The Riverside Road - Part One

“Mr. Li, this letter appears to be the last words written by your late son, Hudson. We found it in your room, and it appears to be addressed to you.” Detective Williams produced a folded envelope and handed it across to the man dressed in mourning clothes beside him.

Through teary eyes, Mr. Li carefully examined the hastily written words that sprawled across the front of the envelope. Then, with hands trembling, he slowly peeled away the seal and took out the folded piece of paper inside.

Although without, the stormy sky was dark and the deafening winds roared, Mr. Li managed to tamp down his grief and heartbreak amplified by the inclement weather. With great effort, Mr. Li forced his eyes to, line by line, slowly sweep across the letter that related those terrible events that had ultimately led to Hudson’s demise. Here is what Mr. Li read:

Dear Father, when this letter is relayed into your hands, you would have undoubtedly already learned of the horrible fate that had befallen me. Even now, as I steel myself for the act of which I am on the brink of committing, your dear and benevolent countenance still beams at me from seemingly worlds away, and I cannot bring myself to consider the prospect of so selfishly leaving you.

Yet, there is a certainty in my head that tells me that if I do not end my life now, the spirit of Justin will never forgive me for the filthy deeds which my hands have so wrongly executed, and my life, forever more, will be filled with such misery that you or any human being can hardly imagine.

Therefore, I must summon up what little courage still left to me and commence in this act which I had feared above all else not more than a few days ago but now embraced with gladness in the promise of eternal peace. However, my Father, I do not wish you to see me as already driven crazy by events you can only guess at, and it is for that purpose that I am now about to recount the unfortunate events of the past days.

It all started on Tuesday when, after dismissal, I was walking sullenly down the riverside road that led from Kateland High. As you may recall, that day was especially dreary, and as I proceeded, no sounds of the usual chirping of birds and humming of insects reached my ears.

The water beside the road was filled with a death-like stillness that suggested an absence of life, and that, along with the exhaustion caused by a laborious day of work, provoked an overwhelming depression within me. As I walked, my head hung low, and my shoulders bent.

All of a sudden, out of the gloom that occupied my thoughts, I saw the figure of Justin Cleaver, the infamous school bully, standing ahead in the middle of the road. He was stocky, dressed in a faded statement jacket and ripped jeans. As I drew nearer, Justin scrutinized my hunched form with evident hostility. I could almost see the malicious thoughts turning in his head.

“Now lookie here, it’s that dumb-witted Asian freshman with his dumpster backpack,” Justin sneered, “In fact, I was just looking for ya. You know, at Kateland, we always prepare a welcome ceremony for newbies, and as the representative of our tenth-grade community, I have decided to honor you personally by pushing your fat head into the boy’s toilet tomorrow. You’d better be ready for it.”

At that moment, I would have liked it so much to rebuke Justin with the utmost spite and then to have my hands clasped firmly around that arrogant fool’s scrawny neck. Oh, how I would have loved to hear the groans and pleas uttered from that filthy mouth which had just seconds ago sniggered with so much contempt.

However, Father, my long hours of yoga practice made my common sense prevail over my animal impulses. Instead of committing to my impetuous thoughts, I kept my head down and endeavored to push past Justin so that his vicious words would not bother me anymore.

As I was maneuvering past Justin with my hands in my pockets and my eyes averted from him, Justin bumped my head with his elbow and whispered these taunting words in my ear: “Remember, tomorrow, I’ll be waiting for you.”

Now looking back, I suppose Justin’s maniacal words spoken with so much malice simply pushed me over the edge because to me, the next moment was a complete haze filled with a red tinge. The next thing I knew was seeing Justin’s body falling back first, off the road and into the river with his eyes staring incredulously at me. I rushed over to the edge of the drop just in time to see Justin’s motionless and battered body tumbling across the short descent of the dirt bank.

With a great splash, Justin landed in the dark waters of the river. His head bobbed once, and then the waters closed over him with a finality like the shutting of two sets of steel doors. The river had swallowed Justin with its gaping maw.

To Be Continued.

Note: This fictional piece was originally published on Journaly and is republished here with slight changes.