Dark Waters

As the Endless Sommers sped toward his classmate’s private island, Andrew couldn't shake the feeling that he shouldn’t be there. Undoubtedly it was a place someone like him didn’t belong, but he knew better than to feel inferior. Over the years he’d learned that behind his friends’ wealth and polished facades, each of them harbored dark secrets. But Andrew had accepted them nonetheless, and in turn, they had accepted him.

“Drew!” Kate Sommers, island heiress and his closest friend, pranced over to him in an overstated white dress. He wasn’t sure if it was the wind, waves, or alcohol as she stumbled, her long blonde hair whipping around her face.

She laced an arm around his and laughed. “You ready for the most insane, eventful, cataclysmic—” she slurred, “weekend of your life?!”

Andrew laughed. “I don’t think that means what you think it means.”

Her twin, Daniel, followed in tow, rolling his eyes. “Slow down, Kate.”

Andrew shifted in his seat and threw back his beer, forcing a smile. Daniel had been his self-proclaimed best friend since they were kids, but he couldn’t wait to drift apart. When Daniel’s dad bought his son’s way into Princeton so the two could stick together, Andrew ‘forgot’ to apply for a scholarship and chose Brown instead.

“How much further?” Andrew asked, trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice. “We’re pretty far out from the mainland.”

Kate’s red nails pointed out a small slab of land nearly imperceptible amongst the choppy waves.

“Good timing with the storm coming in, eh, Drew?” Daniel clapped Andrew’s shoulder.

He must’ve looked as seasick as he felt; it was all he could do not to put on a life jacket. Andrew gripped his seat tighter.

After what felt like at least an hour (but was likely a quarter of that), they docked at the island. The ten quickly unpacked and started drinking.

It must have been close to sunset, but with the storm approaching, it was very dark. Andrew knew drama was bound to ensue as the night went on and people dispersed. He just wasn’t suspecting it would happen so soon.

An hour earlier, Andrew had been trying to escape a very unintelligible conversation with Daniel—who was completely wasted. The problem was that just as Andrew would mumble something about getting a drink or another excuse to leave, Daniel would drunkenly lean in and start talking shit about someone else from school.

“And you remember when Wilks tried that with Jess— I mean how pathetic can you get,” he’d sneer, as if ruminating on things that happened years ago.

Finally, Andrew thought of an out. “Hey man, where’s your sister?”

“I—don’t know.”

Daniel snapped his head around and squinted, scanning the perimeter in that weirdly protective way he always did when Kate wasn’t in arm's reach. He walked off to search the property, leaving Andrew free to roam around.

The Sommers’ island was small but immaculately maintained. A pristine boardwalk stretched from every direction bordered by flowerbeds and coastal shrubbery. On the east side, it connected the main house to the shell-adorned guest cottage in the west. The south end featured a rocky beach dotted with cabanas and white umbrellas. In stark contrast, the north side remained mostly undeveloped due to its steep cliffs. It had a rugged, authentic quality that drew Andrew in. Here, there was only the dock and a narrow staircase that clung precariously to the cliffside, its lowest steps often drenched as waves crashed into them at high tide. He was on his way there when he heard a scream.

He ran in her direction. And then he heard another scream, and another; each sounding more horrified than the last.

As Andrew arrived at the top of the staircase, he saw Daniel’s hand clamped over Kate’s mouth. He was whispering something in her ear as she sobbed.

Kate’s face was a mess of smeared mascara and red lipstick. At first, Andrew had assumed the worst thing he could think of. But then he saw past them.

Chris, Daniel’s other ‘best friend,’ was lying lifeless, face down on the dock. His neck was at an awkward angle. As Andrew got closer, he saw blood seeping through his dark hair. And then the wine bottle.

“What—” Andrew flipped him over to try to find his pulse and then saw the red lipstick on Chris’s neck.

“He was kissing my sister, had his hand up her dress!” Daniel kicked the body, and Chris coughed involuntarily.

“Oh God. He’s alive.” Kate knelt to him. “Daniel—you, you have to take him to the mainland. We don’t have to tell anyone anything. It was just an accident, right, Drew?”

She looked at Andrew expectantly, and he sidestepped back a bit. “Yeah—Daniel. You should, um, really go.”

“Drew, you have to go with him,” Kate begged hoarsely between sobs. “Daniel’s too drunk, but he can tell you how to drive and—and Chris is going to die if you don’t take him.”

“What? I—you’re not coming?”

She straightened, wiping her face. “Andrew, George can’t know that I—” George. The boyfriend. “That we—no one can know about any of this, please.” Her brows furrowed in desperation.

Andrew looked at Daniel picking glass from his hand, and then down at Chris.

“Think we can beat the storm?”

Kate nodded eagerly, eyes wide. Andrew glanced doubtfully at the brooding clouds, knowing she’d have said just about anything to get him on that boat.

He would have felt more compelled to help her if it was at least out of concern for Chris. But the truth was that for Kate, everything was about keeping order. Maintaining the ever-perfect Sommers image.

Andrew hesitated; he did not want to deal with this. But he also doubted Brown would accept a criminal, and knowing Daniel, he’d likely make him take the fall. After all, he fit the bill.

“Daniel—take his feet,” Andrew said flatly, grabbing Chris’s arms. They hoisted him aboard and clambered in after him.

—

On the boat, Daniel had taken the wheel, and arguing was pointless. He seemed to have sobered up slightly— enough to stand against the pull of the mounting waves—but he was still very drunk and vengefully angry.

This time, Andrew put on the life jacket without hesitation. He had been tending to Chris, trying to keep his head elevated, and realized too-late that the mist was making it nearly impossible to see the island or the mainland.

“Are we even going the right way?” Andrew shouted over roar of the motor.

“Yep,” Daniel said with a smirk, his brown eyes glistening. He steered the boat sharply to the left.

“What are you doing?” Andrew shouted, falling over. “It’s a straight shot across—why are we turning?”

“Because,” Daniel said calmly, “we’re not going to the mainland.”

He cut the motor and walked over to Chris. “Switch with me,” he ordered, as he pulled Chris toward the rail.

“Dan,” Andrew said slowly. His mind raced as he grappled with what Daniel was about to do. He wasn’t sure if he moved to the helm to steady the boat or to put distance between them.

“Drew—cutting across in this storm is a death wish. You wanna die for him, fine. But I’m not letting him get off that easy, he deserves what’s coming to him. He was a creep.”

Andrew wiped the rain out of his eyes, weighing his options. Chris didn’t deserve this, even if he secretly hated him for kissing Kate. But he was doubtful they could make it to the mainland and wasn’t going to risk his life trying to stop Daniel.

“Look— you don’t have to help me, but don’t you get in my way. We’re in this together now. To the end.” Daniel laughed over Chris’s ragged breaths, raising a fist with one hand as he grabbed his collar with the other.

Andrew turned away and forced his eyes on the gray horizon. The waves had escalated to lethal heights.

“To the end,” Andrew thought bitterly. “Could I live with this to the end?”

And then it was dark—darker than before. And cold. And everything went quiet.

—

When Andrew awoke, the sea was like glass, and a light orange filled the sky. He he wasn’t sure if he had been unconscious long enough that the storm had passed and this was the sunset, or if it was the next day’s sunrise.

A moment later, Andrew realized he was floating in open water, completely alone. Chris and Daniel were gone and the boat was nowhere in sight.

A sharp ache pounded across his left temple but Andrew seemed otherwise unharmed. Every direction looked the same, but the headache was overriding any panic.

Thoughts of how he would survive came and went as if they weren’t his own. Andrew felt concerningly detached from the situation. So much so that when the events leading up to his fall rushed back to him, he almost welcomed the regret. But the feeling quickly consumed him as he remembered it was only a dream where he tried to stop Daniel. He had stood by and Chris was dead.

As time went on the headache had spread from his left temple, pounding relentlessly.

Andrew was fading in and out of consciousness and his chances of survival had slimmed. But then he heard the distant humming of a motor.

He dazedly looked around until the source of the sound came into view. A small white boat was rapidly cutting through the jet-black waves. As it got closer, he heard music playing and saw that there was a group of people onboard; they were drinking from red cups.

He called as loudly as he could manage, waving his arms. They threw him a line and pulled him in.

As their faces came into focus, Andrew’s heart nearly stopped. It was his friends.

“Thought we’d lost you, Drew!” Kate said worriedly while another friend, Steve, pulled him up. Her makeup was fixed, and she seemed more relaxed than she should’ve been with everything. He wondered if she was high.

“Where’s Daniel?” Andrew asked.

“Let’s get him some towels. Steve? Towels? And a drink?”

“Where is Daniel?” Andrew repeated more firmly.

“He’s around, don’t worry!” Kate said breezily.

Anger burned in his chest at her nonchalance.

“And Chris?”

“Chris?” She chirped.

“Chris. You know,” Andrew said, seething, “the one you cheated on your boyfriend with and then sent me out in a hurricane to save when your brother went completely psycho?”

Some of the others stared, and Kate’s smile froze and then tightened.

“You’re so funny, Drew-y! Let’s get him a drink—a double!” she laughed airily.

—

Andrew drank heavily to numb his pain and unease. He wasn’t particularly religious and certainly didn’t believe in this kind of miracle. But the longer he was on the boat, the more everything with Daniel and Chris felt like a distant memory. Maybe he did fall from drinking too much and just imagined the whole ordeal. That would explain the gaps in his memory— but not the unsettling headache the alcohol was dulling.

Yet gradually, as the boat ride continued, Andrew began to feel more relaxed than he had in a long time. His thoughts stopped racing, and he didn’t mind being on the water as he had before. He laughed and it wasn’t forced. He saw Daniel, and they had a decent conversation about college.

But then, he had a fleeting thought. Could Kate have drugged him? Andrew quickly dismissed the idea. He downed his drink and tried to focus on enjoying his time. But his suspicions lingered, gnawing at his stomach. Soon the thoughts became incessant, pelting at his mind relentlessly. His headache returned, worse than it had been, accompanied by a wave of nausea.

Andrew went to find the bathroom and walked in on Kate and Chris. He blinked back tears, and in a flash saw her smeared makeup and Chris’s bleeding head. He suddenly felt enraged. He was certain it was all real.

“I’m done,” Andrew said quietly, turning away from them.

“Drew, you okay? I’m worried about you,” she reached to touch him, and he stumbled back. Kate’s red nails looked almost hemic. Andrew’s stomach lurched.

“I am done pretending whatever is happening here is normal; and keeping everyone’s secrets—all the blood on your hands and mine. And you,” he pointed at Chris, still backing up, “you were nearly dead. So explain how you’re here right now. What happened on the boat? What the hell is going on?” Everyone stared.

“Andrew, it’s all ok,” Chris’s voice sounded muffled and distorted, almost as if underwater.

Andrew veered away from him, desperately trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and everyone else.

“Did you… drug me?” He doubled over the rails as the boat swayed beneath him.

Daniel and Kate stood together staring at him. Their dark eyes were the last thing he saw before he passed out, and the sea claimed him once again.

And then it was dark, darker than before. And cold. And everything went quiet.

Until there came a distant sound, the humming of a motor.