It turned out that carrying a dead body was hard. Even with two people, it was more difficult than it looked on TV. It didn't help that the carpet weighed a decent amount to begin with. While Kobie got to work scrubbing the lino and Gretchen went to start the car, Spencer and Michael carried their bundle, as casually as they could down the stairs.
The trick was to make sure it didn't unroll and drop the rapidly decomposing remains of Dean's body down three floors of apartment landings. The other trick was to try to look somewhat relaxed doing it, in case someone did see them.
Carpet wasn't that stressful to move in normal circumstances. If they went as slowly and carefully as they were tempted to go, it would look like they were treating an old rolled-up carpet with far more trepidation than made sense, and that could start alarm bells ringing.
To Michael's enormous relief, they made it down the stairs without being seen. They waited inside at the foot of the stairwell until they could see the headlights from Gretchen's car pull close to the gate.
"Are you ready?" asked Michael.
Spencer nodded.
Michael grimaced and braced himself for the awkward dash they were about to do. If they dropped the body they were screwed. If anybody saw them they were potentially screwed. Maybe not straight away. But if the police came around to canvas the area and a neighbour remembered two men carrying a rolled-up carpet out of their block of flats in the middle of the night... Well, it wouldn't be good.
"Go," Michael whisper shouted and they speed-walked as casually but as quickly as they could out of the stairwell and down the side of the building.
As they walked Michael glanced around them at the warm glow of lounge room and bedroom lights through their neighbours' windows. He couldn't be sure but he didn't think they'd been spotted yet. He hadn't seen any faces looking out. So far so good.
Micheal pushed the gate open with his butt and backed out into the driveway. Gretchen had reversed in so they could gain a small piece of privacy wedged between the back of her Commodore and the rusted roller garage door. Gretchen hurried out of the driver's seat, head down and popped the boot for them.
She looked wildly around them. Any pretence of being relaxed seemed to be gone.
"Go, go, go. Get the fucker in there," Gretchen hissed.
"One, two... three" Spencer counted, and on three they used all their strength to swing the carpet roll up and into the back of the trunk.
It landed in the car with a thump. All three of them pushed it as far forward into the car as they could. They had to bend the last few inches of carpet sideways. Michael felt his stomach churn at the thought of Dean's feet bending inside the carpet.
Gretchen brought the door down hard and it clicked into place. Thanks to the thick layer of dust over her rear windscreen you couldn't make out what was in the back. Michael silently thanked the universe for dust and for the darkness.
The gate opened and Kobie stepped out wringing her hands and glancing furtively into the shadows.
"I got it as clean as we're going to get it for now I think," she said, "I dried out the bucket and put it back in the cupboard, and I put the bleach away. It looks normal in there. Like nothing happened."
"Alright let's get the fuck out of here," Gretchen said, turning and walking back to the driver's door.
They all slipped into the car. The engine was already running. As soon as the last door was closed gretchen pulled into the street.
"The important thing now is to relax" said Spencer, without a hint of irony in his voice.
"Are you for real?" Asked Gretchen.
"Yeah I'm pretty far from relaxed" Kobie said in a quivery voice. She was sitting in the back next to Michael. He shuffled over so he was closer to her and slipped his hand into her lap. "I't's gonna be okay darlin".
She squeezed his hand but didn't say anything.
"There's no reason for the police to stop us if Gretchen drives at a normal speed and follows the road rules," Spencer explained, "it doesn't matter if you feel relaxed. Gretchen just needs to drive as if she is."
"I'll do my best mate," Gretchen muttered.
"Do you think anyone saw us?" Kobie asked.
"I don't think so," Michael said, and he wasn't just comforting her. He'd eyeballed every window he could see from the car and most had curtains, the few that didn't had been empty every time he looked. It was late on a Monday night and most people around their neighbourhood tended to keep to themselves. He reckoned there was a pretty good chance that they'd gotten the carpet roll from the flats to the car unseen.
They drove on in silence. Michael leaned against the window watching the dark shapes of trees and telegraph poles roll past and tried not to think about the body sitting only a few feet behind him.
Gretchen drove them down Tudor Street, through the intersection with the tram line and across the tracks to the waterfront. They turned right and followed the esplanade with the black water lit only by blinking lights from coal ships on their left, and the sleeping sprawl of Newcastle on their right.
Gretchen turned the radio on. A pop song Michael didn't know filled the silence. If he closed his eyes and tried really hard to forget the last 24 hours, it almost felt like any other night driving around in a car with friends, listening to music and watching the lights flicker on the choppy harbour water.
"So what's the plan?" Michael asked, "you never actually told us what we're supposed to do now Spencer".
"Yeah, where are we driving" Kobie sat up, lifting her head from Michaels' shoulder.
"I'm just driving," said Gretchen, "I hadn't thought that far ahead."
"I've been thinking about it," said Spencer, "and I'm about 90% sure I've got a plan that will work."
"Work how?" asked Michael.
"Work so that nobody discovers what happened tonight"
"I'm listening," said Gretchen.
"I'm still thinking it through," said Spencer, "I'll tell you when we get there. But for now, I need you to drive to a beach."
"We're already at the beach mate," said Gretchen, "well, the harbor at least."
"No, I need somewhere a lot more secluded than this. A beach that people never swim at, one that's less popular than the city beaches."
Michael and Kobie looked at each other. He could tell she was thinking the same thing as him. They both knew a beach exactly like that, they were there only a few nights ago.
"Keep following the waterfront along past knobbys and then Newcastle beach and up past bar beach towards Charlestown" Michael said, "me and Kobie know just the place."
YOU ARE READING
Feathers
Paranormal*** COMPLETE *** After a freak accident, Michael is left with dark visions that he's too embarrassed to tell his girlfriend about. But what if they're not all in his head? A novel about love, trauma and friendship. About the things we hide from th...
