his palm. I inhaled deeply, nodding, then shaking, my head. “Are your parents home?” I shrugged my shoulders, letting a tear roll down my cheek.

“I'll take him home,” a shaken-up voice said.

I peered up and found Eli, Emmett next to him. Luke appeared, trembling, with my things clutched to his chest. I stood and took my things from him as Emmett wrapped a large arm around my shoulder. Eli looked at the officers, who sighed and nodded their heads.



The four of us slowly trailed to the parking lot, Luke's eyes red under the now-dimming sun. I felt numb all over as I climbed slowly into the back of the black SUV, Emmett sliding into the seat next to me as Luke and his father sat in the front. Police lights danced on the windows as the engine rumbled underneath me. Eli wove through the odd-parked cars, mainly belonging to parents searching for their children.

An ambulance was parked in the far corner of the lot, two men loading something inside, and I knew at once it was Carl's body.

I burst into tears.