Chapter 4 - The Kennedy Report

I find myself gasping as I come out of my trance. Chest heaving.

“Hey,” Chloe yells, “Mick, you good?”

I swallow, feeling the sweat beading on my brow.

“Um,” I stammer, “yeah, I uh… swallowed a bug or something. Lil guy caught me off guard…” I pat my chest and force a cough. “Yep, he’s in there.”

“Ew, gross…” Chloe wrinkles her nose. “Here, I’m gonna go to the boardwalk, get us some drinks, maybe a few snacks.” She stomps off through the sand, and as soon as she’s gone, Charlie’s in front of me.

“That wasn’t a bug, was it?” Charlie asks her voice is low and quiet even though there’s no one else around.

“No,” I shake my head. I’m not sure if I want to say what I saw, or felt or… I don’t know what happened and I’m still trying to process it. Charlie knows though, I can’t keep it a secret. “I felt… I felt like I remembered something. The day we- the day you disappeared.” It’s a little odd thinking about Charlie’s life before. Before us. 

Before me.

“What did you remember?” Charlie’s closer now, Anne standing behind her, biting on her nails.

“I felt something grab you.” I say bluntly. “I don’t know what, but whatever it was had claws, and I felt them digging into our arms, pulling us down before it all fades to black. I remembered because Chloe mentioned something about the caves.”

“You don’t remember seeing anything?” Anne asks. I shake my head.

“It was too fast, too sudden, and…” I can’t help but hug myself. I feel cold. “Too dark.”

“Yeah, but why you?” Charlie glances back in Chloe’s direction. 

“Why didn’t all of us remember or think of something like that?”

“I don’t know,” I insist. I’m as frustrated as they are at the tease of a memory. Of something more than fog and mystery. The hint of who and what I actually am.

I take a deep breath through my nose and turn away from the other two. I don’t like thinking about it. I don’t like thinking about how I’m just wrong. But I am. Me, and Anne aren’t natural, we aren’t… 

We aren’t real.

Another deep breath.

Exhale.

Warm sand between my toes. Cool ocean breeze. Come on Charlie, take a breath. That’s right.

Inhale.

My name is Charlie Anne McCaffrey.

Exhale.

I purse my lips as I breathe out, long and slow, lungs stretching. Charlie and Anne both look equally zoned out, none of us are okay. Maybe deep inside we need to know. We need to know what happened, but there’s also a part of us that might have been comfortable not knowing.

Ignorance is bliss they say. Sure, not knowing is hard, but facing reality… or the lack of it, is sometimes so much harder.

“You know what,” Anne says, putting on a brave face. “I am going to go swim and get sunburned.”

She heads off toward the water, splashing as she gets in about waist deep. Charlie sits back down under her umbrella and picks up a book

“Ya’ll have fun, I’m gonna go… take a walk or something. Clear my head.” I say, and give them a small wave. I trudge through the sand and pass Chloe coming back with a couple of sodas and a bag of snacks.

“Wait up for me!” She says, “I’ll come with you, let me just drop these off!” She sets off at a jog, braids bouncing off her back. She takes a second to drop off the goods with Charlie before she comes sprinting back to me. Chloe hasn’t even broken a sweat.

I can’t help but notice Chloe’s muscles are toned, even well defined. She plays tennis at school, probably golf too, cause she’s rich.

“Phew,” she feigns being winded, she’s not even breathing hard. “All I did was get snacks, I haven’t explored everything yet.”

The boardwalk is hot, but there are enough vendors set up that there’s shade most of the way. A lot of it are the stupid little festival games that are designed to rob children of their hard-earned allowance. There are a few other shops I take notice of, making a mental note to come back and visit. One place is selling corn on a stick, drizzled with unholy amounts of butter. Another vendor is selling snow cones that look like they were shaved off a frozen rainbow.

“Hello my dears,” A man behind a booth calls as we pass by. “Looking for anything in particular?”

No, but we’re certainly not looking for whatever he has. We ignore him and continue on, stopping to try on sunglasses we don’t need, and some straw hats that are way overpriced.

We almost pass by another booth, but I take a second look and pause. The table to my right is a table loaded with pamphlets and what appear to be homemade magazines. On the front of one is artwork of a Bigfoot looking creature with glowing red eyes and an AK-47. 

Another depicts what I can only assume is a half moth, half man hybrid looking at a lamp in someone’s home. In bright yellow letters reminiscent of old horror films is the name of the magazine.

The Kennedy Report

“Looks like someone’s nephew drew these,” Chloe scoffs quietly. I break into a smile but suddenly stop as a woman pokes her head out from behind a curtain. She’s old. Okay, older. Mid fifties maybe, with a pair of glasses thick enough to stop a bullet, and mixed graying brown hair to go with it. The glasses make her eyes bug out in an almost comical way.

“My nephew does draw these,” she says. “And he does a very good job.” Her words are fast, her tone high pitched. I would have expected nothing less of the bug eyed lady.

“Um…” Chloe is caught, mouth hanging open. The old woman smiles, her teeth are straight, but in varying degrees of whiteness. Her skin is more like tight leather than flesh.

“I have thick glasses, and thick skin, Miss Graves,” she says mischievously.

“How did you know my name?” Chloe asks. The woman reaches into a stack of the magazines, flipping through until she finds the one she wants. She yanks it out, spilling the other magazines onto the table. In her hands she holds a Kennedy Report from a year ago. On the cover are very clearly photoshopped pictures of Chloe and her family. The title reads, “January Aristocrats Hide Demons in Their Secret Bunker.”

“I know all about you and your family, Miss Graves,” she says. “Anything that happens in this town, happens through my ears.”

She turns to me, cocking her head like a curious animal. Her smile stretches her lips again, and she reminds more of a Cheshire Cat than a human.

“I’m Sonja Kennedy,” she stretches out a hand that looks like bone wrapped in skin and veins. I hesitate, but shake her hand all the same. “You must be Charlie McCaffrey…” her grip tightens on my hand and my breath catches as she pulls me close. “The question is… which one?”

I jerk my hand away and take a step back. Sonja is cackling and hugging herself like she just told the funniest joke in the world, but only she can understand.

“Let’s go,” Chloe takes me by the shoulders and walks me away. I’m not scared. I don’t think that’s the right word for it but-

“That was hella unnerving.” Chloe says with a sigh once we’re out of sight. Unnerved, yeah, that’s a good word. Definitely unnerved. How could she know?

Wait, she can’t know. It’s impossible. She’s just some conspiratorial magazine author who fits every cliché of the crazy old woman.

“Yeah,” I finally speak. “Thanks for uh, getting me outta there.”

“Of course,” Chloe smiles, and it’s a big reassurance until she gets serious again. “It is really weird though… How did she find out about our secret bunker full of demons?”

We look at each other for one second, then two, and the next we’re both laughing. It feels good, and I’m glad, now more than ever to call Chloe a friend.

“C’mon,” Chloe’s wiping the tears from her eyes. “We’re getting ice cream, and lots of it.”

***

“You know, every time I hang out with you, my bikini bod suffers.” I say absentmindedly. I decided on a pistachio scoop with an amaretto flavored scoop on top.

“Mick, if I ever saw you in a bikini, it would be my solemn duty to keep a fire extinguisher on hand at all times. Cause you would burn baby burn.” Chloe sings that last part. “And I’d also have to fend the boys away because you would be the cutest, most petite-est thing on the beach.”

“Gee, thanks,” I mutter, thinking about Anne this morning. “I think right now the most attractive thing about me is how many of me there are.”

“Ew,” Chloe grumbles, chewing on her sugar cone. “I heard about that. You would think everyone would be over the identical triplets thing already.”

“I dunno,” I say. “Once you’re labeled a freak, the label kind of sticks, doesn’t it?”

We’re walking down the boardwalk, and our conversation is chatty. We’re having fun. But I’ll be honest I don’t remember much of what was said. What I do know is that I saw someone up ahead. 

Not just anyone.

THE someone.

He yanks back on the rod in his hands, the line spinning so loud I can hear it hum at a distance. He’s gritting his teeth, tanned skin just right. Just perfectly toasted. Did I say toasted? I said toasted. I’m not nervous, you’re nervous.

Dark curly hair peaks out from under a tan bucket hat. The muscles in his forearm flex as he reels in what is bound to be the biggest fish in the bay. I watch with rapt attention, and I’m only just aware of the ice cream melting down my hand and landing on my sandaled feet.

Chloe leans in front of me. Her face obstructing my view of a master at work. I huff and look around her the boy in front of me reels, and reels, and reels until…

Okay, turns out it’s actually the smallest fish in the bay. A small shiny fish that’s maybe the size of my hand. It’s about the journey though, not the destination.

“Bo Henry,” Chloe calls out, noting my tranced-out expression. “Is that all you got?”

Bo turns toward us. He’s looking at Chloe. Looking at me.

“Little guy put up one heck of a fight,” Bo calls back with a smile. He unhooks the little fish and tosses him rather unceremoniously back into the sea. “How are you doing Miss Graves?”

“I happen to be doing quite well,” Chloe smiles and grabs my arm.

“Just showing my girl Mick here all that the boardwalk has to offer.” She giggles a little at that.

“Nice to meet you…” Bo offers his hand, realizes it still has fish slime, wipes that hand on his shorts and offers it back to me. “Mick, was it?”

“Yeah, Mick McCaffrey.” I shake his hand. His eyes drop down my body and then back up. My heart flutters.

“Here,” he says, turning around to a tacklebox that I didn’t notice he had. He grabs a rag and offers it to me. I look down at myself to realize that my ice cream situation has gotten out of control. I was so busy watching Bo that I failed to realize I had ice cream all over my hand, foot, and forearm.

“Oh geez,” I take the rag, “what a first impression, I can’t believe it.”

“I can believe it,” Chloe laughs.

“That’s Mick for you. She is so put together until she… isn’t.”

“Hi…” I say, and for some reason my voice doesn’t sound like it normally does. I clear my throat and brush the hair out of my face, only to accidentally feel how red my cheeks are. It’s probably just the sun.

“Bo here works on his boat most of the time,” Chloe continues introducing him to me, because my functions aren’t functioning correctly. “We knew each other back in middle-school. How’s business?”

“Booming,” he says, “first off day I’ve had in a bit. All the tourists want to know the fishing spots. Tours, boat rides, that kinda thing.”

“I like boats,” I say.

“She… likes boats.” Chloe looks from me to Bo, and back again. “And clearly some other things. Welp, best be going.” She takes me by the shoulders and walks me away.

***

“Crap, crap, crap.” I’m in the fetal position under the umbrella next to Charlie.

“Did we uh… miss something?” Charlie asks glancing back at me. Anne is still in the water swimming under the oncoming waves.

“I think Mick has a crush.” Chloe squeaks in excitement.

“Who is it?” Anne has materialized next to me in such an ungodly and sudden way that I yelp. She’s dripping water and I scoot away so she can sit next to me. Despite Charlie’s attempts at indifference towards us, even she seems intrigued by the girl talk.

“A mister Bo Allen Henry.” Chloe announces each part of his name with emphasis like it’s a special announcement.

“Bo? Who’s Bo?” Anne asks. “I don’t think I know him?”

“I’ve seen him around,” Charlie explains, “but I don’t know him all that well. I think he does fishing tours, and reef dives after school. I also hear he lives on his boat by himself most of the time.”

“I’ve known Bo for several years,” Chloe chimes in. “We’re not super good friends, but I know him, and most of his family that lives in town. He’s a bit of a loner, but he’s a good guy Mick. You should go for it.”

“Yes,” Anne snaps her fingers, “Do that. A summer boyfriend is so romantic. I mean... it would be better if he had fangs, and tentacles but- ”

"Okay, okay." I say, putting up my hands in defense. I can’t help but chuckle nervously as they each weigh in on my nonexistent love life. It strikes me though, almost as much as the vision I’d had earlier.

This…. What we’re doing right now. It’s so… normal.

Just some girls, playing at the beach, and discussing boys. This is the way that things should be. It’s how they’re supposed to be. Just like this, all the time. Normal. My heart lurches at the idea, but my mind is combative. I see Charlie’s face, sinking into the dark waters, and it reminds me that normal isn’t really an option.

***