Sticks and Stones

“I don’t know how it all went wrong,” her voice trembled as she trailed off, her eyes filling with tears once again. A rush of emotions passed across her face. “It was just supposed to be a normal trip, it was going to be fun. I don’t, I don’t…”

She broke down into great, heaving sobs. Her glasses slipped down her nose as she brought her hands up to try to regain some composure, wiping at the tears falling from her green eyes. She sat on a bench in the park her and Cassie had just been in, an officer sat beside her, notepad in hand.

“Ma’am, I understand that this is a difficult situation,” he began, placing a sympathetic smile on his face. “So, let’s try to start from the beginning. What brought you and your friend here in the first place?”

Taking a deep, soothing breath to calm herself, Sarah sat up straight again, tears still pooled in the corner of her eyes.

“Like I said, it was supposed to be a normal trip…”

****

Sarah laughed nonstop as Cassie continued to crack jokes, one after the other, not letting up for Sarah to catch her breath. She paused as they heard Sarah’s mom interrupt them from the front seat, turning her attention away from the still giggling Sarah beside her.

“Girls! We’re here!”

The two eighteen-year-olds smiled brightly at each other before scrabbling to look out of their designated windows. The city was bustling with people, traffic slow, but the pair was too excited to let that deter them as the pointed out every small thing to the duo in the front seat. Sarah’s parents smiled fondly back at the girls, locking eyes with each other to chuckle to themselves.

“What are you girls most excited for?” Mr. Cole asked as he looked at them through rear-view mirror.

The girls looked at each other in contemplation, even though they both knew exactly what they were here for.

“The concert!” both exclaimed, eyes bright with joy and excitement. The parents laughed at the obvious answer, knowing that the concert was the main reason for the trip in the first place.

“Why did I even ask?” Mr. Cole sighed fondly as he continued down the road.

****

“We were here for a concert,” Sarah said, looking down sadly at her lap. “Our favorite artist is playing tomorrow night, and we both just graduated high school. My parents thought it would be a good idea for a present to take us on a trip. Cassie almost wasn’t allowed to come; her parents are pretty overprotective.”

She sighed, when she caught a glimpse of her mother running towards her.

“Mom!” she exclaimed, standing from her spot on the bench. She could see her father not far behind. As her mom reached her, she threw herself into her arms, long repressed tears falling onto her mother's yellow top.

“Oh, sweetheart, what happened?” she questioned into her daughter’s hair hugging her close. Lauren could feel her daughter trembling in her arms, shaking with the force of her sobs. She watched as Logan laid a hand on Sarah’s shoulder and began talking to the officer who had been talking to Sarah. Sarah was beginning to settle, and Lauren allowed her to pull away and turn back to the bench she had just been sat on.

Lauren could see the bag the girls had left the hotel with sitting a few feet away, a blanket still spread on the ground, a book splayed across the blue fabric and several food containers laid hazardously around the bag. The girls had wanted to come to the park, just themselves. They had read up on it before the trip, and the scenic area made its way onto the itinerary swiftly.

Now, this park they had been so excited for was tainted with a horrible experience, painted in tears and ringing with sobs. 

“I’m sorry, we just need to finish her statement and then you can take your daughter with you,” the officer said. 

Wiping her eyes once more, Sarah nodded as her father guided her back to the bench. She sat down and folded her hands in her lap, tugging on her fingers nervously. 

“We had decided to go to the park…”

*****

Sarah and Cassie left the hotel room with a skip in their steps, the bag on Cassie’s shoulder swinging as they talked on their walk. The park was only a few blocks down the street, lush trees and soft grass covering a wide area, paths to walk through the flowers winding throughout the grass. The girls grinned at each other before racing to a shady spot near a bench, falling breathlessly to the ground, giggles spilling into the air. 

Sarah grabbed the bag and pulled the blue blanket out, beginning to spread it across their newly claimed spot. As she finished straightening the corners, Cassie grabbed Sarah’s lunch and handed it to her, taking her own into her lap. They conversed as they ate, before eventually falling into comfortable silence as Cassie pulled a book from the bag and Sarah laid across the blanket, content with the breeze on her face and Cassie’s soft voice reading to her. 

She didn’t notice she fell asleep until she heard Cassie scream. 

****

Sarah choked on a sob as she talked. It was so scary, waking up to see her best friend, her Cassie, bleeding and crying and screaming and it made her feel nauseous just thinking about it. 

Her mother was sat beside her, silent tears rolling down her cheeks as she pulled Sarah closer to her side. 

“We were just sitting there, enjoying the park,” she cried. It felt like all she had been doing since the attack. Crying, as Cassie was hurt. Crying, as Cassie was taken by first responders. Crying, as she recounted the events to the police. Crying. 

“I didn’t know what was happening at first. I had just woken up and…”

**** 

The scream pierced the air as Cassie was knocked to the ground. Sarah scrambled up from where she had been laying of the soft, blue blanket. The blue blanket that was turning red from blood as Cassie cradled her now bleeding head. Looking up at the attackers, she saw a boy, looking around the same age as them, holding a thick branch, which he had just swung at Cassie.

Laughter could be heard echoing around them as Sarah took in the semi-circle of boys surrounding the blanket. Cassie was attempting to sit back up, a hand holding her head where she had been struck. Her brown eyes were unfocused and Sarah could see the blood mixing into her blonde hair, staining it in a way almost reminiscent of when they had dyed their hair red together. But then it had been a bright happy color, not now when the boy was winding his arm back, branch held firmly in his grip, readying to strike again. 

He was taunting them, but Sarah couldn’t hear him over the ringing in her ears, the laughter coming to a crescendo as he swung again, this time aiming for her. She ducked, or she tried, the branch glancing off her shoulder, picking at her green blouse. 

“Stop,” she yelled, in vain as he drew the branch once more into the air, slamming it into Cassie again as she tried to duck, less successful than Sarah. She crumpled to the ground, unconscious as the boy crowed in victory. 

“That should teach little scamps like you,” he spat viciously at Sarah, who had moved closer to Cassie, trying to stem the bleeding with the no longer blue blanket. “Neither of you were that pretty anyways.”

The group moved to saunter off, before an officer showed up, a distressed lady running up behind him. The boys steps stuttered to a stop as they stared at the cop in horror.

“What seems to be the problem here?”

****

Sniffling into the tissue her father handed to her, she looked back up at the officer sitting beside her. 

“That’s when you got there,” she said miserably, seemingly unable to meet his eyes. “I really don’t know what they wanted. I had been asleep.”

She refused to look in the direction of the cop cars, where a group of four boys were being held. One who still had blood on his shoes, speckles of the already brown substance staining his otherwise pristinely white tennis shoes. 

Serves him right, she thought vindictively. It did nothing to quell the nausea and fear she felt.

“Thank you for your time,” the officer said, and she only just noticed the name Robert Gad printed on a name tag. “I am truly sorry for what has occurred here, and we will do everything in our power to help.”

He offered her one last sympathetic smile, before standing to leave. Her father moved to her other side, sitting and putting an arm around her shoulder, matching her mother on her right. 

“I’m so sorry, Sarah,” he sighed, rubbing her shoulder. She looked down at her hands, pulling at the tissue crumpled in her grasp, never ending tears emerging once more. She let out one last soft sob, before meeting her mother’s soft eyes. 

“Let’s go see Cassie, how does that sound?” Lauren asked softly, running a hand through Sarah’s hair as she looked at her husband. Logan nodded, and began to stand, offering a hand to Sarah. Nodding pitifully, she took his hand and was pulled to her feet. The family left the park, no longer blue blanket left behind.