I woke up with a pounding head. It hurt so bad that my vision started to blur. I felt the room start to spin. As I got up from the bed, I felt something wet on the bottom of my foot. I look to see what now has my foot soaked. I jump back to the bed gasping for air, almost hitting my head against the wall. My heart is pounding a mile a minute. My whole body is trembling in fear. I feel my stomach start to turn. I close my eyes as if hoping if I open them again, what I saw will disappear. I take big, deep, slow breaths, and slowly look to the floor of the side of the bed. There I see my footprint in a pool of blood next to a body. That’s when I launched myself to the bathroom. Throwing up whatever contents were in my stomach. I took a swig of water from the sink, and as I appeared in the bathroom mirror, I saw myself covered in blood. My heart dropped. I backed up, hitting the tub, stumbling, falling in the tub.
I sat in the tub for a minute in shock, trembling. I finally decided to search my pocket for any clue of what happened last night. I came across a cell phone in my pocket. The shock of what I just saw is making it hard for me to think and act. Who should I call? The police. I quickly dial the number.
“911 what’s your emergency.” I tried to speak but it came out as a quiet whisper.
“Sorry ma’am, could you repeat that.”
“There’s a body. Please send help.”
“Ok can you give me an address?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ok ma’am, give me a few minutes to track your call.” She started talking but I had no idea what she was saying. She was being tuned out by the memories coming back in full speed in my head. I could hear her, but it was so faint I couldn’t make it out. The only thing I could make out was the memories crashing over me.
“Ma’am. Ma’am, are you still there?” Just like that I’m pulled back to where I am and hearing the operator in my ear. My eyes got big as my realization of last night hit me. Oh. My. God.
“Sorry it was a false alarm.” I quickly hung up.
I remember everything. I did this. I remember I was in rage about walking in on Chad with another girl. His pants were off, and he was on top of her. I ran out of there and got in my car. I drove as fast as I could to my house. I remember breaking stuff and drinking. A lot of drinking. It’s still a little hazy. But I remember after a couple hours of heavy drinking. I got back into my car with a bottle of tequila and a large cutting knife. I drove back to his place. I remember us arguing. We were yelling back and forth. He was trying to get the knife away from me. He couldn’t reason with me. I was so drunk and mad. He tried to come at me and take the knife. As he was lunging at me, the knife pierced through his chest. He fell to his knees and hit the floor hard. Blood started spilling out of him. That’s when I passed out on the bed.
I can’t believe I did this. Think. What should I do? The body. I have to get rid of the body. My head was spinning. Everything I must do is running in my head like a marathon runner. I get out of the tub and appear in the doorway where Chad lays dead looking up. His eyes wide open looking up into nothingness. I stood there looking at him with so much disbelief that I did this to him.
“I’m so sorry Chad. I don’t know what I was thinking. I didn’t know I was capable of such a thing.” I bend down to his body and shut his eyelids.
“I loved you and I did everything for you. You broke my heart Chad, and it was only fair that I stab you in yours. What am I going to do with you now? You put me in quite the predicament.” I’ll wait until nightfall to get rid of the body. Seconds later the doorbell rings. Shit. Shit. Shit. I walk over to peek in the door hole. It’s Kevin, Chad’s brother. He yells through the door.
“Hey man, my flight got delayed. Sorry I forgot to call.” He bangs on the door, “Yo let me in.”
“Just a second. I’m not dressed,” I say running to the room to grab one of Chad’s shirts. I can change into this. It’s long enough to act as a nightgown.
“Sarah is that you,” he says yelling through the door.
“Yeah. Just give me 5 minutes. We had a long night.”
“I bet you guys did.” I quickly ran to the bathroom and put the shirt on. I threw my bloody clothes in the tub. I rinsed my hands and face. I made sure there was no lingering blood anywhere to be seen.
“Sarah, what’s taking so long?”
“Sorry, I'm almost done.” I came out of the bathroom and shut it behind me, along with Chad’s bedroom door. I slightly open the front door.
“Hey Kevin, now’s not a good time.”
“Everything ok?”
“Yeah. Chad just isn’t feeling too great right now. He’s still sleeping.”
“Ok, well tell him to call me when he feels better.”
“Sure thing.” I start to close the door. But before I can totally shut it, Kevin stops me.
“Sarah.”
“Yeah?”
“Never mind. I’ll tell you and Chad later.”
“Sounds good. Bye Kevin. Talk to you later.” He starts to walk down the driveway as I shut the door and lock it behind me. I slowly slid down the door with my back against it until I was sitting on the floor. That was a close one. That girl from last night wasn’t the only thing you forgot to tell me about. You forgot to mention your brother was coming to town. Chad, that better be all the surprises. I look at the clock on the wall in the living room. It’s 6:00 PM. Two more hours until nightfall. That gives me time to clean this place up. I have to find a way to wrap up the body and clean up all the blood. I go to the kitchen and look under the sink. What do you have under here? Oh good, there’s cleaning supplies I can use. I can use these trash bags to wrap him up. So, I gather all the supplies I need to dispose of him. It took a while to get him all wrapped up and into the trunk. I got all the blood from the bedroom and bathroom. I made sure to double check everything to make sure I didn’t miss any evidence. Before I was about to get in my car and venture off to dispose of Chad, my doorbell rings. Piercing through the garage door windows were red and blue flashing lights. My heart began to race as the doorbell rang a second time.
I start to walk over to the front door, slow and calmly. I swing the door open to an officer.
“Yes, officer, is there something wrong,” I say as calmly and collected as I can.
“Good evening, ma’am, we got a call from someone from this house.”
“Oh yes, that was me. I’m sorry, it was a false alarm.”
“Mind if I take a look around? Even though it was a false alarm, we take them seriously.”
“I understand, take as much time as you need,” I say, gesturing for him to come in. He starts his search in the living room.
“Do you live here by yourself,” he says as he’s entering the kitchen, looking for anything out of place.
“No, I don’t live here. This is my boyfriend’s place.”
“Where is your boyfriend tonight?”
“He got called into work this morning.”
“What does he do?”
“He’s a travel writer.”
“That must be tough. You must not see him much,” he starts to head into Chad’s room.
“We make it work.” He looks up and down in his room, checking his closets. He grabs his walkie talkie that's strapped to his shoulder and begins to speak into it.
“All clear here.” A voice comes back through the talkie saying, “roger that. Come on back we just got a call about a disturbance.” The officer then looks at me, “Sorry to disturb you, you have a good night.”
“You too,” I say back as I’m leading him to the front door. Once the door was closed, I let out a big sigh as if I was holding my breath. I felt myself get lighter as I watched the officer drive off through my living room window. Phew, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Time to get moving. There’s a woods a couple feet from the cemetery, I’ll bury him there.
Since it was night, there weren’t many cars on the road. I only had to stop a couple times when coming to a stop light. But other than that, I made it to the woods with no trouble. I grab the shovel from the trunk and start digging a hole. Man, that took so long. I need to work out more. Even though the soil was damp from the rain this morning, it still took a while to dig. I set the shovel down by the hole and headed to the car to get Chad. I pulled him out of the trunk, and he fell like a bag of rocks, almost making me fall over. I dragged his body to the hole and as I was dragging him. I kept looking around like a badger looking for food. I didn’t see anyone in sight. It was quiet. So quiet I could hear my blood pumping to my heart, the heaviness of my breath. I finally got him to the hole. I quickly ran back to the car and got the trash bag of my bloody clothes and rags. When I returned to the hole, I threw the bags in and started rolling Chad’s body in. 1. 2. 3. Whoosh! He fell down with a little thud. I start piling dirt in the hole. 15 minutes of piling dirt and I was finished. Phew! I stuck the shovel in the ground to where it was standing up straight. I stretched out my arms and cracked my neck and back.
“All done. I’m so tired and hungry.” I bent down to the grave I made Chad.
“Rest in peace. Hope your hell is as bad as the one you put me through.” And with that I took the shovel to the car and went back to my place. When I got to my place it was totally destroyed. Right. Last night. Well, this is tomorrow's problem. I went to my room and changed out of Chad’s shirt and put something clean on. Sweater and sweatpants. Now that I’m all comfy and warm, it’s time to put something in my stomach. I should have leftover pizza in the fridge. So, I heated up some pizza and poured myself a glass of wine. I went to my living room and turned on the TV. I ate and drank until I heard my phone buzz on the coffee table. Great. Now what?
“Hello,” I say, not recognizing the caller ID.
“Hey Sarah.” It’s Kevin. I totally forgot about him. Easy mistake when disposing of a body.
“Oh hey. I didn’t recognize your caller ID. New phone?”
“Yeah. I had to. I left mine on the plane by accident.”
“So, what do you need Kevin?”
“I was wondering how Chad is. I tried calling him, but it went straight to voicemail.”
“Yeah. He wanted me to tell you. He got pulled into work.”
“Of course he did. He lives his life through work. Where did he go this time?”
“He said he has a couple of places to visit.”
“I wish he would quit his job. I don’t understand how you put up with it.”
“I don’t know either. You got to take the bad with the good I guess.”
“Well make sure you don’t make yourself small for my idiot brother.”
“Thanks Kevin. You're always sweet to me.”
“Of course. We have been best friends for so long. I only want what’s best for you.”
“Thanks Kevin. Good night.”
“Night Sarah.”
Next morning I was awakened by the sunlight piercing through my window, blinding my eyes. I look over to my digital clock on my nightstand, almost 1:00 PM. I got up and went in the shower. My body ached all over. The only thing that helped was the hot water. When I was done with my shower. I got dressed and started cleaning my living room. It took a little while, but I got it done. I slumped to my couch, letting out a big sigh. Knock! Knock! I headed over to the door and checked the peep hole. Kevin. I unlock my door and slowly swing my door open.
“Hey Kevin, what’s up,” I say, surprised to see him.
“I was thinking since I'm back in town and it’s been a while since I’ve seen you. We could grab a bite to eat and catch up.”
“Sure, that sounds great, I’m starving.”
“Cool, I’ll drive.” I grab my coat and purse off the hook behind my door and follow Kevin to his car. We decided to go to an all you can eat buffet. We get our food and settle into our seats.
“So, Sarah, how have you been?” I take a sip of my drink before answering him.
“It’s been good. I’m more curious about you, how is college?”
“It’s tough but I’m pulling through,” he says as he takes a big bite of his food as if he hasn’t eaten in days.
“That’s good. Is there anyone you've been seeing?”
“No, school is hard as it is. I don’t have time for a girlfriend right now.”
“At least you have your priorities straight.”
“What about you and Chad?”
“What about us?” I start to feel a twinge of panic but I easily cover it up with the calmness of my voice.
“How are things with you two,” he says, taking his straw and swirling around the ice in his drink, not making eye contact.
“Not good. I think our relationship is over.” He stops what he was doing to look up at me.
“Why? Did something happen?”
“I found him with another girl.”
“What an ass. Say the word and I'll kick his ass for you.”
“That’s sweet of you, but you don’t have to do that for me.”
“Whatever you say. I know he’s working and everything, but he could at least return my phone call.” My heart starts to race a little and my shoulders start to tense up.
“Maybe he doesn’t have cell service where he is.”
“Maybe the bastard is ignoring me.”
“Why would he do that,” I say, taking another sip of my drink.
“To avoid talking about you. He probably figures I know what he did.” We spent the whole-time reminiscing about high school and sharing stories. As we finished eating and were about to head out the door, Kevin got a call. I couldn’t tell what they were talking about, but from the expression on his face I can tell it’s nothing good. That’s when panic started to rise in me. I felt my heart starting to race. When his call ended, he looked at me with big eyes and shock across his face.
“Kevin, what’s wrong,” I say as calmly as I could, hoping it’s not what I think it is. Deep breaths. There’s no way they found Chad buried in the woods by the cemetery.
“They found Chad buried in the woods by the cemetery.” Shit. Don’t panic. Stay calm.
“Oh my god. Chad is dead.” I try my best to act as if I were shocked.
“They want me to come down to the station. Will you come with me?” Hell no. Are you crazy? I’m the murder. The police station is not a place I should be right now.
“Sure Kevin, anything you need,” is what came out of my mouth. Before I knew it, I was in the police station with Kevin. What am I doing here? Why did I say yes? I have definitely gone insane.
“Thank you for coming, Sarah. I wouldn’t be able to do this alone,” he says with a soft, sad expression. That’s when I felt guilt wash over me. Don’t look at me like that. That’s when tears started rolling down my cheek. I wiped them away looking back at Kevin.
“What are friends for?” He gives me a hug. He held me tightly and I felt my shoulder get wet from his tears.
“Kevin Saunders,” a guy called out to Kevin. He lights up on the hug to look at me.
“It’s ok, I’ll be here,” I say, giving him a reassuring smile. He gives me a sad smile and heads towards the man that called his name. The man takes him into a room that I presume to be an interrogation room. He wasn’t in the room long, but waiting here made it feel like it took forever. The man that called Kevin in the room came out followed by Kevin himself. Kevin made his way to me, looking more depressed than he did when he went in. The man came with Kevin to me. They both stopped right in front of me.
“Sarah Price, is it? May we ask you a couple questions,” The man said towering over me.
“Sure,” I say as he leads me to the room. The room was empty with just a table and two chairs on both sides of the table. There is this big window on the far wall away from the door. The window was quite large, but you couldn’t see anything when looking out. I’m guessing that’s a one-way window you see in the crime shows.
“Take a seat,” he says, pulling out the chair that's on the side of the table that's closest to the door.
“Thank you,” I say, taking the seat he has offered me. He then walks around the table and takes the seat across from me in front of the one-way window.
“My name is John Smith and I’m the detective helping solve the murder of Chad Saunders. If I have my information correctly, you were Chad’s girlfriend.”
“Yes, we have been together for about a year and a half.”
“I know this is hard and I’m truly sorry for your loss. But I was hoping you could answer some questions on your whereabouts last night.”
“Yes, I understand. Anything that helps the case. I can’t believe someone would do this. I was home, sleeping.”
“Kevin has informed me that you two talked last night?”
“Yes, we did. He called me while I was getting ready for bed.”
“Why did he call you?”
“He was checking up on Chad. Kevin came by his house this morning, but Chad couldn’t talk because he wasn’t feeling well. I told Chad to call Kevin before I left the house, he must have forgotten. So, he called me because I guess Chad wasn’t answering his calls.”
“I see and you told Kevin that Chad got pulled into work. But we looked into his workplace, and they said he was never called in.”
“Oh, that’s odd because that’s what he told me.”
“How would you describe your relationship with Chad?”
“Good. I love Chad very much. I don’t know what I would do without him.”
“Is that so? Kevin tells a different story. He says you caught Chad cheating on you with another woman and that your relationship is over. Is this information false?”
“Um. Yeah, it’s true. That’s what I said but.”
“I found Chad’s cell phone along with his body and we looked through his phone. We found out last night that he was meeting a girl the night he was murdered. Did this happen to be the girl you caught Chad with?” He pulled out a picture of the girl and showed it to me. My heart was pounding, and my stomach was doing somersaults. Deep breaths.
“Yes, she was the girl I saw.”
“I’m assuming you were really mad with Chad.”
“Yeah.”
“Angry enough to murder him?” I just sat there looking at him, unsure of what to say.
“No, that’s crazy. Yes, I was mad at him but not mad enough to murder him.”
“Well, we asked neighbors if they heard anything unusual that night and they said they heard a man and a woman yelling at each other. Someone said they saw your car there, right around the time Chad was murdered.”
“Yeah, we did get into a fight but that’s all it was, an argument.” My palms were sweating. I feel like I'm suffocating. My body is on fire.
“We also found another bag with Chad’s body filled with bloody clothes. We happened to find DNA on them. When we looked into who it was, it happened to be your DNA.” I just look at him, speechless. The whole room is spinning.
“That must be a mistake, I wouldn’t murder Chad.”
“Sarah Price, you are convicted of the murder of Chad Saunders. Anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can’t afford an attorney, one will be provided for you,” he says as he’s putting handcuffs on me. He then grabs my arm and guides me out of the room. He walks me past Kevin, and I can see the look of disbelief in his face. I didn’t say anything. I just looked at the ground as he guided me to a holding cell. I had a court hearing and I plead guilty for the murder of Chad Saunders. They gave me life in prison, and I never heard from Kevin again.
