Michael Hunter - Come Get Me

“So,” he began tentatively after a few minutes, “what were you going to say about Tommy back there before we were so rudely interrupted?”

“Oh yeah,” Rob said sounding a little better and not looking half as mad as he had, “I forgot we were talking about that before your girlfriend showed up.” He couldn’t resist throwing that little bit in. Jim guessed it was his way of getting back at him for earlier. He let it slide instead of saying anything and listened to Rob talk. “There was also that part where you and your other girlfriend started picking on me. Telling you stuff you wanted to know about kind of slipped my mind.” He was still a little ticked but Jim knew he wasn’t really mad. He was just trying to make Jim think he was. He only had to wait long enough for Rob to feel he’d gotten the better of him before he started talking again. It didn’t take as long as he thought it would.

“It was real strange out where everything happened,” Rob began quietly. “When we got there we all saw Tommy’s body on the tree like I said. You already know what happened after that but what you and everybody hasn’t heard is that the tree he fell on wasn’t just some old tree that fell over like the sheriff said. It’d been broken off sometime recently. Actually the sheriff said it looked more like it’d been cut. He thought, maybe somebody might’ve used an ax or something like that on it. We’ll have to wait for the experts to decide that one. Anyways, this tree he fell on stood about twenty feet away from the stand he was sitting in. Even if he’d jumped, which I and everyone else doubt, then he wouldn’t have made it that far. He would have needed to get a running start or something to make it that far.” He paused for a minute while Jim thought about what he’d said.

Rob was right; there was no possible way Tommy could’ve made it that far by himself. There was just no way. Deer stands were usually only about ten feet or so up and maybe a few feet wide. In order for Tommy to have jumped that far the thing would’ve need to be a lot higher and a lot wider than it was. He hadn’t seen Tommy for a while but he doubted he, much less anyone else, could’ve made a jump like that from his little stand. Jim found it easier to believe he’d fallen than that he’d jumped but neither made any sense. Rob was speaking again so Jim put those thoughts on hold. He was glad he did when he heard what else Rob had to say.

“Once everyone was done being sick and whatnot we started looking around. From what we could see with the body in the way the stump or whatever you want to call it was only sticking out of the ground about three or four feet. There was a lot of brush around it so if it hadn’t been for the thing sticking out of Tommy’s chest we probably all would’ve never seen it. With it looking like it was cut and that maybe somebody tried to hide it just makes things look a little strange. If nothing else it was in the perfect place for what it did. Unfortunately there were no signs of foul play that we could find and no signs of anyone else having been there. No foot prints, trash, broken branches, nothing.”

“So what makes the sheriff think he fell then?” Jim asked.

“Well, all the stuff he brought out with him was still sitting up in his stand where he’d left it for one thing. His gun, lunch, and a chair were just sitting there. If someone had come out there to rob him or something they would’ve surely taken that stuff. But it was all still there. Since there were no signs of anything else the sheriff says Tommy jumping was the only thing that could’ve happened.”

“There were no footprints on the ground or anything?” Jim asked. He was pretty sure they would’ve checked for something like that. Rob might’ve just forgotten to mention it.

“Wait a minute,” Rob said after thinking about it for a few seconds, “now that you mention it I think there were. I said before there weren’t but now after thinking about it for a few minutes I think maybe there were.” Jim’s hopes grew. Maybe this was the clue they needed to figure out what had really happened. Now there’s a lot they could do with a shoe print. Rob was just upset. He must’ve forgotten about them before. “But those were from other hunters who’d been through there that day.” Jim’s hopes crashed back down as he listened to his friend continue. “There were a few hunters that came through that area. Those were the prints we found. We questioned them but from what they say everything was just like it was any of a hundred other times they’d been there that morning. It was when they came back later on towards evening that everything was all messed up and bloody. They said the first thing they heard were the flies. Thinking it strange they decided to investigate. That’s when the smell hit them. After that they found the body then high tailed it out of there and called us.

“At first they thought it was a joke or that they might’ve drunk a little too much while they were out since they could’ve sworn he was floating in the air when they first saw him. Course that’s not what it was but that’s what it looked like, to them, at first. They said Tommy was just stuck to the tree and blood was splashed all over the place. Now they were overreacting a little bit. There wasn’t blood all over the place, it just looks that way.” Rob glanced at Jim to make sure he was following everything he was being told. Jim reassured him he understood that the old men were just a little drunk so anything they said had to be taken with a grain of salt. But that didn’t really matter too much. They were still right about Tommy being dead.

Rob kept looking around as if somebody was watching them. He was still worried someone would somehow find out about everything he was telling Jim. Rob didn’t come out and say he was uncomfortable but then he didn’t have to. Jim knew his friend even if they hadn’t hung out together in years. He didn’t want to push him into saying anything he would regret so he just stood silently waiting to see if Rob would continue.

“I really lost it when I saw who it was,” Rob began again after a few minutes. “I try not to think about it too much but I can’t help it. I keep seeing him there on that tree every time I close my eyes.” Rob seemed to be on the edge of tear but he pushed on like he wanted to get it all out at once. “Hell, listen to me. I can’t even say the damn word. I never thought about it before now but it’s a disgusting word. Whoever thought of it should have it done to them and see how they like it. Impaled. Gives me the willies just thinking about it. What’s worse is that’s probably how I’ll think of Tom for the rest of my life. Every time I hear someone say it or see it in a movie I’ll think of Tommy with that damn stick coming out his chest. I don’t want that.”

“I know you don’t think you did very well out there Rob but its ok,” Jim said gently trying to console him. “Heck, I don’t know what I would have done if I had seen it but from what you’ve told me you did just what Tommy would’ve expected you to do. You did your job. Tommy would’ve understood. Don’t beat yourself up about losing it. Tommy would’ve teased you sure, but you did what you had to. Just because you’re a policeman doesn’t mean you aren’t human. You probably never thought you’d have to see something like that when you signed on for this job anyway. Don’t think about how Tommy looked out there. Think about all the fun we had when we were kids and the things we did back then. Tommy might not be here anymore but he’s still with us on the inside for as long as we live.” Jim didn’t know what else to say. He grabbed Rob and hugged him and was relieved when he felt Rob return the hug. They stood there like that for a few minutes in the middle of the sidewalk, neither of them caring what anyone might think or say if they saw them.