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I don’t know him.
I was there, but I don’t know him.
By the time I walked out of my last class, there was a swarm of police cars. State, campus, and local police surrounded the area. Some are by the tree near the dorms.
Everyone had to show their ID when asked. The discovery of a dead student in front of a tree has sparked a frenzy on social media. The irony that the tree was near the church and the cemetery gives it an eerie feel to the whole thing. No one on campus really knew who he was after reading the breaking news article. His name was Gary Clark, and he was the starting tight end for the Ohio State football team.
I called my brother, and he said he couldn’t talk. He did say that the entire football team was being questioned. They went to a party last night around the time I was home. I was relieved because that would mean it happened after he was seen at the party, and who knows what those guys were into? Adam assured me that he was good and had nothing to do with it. No one liked Gary except his teammates. Adam mentioned he was a hard-ass and drank a lot. He was considered a party animal.
“Hey.” I turn around and see Rose standing behind me. “Did you hear about that guy?”
“I saw.”
“Damn,” she says, surprised. “Sucks.”
I don’t want to tell her that I saw him last night at the diner. I don’t want anyone to know it now, or people will talk and ask questions. Questions I don’t have the answers to.
You didn’t know him, Melody.
“I want to go to Babylon. I’m not hungry,” she points out. “But it beats being alone in the dorm, and the cops are everywhere.”
I don't want to be alone right now. I agree.
“Alright.”
We walk in, and people are hanging out in tight groups. Most likely talking about the dead Ohio student. It’s being aired on the big-screen TVs hanging over the bar.
“No one knows who did it. No suspects, and you can bet even if anyone in Kenyan did, they would be tight-lipped about that shit around here.”
I take a seat in the farthest booth toward the back. “What makes you say that?”
“You know… bad rap for the school. They keep everything that has to do with this school under control.”
I nod, and I couldn’t agree more. Most Ivy League schools do. Like the people who go here. The rich kids who come here have more secrets than the government.
“What do you think?”
She scans the bar and then the door, like she’s thinking about it. “I’m not sure, but it was obviously a message.”
“Like what?” I asked curiously.
“Whoever did it wanted someone here to see it. That much is obvious.”
“But who knew him?”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, the door to the bar swings open, and my answer walks in. They know who that guy is, but they stroll in like it’s just another day at college and a dead football player from a rival school wasn’t scraped off the bark of the tree across the street.
Valen, Garret, and the rest of the swim team walk in, heading toward the pool tables.
“Is that all they do?” Rose asks. “Play pool?”
“I guess there isn’t much to do after school. They don’t strike me as the type of guys who play video games.”
Rose snorts, looking over her shoulder directly at Garret while he chats up some girl with dark hair to her waist and low-waisted jeans who does nothing to hide the string of her pants over her hips.
I glance at the TV to avoid glancing at Valen. He didn’t answer my texts, and I don’t want him to think I showed up here because I’m stalking him. A picture pops up of Gary. It looks like a high school picture. He looks nothing like the asshole I saw in the parking lot, but he is a good all-American high school kid who has loved playing football since he was five. It's interesting how people tend to portray someone's life story after their death. This good guy had a future. All I can remember of him was being an asshole and wanting to beat up another guy because another asshole on his team said it was a good idea. There are more highlights and a clip of his parents crying and pleading for justice for their innocent son. I was hoping they could find the killer.
A male voice interrupts my inner thoughts. “Did you see what happened?”
