Once there were 6 children, Reggie, Zack, Cody, Walter, Maggie, & Beatrice. They all were the best of friends since they were 3, they’re 10 now. They always go to their hangout spot near the pond behind the neighborhood right across from where the deli is in Sweetwater, Alabama. It was a pretty cool place, it was a little clearing with one tree near the bank of the lake. They had built a tree house there in the tree, that’s where they kept all their play equipment. They all went there every single day after school and on the weekends. Until one day everything changed.
The children were just getting out of school and meeting up at the deli shop, so they could grab a bite to eat and all walk together to the hangout like they always do. They all met up, then headed off to the hangout. Around halfway they all started a race to see who would get there first. It was a tie between Reggie and Maggie. “I won loser!” Maggie exclaimed. “No I clearly won.. Maggie the Maggot.” Reggie said with a smirk on his face. “Oh shut up!” Maggie said with an annoyed tone in her voice. The others finally caught up to them huffing and puffing. Beatrice finally caught her breath, “C’mon guys!” she said while climbing halfway up the ladder to the tree house. Everyone followed up and all took a seat on the floor. “So what’s the plan for today guys?” Cody questioned. “Well I think it’s a beautiful day to fly kites. It’s the perfect weather, very breezy and sunny.” Maggie said. “No, I think we should go fishin’.” Zach said. “Ew. I don’t want to go fishin’.” Beatrice said with disgust. “What? You afraid of some tiny, slimy fish?” Zack said with ignorance. “No. Fishin’ is boring.” Beatrice said. They all just looked around at each other waiting for someone to make the decision. “How about this? Girls do their thing and us manly men will do ours.” Cody proclaimed. “Fine. Let’s go fly our kites Beatrice!” Maggie said rolling eyes. The boys got their fishing rods and went down to the bank to set up. While the girls in the meantime set up their kites, ready to catch the perfect breeze.
An hour had passed, the boys caught 3 little fish. They just sat there staring into the blue, still water waiting for the monster fish to come take a bite on their hook. The breeze had died down, so the girls resorted to plan B, finding pretty rocks and shells. Walter reeled in his line, then casted it back out again, making a further cast. “I got something! I got something y’all!” Walter yelled. He was struggling to bring it up to shore. Everyone came over and made a link, all pulling back as hard as they could trying to reel this thing in. They all fell to the ground seconds later, finally pulling this thing up. After, they all got up and brushed the dust off of them. When they all looked to see the prized catch, all their faces went into shock. Reggie, brave enough to go over to the dead body they all had just pulled up from out of the lake, just stared at him in horror. He was big about 200 lbs., white male, had on a gold chain around his neck, with a white tank top on, khaki shorts and white holy socks. You could see his hairy chest through the tank top and he had a short, scruffy, brown beard. The rest of the friends slowly walked over next to Reggie. “That’s Jake Dundy.” Reggie said slowly. “The owner of the deli?” Walter gulped. “Who would do such a thing?” Maggie said with a tear running down her face. “We just pulled up a dead body! Guys what the heck are we going to do?” Beatrice said. “We can’t tell anyone! Right?” Walter said hesitantly. “Well, we have to tell somebody! We can’t just leave him here!” Cody said freaking out. They all stood in a circle around the body, trying to think of some way to deal with this. Breaking the silence Maggie exclaimed, “Walter you’re the one who hooked the body! You should take blame for this!”. Maggie and Walter started arguing back and forth. “Shut up!” Zack yelled. Everyone got silent. “Guys we’re the only ones that know about this. Just put him back into the water.” Zach said. They all just looked at him wide eyed like he was crazy. “Are you serious? But we still know about it.” Reggie said. Zach raised his eyebrows, “But we are the only ones who know about it. No one else. As long as no one is this group tells then we will be fine. We will just have to live with guilt.” Everyone just looked at each other, knowing what they had to do. All together they dragged the body back into the water and pushed it far away from shore. No one talked to each other on the way to their homes, just complete silence.
The next morning, they all didn’t speak to each other on the bus. They all had their first class of the day together. When they got to class, still no one spoke. Every morning in class the teacher puts on the news for the first 10 minutes of Homeroom. “Breaking News: Dead Body found in our local lake. Jake Dundy, age 43, was found this morning in Smith Lake.”, then the teacher shut the T.V. off. Reggie, Zack, Cody, Walter, Beatrice, and Maggie all just looked at each other at the same time. Who told?