The Swamp

I wake up and there are times where I always keep telling myself that its just a dream, but there are some that believe that dreams can be visions of the past, present, and future. Then there are some that believe they can be an open door for communication for both the living and the dead. Since the death of Max, I have been having the same dream every night I close my eyes and it’s almost like I can’t wake up and I feel frozen. I’m in the swamps of Louisiana and its eerily foggy its so thick I can’t see how far out the swamp goes. As I’m walking through the bog, I get a deep urgent sense to find something and then I see him. . . “MAX”! I run to him and his back is turned away from me and just as I approach him and I reach to grab him then I wake up. Then reality hits me and I feel the sharpest pain in my chest that my own heart is breaking to the point it feels like stepping on a frozen pond, the ice is cracking and you just fall right through into the unrelenting, freezing water. I never thought that something like this can happen to me, one second my best friend is here and the next minute he’s gone. For the last 2 weeks I have been struggling to face the fact that I will never see him again. Then one day I get the call from a mysterious man named Mr. Jackson and he asks me to come to Oil City, Louisiana saying that they might have found something that has to do with the drowning of Max and proceeds to tell me I should be expecting to receive the funds in my bank account within the next couple of hours that should help cover my travel expenses. He also tells me I would receive double that after my stay was done for my troubles. It actually was less than an hour after I got off the phone with him and it’s so strange just out of the blue there it is $20,000 in my bank account just to come to Oil City to find out what happened to Max. My first thought was why give me a large amount of money just to come solve Max’s death. As I’m driving, I have an overwhelming feeling of dread and my thoughts are racing and I’m wondering did Max do something to get himself into trouble or did he know something that this Mr. Jackson wants. Making the long journey from Clearwater, Florida has definitely taken its toll because I’m to the point where I could easily fall asleep at the wheel, but I got to keep going. I finally see the sign for Oil City, and I take a quick glance to look at the swamp and I can’t help but feel like I’ve been here. Then I turn back to watch the road and then I see him, Max in the middle of the road. I frantically throw my foot on the brakes and immediately stop, by the time I get out of the car he’s gone. I get back into the car and head off to finally meet this Mr. Jackson and for him to tell me what he knows about Max. He insists that we’d meet at the edge of the swamp. As I’m approaching him, he is not what I was expecting he reminded me of one of those brash fraternity boys. I am both uneasy and anxious at the same time because anything that can help bring me closure and peace with Max’s death will give me the courage to keep moving forward.

“I take it the ride was very scenic for you instead of a short plane ride.” With a very charismatic tone, a self-assured confidence of himself present. He acts like he’s from the Ritz, despite the reality that we’re stand at the edge of the swamp and this place hasn’t had any oil drilled here for a 100 years, and its past echoes around us.

“Enough chit chat about my long drive here I just want to know what you know about Max and how did you find me?” sounding annoyed with more questions on my mind.

Hesitant at first, he says “We believe he may have found something out in the swamp that could pose a serious threat to our little town and this area”.

Before I can ask what it is, I prioritize my questions that still need to be answered first. “Who’s we and for the last time who are you?” I find myself slowly becoming enraged because he keeps beating around the bush like he doesn’t want to tell me anything.

“I am Scott Jackson the newly appointed mayor of Oil City and the others you speak of, would be the town council. We stepped in because we believe that Max didn’t just die from a boat accident, we believe that he was possibly murdered.” At that moment I stood speechless. “We also found that you were the main contact on his cellphone after we recovered it and that was how we found you.”

I quickly cut him off “STOP, shouldn’t this be handled by the authorities because you just said my boy…I mean friends death turns out not to be an accident, but murder.” I’m almost to the point of having tears run down my face. Max wasn’t just my best friend he was my boyfriend, and we needed some space because his work at the lab was becoming a round the clock habit and I questioned if we should still be together if he didn’t have the time or energy for me.

He raises his head to me, and makes eye contact with me “Look I’m sorry about all this, but this is an unincorporated small community and we lost all funding to keep our local police force and the nearest sheriff’s office is about an hour away from here.” This guy just has an answer for everything “Any way we are all hoping you can help not just us, but yourself as well, by retracing Max’s footsteps. I am in a rush to get to a council meeting as we plan ahead for getting this town off its feet again.”

“Again?” Like what was all that about I then shout “like where am I supposed to start?” as he quickly drove off into the distance. I’m about to jump back into my car, when I notice something he dropped and I hollered once again, but to no use, he was gone. I pick it up and it’s a little black notebook. I open it and I’m skimming through the pages; I notice that this is Max’s handwriting and as I’m turning the pages, I’m thinking to myself why on earth would Scott have this. Then the next page I get to there’s a photograph of me and Max at a bar before we became official. Tears rolled down my face, this was the first time we hung out together and the memories of him rushed back into my head. I flip the page again to find more and I was shocked at what I saw. Max found out that there was still oil in this area and worst of all he says in this notebook that someone was secretly drilling at night taking it from the swamp and leaving a huge mess behind. Whoever was harvesting it without the proper equipment was spilling oil into the swamp destroying the environment. Could this be what lead Max’s demise? I don’t know. I look to see if there is anything else. There are numbers written down and at first, I thought they were telephone numbers, but then I realize these are coordinates for different locations. Almost all of them were written in black but one was written in red. Why would he write this one in red unless there is something there that is important!

Before I go any further, I have a suspicion that Scott purposely dropped that notebook for me to find so that I can figure this out. I worked as an analysis for a private security firm, so this was easy for me to see. I’m still reading the book before I head out to that location because he must have known more. Max wrote how the previous mayor mysteriously disappeared and that there is a lot of whispering among the council. As I’m still reading I hear a faint whisper…“Alex”. I look up and I see Max again in the swamp and he is standing on the water, I close my eyes saying its just my imagination I open my eyes again and he’s still there. I can’t understand how this is possible, but then he says, “buried here”. I close my eyes once more and as quickly as he appeared, he was gone again. I don’t know what was buried out there, but I know I must get out there to find out the truth.

As I’m hopping into a boat to search for this location, I’m looking back at how Max died, and I don’t believe anymore that he just drowned. As I push through the murky water, I look around the swamp and this area looks very familiar. The GPS tells me that I’m getting closer, but the rest of the way will be on foot. The swamp is very dense and there are dangerous predators out there, but it’s not them I worry about it, its whatever I’m going to find that worries me. I come across a large gouge on a tree and that’s another thing I saw in my dream. The dream is not just a dream anymore it’s like a premonition. I then see the same spot Max was standing in my dream and it’s the same spot that’s on the GPS I look around and it looks like there is something buried here. I quickly dug up whatever was buried, just under the soil was a small tin box, inside there was a USB drive and a page torn out of Max’s notebook. On it explains how the mayor did not approve of the drilling being done here because, it could lead to another disaster that originally killed this town. The last time oil was drilled here it spilled into the swamp and couldn’t be stopped. The person that killed the mayor was Scott Jackson his assistant and son. I then hear a click and I turned around and its Scott holding a gun pointed directly at me.

“Well it looks like you’ve found what I’ve been looking for…” Scott tell me that the drive Max hid was all the shipments of oil along with dates, times, and locations. Max was asked to come here from the previous mayor to find out if there was still oil in the area and of course he found that there was indeed still oil. After the mayor disappeared shortly after that Max grew very suspicious so he ended up breaking into Scotts office and stole the thumb drive and hid it in the swamp until it was safe to take it to the police. I feel bitter rage and sadness that he killed the man I loved for money. He stood there looking at me in the eyes determined to erase the truth and after a pause he shouted “ It looks like you’ll be seeing Max sooner than you thought.”

As I think this is the end Max appears killing Scott just before he could pull the trigger. I get to my feet and approach him as if it was the first time we met and we kissed as he slowly fades away for the last time whispering to me “I love you Alex, always”. The following day I go to the police with the evidence.