Witness to Death by Dave White Read Free Book Online Page A

their aunt’s in Freehold, Mom and Dad with their wine and beer. Uncle Roger was behind the grill. Smoke twirled into the sky. True to form, Uncle Roger had found sausage no one had ever heard of. When they were driving down the Parkway, Mom and Dad were promising hot dogs and hamburgers. Uncle Roger was always trying to be original.
That didn’t really matter to John. The sun was beating down, making the concrete hot to the touch of his foot. The pool was warm for once. Hannah was pushing down her swimmies, trying to get them off. John sat on the steps filling his plastic water gun. He heard the thump of one of the plastic swimmies hitting the ground behind him. Hannah always managed to free herself of them.
“Keep those on,” he mumbled, knowing Mom or Dad would yell. The last thing he wanted was them coming over here. Once this gun was filled he was going to sneak over and spray them all.
He heard the other swimmie hit the ground too. His sister exhaled just like that guy in that movie the other day. The one who got out of prison. He wanted to see more of that movie, but Dad had flipped it off.
The splash sounded like a slap against the water. Like when he was on the tube before and let his arm slam down on the water.
He watched the last bubbles pop out of the open end of the gun. He capped it and held it up. The sun reflected off the green plastic. He squeezed the trigger and watched the water squirt up into the air like his doctor watched the medicine come out of a needle. He was about to stand up and begin his assault when he realized there wasn’t anymore splashing.
John turned to see Hannah sinking in the shallow end. Her eyes were squeezed shut and bubbles drifted from her nose like out of the end of his water pistol. She flailed and John waited for her to start swimming to the surface. Her arms reached out ahead of her and then gave in to the pressures of the water. Hannah sank some more.
“Stop playing, Hannah,” he said. He remembered Mom saying that if Hannah ever fell to get her right away.
He should say something. Hannah’s mouth opened and a stream of bubbles came out. She was trying to breathe.
“Dad?” John turned toward the party. The music was playing off the radio and no one reacted at first. “Dad!”
His father looked up and John said, “Hannah’s trying to breathe underwater.”
The beer bottle shattered against the hot concrete. His dad dove into the deep end, pumped his arms, muscles straining against his skin. He glided into the shallow end. Pulled Hannah out of the water. Mom screamed. Hannah’s face had turned blue. Dad started to kiss Hannah’s mouth.
“Hannah!” his dad yelled. “Hannah, wake up!”
“Oh my God,” Mom said, though it was a whisper.
Uncle Roger said he was going to call 911.
Hannah never moved.
And all John could do was watch.
****
One of the cops opened his cell and waved him toward the door.
John stood.
“Come on,” he said. “You have a visitor.”
Finally. John followed the cop, who led him to the same bare room with nothing but a table and two metal folding chairs. The light was a faded yellow and gave him a headache. He squinted and sat in one of the chairs. The cop stepped out of the room and closed the door. John heard the lock click.
More waiting.
This time only five minutes passed. The lock clicked again, and John looked up. The door swung open and a woman stood in the doorway. John squinted a little more.
Ashley McDonald entered the room and sat in the chair across from him.

 
“What the hell are you doing here?”
John pushed the chair back. His chest tightened and his vision went hazy. He blinked to clear it.
Ashley sat down across from him, folded her hands in front of her, and closed her eyes. When she opened them, he saw the glint of the pale light from the fluorescents above them. He remembered waking up next to her one morning, as rain pounded the sidewalk outside. They stayed in bed the whole morning holding each other.
Now John