TRAGEDY
1729 Words
In the morning, Kathy woke up in a panic. She was dreaming about Matt leaving her when she told him she was pregnant. She rubbed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm down. She looked at her purse. She dreaded getting out of bed, but she knew it had to be done.
She got up and grabbed the test out of her purse. She stood there for a minute, then went into her bathroom. She opened the box and just stared at it. “God, is this for real?” she questioned herself. She read the instructions and took the test. She closed her eyes while she waited. Her mind was going in every direction. Would he be happy? Would he be mad? Would he leave her? What’s my mom going to say? Or worse yet, what will his parents say?
After a few minutes, she picked up the test. There it was, clear as day, the word ‘pregnant’ showed in the result window. “f**k!” She threw herself on her bed, covered her face and cried. She was in shock. Their worlds were about to forever change, and she had no idea how to tell him. She wiped her face and got ready for Matt to pick her up.
Matt was always very punctual. He came inside to get her. She had just finished getting ready. She could hear him talking to her mom.
“Excited about the prom?” Josephine asked.
“I am.”
“Kathy is too. She loves her dress and said you looked pretty great in your tux.” Matt smiled.
Kathy came out. “Morning Mom, ready Matt?”
“Sure. See you later Mrs. C.”
“Have fun. Don't forget about dinner later.”
Kathy got in the car before Matt could even open her door. He looked at her. “What’s the rush?”
“No rush. I’m hungry.”
“Ok. If you say so.” He felt like something was off with her, but he didn't say anything.
They got to the restaurant and parked. Charlene and Jeff were already seated in a booth. They went over and sat down with them.
“Hey guys,” Jeff said. “How’s it going?”
Kathy smiled as Matt said, “Going great.”
“So, prom is coming up soon,” Charlene stated. Kathy smiled and excused herself. “Hang on, I’ll go with you.”
Kathy knew Charlene was just going to question her. She barely had time to let it set in. She wasn’t ready to talk about it. Charlene opened the bathroom door for them. Kathy reluctantly went inside. Charlene looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
“What?” Kathy asked.
“Don’t what me. Are you or aren’t you?”
Kathy’s eyes were tearing up. “I'm pregnant.”
Charlene put her arms around her. “Come here, it will be alright. Matthew loves you, you two have some weird unbreakable bond going on. You’ll see.”
Kathy sniffed and wiped her face with a paper towel. “I can’t believe it.”
“Are you upset or happy about it?”
“Both I guess.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m just scared.”
“Oh don't be, Matthew won't be mad and will take care of you. I know it. And you have all of us too. When do you plan on telling him?”
“We’re meeting everyone at the river later, so maybe then.”
“Good, you call me if you need me,” Charlene said.
“I will.” Kathy nodded.
Charlene said, “Let's go eat, I'm starving.”
They went back to the table and sat down. “Everything ok?” Jeff asked.
Charlene elbowed him and answered, “Everything is just fine.”
“I'm starving,” Matt said.
“When aren't you?” Charlene asked. He sneered at her.
They ordered food, but Kathy barely ate any of hers. “You alright?” Matt asked her. “You were the hungry one when we left your house.”
She shrugged, “Not really hungry anymore.”
“If you say so.” He still felt something was off with Kathy, but he knew she would tell him if there was.
After they ate, Matt and Kathy headed over to the river. There was a dock by one of the narrows of the river they always went to. Everyone was already there. It was a little cold, so he gave Kathy his leather jacket. She thanked him. It was about two weeks before the prom, so they were going to make plans for the limousine and after prom.
Matt rolled up a joint and fired it up. He asked her, “Want some?”
“No thanks.” All she could think about was the baby. She wondered if she should tell him now, or wait until after the prom.
“Really?” He was surprised because she never passed one up. “How come you haven’t been joining me lately.”
“I dunno. I’m just not in the mood I guess.”
“Ok.” He looked at her confused. He knew something was going on with her. "You alright?"
"I'm fine."
They got to the dock stairs. They were a little slippery, so Matt helped Kathy down.
“Hey you two. Where have you two been?” Scott asked.
Matt said, “My sister took us to brunch.”
“That's weird.”
“I know. Sometimes she likes to mess with my head.” He laughed. “Here.” He handed Scott the clip.
“Gee, thanks for saving me the blunt.”
“Relax, I have more.”
“Then fire another one up.”
“No problem.”
They hung out there most of the afternoon. Kathy stayed away from the smoke as best she could because it was making her feel queasy. She spent most of the time distracted. Matt was busy with the guys, so really hadn't noticed. She was starting to get tired, and she wanted to be alone with him to tell him about the baby. Most of them had started heading back to their cars.
“Matt,” Kathy called out.
“Yeah babe?”
“We have to meet my mom for dinner soon.”
“Ok, gimme a minute.” He toked a few more hits off the joint and handed it to Scott. “Catch ya later.”
As they were getting ready to go, Matt got up and went to help Kathy. “f**k!” he yelled as he slipped and fell off the dock. He hit his head and landed in the water.
“MATT!!” She screamed as she ran to the edge of the dock. She watched in horror as he slowly went under. Without thinking, Kathy took his jacket off and jumped in after him. She went under looking for him. The water was cold and still murky from the spring thaw.
Scott ran over to the edge. Kathy came up for air and went back down. She found him. She tried but wasn’t strong enough to pull him and her back up, so she went back up for a rope.
“What the hell happened?” Scott asked.
“Matt fell in. Give me that rope, I found him.” He threw her the rope. Billy ran over to them. She was about to go back under when a rush of water was coming. One of the ice jams had let loose up the river.
Scott saw it coming towards them and screamed, “Kathy, get out now!”
“NO! I won’t leave him!” Before she could do anything, Scott and Billy pulled her up. In a panic, she screamed, “NO! I can't leave him!” She tried to go back into the water.
Scott called 911. Billy held her back. “It's too late, Kathy. The water current was too strong and had to of swept him away.” She was shivering. He wrapped her in Matt’s jacket.
Scott held Kathy as she started crying hysterically. “No!” She kept screaming for him, “Matt!”
The rest of the group heard all the commotion and ran over. “What the hell is going on?” Dave asked. He stopped when he saw Kathy soaking wet and in tears. He blurted out, “Where the f**k is Matt?”
Shaken up, Scott looked at them. All he could get out was, “He fell in.”
Dave’s eyes got huge. “What?!”
“An ice jam let loose and water rushed through before Kathy could reach him,” Billy said.
Everybody stood in silence. Sirens were heard pulling up. Firefighters in wetsuits deployed a raft. They headed down the river to search.
A paramedic tended to Kathy. “You need to go to the ER, miss.” He wrapped a blanket around her.
“No! I won’t leave here.”
They searched until dusk. There was no sign of Matt. One firefighter said, “We'll have to resume the search again in the morning, but at this point it will likely be a recovery.”
By now, Matt’s parents were at the scene. Charlene and Jeff arrived just after. After his mother heard that, she went over to Kathy. She slapped her across her face and growled, “I blame you that my Matthew is gone!”
Kathy held her cheek. Everyone stood there, stunned. Charlene ran over to her. “Mom, that’s not fair.”
“Maybe if they didn’t spend every God damn waking moment together this wouldn’t have happened.” She stormed away.
“Don't listen to her,” Charlene said.
“We really need to get you seen at the ER,” the medic said. Kathy was loaded into the ambulance.
Charlene jumped in with her. She told Jeff, “Meet us at the ER.” Her mother glared at her, but she didn't care.
Everyone dispersed in disbelief. Scott told Char to keep him updated. The ambulance doors were closed and they drove away.
In the ambulance, Charlene told the medic that Kathy was pregnant. They tried to get some medical information from her, but she was in shock.
- Writer
