Anywhere But Here

By the time Alyssa had finally mustered up the courage to walk out of her father’s house, the Jonas’ household seemed to be completely packed. Celia and the other girls who Alyssa had seen the day before were front and center in the lawn, obviously trying to get the attention from each and every guy surrounding them.

Their eyes all burned metaphoric holes into her back as she pushed past the crowd and stepped foot into the actual party, where an alternative radio station was being blasted over the speakers. People who looked to be a few years older than Alyssa stared at her as she clumsily stumbled her way through the living room, not forgetting to steal a glance at the girl’s photo that was on the fireplace mantel.

As Alyssa ponderously looked around for Joe and his group of friends, her mind flashed back to the night before and what had happened. Her entire conversation with Frankie replayed over and over again, much like it already had as she forced herself into slipping on one of the dresses that she had packed. Who was the girl she had seen? And did she have anything to do with the fact that Joe hadn’t brought girls home in a long time, according to Frankie? All of her question, Alyssa told herself, would be answered tonight.

She finally spotted Joe across the room, where he was glancing outside, watching as a few teenagers began to make their way into the water behind his house.

Suddenly, Alyssa’s hands got clammy. She wasn’t sure how she was going to approach Joe, who seemed strangely upset for someone who was throwing a party. With a nervous attitude, Alyssa finally took a few steps forward and stood beside Joe.

“Hey,” she said awkwardly, running hand up and down the length of her arm. As soon as Joe glanced away from the glass door and spotted Alyssa standing next to him, a smile grew onto his face.

“Hi, I didn’t think you were going to come.” He said softly, his voice barely audible because of the loud music that was being played in the background. Alyssa shrugged her shoulders.

“I almost didn’t.” She glanced around the area, where it was still becoming more crowded, “I haven’t been to this sort of environment since the last day I…” She paused and glanced out the window. A boy and a girl walked hand in hand down the shoreline of the beach. In the sunset, the boy’s red swim trunks seemed to be almost glowing.

“I understand,” Joe said quietly, squeezing Alyssa’s hand encouragingly, “you don’t have to explain anything to me.”

The two teens stood in silence as Joe continued to watch the people in his backyard. Alyssa studied his expression, which was highlighted by the setting sun before him, and smiled to herself. She looked away just in time for Joe to look down at her and do the same. He watched as the smile suddenly fell, as if she had just remembered something horrible. Without thinking, he reached for the door handle and nodded toward the beach.

“Do you want to take a walk?” He asked, meeting Alyssa’s eyes slowly. She looked outside reluctantly but nodded her head. Without another word, the two of them exited Joe’s house and began making their way down the beach’s shore. Past the crowd, past the girl in the photo, past the boy in the red swim trunks, and maybe only for a moment- past all of Alyssa’s worries that she had had about that night.

* * *

Alyssa wasn’t sure how far from their neighborhood that she and Joe were, but by the time they had finally stopped walking, thousands of stars had begun to appear in the sky. It was hard for her to see in front of her, but the silhouette of Joe’s figure was just visible against the waves that were still flooding the shore next to them. For a few minutes, the waves were the only sound filling the night air.

“I like coming out here sometimes,” Joe said quietly. Alyssa watched as he sat down on the sand and she mimicked his actions a few moments later. Back home, she would have probably worried about what the sand could do to damage her dress, but around Joe, none of that seemed to matter. She slipped off her sandals and set them down on the sand next to her, digging her feet deep into the earth until she felt the cold, wet, sand surround her toes. “The sound of the waves just relax me.”

Alyssa nodded her head silently, listening to the waves for a few moments before responding.

“At my mom’s, the closest thing we had to a beach was a public swimming pool.” She stated. She figured that that statement probably meant nothing to Joe, but she didn’t feel stupid for saying it. She felt as if she could tell him anything and he would listen to her.

“Do you like it there more than you like it here?” He asked. Alyssa shrugged her shoulders, even if he couldn’t see her do it.

“I miss what I had back there.” She answered honestly, “I mean, don’t get me wrong-it’s beautiful here, too. But here, I’m just reminded more of everything I left back home.”

“Like, your friends?” Alyssa just now began to notice Joe’s insecurity in every question he asked her.

“My friends,” Alyssa repeated, trying to pick out Joe’s face in the complete darkness. “My real family, my mom, her murderer.”

Once again, the waves were the only sound between the two of them.

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, Joe.” Alyssa said defensively, balling her hands into fists before plunging them into the sand. “I’m just sick of people beating around the bush, you know? You can just say it to me. My mom was murdered, and her murderer is still unknown. My step-dad has disappeared, and I’ve been seeing traces of him all around town-”

Alyssa suddenly stopped, taking one of her sandy hands and pressing it against her lips. She could almost feel Joe’s tense body next to hers.

“W-what?” Joe murmured quietly, “What do you mean you’ve seen traces
of him. Around town, but…why here?”

“You don’t think I’ve asked myself that same question?” Alyssa whispered, looking away from the darkness and instead trying to pick out the sound of the waves. Now, all she heard was her own thoughts. He must think I’m crazy. The first person to actually show an interest in me, and I freak him out by saying something like that. I should have known better. “Just forget it.”

“I don’t think you’re crazy or anything,” Joe told her, as if he had just read her mind. Maybe in Alyssa’s state of mind, that possibility could make sense. Alyssa shrugged off her delirious thoughts and glanced back at Joe. “I’ll tell you something, if you promise to tell me what you’re thinking.”

She wasn’t sure why she agreed to this proposition, but she nodded her head anyways. And even though Joe couldn’t see it, he still continued to speak.

“During the summer of my sophomore year, I had this friend. Her name was Lily, and she was actually kind of more than a friend, but we had been best friends for the first fourteen years of our lives. Anyways, one night we were hanging out at my house, and she told me about how she felt like there was this guy following her around. Like, everywhere we would go, he would be there, following us and watching her.

I didn’t know what to think, because I had never seen this guy, and you would think that if it was as serious as she was making it out to be, I would have noticed something, you know?”

Alyssa wasn’t sure if she was supposed to answer or not, so she just nodded her head.

“My parents were gone that night. Kevin was out at the pier with his friends, Frankie was at a babysitter’s house, and Nick was over at a friend’s house. Since no one else was around, we had been drinking, so I thought that maybe she was just being weird and trying to play a joke on me or something. So I didn’t believe her. Even when she had begged me to believe what she was saying, I had shrugged it off and told her that her jokes weren’t funny anymore. And when she wouldn’t drop it, I told her that she needed to leave. I remember closing the front door to my house in her face and turning around without saying another word to her. I didn’t even get to tell her that I loved her.”

Joe’s voice sounded as if he was choked up, and Alyssa almost opened her mouth to tell him to stop telling her this story, but she couldn’t find the words to speak. She was shocked that this had happened to him, amazed that he was actually willing to tell her this, and intrigued to hear what had happened.

“I got a call from Lily’s dad the next morning-Lily’s mom had died when she was really young. He told me that she never came home last night, and the last place she had been was my house. I was too afraid to tell him what happened, about her telling me that she was being followed and us drinking, so I told him that she said she had to leave earlier the night before, and I had seen her walk across the street to their house. But the truth was, I never even saw her step off the last step to our porch. I was too angry, too…confused on what she had just told me, that I had walked away as soon as the door slammed shut.”

Joe paused once again as he shifted uncomfortably in the sand next to Alyssa. “That night was the last time I saw her alive. The police found her body a
few days later hidden in these woods that are off the beach more south. I remember them telling me that my girlfriend had been murdered, and that the murderer hadn’t left even a small lead for them to follow. The case was closed in a few months, and that was the end that this town had heard of her. But that night, when she told me about the person who would end up killing her later that night, has haunted me for the past three years of my life. My mom told me how you were looking at her picture on the fireplace mantel, so I just thought you deserved to know.”

“You didn’t have to tell me anything like that.” Alyssa murmured quietly, feeling her cheeks begin to flame up. Joe’s weak laugh filled her ears and caused shivers to run down her spine.

“It’s cool. We’re friends, right?” He asked quietly. Alyssa’s stomach dropped at the question. Were they? They had spent time with each other, and now he shared something with her that he had probably only told a few others. If they were friends, that meant that she was almost obliged to tell him something just as secretive.

“Sure,” Alyssa agreed hesitantly. She listened to the dying down of the waves as a strange wind flew through the tree branches behind them. Although Joe seemed to be the least bit worried, Alyssa had suddenly turned paranoid. It was as if someone was now watching her, maybe even breathing so heavily that she could her it from where she was-

“We should probably get back.” Alyssa said quickly, standing up from her spot in the sand. She heard Joe struggled to his feet a few moments later. “It’s late. And dark.’

Joe sensed her discomfort and reached out for her hand, bumping first into her wrist before sliding his fingers down into the spaces between hers.

“Alyssa, for as long as I’m around, you have nothing to be worried about. Nothing will happen to you.”

Although Alyssa wanted nothing more than to believe Joe, she couldn’t help but glance behind her shoulder every few seconds while walking back to his house. It sounded as if there was an extra thumping of footsteps, a deep breath following behind them, another beating heart that was beating just as fast as theirs.