Chapter Eleven

A Chapter by Tabitha t

The air rushed from Trisha’s lungs as a soundless scream left her lips. In the dark recesses of her terror stricken mind she saw James crawling his way out of his shallow death bed to find Trisha and seek his cold revenge. Common sense told Trisha that the hard rain was just pushing him up towards the top of the soil.

Quickly she dropped the puppy to the ground and with weak legs she kicked the dirt back into the hole to cover up the skeleton like hands. Turning in wild circles around the water soaked grass she looked for something heavy. She needed to place something on top of the grave to hold the body down. It wouldn’t be a permanent fix but it would give her enough time to get away. At least far enough away that by time they realized James was absent from work and that the house is empty and they find the body that she will have already emptied all accounts and left the state.

Justin let out a small bark and happily ran behind her as she charged behind the shed looking for something, or anything to cover her mistake. She cursed herself now for not thinking about the rain. Deep South they didn’t even burry people because of flooding, they kept them in large boxes above grounds or in walls, and here she had mistakenly buried her husband while the rain came down in turrets. Of course it had only taken a few hours for him to begin to resurface.

She cursed herself for being so dumb as another flash lit up the yard around her. It wouldn’t be long till the rain started up again. She needed to hurry and fast. Her sneakers splashed up mud as she turned in a quick circle again as she scanned the dark corners of the yard of something, anything, that she could use to pin James down in his muddy grave.

“Yes.” She whispered to Justin as her eyes fell on the bags of gravel that rest in the dark shadows between the shed and weeping willow tree. She almost didn’t even notice them. They were half covered by the long tendrils that hung down from the tree and the rest was masked by the inky black shadows that the shed provided in the night. James has placed them there a few weeks ago upon her request. She had wanted to encompass the perimeter of the garden with the gravel. She had read in Gardening Weekly that strong lines gave the yard a more structured look. He had gone out the very next day and brought back the two large backs of fine brown gravel that she had requested.

As she had said before he had still held onto a few qualities that she had fallen in love with to begin with but as the years grew and she saw herself aging in the mirror James had developed other bad habits that outweighed the good. She felt easily justified in her actions tonight.

Each bag weighed easily fifty pounds and the material was soaked and slipped out of Trisha’s hands as she dragged each to its new resting place on top of James. Within a few minutes she had soaked her fresh clothes with sweat.

“So much for the shower.” She hissed as she straightened up and looked at her handy work.

Each bag was laid over on its side with its length, tracing exactly where James was. The two bags almost covered the entire grave. The soil compressed and the bags sunk a few inches into the loose soil. With a nod of her head Trisha wiped her muddy hands onto the seat of her jeans. She admired her handy work. Yes this would work no doubt about that, nothing looked out of place or suspicious. Just the average gardener’s yard work cut short.

As if to signify that the job was finished and complete Justin bounded towards the Gardening site with his yellow ears dancing behind him and lifted a wobbly leg to relieve himself directly on the bag hand rest on top of James’s upper half.

“My sentiments exactly.” Trisha laughed as she scooped up the now wet puppy and headed quickly back to her running car where Emmy waited for her. As she neared the vehicle she felt sure that Emmy would be in a fit for being left for so long. She had always been afraid of storms and Trisha felt a twinge of guilt hit her in the gut as she opened the door and fell into the warm driver’s seat. She turned back and prepared to drop the puppy in the back seat with the child when she stopped and felt a gentle smile sweep its way across her face. Amelia was slouched against the soft material of her booster seat and was wrapped up in her nightgown fast asleep.

Upon the sound of the car door slamming shut Emmy opened up one tired eye and looked up at her mother with a curious glint in her eye.

“Are we ready to go now, Mommy?” She asked as she looked around the car with the suitcases and essential items.

“We going on ‘cation?” She asked now as she sat up straighter in her seat. The muddled look that sleep usually left on her now washed away completely and she looked up at her mother expectantly.

“Yeah,” Trisha smiled down at her in response. “We are going on a vacation Emmy!” She laughed as she sat Justin down on the backseat beside Emmy and put the car in reverse.

“Justin coming too!” Emmy squealed as she hugged the puppy to her side. Trisha felt light as a feather as she backed out of the driveway and pointed her car south towards I-119 which was the fastest way out of the town.

She itched to put as many miles between her and this place. She wanted to start over with just her and Emmy and now she had nothing but open road between her and that dream. A bubble of laughter erupted out of her and she did not try to force it back. It had been so long since she had felt this lightweight and invincible. She didn’t know whether it was giddiness from lack of sleep of the last bit of adrenaline from the night’s activities but she rode the wave of euphoria as she hit the gas pedal and tore down the street towards her future. With the storm behind her, she faced the early arms of the northern sunrise.

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© 2012 Tabitha t

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Reviews

Craig2591

I am conflicted in my feelings about Trisha. I find myself rooting for her, but yet, she just murdered her husband! It's a good story. Complex.

Just my opinion, but I would get rid of the paragraph that starts with, 'As she had said before he had still held onto..." I don't think it's necessary.

Posted 12 Years Ago

T. Logan

The first person the police look to is a wife/husband girlfriend/boyfriend. So she'll probably have the cops to deal with. Well written! This is one of my favorites.