Short Story 1: Stolen Life

Short warning before reading this. It was written in a five-minute writing sprint. It contains depictions of strangulation and death. Please read with caution.

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She was more than a ghost by the time he found her. Her body, cold to the touch, had been lying there lifeless under the old oak tree by the river for the last several hours. The guttural scream that came from his lips ripped at her soul as she watched him from up in the tree as he cradled her body.

He cried as he begged her to come back to him. Screaming his apology into the wind. If her soul didn’t stay tethered to this spot, she wouldn’t have heard a word. The memory of his name was a blurry wisp that danced around her. Evan. The wind seemed to remind her of the man whom she thought loved her enough to save her.

He looked back from where he looked at the older man standing a few feet away. The dark grey hair that was once deep black, devoid of light, was now twinkling in the setting sun as he limped to where Evan stayed. Tears dripped down his cheeks like a faucet that had been left on.

The older man dropped to his knees as he finally reached them. Sobs breaking out of him as he took her body from Evan. “How could this happen?” He looked at Evan with all the sadness in the world. His green eyes slightly fogging with age.

Evan just sat there, staring at her body. Once vibrant and full of life. Now nothing more than cold, pale death lay before him. The older man tried to stand with her body in his arms, but failed. He pulled a phone out of his pocket.

“Yes, 9-1-1. We found my daughter’s body!” He exclaimed into the phone as sobs cracked through his voice.

“No, there’s no pulse! She’s cold to the touch.” Another moment of silence passed as the person on the other end asked questions.

“We’re north of Canterly Drive. By the river. You can’t miss us. There’s a large oak tree.” More silence. Evan seemed to fidget with his hands as he stepped away from them.

“Her husband found her.” The man nodded, looking at Evan. “Yes, his name is Evan Langley.”

Evan stopped moving as the old man spoke to the operator, giving details like height, weight, hair color, eye color, and build. The older man gave them his description as well before handing up.

“What did they need that for, Patrick?” He asked slowly. Patrick looked at him, confusion taking over his face.

“They wanted our descriptions so that they could find us more easily.” Patrick still cradled her body, pushing her now dull blonde hair back from her face. “Her clothes are soaked. Did you pull her out of the water?”

“No. She was lying under the tree.” Evan replied, looking out at the water for any signs of life. He went to check the river's edge, but Patrick stopped him.

“Don’t move around too much. The police will want to canvass the area. The less we move about, the easier their job will be.”

“But what if her camera is down there? Maybe she got a picture of who did this.” He tried to explain, but Patrick shook his head.

“They’ll find it. Don’t contaminate the scene anymore.” Patrick didn’t move from her side.

She watched him gently squeeze her hand, hoping for movement that never came.

She watched the scene unfold over the next hour or so. She watched as someone placed her body in a black bag, then placed in an ambulance and taken away. Yet she could not follow. She watched as the police questioned Patrick and Evan separately. She listened as other officers speculated with each other what could’ve possibly happened to a swimmer who was physically fit, to drown.

The images of hands grasping her throat tightly and water bubbling around her flickered through her vision. She saw the eyes of the man who took her life from her as she secretly cursed him with her dying breath.

I will haunt you for eternity. No peace. No rest. You’ll confess.

Her attention snagged on a flicker of silver in the water, glistening in the fading sunlight. An officer must’ve seen it as well; she moved over to the flickering light and scooped a silver locket from the river. She opened it to find a picture of the deceased and Evan on one side, with a picture of a dog on the other.

She tucked it safely into an evidence bag before logging it in with the rest of what they were finding.

“We found a camera, Chief!” a sandy-blond male yelled from behind a bush a few yards from the tree. Patrick pushed past the officers and looked at the camera.

“That’s my daughters! She had that when she went missing!” Patrick sobbed. The officer turned the camera on as the boot-up sound played; Evan went still. A noticeable shift from the grief-stricken male he was when her father found him.

“Should you be looking at that out here? The battery could die, then you won’t be able to view it until later, anyway,” Evan protested. The officers looked at him, then at her father.

She jumped from the branch she was sitting on long enough to look over the cop's shoulder and see the face of the man who killed her. Something deep inside her knew already, but the confirmation was there. A video began playing of Evan and another woman, a brunette with long legs and a sinful smile, making out on a bed.

The officer quickly pressed the next button before her father could see what was on it. He flicked through several photos before finding another video.

Clearly taken from behind the bush on the ground, the frames played out as Evan got in her face. She confronted him about the other woman, the fact that she had evidence, and wanted a divorce. The video was loud enough for those gathered around to hear as he refused the divorce, telling her she couldn’t afford to leave him.

The final frames showcased her handing him a manila envelope, assuming them to be the divorce papers, then him slapping her before wrapping his hands around her throat, pushing her towards the river where she took her final breath.

The Chief looked at Evan, who was red in the face with anger. Patrick was unaware of the officer's discovery. Unaware how his son-in-law had betrayed him and stolen his daughter from him.

She weaved through the throng of people even know that didn’t matter. They couldn’t feel her, hear her, or see her. All that mattered was that she knew who had killed her. The memory of the pain and suffering she endured rushed over her all at once.

“Evan Langley, you’re under arrest for the murder of Lily Langley. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law.” The chief officer was reading Evan his rights as they put cuffs on him and led him away.

Patrick stood there in disbelief as another officer took him away to his vehicle to break the news of what truly happened. Officers cleared the scene and took her camera with them to use against Evan in the trial.

They say the most dangerous thing is the scorn of a woman. I’d say it is actually that of a ghost who knows the truth and can get away with anything with enough rage to pierce the veil.