Authors: Marie Rochelle
“Sir, if they are down there, there isn’t anything we can do for them,” Officer Morrow muttered sadly. “The car skidded on a slick spot on the bridge and flipped over several times before it flew over the bridge. If the crash didn’t kill them the impact from the water did.”
“I have to see if that is Brooke’s car.”
Hayward
screamed.
“Sir, what is your name?” A younger officer asked as he hurried over to them. “I’m Officer Paul Wright.”
“Hayward Campbell,”
Hayward
answered not taking his eyes from the water. He was not about to leave this spot until he knew for sure Brooke and Tyler were not in that filthy water.
“Stay right here.” Officer Wright said walking away from him.
Turning to his left
Hayward
watched as Officer Wright spoke with a woman wearing a red coat standing beside one of the patrol cars. They both turned to look at him and Wright brought the woman back with him. "Mr. Campbell, this is Mrs. Shirley Stanford. She got a glimpse of the woman driving the car.” He turned to Mrs. Stanford. “Can you tell him what the lady looked like?”
“Well, the lady looked around her early thirties with long dark hair. She was wearing a red sweater," Mrs. Stanford said pausing. Clutching the tissue in her hands,
Hayward
watched her as she dabbed at her wet eyes. “I can’t describe her anymore, because the adorable little boy in the back caught my attention. He had dark hair like her and was holding a stuff animal.”
“What did the stuffed animal look like?”
Hayward
asked choking on the words.
“A stuffed dog with a rag tied around its neck.”
“Oh God, no it can't be!”
Hayward
shouted. “My wife and son aren’t dead. You are mistaken,” he snapped staring at Mrs. Stanford. “I talked to Brooke on the phone and she was coming to see me.” He ranted pacing back and forth in front of them. “I won’t believe it until I see them for myself.”
Officer Wright looked at him, “Mr. Campbell, do you have a picture of your wife and son. Maybe you’re right and it wasn’t them Mrs. Stanford saw in the car.”
Hayward
reached in his back pocket for his wallet. Opening it, he pulled out the family photo he had gotten back last week and handed it to Officer Morrow.
“Are these the two people you saw in the car?” Officer Wright asked Mrs. Stanford.
Mrs. Stanford took the picture and looked at it. Lifting tear filled eyes she mumbled, “Yes, that’s the woman and little boy I saw,” she answered handing the photo back to
Hayward
.
Snatching the picture from her hand
Hayward
yelled, “You’re wrong about this lady. My wife and child aren’t dead.”
“I know this is hard for you Mr. Campbell, but we have an eye witness that saw the car go into the water.” Officer Morrow broke in trying to reason with him
“It’s a lie.”
Hayward
hissed one last time at the three people in front of him. Moving away from them, he went near the divers and waited for them to start searching for the car.
By now Brooke’s parents had arrived and were standing by
Hayward
on the river’s bank. Because the water was so cold the divers kept coming back up for a break.
It took four hours, but the car was finally pulled from the water.
At the sight of her daughter’s car being slowly pulled from the black river water Brooke’s mother fainted in her husband’s arms.
Hayward
knew his family was dead. Screaming at the top of his lungs he fell to his knees and cried. If only he had been at home like he promised two lives would have been saved.
A hand touched him on the shoulder. “I’m sorry for your lost,” Officer Morrow said. “We are taking the bodies now.”
He stood next to Mr. Campbell and waited for the next question he knew was coming.
“Wait, can I see them?”
Hayward
asked getting up from the ground.
“Well, a positive identification does have to be made,” Officer Morrow said looking at the bodies.
Walking over to where his loved ones laid was the hardest thing he ever had to do. “I’m so sorry that I couldn’t save you,” he muttered looking down at them.
“Can someone please cover up the bodies,” Officer Morrow asked.
Hayward
felt Officer’s Morrow eyes on him, but he didn’t care. He was grieving for his family. A few seconds later from the corner of his eye, he saw him walked away to finish cleaning up the accident scene.
* * * *
Samantha
Myason
narrowed her eyes at her son-in law, as he watched the police officer walk away from him. Shoving her body away from her husband’s she raced over to him. “Samantha, wait,” her husband yelled, but she ran even faster.
She raised her hand and slapped
Hayward
hard across the face. “My daughter and grandson would be alive if it wasn’t for you,” she cried “You killed them with your indifference. Why couldn’t you have been home for your own son’s party? For once in your life you needed to think about someone other than yourself, but you couldn’t, could you?" She hurled her words at
Hayward
. She didn’t want him to have emotions for them now that they were dead. “
Tyler
finally believed you were going to keep your promise and you didn’t.” She reached back to slap him again, but her husband grabbed her. She fell crying into his arms.
Her husband glanced at
Hayward
over her head. “It’s best you leave before I hit you myself,” Richard
Myason
snarled.
* * * *
Hayward
turned and walked away touching his stinging cheek.
How am I going
to deal with this?
He had never loved Brooke, but he never wanted her to die. Why in the world did his son have to die? He was such a sweet and giving little boy. He had such hope and dreams for his son, now all of it was gone. He got into his car.
Where
am I supposed to go?
He was not going to set foot in that house. Not with all of
Tyler
’s birthday decorations all over the house. Going back to the office was not an option either. Just the thought of it made him sick. A hotel was the best solution. He started the car and headed to the nearest one.
It took him close to an hour to get there. After checking in,
Hayward
went to his room still thinking about the huge void in his life. He would never see his son’s dimpled smile, hear his cute laugh.
There would be no more bedtime stories, or playing
hide
and seek.
Tyler
wouldn’t run into the bedroom anymore screaming,
"Wake up daddy.”
Hayward
picked up his drink that he fixed only ten minutes ago and threw it across the room. The glass hit the wall shattering into pieces. He collapsed to the floor, sobs raking his body.
* * * *
A buzzing sound brought
Hayward
out of his sleep the next morning. Staring around, it took a few minutes for yesterday’s events to come rushing back to him. “I don’t think I can go on,” he cried. Still hearing the buzzing sound he pushed his rattled body off the floor and searched for his cell phone. He found it underneath the table where he tossed it last night.
“Hello.”
“
Hayward
, where are you,”
Clinton
yelled.
“I’m staying at a hotel near the end of town,” he mumbled, running his fingers through his hair.
“I’ve been calling all night trying to find you. Man, I can’t believe you didn’t call me! I would have been there for you. You shouldn’t have to go through this alone,”
Clinton
said.
“Don’t you understand, Clint, I didn’t want to believe it was them.” He growled dropping into a chair.
Hayward
rested his forehead in his hand. “Even when the car was pulled from the water I was still denying it. I had to see the bodies as proof. My little boy looked so small.” His voice cracked at the memory of his tiny son lying dead on the cold, wet ground. “Brooke’s body was just as bad,” he admitted. “Samantha said I’m the reason they’re dead and she’s right you know.”
“
Hayward
, Samantha was against your marriage from the beginning. She thought her daughter could do better than you.”
Hayward
just realized he didn’t tell his brother about the accident so who did. “Clint, how did you know about the accident?”
“Samantha called me last night screaming about how you killed her daughter and grandson.”
Clinton
paused then continued. “
Hayward
there’s more I have to tell you.”
“What is it,” he asked. He knew from the tone of his brother voice that it was bad news. “Tell me and get it over with,”
Hayward
sighed. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be any worse than what had already happened to him.
“The
Myason
are going to bury Brooke and Tyler tomorrow.”
“No, they can’t do that.”
Hayward
yelled.
“Samantha said Brooke was her daughter and she had the right to bury her and Tyler.”
Clinton
hesitated and then continued. “
Hayward
, they don’t want you at the funeral. If you show up, the police will remove you from the service.”
“The hell I won’t be there for my son’s burial. Samantha and Richard won’t do this to me.”
“I know you’re upset about this
Hayward
,”
Clinton
said trying to reason with him. “I really don’t think Samantha will throw you out. She’s devastated and it’s causing her to lash out at you. Why don’t we meet at the house?”
Clinton
suggested. “I can help you get the place cleaned up.”
“No, I’m not going back into that house again. The memories will kill me as soon as I hit the door.”
“Okay, how about I go there and get you a change of clothes? Then I can bring them to you.”
Hayward
gave
Clinton
a list of everything he wanted
Clinton
told him he would be there in about an hour. After hanging up,
Hayward
got up and paced around the room.
Who in the hell does Samantha think she is?
She couldn’t keep him from his wife and son’s funeral.
* * * *
An hour later,
Clinton
found him in the same position, when he came into his hotel room. He didn’t know how he would go on without
Tyler
. His son had meant the world to him. All he thought about was how his little boy had made his life better. Working all those long hours had been for him and his future. He hadn’t wanted his son to want for anything. He did not want people talking about
Tyler
in the same way they had done to him, as a child.
A hand touched him on the shoulder and he looked up at his brother. “I didn’t even hear you come in. How long have you been standing there, watching me?”
Clinton
shrugged. “I don’t know maybe a few minutes. I knocked but you didn’t answer.”
Clinton
tossed the two suits on the bed next to him.
Standing up,
Hayward
walked over the window. “What am I going to do without
Tyler
? A day didn’t go by I didn’t play with him or see Brooke. Now this damn accident has taken them from me.”
He heard his brother come across the room toward him, and then a comforting arm was placed on his shoulder.
Hayward
knew there wasn’t anything
Clinton
could do for him. But let his grief take over and hopefully he would stop blaming himself for the tragedy.
“
Hayward
, you should pick out a suit to wear,”
Clinton
said removing his arm. “I brought two suits because I couldn’t choose between the black suit and the dark gray suit.”
Easing back to the bed,
Hayward
looked down at them. “I think I’ll wear the black one. Brooke brought it for me last week. She thought it would make me look more like a CEO.” Sitting down on the edge bed he ran his fingers over the material and sighed. “
Clinton
, I don’t think I’ll be able to stay here after the funeral. I will need to go away to clear my head.”
“What are you talking about?”
Clinton
muttered, glaring at him. “You’re going to need your family more than ever. You know, if you run off like this it will kill Mom. Shit, you know how much she already worries about us.”
“Damn it,
Clinton
, I can do anything I please,”
Hayward
snapped back. He tried not to think about how his leaving would affect their mother. "There isn’t anyone waiting at home for me anymore or have you forgotten." His voice grew husky with emotion.