ENG 288: Beginning Workshop Fiction
What happens now? They never say what is the next step. What do you do after you kill someone?
A cold breeze tingles down my back and I stand over an open grave. One of my own doing. Moonlight shines through the rustling trees illuminating the corpse. I pick up the shovel and fill in the grave.
Oh Margret, where did we go wrong?
With each scoop of dirt covering her pale skin erases her from my mind. Her too-poofy-to-be-real prom dress fades to a dusty brown. I remember when we went shopping for it, I absolutely hated it.
Sweat trickles down my head onto my black satin gown, I guess I unintentionally planned ahead. Hard to see sweat, let alone blood, on black.
A glimmer of light catches my eye. Who could it be?
A flashlight?
A search party?
No, it can’t, not this quickly
I crouch down and scurry behind a tree, tripping over the uneasy terrain.
“God! I hate these heels” I say yanking the god forsaken wedges off my feet. Margert recommended them, she was always recommending something.
“You would look so pretty if you wore heels, it will make the boys crazy! Ahh I love playing dress up on you”
Dress up? Like I was some kind of doll to her, she got what she deserved.
Scanning the area is no use at this hour, the moonlight only barely shines through the tall trees. Streaks of light but no one in sight.
My sigh of relief leaves a puff of cold smoke from my lips. The Oregon winters are chilling at this time of year. The last time I was up the the woods was when Margret and I went hiking. I begged her, Miss Princess would never be out in nature. Her insufferable wines were my last straw.
“Julie, why do we have to hike? It’s so cold out! Ugh” or “Julie only losers and rejects go out in the woods, we are not losers!”
Whenever I would plan a day for us she would shoot it down. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, still shame on me. But fool me for ten years of this constant ownership-type-friendship, shame on you. If only she would get out of her tiny brain once in a while she would… she would… ugh I don’t know but she wouldn’t be in a grave.
Each step on the ground sends shooting pains up my legs. Twigs, rocks, mud. But anything is better than those heels. As I walk back to the remains of my lifeless best friend, the glimmer blinds me once again. It Margret. At least her head anyway.
The moonlight catches a reflection of her tiara peeking through the dirt. She won it earlier in the night.
“I’m sorry, your Majesty,” I said reaching down to rip off the bloodstained tiara, “But I am going to commandeer your crown. It’s dirty after all”.
The blood from her head wound drips off the tiara. A shovel to the head will do that to you, luckily missing the tiara completely. Not even a scratch.
“Winter Ball Queen 2007. You acted like a queen and now you died as one. How fitting,” I say wiping off the blood of the tiara.
I place the tiara on my head. Does this feel right? It doesn’t feel wrong? “A crown destined for a queen” I say twirling my black dress.
I shovel the last of the dirt on her and pat it down. The silence of the woods echoes through my ears. Eerie.
Chilling.
Daunting.
I stare at her grave.
Something crawls up my throat with an unbeatable force.
“Why would you make me do this!” I scream at her. “Now that you dead I can finally speak my mind, yet…yet…I don’t KNOW WHAT TO SAY!”
I fall to the ground. A tear streams from my face and drips on her fresh grave.
“I loved you goddammit! Did you even notice? You were everything to me for years! I followed you around like a stray puppy and… How could you!” I muster up the strength to stand back up.
“I heard what you said to everyone tonight, “Julie’s a lost cause” or “Julie follows me around and I don’t know what to do with her”! I heard you tell Jacob that you were friends with me JUST BECAUSE I WAS YOUR PET!”
My heavy breathing slows, my tears start to resurface
“Did it start out that way? Did you even like me? I gave up so much for you, more than you will know!”
Anger fills my veins and I chuck the shovel at her.
“I was NOT your project! I WAS your FRIEND! I LOVED YOU! Was it all fake? The sleepovers, the shopping sprees? You just wanted to change me into you! I am not a charity case MARGRET!”
I wipe the tears from my eyes. A deep breath fills my lungs and let out a soft cloud of smoke from my lips. Wiping my dress and correcting the crown upon my head. I grab my shovel and walk away.
“Oh Margret,” I say under my breath, “I really did love you, more than anything imaginable. But now you are nothing”.
Maya Young 