What Now? Chapter 1, part 4

When we got to the corner we stopped to catch our breath.
“Did he follow us?” gasped Darren.
“I don’t know.” I breathed in reply.  “He has no reason to come after us.”
Harry grabbed Tom by the neck of his shirt. “What the hell where you thinking!?” he yelled.
“I don’t know. I panicked!” Tom yelled back.
Harry shoved Tom away. 
I leant against the wall and put my hand to my chest. My heart was pounding. 
“I’m definitely going home now” said Harry angrily. “This has been the most pointless day of my life.”
“Yeah, what a waste of time” agreed Darren.
Tom and I watched Darren and Harry walk away. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” I shouted after them.
“Yeah, yeah.” Harry frustratingly shouted back.
“What now?” asked Tom, rubbing his neck. I heard my stomach rumble again.
“I think we should go home too.” I said.

Tom and I slowly and silently made our way down Roland Street, both feeling embarrassed and disappointed about how the night had turned out.  Every couple of paces Tom would look over his shoulder nervously. It was dark now and the street looked eerie. Tom and I picked up our pace. 
“Are you sure nobody’s following us?”
“As I said before, they have no reason to.” I glanced curiously at Tom.
“Why did you ask?”
“I looked over my shoulder a second ago and I could’ve sworn I saw something hiding behind those dustbins.”
I stopped and looked around, hoping that Tom was just being paranoid. I squinted.
“I don’t see anything”
“Over there by the dustbins outside Mr Hall’s house. “
“I think you’re just being paranoid, Tom. Come on, the faster we walk the sooner we-“

“There you are.”

My breath cut short.  “B-Brad...”
“Where the hell did he come from?” Tom blurted out.
Brad moved in closer.  What was it with these Rams and personal space?
“We’ve been looking for you.”
Tom and I looked at each other and nodded. Taking one last look at Brad we ran for it. Again.
“Forget university students” I said as we ran. “These guys are psychos!”

We reached my house.
“You can stay here for a bit until we’re sure Brad’s gone.” I said to Tom. 
I stretched over the gate to the back garden and unbolted the lock. We rarely used the front door because the dog had a habit of running out when we had visitors.I heard Charlie bark as I slammed the gate shut. We stopped outside the back door.
“Remember, we wanted to get in extra practice for tomorrow’s game, so we’ve been at Harry’s- shit!” 
Before I had time to register what was going on I was lying on the ground with Brad’s hands around my neck.

“Tom...” I gasped as Brad’s grip grew tighter.
Tom looked around him frantically then lunged in, grabbing Brad by the neck in attempt to pull him off me. 
“You crazy bastard!” he yelled, tugging at his thick neck.  Leaving his left hand held firmly around my neck, Brad swung his right hand around, sending Tom flying into the patio table.The force sent the chairs crashing to the floor. I heard Charlie barking and a light came on in the kitchen. Even that momentary release made no difference.  I struggled and continued to gasp. Brad smiled manically. I looked into his bulging eyes and I could have sworn for a moment they were yellow. Tom struggled to his feet. Just as I thought I was a goner, he noticed my Dad’s shovel lent against the garden shed.  Without a moment’s hesitation and with impressive force, he whacked Brad over the side of the head, sending him collapsing into a heap on the ground next to me. I rolled on my side heaving and gasping for air.
“What...in the actual...hell...” I breathed, rubbing my neck.
I sat up and looked up at Tom who was standing over Brad, still holding the shovel in mid air and then down at Brad who lay crooked on the patio.
“Are you boys okay out there?” I heard my mum shout.
Tom threw the shovel to the floor and I scrambled to my feet, still breathing heavily.
“Did I kill him?”  Tom whispered. I leant over Brad to check his pulse. I couldn’t feel anything. “Erm...depends what you specifically define as dead.”
Tom looked at me blankly.
“Does he have a pulse?”
“Well...no, not really...”
“What do you mean ‘not really?’”
Tom's hands were shaking. I really didn't want him to know the truth.
“Okay, so he doesn’t have a pulse.” Tom dropped the shovel and put his head in his hands. “I’m a murderer!”
My lip started to quiver. 
“He was going to kill me! You had to do it...” I said, trying to reassure him and myself.
“What do we do?” Tom asked frantically.
I heard my mum shout again. “Robbie?”
“Quick” I said, leaning over Brad’s body. “We can’t let my mum see him.”
Tom and I rolled Brad’s body across the grass and behind the shed. “We’ll leave him here until we decide what to do next.” I said, rubbing my neck. The back door opened and my mum peered out. “Robbie, Tom, what are you two doing out here so late?  Come inside.”

We went inside and Charlie bounded up to me.  Tom stood motionless. I gave him a nudge.
“Tom...” I whispered. “Try not to act suspicious, we don’t want to make her think we’ve done anything wrong.” Tom patted the dog.
“Okay...” he squeaked.

“What were you doing out there?” mum asked as we unlaced our shoes by the back door. 
We didn’t say anything.
“Never mind, take your shoes off and sit at the table, you’ve been gone for hours, you must be hungry” mum said, opening the fridge.
“We really needed the practice before tomorrow’s big game” I said.
“I hope you didn’t tire yourselves out too much.” Mum smiled.
“Are you staying for supper, Tom?”
Tom nodded “Yes, please.”
“I’ll heat up the apple crumble and custard.”

We sat in silence at the kitchen table whilst mum heated the apple crumble and custard in the microwave.I tried to wrap my head around what had just happened.  I had almost been killed and we had just beaten a man to death with a shovel and attempted to hide the evidence by shoving him behind the shed in the back garden.

Ping

The microwave had stopped and mum set the bowls of piping hot apple crumble and custard in front of us.
“There you are.” She said, smiling.
Tom and I said thank you and I watched as she went into the living room leaving the door slightly ajar. I was starving. I wolfed mine down but Tom hardly touched his. I licked the spoon and looked down at my empty bowl, feeling sort of guilty.
“What now?” muttered Tom.
My head began to hurt. I’d been relied upon to make a lot of decisions today, all of which hadn’t exactly turned out well.
“Well we can’t go to the police...” I said “and we can’t leave Brad in the back garden, Dad’s sure to find him eventually.”
Tom sighed and slouched in his seat.
“We could bury him?”
“No” said Tom, sitting up right again.
“Haven’t you seen Come Solve with Me? The body always gets found and the murderers always get done.”
I huffed. 
I looked at Tom’s bowl of half eaten apple crumble.
“If you don’t eat that my Mum’s going to know something is wrong.”
Tom had never turned down my Mum’s apple crumble in his life.  He took a spoonful and shoved it into his mouth. Mum came back in and switched the kettle on. 
“Enjoy?”
Tom grunted in reply, his mouth still full.
“Tom your mum just called asking if you were here, I said I’d drop you home in ten minutes, is that alright?” 
Tom nodded.
“I know it’s only a ten minute walk down the road but it’s very late and I don’t want you walking home by yourself.”
It usually got on my nerves when mum treated me and my friends like we were six but I think Tom was sort of thankful this time.
Tom gulped “Thank you” he said, placing the spoon in the bowl.
“I’ll be back in five minutes; I’m just putting Sam to bed.  Rob, whilst I’m taking Tom home get a quick shower and then get yourself to bed.  You’re filthy and those sheets were fresh on yesterday.”

As my mum left the room Tom pushed his chair back and stood up quickly.
“What do we do?”
I looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost quarter to 11. 
“Okay” I said, trying to collect my thoughts. “Phone Harry and Darren and tell them to meet us here at 1.”
Tom looked queasy. “Right.” he said, taking a deep breath.
Mum came back into the kitchen. “Ready to go?”

Tom went to the back door to put his shoes on.  I watched as he fumbled with his laces before giving up and tucking them down the sides of his shoes.  As mum opened the door Charlie bounded outside and my breath cut short as I realised I couldn’t have Charlie sniffing around the back of the shed.
“Don’t worry about Charlie” mum said before closing the door.  “I’ll bring him in when I get back, you just get a shower and then get to bed, you’ll be shattered in the morning.”
“Okay.” I said, only half listening.  I watched as Charlie sniffed about in the garden. As soon as I heard the side gate slam I went out into the garden to drag Charlie inside but as I had feared, he had already discovered Brad. I slowly walked over to the shed, my stomach beginning to feel uneasy.
“Come on, Charlie”
Grabbing him by the collar I pulled him back inside.  Having thrown a couple of dog biscuits into Charlie’s bed to keep him occupied, I was about to leave the kitchen when I noticed something on the floor near Charlie’s bed.  It was Brad’s wallet.  Feeling slightly queasy I picked it up and shoved it in my pocket.  I looked out of the window but it was pitch black and I could only see my reflection in the glass. My hair was matted and my face was covered in mud.  The thought of Brad’s dead body lying behind the shed in the dirt made me heave, sending me bolting upstairs to vomit into the toilet. As I knelt on the bathroom floor my heart raced. The events of the past hour turned over continuously in my mind until I wasn’t even sure if they had really happened.  I unravelled a piece of toilet paper and wiped my mouth.  I had no idea what we were going to do once we met up with Darren and Harry.  I got to my feet and flushed the chain.  Before getting in the shower I looked into the bathroom mirror at my neck where bruises were beginning to emerge.

It was self defence. I thought.

As I got into bed I set my alarm for ten to 1 in case I fell asleep and lay back on my pillow, my head still spinning. 

Dead body in the back garden and a wasted apple crumble. Things can’t get any worse.