Chapter 4
It was early Sunday morning, June 13th, 1971.
It was now nine that morning, and Darin rode with Charles while Kenny drove his Rambler to Ocean City, New Jersey. Kenny insisted that he drive to the beach and Charles was good with that this time, as his car was in dire need of a tune-up and new tires.
After they got the cheapest motel room they could find, they headed off to the boardwalk to enjoy some rays of the sun by the sand.
After working on their tans, the guys spent the rest of that day walking up and down the boardwalk. They also relaxed on the beach and ate hamburgers and pizza.
Also during Sunday afternoon, Darin and his buddies ran into a lot of their former classmates. Darin was relieved that Robbie wasn’t one of them and he started to forget about the incident that occurred on Friday evening down at the lake. Robbie’s buddies were partying at Ocean City without their bully leader, and Darin didn’t see them around Ocean City.
On Sunday evening, Sheryl slipped out of her house as her aunt’s visit was starting to get old.
She drove her Malibu over to Lake Willow to watch the sunset alone. She thought of Darin and hope he was enjoying his time at Ocean City with his buddies.
It was now eight-thirty that evening, and the sun dropped below the horizon. Sheryl missed having Darin by her side, and she didn’t notice two peering eyes from the woods.
While Sheryl got off the bench, she didn’t notice that there were now four peering eyes watching her from the woods.
Once Sheryl got back inside her car, those four peering eyes smiled then disappeared in the woods happy that Sheryl finally left the lake.
Sheryl pulled out of the dirt road and headed north on Primrose Avenue. She felt like a little drive around Primrose to kill some time before going home.
Ten minutes had passed, and Officer Billy White had his squad car parked in the parking lot of the A&P. He positioned it so he should stake out the entrance to the dirt road that led to Lake Willow.
Five minutes had passed, and Officer White didn’t notice Robbie’s black 1971 Camaro and a Ford Galaxy that were parked to the south on Primrose along the north shoulder. He had his eyes focused on the dirt road, as that was the primary focus of his concern.
Robbie’s Camaro pulled back onto the road and drove off south on Primrose.
The Galaxy also pulled on Primrose and followed Robbie’s Camaro.
An hour had passed, and Officer White started up his squad car thinking that tonight was a bust for catching the gay guys at the lake.
He drove out of the A&P parking lot disappointed.
Monday morning rolled around, and Darin and Charles slept in until eight that morning. Kenny got up real early and strolled around the boardwalk. He had something on his mind, and it involved a girl.
After a late breakfast, Kenny made the surprising announcement that he met this girl on the boardwalk earlier in the morning and was going to spend a couple of days with her. Darin and Charles were happy for Kenny, as he never dated while in high school.
Kenny headed off to his car immediately to be with this mystery girl.
Darin and Charles spent the rest of Monday afternoon strolling up and down the boardwalk and relaxing on the beach while Kenny was off with this mystery girl.
It was Monday evening, and Sheryl went to the lake again to watch the sunset. Yet there were two peering eyes from the woods spying on her. She didn’t notice while her eyes were focused on the sun dropping below the horizon.
Across Primrose Avenue in the A&P parking lot, Officer White wasn’t staking out the dirt road that led to Lake Willow tonight. He didn’t feel like it tonight, as he started to feel he was wasting his time since last night was a bust.
Over in Ocean City, Darin, and Charles hooked up with former classmates for a party on the beach.
Darin was happy, Robbie, and his two henchmen weren’t amongst the crowd. This allowed him to have a great time without the threat of being bullied. Kenny was still gone partying with this mystery girl.
While at the beach that night, Darin ran into Tiffany and she was her usual wasted self. Tiffany tried again to lure Darin under the boardwalk, as this time she wanted to go all the way with him. Tiffany would reserve that for the guys she thought was worth having on top of her. Darin refused and avoided her for the rest of the night. This, of course, pissed off Tiffany and she looked determined to get naked with Darin and doing the nasty with him in the future
Kenny returned to Ocean City early Tuesday morning, and he was depressed. He stated that this mystery girl dumped him. Darin and Charles felt sorry for Kenny and spent the rest of the day trying to cheer him up. It didn’t work.
The rest of the week was pretty much the same routine for Darin, Charles, and Kenny. Except that Kenny was extremely quiet and withdrawn. Darin and Charles thought he was still upset that this girl he met dumped him. They did their best to cheer him up, but it didn’t work.
By Thursday it was starting to get old, and all Darin could think about was getting back to Burkeville to be with Sheryl.
Saturday morning rolled around, and Darin, Charles, and Kenny woke up around ten.
They decided to grab a quick breakfast and drive back to Burkeville. They were tired of their week at the beach and besides their cash was running extremely low. They just hoped they had enough money for gas to get them back to Burkeville.
It was a quiet ride, and Darin and Charles noticed Kenny was still withdrawn. They figured he was still upset after his first encounter with a girl and then being dumped.
It was two on Saturday afternoon when Kenny dropped Darin off at his house.
Darin walked exhausted with his suitcase in hand to the front door and went inside.
The second he got in the living room, he saw his mom and pop sitting on the couch. They looked upset. He set his suitcase down on the floor.
“Come sit down,” June said and patted the couch cushions between her and Henry.
The last time Darin heard this was six years ago when his pop got laid off at the plant for a couple of months. So he figured that that was the news they were going to tell him about another lay off at the plant.
He walked over and sat down between his mom and pop.
There was a long period of silence between June and Henry. They looked at each other and wondered who would break the news to Darin. Henry nodded that he would do it.
“Darin. Listen, while you were in Ocean City. Something terrible happened here in town,” said Henry then he paused while he tried to say the right words.
June turned her head. She didn’t want Darin to see her eyes well up.
“What happened?” asked Darin as he suddenly had this gut feeling this wasn’t about Henry getting laid off.
“Ah, something horrible happened,” said Henry then he took a deep breath. “It’s Sheryl,” he said, then paused again.
“What about Sheryl?” asked Darin, and he started to get nervous, thinking that maybe Sheryl decided to break up with him.
“It’s Sheryl. She’s dead,” Henry finally said and hated every second of saying those words.
Darin looked at Henry and saw he was dead serious.
He looked at June and saw she had her head turned away, and he knew she was crying. “Dead? How?” said Darin, then he paused for a second. “No, it can’t be. She can’t be dead. We were going to get married after college,” he said and started to feel faint.
June started to sob, as she always loved Sheryl and hoped that she would be her daughter-in-law one day.
“She was reported missing Monday night. Her father thought she might have driven over to Ocean City to be with you, but some kids found in the woods by Lake Willow on Thursday,” said Henry.
Darin got up off the couch in a stupor. “It had to be Robbie Hanson,” he muttered while he walked out of the living room.
“What did he say?” Henry said to June.
“Something about it had to be Robbie Hanson.”
“I wonder what he meant by that?” said Henry.
“I don’t know,” said June and they sat there worried about Sheryl’s parents grieving about the loss of their daughter.
Darin moped down to the hallway.
He went inside his bedroom and closed the door.
He walked over to his bed and plopped down with his face in his pillow. He started sobbing.
When the rest of the kids from Darin’s senior class arrived home from Ocean City, they all heard the news on how Sheryl was found dead in the woods by the lake. She had been raped then murdered. The people of Burkeville were in shock over the news. The vast majority of them knew Sheryl since the day she was born.
Sheryl was buried on Tuesday, June 29th, 1971 at the cemetery on the southern part of Burkeville.
Darin couldn’t muster up a single tear. He was still in shock and disbelief that his life changed for the worst during the past weeks. At her funeral was the first time in his life where Robbie was friendly helpful to him.
Charles and Jimmy Newton attended, but Kenny was gone, as he left town a day after coming back from Ocean City. So that was the end of the trip to see the Pacific Ocean.
Chief Hanson started his investigation and even though the story about Robbie attacking Sheryl that Friday night came to light. Robbie had an alibi. He stated he was in Philly attending the Phillies baseball game that Monday night. But of course, he said he went to the game alone, and he did have a ticket for his proof. He said then tossed the ticket in the trash at the stadium after the game.
It was now Friday night, July 2nd, 1971.
Darin was still depressed over losing his soul mate.
We were supposed to watch fireworks in two days. Darin thought while he moped out of his bedroom.
He moped into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. He first looked at the razor. He looked at his mom’s bottle of sleeping pills.
He grabbed the bottle of pills, removed the cap and dumped a quarter of the full bottle into his hand and swallowed the pills. He placed the bottle on the top of the sink.
Darin moped out of the bathroom and headed back to his room.
He plopped down on his bed and closed his eyes and prayed he would go meet with Sheryl very soon.
Ten minutes had passed, and June went into Darin’s bedroom. She had this motherly instinct to check up on her son.
She walked up to Darin and thought something was odd. She knew he had been extremely depressed over Sheryl’s death.
Henry entered the bedroom with the bottle of June’s sleeping pills in his hand.
“Honey, there’s a lot of pills missing. I thought you just got the prescription filled yesterday?” he asked and held up the bottle to show June.
June’s eyes widen with fear. She leaned down and shook Darin. “Darin! Wake up! Wake up Darin!” she said while she shook his body. Darin didn’t wake up, and June feared the worst.
“Call an ambulance,” she cried out to Henry while her eyes welled up.
Henry looked at Darin and then at the bottle in his hand. He knew what had happened.
“Fuck waiting for the ambulance, we’ll take him ourselves,” he said then dropped the bottle to the floor.
Henry rushed over to Darin and picked him up.
Henry carried Darin’s limp body on his arms and rushed him out of the bedroom. June followed, worried sick. Henry figured that by the time the ambulance arrived at their house, he could have already taken Darin to the hospital.
A little while later, Henry raced his 1970 Chevrolet Impala through the streets of Burkeville blowing his horn while he passed cars and ran through red lights. June was in the backseat holding Darin in her arms and silently praying her baby wouldn’t die.
Henry screeched his Impala to a stop by the Emergency Room entrance of the Burkeville General Hospital.
He ran inside to get help from the medical staff on duty.