The sun lowered slowly behind a row of ten dark-clad figures. Their downcast eyes looked up occasionally to meet the beady, yellow glance of alligators skimming the surface of the lake. A car door slammed and high heels clopped across the wooden bridge. Tiny flecks of twilight leapt off the black water and flickered in her blue, tear-swollen eyes. The gators rolled like paddleboats beneath as she shimmered, pink in her dress, closer to the far side of the bridge like a prodigal, iridescent salmon. The sun dropped out of sight behind low-hanging moss and a troupe of cicadas quickly drowned out the shuffling of feet. Their collective posture stiffened and once downcast eyes trained upon her moonlit dress and ivory white legs. Her face remained placid as she watched the water ripple below. A single tear dropped from her full eyes and she looked at the men who stood now frightfully still in their penguin suits.

She wondered how this could have happened, imagining his chewed insides churning in the bellies of the beasts below. He had been a large man with so much flesh. Looking out across the vast lake, she imagined his blood spreading out through the water. He was a part of the lake now; a part of this sulfur smelling ecosystem. His friends, these boys in men’s clothing, had their share of the blame. Her memories of drunken speed boating flooded back and she closed her tearing eyes. Not that anyone could stop John from being John. His legendary wild streak was well documented through bi-annual trips to the emergency room and high life insurance premiums. But, this was all so sudden. They looked like freshmen at the prom now, she thought. And rightly so—their shroud of invincibility, a sacred brotherhood, had been devoured as they stood, groping and helpless. Screaming, they had said, and then gone. The imagined, strobe-like reenactment repeated involuntarily before her mind’s eye. She felt each of their hands reassuringly grip her shoulders and released were the deep sobs she had held at bay.