Whispers on the Water

I never take the path that runs past the old country club, behind my house. After the Peters boy died in '92 they had tried one last attempt to keep it open and increase membership. The diving pool had been the beginning of the end for Chapel Oaks Country Club. The stories passed around my school all those years ago were ones of disbelief. Mentions of Terrance Peters slowly changing before his demise. His friends say that it almost seemed like his time was coming. Like ocean tides receding before a storm. Talking to himself during gym class or wondering around the streets near his house at three or four in the morning, until the cops found him and took him home. It isn't clear when the rumors started, some said it was after Becky Holmes failed to resuscitate Terry and he had to be airvacked to the hospital in Downwater, others said it didn't start until he got the job at the Club, but they all agree that at times it feels he never left. Becky said she swore she felt his last words. Even though they weren't audible they still rang in her ears. I found that I was repeating myself more and more around her. She swore her hearing was fine but the ringing was getting worse. Her physician, seemed to think everything was fine, and that was enough for her parents until she began telling them that the whispers she heard told her she was going to drown by the end of summer. No one believed her, they said the voices were all in her head and perhaps they were, but it still didn't save her.

Here at the Country Club... this exact spot... is where I tried to save her. She and I both knew that it was hopeless. She smiled. A last smile is unique. It feels like the only time a smile is honest. As she slipped away I saw her lips move. I leaned in. All I heard was a hushed silence, the slight exhale as she gave up the ghost, the whisper fading into nothing.