Troubled Waters

The wind howls loudly and mercilessly in my right ear, making my hair swirl in an unforgiving tornado, whipping into my face. The violent water below crashes against the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. I stare down at my feet, watching as a drop of blood splatters onto the rocks. Ugh, I think, it’s bleeding again.

I hold my hand up to my left ear, deafened by the explosion that killed my twin brother.

“HELP! HELP! PLEASE!” My memory reconstructs the bloodcurdling, pleading, screams of my womb-mate. I remember breaking out of the hold of Maria, my girlfriend, and running towards him, pleading for his life, begging him not to leave me. I remember his eyes, full of terror, his hand reaching out to me, and then the heat, the blinding pain, the ringing, not in my ears but inside of my head, and then the feeling of the ground, the air being knocked out of me from the force of the impact.

“Reyna?” The voice breaks me out of the scene my mind created. I turn to face her, eyes full of sympathy and tears, “Reyna, honey, we have to get out of here. He would want us to live. We have to escape the forest.”

Our group started out with 7. Myself, Maria, my brother, our friends Kara, Cedric, Delphia and Isabella. We set off into the forest for a fun hiking trip, and every single moment since then has been filled with horror.

Delphia went first. She walked off into the woods to pee while we all set up camp for the night. We all stood around laughing and talking, excited, happy, and then we heard the scream. Earsplitting, gutwrenching, and very, very obviously Delphia’s. We all sprinted to where she’s walked off to, calling her name, her calling out for us, for help. We finally reached where she had been, one of her shoes lying on the ground, covered in blood. The sight that greeted us when we looked up was truly horrifying. There was Delphia, our friend, suspended in a net of barbed wire, soaked in her own blood.

That’s when the grenade inside the net went off. Her mangled fist landed inches from my feet. In it, the note, the one in my pocket, challenging us to a game, who could make it to sunrise in this booby-trapped forest?

Cedric and Kara were next, dying together as they had always talked about doing, only decades from now, once they were old and wrinkled. We had been walking, trying to find our way out of the horror-filled forest after our maps and GPS devices had been destroyed, when suddenly there was a click.

“Guys, stop,” Kara’s voice sounded from the front of the group, “Everyone back up.”

Her voice was trembling, hands shaking, she knew it was the end for her. I remember Cedric’s face, his pleading, desperately trying to figure out how to dismantle the landmine under her foot. The resignation in his eyes when he realized there was no saving her. He turned to us, tears in his eyes, and held her hand as she moved her foot and they both got blown to bits while we stood useless and sobbing a safe distance away.

Next was poor, sweet, innocent Isabella. I had heard the sound of water rushing, and knowing that there was a river nearby, one I was familiar with and we could use to get back home, I told the others to hurry, that I had found a way. Then I heard the bang. A tripwire we had all somehow managed to avoid, but not her. This time, like with Delphia, the death was not quick, and it was painful. The bomb blew off both her legs, leaving stumps spewing blood and creating a large pool around her. My brother held her as she died slowly, she confessed her love for him, begged us to survive, to find who was doing this, and kill them.

We stood there for a moment, arguing over what to do. My brother, my sweet sweet brother, demanded we go back to our camp and just wait to die, as the note had promised that if we didn’t play along we would all be killed. “No one likes a spoilsport,” it had said. We had no choice but to follow him. We didn’t make it more than ten feet before he cried out in pain. A bear trap clamped around his ankle and an explosive device revealed underneath, this time with a timer set to four minutes. I had four minutes to save my brother. I failed. Once the timer reached 40 seconds with no chance of saving him, Maria attempted to carry me away. I wish I had died with my brother.

“Hey, hey, we can’t stay here, remember? We have to keep moving, babe,” Maria says, shaking me from my thoughts once more.

I allow her to lead me down, along the waterline, and, hopefully, safe from any trap the forest may possess. We walk for what feels like years, memories of my brother and my friends playing through my mind, my left ear dead to the world, probably forever.

Eventually, the sun rises, we continue our trek, stopping only once to drink from the river, dehydrated and not caring if the water is safe. By the time we reach the dock we are both exhausted, covered in blood, and traumatized.

We walk into the fishing gear shop, the owner, a good friend of my dad’s lets out a gasp of horror at our states. It was only around 24 hours ago we stopped here to pick up some snacks on our way into the forest.

“Reyna, what’s happened?” He says with his slight Swedish accent. That’s the last thing I remember before I passed out.

*two years later*

“Ms. Garcia, Ms. Garcia, do you have any plans for the anniversary of the killings? Are you distressed since they have yet to identify the perpetrator?” This and many other questions are flung at me by the reporters that surround my house. Just get to the car, I think to myself, get to Maria, that’s where it’s safe.

I push through the crowd, blocking camera flashes and shoving away microphones. The reporters were respectful for perhaps the first six months after that horrible night, then gone entirely before returning on the anniversary with absolutely no sympathy left. I hate them. I hate everyone. Eventually, I make it to the car, ripping the door open and getting in. Maria drives off before I’ve even closed the door. I’m grateful for it.

“They’re lucky they didn’t get filled with lead,” She says gesturing to the glove box where she keeps her pistol, “I told you you should have stayed at the hotel with me last night.”

“I know I just…. I just needed to be near where he was,” I respond. I spent the night sleeping in my brother’s bed in our parent’s house. His scent is long gone but his presence is everywhere still.

“I get it,” She says, reaching over to pat my hand. We have spent every day together since that night, barely leaving each other’s sides, even getting an apartment together. While our apartment offers more security than my house, she still insisted on staying in a hotel for the week to avoid any reporters that may be camped outside.

“So what are we gonna do today?” I ask. Last year we spent the day at the graveyard, staring at the headstones of our friends and my brother, all in a plot that we purchased so that we could be together in death as we were in life. We wanted our own crypt but it was too expensive. Six spots, Seven of us. My dying wish is to be buried on top of my brother, together in the grave as we were in the womb.

“I was thinking we could go to Fun Zone,” She says hesitantly. Fun Zone is a decrepit, run-down activity center in town, bowling, an arcade that only has a few working games, but the highlight is the food. We spent hours there together, the six of us, then the seven of us five years ago when Maria moved into town and we started dating. Our merry little band. After that night I haven’t even been able to drive past the place without a breakdown. Mari has been trying to get me to go there ever since.

“Mari, please I don’t think I can--”

“Oh come on, it’ll be our little way of paying tribute to them!” She pushes.

“Babe I don’t know…” I say.

“Oh please, no one likes a spoilsport!” She says. The phrase tugs at an old repressed memory, giving me pause. She must notice the look on my face.

“What? Is something wrong?” She asks, voice full of concern.

I look at her for a moment, studying her eyes, “No, not at all, let’s do it, maybe we can bring a little Fun back into this horrible day.”

“Yay!” She says, grasping my hand in hers excitedly, “I think it’ll be nice to be there alone, it’s never been just the two of us there. It was always y’all’s place.”

There’s a bite to her tone. Perhaps if I hadn’t been paying attention I may have not noticed, but I’m paying attention to her now, her every word, her every move, carefully watching her face.

“Yeah, it should be nice,” I respond softly, keeping my voice steady.

We reach Fun Zone in a few minutes. We get out of the car and begin to walk to the door.

“Oh wait, I forgot my phone,” I say. Maria rolls her eyes at me and laughs before tossing me the keys.

“Hurry back, I’m gonna go get our table,” She says. I give a thumbs up and head back to the car, where I left my phone on purpose. I retrieve the item I need, sliding it into the back of my pants and covering it with my jacket before getting my phone and sliding it into my pocket.

I walk inside, breath catching momentarily while memories of great times with my friends, my amazing friends. I open my eyes, looking towards the eating area where Maria sits at our usual table, the empty chairs where our friends would have sat. She pats the seat next to her. I cross through the arcade and sit next to her.

“This place hasn’t changed a bit,” She says, “I already ordered for us.”

We sit silently while waiting for the food. Maria makes several attempts to get a conversation going, I barely respond, staring at the seats around me, remembering all of our good times when it was just the six of us before Maria arrived. The time I sat them around the table and told them I was a lesbian. The visits when Maria had first arrived and they teased me about my new crush. When we finally started dating and I stopped coming here for three whole months. Maria wanted me to spend every day with her, all of my free time. Eventually, I realized we could simply go together to Fun Zone. It took a little convincing, she said she was shy to meet new people.

I think back now, scouring my memories for a time I’d ever seen her act shy around strangers. She lied. She has lied to me about so much.

While I’m searching my memories, finding clues I hadn’t noticed before where I’m looking for proof that I’m wrong, our food arrives. Too much food for two people to eat in one sitting.

“I went ahead and ordered everyone’s favorites. I tried to order small portions where I could but I thought it would be nice, like we’re having one last hang-out,” Maria explains.

“You did it,” The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them. Confusion shows on Maria’s face. She thinks I’m unaware. She thinks she’s gotten away with it.

“I did what? What are you talking about? Why are you so pale?” She questions, reaching to touch my face. I jerk away, standing up.

“It was you, you killed them! You killed my brother! You slaughtered my friends!” I shout.

“Rey, you’re mistaken, how could I have done that, they were my friends,” She attempts to soothe me.

“No! They were my friends! And you couldn’t stand to see me love anyone other than you! You hated them from the start! You killed them all! You’re crazy!” I shout. I wish I had put it together sooner. Maybe I could’ve at least saved my brother, but I was blind, we all were, we trusted her.

“I think you’re the one who’s crazy,” She bites out, trying to mask the fury and fear I can see in her eyes.

“When Delphia screamed, we all ran for her. You were the star of the track team. Why were you the last to show up?” I know now that she is the one who threw our maps and phones into the fire. The fire she told us we shouldn’t put out, even though we’d already heated dinner and our sleeping bags and tents were enough to keep us warm.

“You sound crazy, just calm down. Have you been talking to your therapist about this?” She jabs.

“And with Kara and Cedric, you were the one who said there was no way to save her! You lied! There was a way to disable the mine, they didn’t have to die! You told them to die!” Tears are running down my face now, remembering my friends dying in front of me while I was helpless.

“No--” I pull out the gun before she can continue.

“And my brother, Reymond, my brother! You stopped me! You held me back so I didn’t step on the trap! You made sure he stepped on it! You led us that way! Not because that was the direction of the camp but because you had laid that trap there and you wanted to make sure he died!” Now that the gun is out, and she sees this is the end for her, her entire demeanor changes.

“They were keeping you away from me. I had to get rid of them. For us. Why can’t you see that?” She says, trying to justify her cruelty. I’m sure in her mind she really does believe the words spewing from her mouth. She continues on, rambling about how much she loves me, even falling to her knees and begging as a take the safety off.

“Please I don’t wanna die!” She shouts. The memory of Reymond, Delphia, and Kara all saying variants of that same thing just before taking their final breaths assaults my mind. I pull the trigger, putting a bullet right between her eyes. I sit back down as her lifeless body slumps to the floor.

By the time the police arrive, I’ve eaten half the food.