Simply Sleeping

“She is just simply sleeping, children.”

I knew better than to believe Chad’s words; they never were true. Honestly, her back wasn’t rising and falling with the breath of life, nor was she groaning in pain to show the result of her obvious injury.

Only seven at the time, I still knew better. Avril wouldn’t awake; she’d never stir again. She’d been dead for at least an hour by the time Chad had found her.

But, I did pretend to not care that Avril was asleep, which was what the other children, even some older than I, were doing. Their faces were hysterical masks that depicted the surprise that she had fallen asleep on the side of the trail. I kept quiet, silently screaming and crying on the inside, and folded my arms behind my back.

“She’s sleeping heavily and won’t wake for a few more hours. I know she was quite tired when I spoke to her.” Chad’s voice seemed raw, like someone had taken a knife and scraped off the first layer of fake emotion. His thin face was empty with everything but lies. “We should leave her alone. She’d get angry if we disturb her right now.”

I didn’t pay attention to him; I was focused on the stains on the leaves that surrounded her body. They were all hinted with a crimson color. Then was when I noticed her position. I knew she was dead, but I hadn’t taken in the way she was laying.

The other children, all ranging in ages and wisdom, jumped over the little hill we were all standing by and followed the trail that led them out into the village. I stared as they left, wondering why and how in the world they didn’t look closer.

Chad glanced oddly at me as he crawled over the hill, his eyes asking whether or not I was coming.

“Aren’t you coming, Ell?” He turned to face me, gesturing that I should come.

“Oh, yes, yes. I’ll be one moment. I lost my hair thing.” Lies came so easily to me when I was in certain situations. Like this one.

“Alright, well hurry up.” Chad scurried off and bounded quickly through the dense forest.

His haste to leave summed up everything that I had thought. She was killed by something on purpose and this was nowhere near an accident. He knew what happened, in fact, he probably was the one to clean most of this up.

I knelt down beside Avril’s leg, studying the leaves that dared to poke out from underneath her. Their color had begun to fade and was slowly beginning to turn crimson. I poked her stomach, deliberating where her wound was. It must have been on her front side, no doubt. Chad would have turned her over. Unless, her clothing was fixed on the back and that was where she was hit.

How long did I have to “look for my hair thing” before someone came to look for me? Could I turn over a seventeen year old girl, built purely of muscle?

I leapt to my bare feet, peering through the thick tree trunks for any color that would suggest a visitor. The forest was completely empty, so I moved over to her head and stroked the dark red hair out of her pale face. I hoped that they were some clue as to how she died, on her face, so I could save my seven year old self the great effort.

To my disappointment, her face was just slightly colored and…

I noticed that her mouth was oddly bright red. Was it blood? I twisted her head around to get a better look, and wished I hadn’t.

Her light brown eyes were open wide and they seemed to be watching me as I mentally documented it all. They were glazed with a look of pure terror. And, really, it scared me as well.

I pulled at her arm in attempts to move her around. I thanked God when her body flipped itself because of the slight slant that we were on.

After finally seeing her front side, I stumbled to jump up, away from her. I scratched at my chest, looking for the cross that was hanging from my neck. Holding it out at arm’s length, I prayed for help and safety.

I looked both ways of the trail I was now in the middle of and ran down the left way, leaving behind Avril’s “sleeping” body, full of arrows and knife marks that all arranged in that same certain order again…

Author's Note

Review it, please.

Reviews

[K.M. Lucero]

Full of mystery and baiting the reader to read just a little bit faster to find out what happens next. I love how captivating it is from the first paragraph. Nice job!

[paparapapa]

Oh my! This story gave me goosebumps! That experience must have been horrifying for a seven-year old girl. But the story was really captivating. My heart was thumping as I read and read through it. Brilliant work from you! Great job.