Ebb Tide – A Short Story ©By Vijaya Sundaram Nov. 4th, 2009
They looked at him in the darkness – he could see their dim shapes by the faraway streetlights. A truck rumbled by, and he could hear his heart beating.
“Well? Are you coming with us, or are you going to rat on us?” asked the one with the ski-mask.
Jack looked at them…and his mind went into a tailspin. He had worked hard to be a part of this group of boys, only because his friend, whom he had always looked up to, had joined it. Jack did not like what they stood for, nor what his friend appeared to have become, and yet …
Somewhere in the corner of his vision, he was aware that the moon shone, a slim sliver of a crescent, shedding more darkness than light onto the group.
He could feel their eyes boring into him. His mother would be working at the hospital all night – she was a nurse. His father was sleeping off a drunken stupor, but before that, Jack had been the target of his father’s inchoate rage. He could feel bruises swelling and turning purple under his shirt.
Nobody would miss him. He had been hoping for acceptance all his life. Here was his chance. Should he take it?
“Yes,” he mumbled, looking down at his sneakers.
“Let’s go, then!” said the leader of the group, and they moved with determination towards the abandoned building, spray cans in hand. Jack’s friend gave him a friendly shove. He didn’t respond.
And then, the wild rumpus began.
They sprayed the walls with graffiti, drew obscene images, and gang slogans that he didn’t even know about. Occasionally they sprayed each other’s jackets, and laughed in uproarious glee at their foolishness. Innocently criminal behavior, that’s all it was. Just a bunch of graffiti artists, he said to himself.
They didn’t notice the police car pull up behind them. They didn’t see the cop get out, didn’t see the other detective step out from the passenger seat.
It was only when the lights went on, that they turned in fright. Spinning blue and red lights, whirling like dancers in a dream, flashed rhythmically on the walls they had just sprayed.
Jack froze. So did the others. Then, chaos erupted. The boys ran in different directions. A shot rang out.
Jack felt his consciousness recede, waves ebbing away from the shore. Hold on, he thought, hold on. The waves pulled him farther out. Mom, he thought. I never told Mom that I was going out …
Then, the darkness closed in, and silence welcomed him into her arms forever.
And into that silence, the moon continued to shine dimly, shedding more darkness than light.
Ebb tide.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The End~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~