If You Knew What I
Knew:
Chapter 1
Authors Note: This book is going to be from all
different people’s point of views. Whoever’s
name you see at the top will be the narrator for that chapter.
If you see a lot of writing in Italics,
it means that the narrator is experiencing a flashback memory or
that the narrator is being told a flashback.
Brian
“Brian!
I swear I didn’t mean to! I swear!” He was breathing hard.
His face was pale, he was waving his arms frantically, and he was making
no sense at all.
“Nick, come on, man,” I tried to speak calmly.
“Settle down!” I waited for him to finally sit down in one of the
many chairs that occupied the lobby where we were. “Okay. Now start from the very beginning."
He jumped up immediately and began pacing.
He was still breathing in panicky gasps and I was afraid that he
wouldn’t get through his story without hyperventilating.
Finally, he looked me straight in the eye.
“I swear on my life, B-Rok,” His color had come back and
his breathing was normal. “I
didn’t know that I was gonna kill her.”
*
*
*
*
*
*
“Awful!” Her voice wavered and her eyes shone with tears.
“Well, first off, you know about Mark.” She looked at him and he nodded.
“I just couldn’t take anymore of his lies! I was sick of waiting for him to call and then him giving me
some dumb excuse.” She paused. Bringing
up her break up with her long time boyfriend was really hard for her.
“Then, Howie called to tell me happy birthday.
I can’t believe he’s not here!” She wiped at her eyes.
The two of them were walking down to the lake to talk.
When they had gotten there, they sat down on a bench underneath a weeping
willow. Polly Anna played with her
hands and continued to swipe at the occasional tear that would escape from her
eyes.
“I mean, I know that you guys are
always busy,” she looked over at Nick. “It
must be hard to live such an ‘in the spotlight’ life.” He nodded.
“When he told me that he couldn’t make my birthday because he and the
other guys were still shooting a video, I was pretty heartbroken.
There’s no way that I could have flown home to be with my family and
Howie’s the only family I’ve got within two hundred miles!
I didn’t even tell him that I had broken up with Mark.” She took a
deep breath and wiped the last tears of her eyes.
“I’m sorry.” She smiled at Nick.
“I hate it when nothing works out.
Thanks for listening.”
“Anytime, Polly.” Nick leaned his
head back against his crossed hands.
“How was your day?” She asked him,
the waver in her voice now completely absent.
“Pretty hectic.
We always have so much to do.”
They began talking of anything and
everything until they finally came to the topic of their worst fears.
“Sharks. Definitely sharks.” Nick shook with the goosebumps that had
now covered his arms. “What about
you?”
“Snakes,” Polly Anna said with
disgust. “They crawl on their
bellies and they bite and I just hate them!” She laughed nervously.
“You know that the lake that we’re
sitting in front of is full of them don’t you?” Nick asked, a plan forming
in his head.
She squealed and brought her feet onto
the bench along with the rest of her body.
“You’re not serious are you?”
“Dead serious.” Nick started
laughing at her squeals. “I dare
you to jump in.”
“No way! You’ve got to be joking me!” Her eyes were wide but they
were shining. Nick knew that she
never backed down from a dare. Never.
“Well...” She looked again at the
lake. “What do I get out of
it?”
“I’ll give you...” Nick thought
for a while. “I pay you one
hundred dollars.”
“Two, and I’ll do it.”
“Deal.” The two of them shook
hands.
Polly Anna got up from the bench, Nick
doing the same. She slowly made her
way to the edge of the lake with Nick walking closely behind.
She reached the edge of the lake and turned around to face Nick.
“Smile! Cause you’re about to lose
two hundred dollars!” She turned back to the lake and lost the smile that had
played on her lips. Nick saw her
lips moving in a silent prayer. Nick
saw her face filled with terror.
He stepped up quietly until he was
directly behind her. He heard her
begin to count, very slowly.
“One...” she whispered.
She never got to two because before she could, Nick pushed her in the
lake.
When she resurfaced, Nick was laughing
his head off.
“Nick!” Her voice was filled with
fear. “Nick! Help! Hel....”
She went back under water. Nick
knew that it wasn’t just a joke anymore.
“Polly! Polly!” He got down on his knees and leaned over the edge
of the lake, searching the water for a sign of her.
He saw none.
“Oh no, no!” He whispered.
He waited for another forty-five seconds before running off to get help.
*
*
*
*
*
*
I sat there, too stunned to say anything.
Nick was up again, pacing, white-faced, and breathing funny.
He was looking at things without actually seeing them.
I was doing the same.
Finally, Nick broke the silence.
“You can’t tell, man. You
can’t tell!” His eyes were wide
from fear.
“Well, did you get help?” I didn’t actually answer him. I didn’t want to. Not
just yet.
“No.”
“Why not?! You knew she was in trouble!” I just didn’t
understand how Nick could screw up so badly.
“I don’t know!” He sat down and put his head in his
hands. “I just wasn’t thinking.
I couldn’t think. I was
lost.” He looked at me. “You
can’t tell, Brian. You have to
swear to me that you won’t tell.”
“Well, how else is he going to know that his sister is
dead? You were the only one to see her die.”
“We can put in an anonymous call to the police?” It was
more of a question than a statement.
“Okay, let’s call from a pay phone by the lake.” We
both got up from the hotel lobby and left, both of us shaking from both fear and
sorrow.
Chapter 2
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