Aaron Tuttle

Seventeen-year-old Aaron Tuttle straitens his tie and attempts to smooth the wrinkles from his tuxedo jacket. Removing one sweaty hand from the corsage box, he wipes it on his trouser leg and rings the doorbell.

The door opens, and his date’s father invites him in. A faint smell of Cinnamon Apple from the Yankee Candle on the small table beside him fills his senses until Jackie enters from the living room. Her poufy blue off-the-shoulder gown almost touches the floor. Light brown hair cascades down to her shoulders in waves where a small gold rope necklace circles a smooth white neck. The two have been dating since the end of school last year, but she has never looked so beautiful.

Then it happens, what all teen-agers dread, Jackie’s dad brings out his camera and takes photographs of him putting the flower on Jackie’s wrist, the couple on the stairs, by the fireplace, her sitting and him standing, and finally walking out the door. At the request of a proud father, they pause with the car door open for ‘just one more’ photograph.

The Senior Prom Committee decorated the Hilton Ball Room for the occasion, and they went all out. Balloons, streamers, a life-size cutout of the school mascot-a grizzly bear, and a local band-The Flying Lizards.

Every table cloth has the school logo in the center, and in front of each seat is a gold key chain with 2019 engraved on it. Along with the key chain is a small bag full of sundry trinkets. Happily, they joined their friend's table with two empty seats. After getting settled, the boys go after punch while the girls brag about their dates, complement each other on their dress, and explore the bags.

The punch tastes funny to the girls, so Jackie asks the boys what they did; they laugh. Everyone’s attention is drawn to the dance floor were Principal Finchum is dancing with Miss Wilson; Mandy says she thought he was too old to know how to dance.

A few dances, the official prom picture, and things become boring. Billy suggests they go somewhere that’s fun. Against Jackie’s objection, the group agrees, but no one has any idea where that would be. Billy grabs Aaron’s keys and jumps into the front seat with Trish while the rest pile into the back. Everyone is laughing and passing around a bottle of Peppermint Shnops that Billy furnished. When asked where he got it, he laughs and replies that he knows people.

***

Aaron wakes up lying on the leaf-covered ground surrounded by trees. Nothing looks familiar, and he has no idea how he got there. Struggling, he is able to stand on wobbly legs and stumble forward.

Ahead about one hundred feet, he spots a car with the front end smashed against a tree, it’s his car. Looking around for answers as to what happened, he finds his best friend Billy and Billie’s girlfriend, Trish. They're dead.

Frantically Aaron searches for Jackie, Jackie’s sister, and her boyfriend. A moan from his right snaps his head around where he finds Jackie lying on her back with what appears to be dried blood covering the side of her face. She looks like she is asleep, but another moan slips from her lips, probably because her legs are twisted in grotesque angles. The desire to grab her up and hold her is difficult to restrain, but he's afraid if he touches her, it will cause her more pain.

“Hold on, Jackie. I’m calling 911.”

Unable to find his phone, Aaron panics, he rushes up the small hill and stares down the long gravel road. Finding nothing in sight, and seeing no other option, he starts to run. After what seems like hours, the terrified boy rounds a curve and spots an old farmhouse.

Several knocks on the door fail to rouse anyone. Then after pounding and shouting, a weak voice from inside asks Aaron what he wants.

“There was an accident, and my friends are hurt. Can I use your phone to call someone?”

“Don’t all you young people now-days have cell phones?”

“I can’t find mine. I must have lost it when we crashed.”

“Sorry, but I don’t open my door to no-body.”

“Can you call someone for me?”

“I can if you tell me where to send them.”

“I don’t know. I think we were going around a sharp curve and didn’t make it.”

“Devil’s Hairpin.”

 “There was no warning! It was just there.”

 “Folks around here know about it and slow down. How many you say were hurt?”

“There were six of us. Two of my friends are dead, and my girlfriend is hurt. I didn’t see Carl or Mandy. Could you please hurry and call help? I have to get back to Jackie.”

“That’s about ten miles, son. Why not wait here, and I’ll tell the sheriff to pick you up?”

“I can’t wait, Jackie might need me.”

With that, Aaron turns and heads back. This time the run doesn’t seem to take as long, but when he gets there, Ambulance and police are everywhere. Men put Jackie in the back of one of the Ambulance’s, and it drives off, reveling two body bags lying together with another one few feet away.

Sheriff Moore arrives and pulls one of his deputies aside.

“What happened here, Jack?”

“It looks like some teen-agers were partying too much and ran off the road.”

“Who reported it?”

“Old Man Taylor.”

“How did he find out about it? His place is a good six-seven miles away.”

“One of the boys ran there and asked him to call us, then said he was coming back here.”

“Where is he; I want to talk to him.”

“I don’t know, we haven’t seen him.”

“Well, find him.”

Two EMS’s came out of the trees carrying someone on a stretcher. Aaron races to find out which of his friends it is but stops short when he sees a sheet covering the body on the stretcher. The distraught boy falls to his knees, crying. As the procession passes, the sheet catches on the thorn of a wild rose and falls away. Shock hits Aaron like a brick wall. The person on the stretcher is him.