hang
by jess ryan
chapter 6

  A swift punch to the head sent Kevin sailing onto the ground, and he tasted blood in his mouth as he lay there.  Someone’s boot colliding with his stomach caused him to turn over and look up at his assailant, and through the fog in his brain he barely registered Brett standing above him.  He said something that seemed to be coming from very far away, and Kevin tuned out as his vision blurred.  He saw a shoe coming right for his face, then everything went black.

  Howie Dorough administered a hard punch to James McIntosh’s face, and managed to block a blow to his head.  James was a big guy, much bigger than Howie himself, and he knew he wasn’t evenly matched.  Still, Howie thought he’d been doing a pretty reasonable job…until James pulled out the switchblade.

  Aleesha woke to darkness, the sound of violence evident from outside the window.  She rolled over groggily; the movement making her head ache, and wondered where she was.  She had a sudden urge to vomit, and ran towards the en suite that she could see clearly outlined on the far side of the room.  Heaving into the toilet, she tried to recount her reason for being here in the first place.  Images, glimpses, played through her mind in no particular order, but she thought she vaguely remembered drinking with Devin in the kitchen.  They’d hung out there for a bit, but Aleesha didn’t remember coming up here.  And she certainly didn’t remember changing into Devin’s t-shirt.
  Sitting back against the wall, she groaned at the realisation of what she’d done.  She’d gotten pissed and slept with Devin.
  “Shit,” she moaned.  She remembered coming across Alana throwing up in a bathroom once a long time ago, after Alana had done the same thing.  She’d looked awful all curled up on the floor, unable to hold on to her food, and Aleesha was sure she looked the same now.  She certainly felt awful.
  There came a loud cry from outside, and the sound of police sirens.
  Sirens?  Police?  Aleesha wondered.  What the hell was going on out there?  She tried to lift herself off the floor to move and promptly threw up again, and again.  She wasn’t going anywhere for awhile.  All she wanted to do was go back to sleep…

  The front lawn of the Green house was littered with people, ambulances and police cars as the party was broken up.  Jess stared, dazed around at the throngs of people walking around, all with a sense of direction and purpose.  She herself had no idea what she was doing, and therefore just stood and watched in fear and shock.  Stretchers were being brought out of the house with people she knew lying across them, and she felt her heart sink lower with each pale, bruised familiar face she saw.  She cried out when she spotted Catherine on a stretcher, and ran over to see her.  No sooner had she arrived at her friends side than the ambulance attendants were shoving her out of the way and loading the stretcher into an ambulance to take away.  A choked sob escaped her throat as she turned back to the front door in time to see Aleesha, looking like death not even warmed up, being lead outside by two burly police officers.  Then two more carried a stretcher covered with a white sheet outside.  Jess had seen enough movies to know what that meant.  There was someone dead underneath that sheet.
  But as she looked around she noticed more and more covered stretchers.  She just prayed that the people she loved the most were not under them.
  “Jessica!”
  She turned at the sound of her name, to see her mother running towards her with outstretched arms.  Jess fell into her embrace with a sob, as her stepfather reached them and put his arms around them both.  “Come with us, honey,” her mother said, her face streaked with tears.  “We have to go to the hospital.”
  “Why?” Jess asked, looking questioningly at the faces of both her parents.
  “Grace…” her mother began.  “Grace was…hurt…”
  Jess felt panic rise in her stomach, but fought it down.  “Where’s Brian?”
  Harold, her stepfather, shrugged.  “Around here somewhere.  He’ll meet us there.”  The three of them began to head across the lawn to where their car was parked, but they were intercepted by a police officer.
  “If you don’t mind, Miss,” the burly man said gently.  “We’d like to question you about the incidents of the evening.”
  “Please, not now,” Harold pleaded.  “Her sister just died, we’re taking her to the hospital.  Can you question her later?”
  The officer let them go, and Jess reeled at the words.  “Gracie died?” she whispered as they neared the car.  Her mother burst into anguished sobs, and Harold didn’t reply.  They drove to the hospital in silence.