Bury Me(40)

I notice a half-empty bottle of whiskey dangles between two of his fingers down by his thigh and I roll my eyes. It’s a wonder he hasn’t drunk himself to death yet.

“Did you hear me, little girl? Don’t go down those stairs,” he slurs, swaying away from the banister.

I ignore his warning and shake my head at him. “You might want to try sobering up and taking a shower. The grounds crew hasn’t been here in days because they don’t know what they’re supposed to do and people keep calling about when we’re opening back up for tours.”

He stares at me without blinking, bringing the bottle up to his lips, tipping it back, and taking a huge swallow.

“You killed her,” he whispers as he takes the bottle away from his mouth.

“I didn’t kill her. She stuck the gun in her mouth all by herself,” I remind him.

He shakes his head and his face scrunches up in misery. “No, no, no. It was your fault. You killed her. Oh God, what am I going to do? It will kill her if she finds out. I have to hide it—I can’t let her know.”

Has everyone around me gone mad?

He stumbles forward, his feet shuffling across the floor until he’s standing right in front of me. He smells of sweat, whiskey, and vomit, and I scrunch up my nose in disgust as I look up at him.

I used to think he was such a strong, powerful man. I would have done anything to make him love me. Now he’s just a sorry excuse for a human being, blaming everyone else for his problems.

His hand suddenly comes up and he cups my cheek in his palm, moving his thumb back and forth softly against my face.

“I’m sorry this happened to you. Come back to me. Please come back to me,” he sobs.

Smacking his hand away in frustration and tired of listening to the drunken nonsense coming out of his mouth, I move around him and head toward the door.

“Where are you going? You can’t leave. Don’t leave me!” he shouts.

“Clean yourself up for God’s sake,” I yell back, opening the front door.

Hurling his words at my back, he yells, “You’re going to see that good-for-nothing boy, aren’t you? Did he tell you? I knew he wouldn’t be able to keep his mouth shut.”

I pause with my hand on the door, turning back around.

“What in the hell are you talking about?” I ask through clenched teeth.

“I’ve seen you sneaking around with him. I know you’ve been talking. I should have known better than to trust him with a secret like that, good-for-nothing piece of trash.”

He brings the whiskey up to his lips and gulps it down while he moves around the banister and clumsily makes his way back upstairs.

“Tell him he’s fired,” my father yells down to me. “And tell him he should have minded his own business and stayed out of the woods that night.”





Chapter 15





Rain splashes down on my face and I slowly open my eyes, whimpering loudly at the stabbing pain in my head. It’s so dark, and everything hurts. I don’t know where I am; I don’t know what happened, and I don’t understand why I’m so wet and cold. I wish I could stop shivering because it just makes everything hurt worse.

I hear a noise close by, but my head hurts too much to turn it to the side to see what it is. I stare up at the black nothingness above me, wondering if this is a dream, hoping I’ll wake up soon so the knives stop stabbing into my head. I don’t know where I am. I don’t know what’s going on, and trying to think just makes my head hurt worse. I feel something slide under my legs and my back, and all of a sudden, I’m floating through the air. I cry out in pain as my body is jostled, not even caring what’s happening or where I’m going because at least I’m pressed up against something warm, instead of lying on the cold ground. A bright flash of light illuminates everything around me for a split second, and I gasp when I see the face looking down at me, recognizing it immediately.

His arms tighten around me as he moves faster, branches and leaves smacking into us, his heavy footsteps splashing through the puddles as he runs.

“You can’t save me,” I mumble to him, my eyes so heavy I can’t keep them open any longer.

“I’m getting you home.”

He struggles to get the words out, his breathing labored from running so fast with me in his arms. He finally breaks free of the woods and races through the yard. He has no idea I’m not referring to what happened out here tonight. No idea I’m trying to warn him. He can save me from the darkness in the woods, but he’ll never be able to save me from the darkness inside my soul.