A Warm Summers Night

A Warm Summer Night

Part 1

July 11th

7:00

Lacey, WA

The paved streets of Lacey were filling with families and friends as they started shuffling into the annual South Sound Carnival. The last day of the carnival was always the most exciting for the townspeople. The city put on a firework show, promptly starting at 11PM.

Tommy, a young man who works year round with the carnival company was greeting locals as they walked through the gates.

 “Here we go,” he said with sarcasm, trying to hold back an eye roll. 

His co-worker Keith laughed and nudged him, “C’mon man, only a few hours left.” Tommy let out a sigh. The only part of tonight he was excited for was when he could take off his red staff vest, relax and hangout with his buddies. 

“Meet up at the Haunted Mansion later?” Keith asked. He nodded to Keith. 

***

The hot summer sun was just beyond the tree lines now, it would be dark soon. The warm weather still hung in the air. A slight breeze was welcomed by everyone. 

As time grew closer to 11, people were laying out blankets, unfolding chairs, finding steps to sit at, where they could enjoy the fireworks. 

Tommy, after a long days work was finally able to relax and get a large Cola. “Hey! Tom!” Not only a familiar voice but one he had been waiting to hear all day. Mary Ann, who was across the street was waving him down. “Gorgeous,” he said to himself. They both smiled, he wrapped her up in himself. Pulling her close, he could smell her sweet rose perfume he had bought her for her birthday. “I’ve missed you all day,” Mary Ann kissed his cheek. 

Mary Ann was gorgeous, she had long wavy brown hair, and her eyes were an emerald green. Truly a gem to Tommy and everyone else in the town. They met last summer, at the carnival. Mary Ann was with her friends and Tommy was greeting. It was love at first site. As much as Tommy was head over heels for her, she was equally in love. They spent summer nights after closing, hanging out around the lake across from the carnival. Learning each other’s kiss, telling childhood stories, losing track of time as the sun would come up on the South Sound Bay.  

“Whose this?” Tommy was asking about the young girl who was standing behind Mary Ann. “Oh, this is Shella. Sorry Tommy but I have to watch her tonight, but we can still enjoy the fireworks!” Mary Ann picked up a few babysitting jobs this summer to make extra money. Watching Shella was a last minute job, but her parents were paying premium prices tonight. 

They started walking through the narrow walkway that was lined with food trucks. Shella wanted to stop and get sweets so they stopped and she picked out a large bag of mixed blue and pink cotton candy. 

“I told Keith we’d meet at the Haunted Mansion, but we can bail if you want?” Mary Ann looked at Shella, she was shoving handfuls of the fluffy candy into her mouth. “No it’s fine, she’ll be okay.” 

The Haunted Mansion was by far the best attraction at the carnival and Tommy’s favorite. They arrived a few minutes behind Keith and his girlfriend Jen. “Whoa guys, settle down,” Mary Ann laughed at the two love birds who were making out against the ride. Keith smiled and took Jen’s hand. “You’re kidding me,” he said to Mary Ann, gesturing over her shoulder to the girl. Tommy shrugged his shoulders. “We can still have fun, her parents are meeting me here before the fireworks.” 

A rowdy group was heading over to meet them. Jake, who was already buzzed handed Tommy a flask. “You’ve read my mind,” Before taking a swig. Jake tilted his head towards Mary Ann, gave her a wink while Tommy passed the flask to her. Fumbling in his jacket pocket Tom pulled out a pack of cigarettes, flipped a lucky and gave Jake a smoke. They all stood in a circle behind the Haunted Mansion, drinking and smoking. Tommy knew nobody would be coming back here until the morning to clean up. 

“Stay right here,” Mary Ann said to Shella. 

“Watch her please Tommy, I just have to use the bathroom.” Stumbling towards the crowd. 

“You’re gonna break the seal!” Yelled Jake. She turned around and started laughing, throwing up her hands in defeat. 

Jen, the only sober one of the group, walked towards Tommy and Shella. Jen was well known in the community as homecoming Queen and Valedictorian of her class. Jen was no stranger to Shella, they lived in the same neighborhood and Jen often watched her when her parents worked late. 

“Hey, kiddo! You wanna go on the haunted house ride with me?” Shella looked up at Tommy. “Sure go ahead, I’ll make sure to tell Mary Ann when she gets back.” Jen took her by the hand and they ran to the front to get in line. 

The flask the boys were working on was about gone. The lights at the carnival started getting brighter and blurrier as the group laughed as they passed a joint around. 

Jen and Shella came around the corner running and laughing. Shella had a new bag of candy with her and a new plush toy Jen had won at the ring toss. 

Seeing the little girl, Tommy remembered that Mary Ann said she was going to use the bathroom but she hasn’t came back yet. “What time is it?” he asked. “10:45,” someone said. 

“Where’s Mary Ann?” Shella was looking around the group and noticed she wasn’t there. “ I’m suppose to meet my mom at the picnic tables for the firework show?” 

“ I’ll call her.” Tom took out his phone, it went to voicemail. He called her again, back to voicemail. “Can you go check on her in the bathroom, she drank a lot so she might be feeling sick.” Jen nodded and headed her way. 

Tommy’s phone rang, relieved he took it out of his pocket to answer. “ Shes not in here Tommy..” Jen was on the other line. “ I’ll check the other bathroom, while I bring Shella to her parents.”

Tommy and Keith separated from the group, who didn’t notice. They stood on steps by the lake to get a good vantage point and scanned the crowd. A burst of light in the night sky gave a five minute warning before the fireworks would start. The crackling of the firework and rain of colors lit up the crowd. 

“She’s not in any of the bathrooms over here,” Jen said. “I’m coming back over, Shella’s with her parents.”

Tommy who wouldn’t normally be nervous, started sweating a little as he began walking through every section of the park. “Watch it!” A man yelled while he flew past him. 

Jen caught up with the two boys as they were headed to the parking lots. “ Where the hell is she?” A few minutes later they arrived to Tommy’s car, it was empty. Mary Ann had walked to the carnival after picking up Shella from her mother’s work, which was just a few blocks down the road. 

“What should we do?” Jen looked into Tommy’s glassy eyes. They decided to take another trip around the carnival. Flashes of blues, reds, whites lit up the sky. Almost disorienting the boys who had too much to drink. 

“Keith we should call her parents,” Jen said with a worried look in her eyes. “Mary Ann is around here somewhere, stop making a big fuss, we will wind up finding her somewhere.” Keith scanned the crowd again. 

As people started to pack up after the firework show and head out to their cars, the three of them continued looking for her. “ It’s almost 1 Tommy, we need to call the cops. Tell her parents! Something!” Jen took out her phone and called the Tilley’s house phone. Maggie, Mary Ann’s mother picked up the phone. “Hello? It’s 1 AM who is calling at this time.” Jen shrugged a little. “ Hi Mrs. Tilley, is Mary Ann home? We were at the carnival and she just disappeared on us. She said she was going to the bathroom and then never came back and I’m....” Maggie interrupted her,” slow down, no Mary Ann is not at home I thought she was with Tommy at the carnival?” Maggie turned the kitchen light on and ran into her bedroom to wake up David. “ Mary’s gon’ missing Dave, get up, get up we are going down there.” 

Before they arrived to the empty carnival parking lot they took a few passes downtown to see if they could spot her. There were lots of people downtown, clubbing, smoking, dancing in the streets. But no sign of their daughter. Maggie and David, looking disheveled after being woken from sleep, walked across the parking lot to meet her friends.

“ What happened!?” Her mom exclaimed, shooting her eyes at Tommy. “Did you two get into a fight again!” Tommy stepped back, waving his hands in front of him defensively. “We were all hanging out behind the Haunted Mansion,” Maggie rolled her eyes, “ like I said, we were behind the mansion and she had to pee and then she never came back!” 

“ What about Shella!?,” her mother sounded hysterical of the thought of the two girls alone this time of night. “ I took Shella to her parents, she’s safe.” Safe. Jen thought to herself as she said it. The feeling that Mary Ann wasn’t safe terrified her. 

“Let’s all split up and take a look, David please call Detective Ward over here. He’s your friend and he’d want to help.” They all headed to the Haunted mansion, other than the clean up crew the place was empty. 

Blue lights were beaming in the distance. Detective Ward would be here soon. 

They searched until daylight, called anyone who would possibly know where she would have gone. Tommy, who was scared out of his mind went to the Detective. “I know you’ve told the story before but please go ahead again in as much detail as you remember.” Tommy started telling Ward exactly what he remembered, his fists tightened as he started holding back tears. 

There had been a search party over the next several days, without any luck. 

By now the whole town had heard about Mary Ann’s disappearance at the annual carnival. The Tilley’s made up posters and nailed them to every wood pole in the city. Wishing that Mary Ann would be found, safe.

That was the last year Lacey had their South Sound Carnival. That was the last year they would see Mary Ann.