I was seventeen almost eighteen when I saw a dead person for the very first time in my life. It was summer 1977, a long time ago, but only if you measure time with years. I lived in the small village named Castle Rock with a population of almost five hundred people. Not much, but for me it was the whole world I got to known.

"Hey it's your man, Drake Smith. It's beautiful afternoon with about twenty degrees outside and guess what; it's going to be even hotter. And what's even better to enjoy this awesome weather with? Right! The newest summer hits, starting off with 'The Beach Boys - Fun, Fun, Fun', following up with the daily news. Stay tune and don't forget to smile on this wonderful day!"

Well, she got her daddy's car and cruised through the hamburger stand, now.

Seems she forgot all about the library, like she told her old man, now.

And with the radio blasting goes cruisin' just as fast as she can, now.

And she'll have fun fun fun til' her daddy takes the T-Bird away.

"And?" May rapidly rushed out of the kitchen and showed up behind the bar standing on her tiptoes, curiously about the whereabouts.

She just missed out the last radio announcement that she was waiting for the last hour. Unfortunately, nothing is going right these days. Her own radio in the kitchen broke and so she asked her best friend Dawn to call her when there was an update about a spectacle named: wanted.
She seemed to be nervous as she was waiting for the answer, uncontrollably biting her lips. Summer was about to end, also for most people in Castle Rock which meant holidays and fun. For the two girls it was the opposite; extra work as everyone wanted to spend their last days to the fullest. School would start soon and now they had worked full time in May's dad's diner which was equally exhausting for the both of them. Every day repeated and weekends weren't special anymore.
The diner was a burden on her shoulders, making her doubt that many other chances were left for her future. The small business was everything for her dad which May had to follow obediently, but her desire to try another direction was growing each day. She imagined moving to a big city, everywhere, at least out of the little spot called Castle Rock. The indepence was missing and wasn't seen or felt anywhere near her. It was only a dream to escape this place which nobody knew, but in the back of head she was aware of just being a shy girl from Castle Rock.
When May started to work as a waitress she stuttered extremely in front of her first customers. The embarrassing memories that belonged to the past made up for her personality. Since the social interactions with strangers were going to be a problem whenever she had to serve the customers, May got moved to the kitchen where she was cleaning the dishes and preparing the meals.
Overall she's a friendly girl and sometimes funny as well. May is used to safety around her extrovert friends, feeling comfortable around them. Even if she was worrying a lot regardless of whether it was about the the present or the future, she knew that at least she could count on her friends. They might don't think about after summer ends yet May knew she had to enjoy the last moments before they might separate. She's the best friend I could ever imagine to have and I look up to her, always.

"Don't worry. You didn't miss out." I affirmed aloud, telling her that the news are following up after the song that was currently playing while I cleaned the tabled arduously.

Some people eat like pigs. They slurp and slobber and what not. It's my job to clean up the tables afterwards. The last customer left a while ago. We are going to close in the next ten minutes at half past four. The last task as a waitress was to clean up the tables which was more relaxing than serving the customers. The day was exhausting for me, so I was happy that it would come to an end soon.

"Alright, then I'll help you out here. It's better than waiting and I don't want to miss it out another time." May asserted with a hint of enthusiasm as she showed up next to me, taking off her gloves in result.

She couldn't wait, just like me. We were hyped about a serious issue which let me realise how typical it was for us. It might appear crazy and that's right, well somehow. 

"Do you think your dad is okay with it?" I questioned remarkably, not sure about her decision to skip her duties back in the kitchen.

Her father was strict about his small restaurant because it's practically his life. If something is going to happen to his diner, May's family will face financial problems which would be horrible. May would suffer immensely, concluding her future.

"I think so, it's not for long after all." May said watching me clean the tables in between our conversation.  She looked on the huge Coca Cola watch on the wall that I always perceived as the symbol of the diner. It's decorated in red and white, pretty classic for this time.

"I'm going to close then," May put the diner's key out of her apron.

I nodded understanding, wondering when the song was finally over so the radio would switch over to the news. It's obvious that the police made a secret out of it. The summer songs weren't helping at all as I wasn't following the advice to smile like the radio reporter was previously telling. We waited the whole day for some updates, but nothing. Nothing! Shame to the radio station and their work. Actually the police should be ashamed as well. They don't even know the true story and only because Jackson left Castle Rock, they think he's the criminal. That's the simple way, isn't it? If they will will do what I suspect, from the very beginning, then I'm going to be mad. It's so sad though. The whole system is ed up and nothing can be done at this time.

May closed the diner's front door where the customer come in. When we tidy up and clean the floor our shift is over for today. We use the back door since we had to close this door from the outside. With a swing the 'OPEN' sign changed to 'CLOSED' in just a second, by the way a really relieving feeling.

May breathed out slowly "Finally, we can calm down and summer is on it's end spurt.".

May and me finished school and we knew that this was our last summer break. And what were we going to do about it? We do nothing, just working because there isn't another option right now. We didn't talk about it yet. Our gradu