Trapped in the Pool with a BROKEN ARM and I AM DONE Chapter 06
Before his fingers could reach me, an officer slapped Everett’s hand aside and hauled him to his feet
“Are you the victim’s family?”
“You need to come to the precinct and give a statement.”
Everett did not seem to hear him.
He continued staring at the broken charm on my wrist, his lips shaking violently.
“She isn’t dead. She can’t be dead.”
“There must be something wrong with the park’s equipment!”
He suddenly pointed toward the wave pool and shouted.
“Why did the wave machine start without warning?”
“Why was there a vortex over the drain?”
“This was the park’s fault! You caused this!”
The water-park manager pushed through the surrounding crowd, his face dark with fury and grief.
“Everett, stop making accusations!”
“The wave machine started on its posted schedule. You were the lifeguard on duty, so you knew exactly
when it would happen.”
“The current formed because something large blocked the drain screen.”
“Mrs. Walker warned you, but you called it trash and refused to have maintenance investigate!”
Each accusation from the manager struck Everett with crushing and undeniable force.
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
Brielle saw him begin to unravel and hurried inside the police line toward him.
Out of habit, she grabbed Everett’s sleeve and spoke in a fragile voice.
“Everett, you’re frightening me.”
“We’re all devastated by what happened to Maren, but you can’t take all the blame.”
“She was the one who accidentally fell.”
In the past, Everett would have taken her hand and comforted her gently.
But not this time.
As he felt the warmth of her fingers, his mind filled with images of my broken body struggling beneath the
water.
He flung Brielle’s hand away.
“Get away from me!”
Brielle was unprepared and fell hard onto the rough concrete.
The skin peeled from her palm, and bright blood welled across the scrape.
She stared at Everett in disbelief as tears streamed down her face.
Everett did not look at her once.
The officers took control of Everett again and escorted him into the back of a patrol car.
By the time Everett finished giving his statement and left the police precinct, it was already late at night.
Everett refused every offer of a ride or assistance and walked alone to the small apartment we had rented
together.
He opened the door.
The apartment was completely dark, and he called out from habit.
“Maren, I’m home.”
No one answered him.
Only the wind outside moaned through the narrow hallway.
Everett switched on the light.
The living-room table was completely bare, without the hot dinner that had always waited whenever he came
home late.
There was only a single sheet of printer paper on the table, held flat beneath an empty drinking glass.
Everett walked over and picked it up.
The title printed across the top cut painfully into his eyes.
System Mission Withdrawal Agreement.
My handwritten signature appeared at the bottom.
The date was the day he had stood me up to celebrate Brielle’s birthday.
On the back, I had written one calm sentence.
[Everett, I’m tired. I don’t want to wait for you anymore.]
