The Traditional Summer Crime

August 22nd, 2019

“I don’t want to do this.”

“Oh, shut up,” Melanie responded. “We’ll be fine. It’s tradition to go on the hottest day of the year every summer; no one’s been caught.”

Summer shook her head, her brown eyes wide, looking up at the thin trees covering the forest. The short barbed wire fence had toppled over at the edge, a thick wood post the bridge between the parking lot and the Forbidden Forest. Beyond that, a field of corn waited to be harvested. At least, once October swung around.

“I hate doing this, guys,” Summer whined, twisting the end of her wavy blond hair around her fingers. The ends were ratty and chewed due to the amount of bothering Summer did to them. “Remember last time?”

Melanie giggled. “Yep. I remember that party.”

Hannah pulled her flaming red hair into a ponytail, adjusting the wooden handle of the shovel on her shoulder. “That was scary. So we’re doing it again, Summer.”

The three girls still stood uncertain at the edge of the parking lot, just steps away from trespassing. Again. Hannah had done it the most; she only lived a few blocks away and loved the abandoned buildings held within the woodlands. Melanie had done it constantly as well. She often went with the group of boys (who weren’t good at covering their tracks), or she went with Hannah.

Then there was Summer.

She was that one girl with a bunch of allergies that lived under a rock. Both her first year of public school and middle school was just the following day, and she was terrified. She had learned a lot from Melanie and Hannah, who had told her all about the terrors of school.

Hannah spread a smug smile on her lips, turning to Melanie. Her red hair glimmered in the incessant sun like a beacon, her green braces complimenting her eyes. Her freckles smothered in bright Band-Aids from past accidents, as well as her exposed legs and arms. Unlike Melanie and Summer, she wore black swimming trunks and a matching bra-like top.

Her green towel trailing behind her like a flag in the wind, she yelled, “To summer!” and ran over the thick wooden “bridge” in one go, avoiding the black barbed wire.

Melanie shrugged. She wore a purple two-piece—a tank top with a skort. Her dark, tiny braids flying, she rushed after Hannah, her pink towel tucked under her arm. “To summer!”

Summer shifted her feet, smiling at the choice of words. It was a little odd to be named after a season, especially the most popular one among kids. She checked her satchel: her yellow towel, snacks, and a water bottle. She double checked it, then triple checked it. She took a few deep breaths, until the knot deep in her gut settled down a little bit.

She was with friends. She would be fine.

“To summer!” she cried, running over the bridge and onto the other side, where both of her friends cheered.

The three girls walked together, hiking up the green hill, between the beautiful trees with their thin trunks. They did this every year; had done it since the trio knew each other. Back when Hannah had transferred to East Heights Elementary School in third grade and met Melanie, who had lived there her whole life. Then Summer had moved to town, kicked outside that summer of 2015 to find friends and something fun to do. She had met fearless, reckless Hannah and daring, confident Melanie, who invited her to their chaotic shenanigans.

Summer had been homeschooled since she was a toddler. As an only child with a doctor mom and an online therapist dad for parents, her folks were overprotective worrywarts, always hovering right over her shoulder. But that had all changed once they had their second daughter, Winter. She was four now, but she had required a lot of medical attention in those few years: pneumonia, leukemia, allergies, asthma, and eczema. Since by the time they moved closer to the hospital (only 15 minutes away from their old house, so that they were in the same town as the hospital her mom worked at), Summer was a nine-year-old that was highly educated when it came to her allergies, she was allowed to roam around East Heights during the summer. She went to the town pool, park, and became friends with Melanie and Hannah.

Now that seventh grade was the following day, Summer was both nervous and excited.

“I mean, it’s the first year of middle school, right after intermediate school,” Hannah had told Summer as Melanie had painted their nails the week before. “There’ll be kids from our sister school and the local rat school.”

Hannah and Melanie knew most of the kids from the other schools; they had also estimated that there would be fifty-four kids in their grade, split into three groups.

Summer tripped on a root; she wished she had worn tennis shoes like Hannah and Melanie had. Instead, she had worn her black sandals, the ones that matched her one-piece swimming suit. After all, they were going to swim, and there was no way she was wearing tennis shoes while wet.

Melanie and Hannah went on and on about their classmates, how hot it was, and how they couldn’t wait for the ritual. Summer disappeared into her thoughts, her mind spinning. What if her classmates didn’t like her? What if her friends left her? What if she somehow got lost? What if the teachers were mean? What if—

“We’re here!” Hannah yelled, sprinting towards the creek. It ran through the green forest, running over rocks and mud. This part, however, wasn’t too muddy at the sides and didn’t have too many rocks poking out of the water. The perfect spot. 

Hannah threw her green towel down and hopped on one foot as she untied her tennis shoes and threw them aside. Summer sighed, realizing Hannah hadn’t worn socks. Hannah jumped into the water, screaming. “It’s cold!”

“How on God’s green Earth is it cold when it is this hot out?” Melanie thought to herself as she slipped her shoes and socks off, Summer snickering. 

She set her satchel and towel down besides Hannah and Melanie’s towels, slipping off her shoes as Melanie jumped into the creek. Once she surfaced, she spit water onto Hannah.

“EW!” Hannah yelled, laughing as she dipped underwater, presumably wiping the saliva off and trying to get Melanie back.

Summer leaped in last, floating completely submerged for a few moments, willing the knot in her stomach to calm down.

She rushed to the surface, standing on the slightly rocky, smooth bottom of the creek. Melanie was the shortest of the trio, so she had to stand on tiptoes. Hannah and Summer, however, didn’t need to.

Summer realized why Melanie had spit on Hannah. The water wasn’t cold. At all. It was refreshing; that was for sure, but definitely not cold. It was the perfect ratio between hot and freezing.

So far, their tradition had gone well, considering what had happened last time. They had been chased out by the owner of the private forest, who threatened to call the cops. Of course, he never did.

So why did she feel so bad?

The girls swam for an hour or so, having fun as they splashed around, playing water games and having races.

Once they were done swimming, however, it was time for the ritual.

They climbed out of the creek, dripping wet. Then they searched the forest for rocks, the sharpest, ugliest, dirtiest rocks they could find.

Melanie found hers first, arriving at the small clearing between two trees with no roots or plants. She met up with Hannah and Summer, the former of which had the shovel. Hannah started to dig a hole in the dirt, not too deep and with enough space for the three rocks.

Once the hole was dug, the three girls formed a triangle around it and held up their rocks with one hand.

Since Melanie was the oldest of the three, she cleared her throat first. “I hung out with the wrong crew all of sixth grade. I almost forgot that I had the world’s most amazing friends.”

Summer remembered that. At the end of the school year, Hannah had interfered. Summer didn’t know how, but at least Melanie was hanging out with them now.

“I’m sorry, Hannah,” Melanie said, throwing the rock into the hole. “I didn’t know—”

“It’s fine, it doesn’t matter.” Hannah held hers up next. Melanie looked at her with a concerned expression on her face. The knot in Summer’s gut twisted, as sour as it ever could be.

“I fell for the wrong trick,” Hannah said casually. “And now my family’s a big mess ‘cause of me, and I let Mel into it.” Hannah chucked the rock in so hard that specks of dirt flew out. Summer winced, but Melanie just raised an eyebrow.

Summer gulped. She was last. She held up the rock. “I pretended I had more homework than I actually did. I didn’t want to be involved with Mel and Hannah because they always talked about school drama. I was scared to be a part of it. But now I will anyway,” Summer added, joking as she tossed her stone in with the others.

The three girls smiled sadly. Hannah started to aggressively bury the rocks with dirt, patting the uneven mound until it was at least halfway flat. They stood there for a few moments, trying to completely get rid of the terrible feeling left behind after the ritual.

Soon, the girls cheered up. They laid on their towels, drying out in the sun as they ate the snacks Summer had brought. They talked to each other, reassuring Summer that the following day would be awesome, now that they would all be together.

As Melanie and Hannah debated whether or not an annoying classmate from previous years would be there, Summer closed her eyes and smiled, tilting her face towards the sun. She took a deep breath, letting that knot in her stomach unwind.

What if everything went perfectly?