Echo

Finally, I collected myself, and got up from the floor. My arm throbbed painfully, reminding me that I had forgotten to take my pain killers. I leaned forward on the counter, observing the up-ended bottle of meds, and the spectacular array of spilt pills all over the counter. I groaned, and noticed some had gone down the drain.

“Perfect,” I muttered, reaching out for two and swallowing them, not bothering with the water. I supported myself against the counter with my good arm, until the pills had kicked in and the pain subsided. I let out a deep breath, finally feeling in control of myself. Quickly, I pushed all the pills back into the bottle, and straightened the medicine cabinet, where in my rush to get to my pills, I had made a complete mess of everything.

When I was finished, I quietly slipped out of the bathroom, noticing that amazingly, Maddison had not been awoken. I reached my bedroom, and fell into bed. I didn’t need the sedatives. Already, the painkillers were making my head fuzzy, and the exhaustion of the day was taking its toll. I fell into a dreamless sleep.

***

I awoke, feeling groggy and terrible. It felt as if I had been hit by a train; not once, but twice. Rolling over, I checked the time: 11:48.

11:48! My eyes snapped open wider, and I nearly sat bolt upright in my bed. However, my head spinning kept me from doing so. My first thought was, what about school? I peered around again. There, a bright yellow sticky note sat, taped to my alarm clock. After several attempts at reading it, my brain finally cleared out the fog, and I could finally read the familiar handwriting.

Miranda,

Don’t worry, I called the school and said you wouldn’t be in today. Mr. Schmidt had already arranged things with the secretary and your teachers. I’m going in today, and I’m picking up your work.

Later,

Mad

I let out a loud sigh. Thank god I didn’t have to go in today, I thought. I just felt too exhausted.

Ten minutes later, a grumbling stomach cajoled me out of bed and into the kitchen. After a hearty sandwich, I got dressed, pulled back my hair and watched TV until Maddison came home. She was glad to see me up and smiling. She made no comment about last night’s escapade, so I gladly assumed she didn’t know about it.

She left me with a long list of work I needed to complete from my teachers, along with the appropriate binders and textbooks, then left for a shopping day with her friends. As soon as she left, I called Dakota.

“Dakota, it happened again last night,” I said fervently as soon as she picked up. I didn’t need to identify myself, she knew immediately who was calling.

There was a short pause. “I’m coming over. Sit tight.”

Five minutes later, her silver car pulled into the driveway, and she appeared at the door, keys dangling in her hands. She didn’t look worried, she didn’t even look fazed. But I knew inside the gears were turning. “Tell me about it” were her first words.

I told her exactly how it happened; about running through the park at night and depositing the knife. Dakota frowned.

“He got rid of the murder weapon. I didn’t hear anything on the news this morning, I don’t think they’ve found it yet.” She looked at me. “Where did you say this was?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t see the sign. I just saw the first three letters: Wes. Where do you think that is?”

She put a finger to her chin, deep in thought. I tried to think of all the natural parks I knew in Jacksonville, but it was pretty limited. I didn’t go there often.

Suddenly, Dakota’s eyes lit, and she dashed towards the computer in the living room. She sat down and quickly pulled up the google page, typing in her query. “Let’s hope I’m right,” she muttered, searching the results. “Yes!” she exclaimed after about a minute. “Westside Regional Park,” she read, “is a natural recreational park. In Jacksonville Florida.” She looked towards me. “Should we go confirm?” She dangled the car keys at me.

“What?” I choked. “But he could be there! Besides, we don’t even know if that’s the right park.”

“That’s why we check it out.” She shook the keys for emphasis.

That’s where we were, an hour later, crossing the state line, and parking in the parking lot to Westside Regional Park. So far, nothing looked familiar. I hoped this wasn’t a waste of time, and that Maddison wouldn’t shoot me when I got home. I’d left her a note, but I knew she’d still be pissed when I got back.

We walked up the main path towards the heart of the park. I stopped dead when we reached the sign welcoming us to the park. I swear, it was like deja-vu, seeing the sign. It was the same in my vision last night. Dakota nodded at me, understanding.

“This way,” I said, walking the path from memory now. I knew where we had to go.

Within moments, I stopped at a particular bush, jutting from the path. It was familiar, and I knew what lay behind it.

Curiosity made me bend over, pull back the branches, and peer at the ground. Curiousity killed the cat, right?

Yes, unfortunately, in this case it was no different.

I nearly lost my lunch when I saw the short, sharp knife covered in deep, dried red blood. Dakota looked in next to me. She looked indifferent, not at all grossed out. Being the sensible person (or as I figured later, perhaps not so sensible), she pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket, and picked the knife up by the handle.

We stared at it together with morbid fascination, until a chilling voice behind us said, “Freeze.”