In the Dead of Night
Forced Silence
Rain pours from the heavens and pierces my skin like arrows. The knot in my stomach is making me nauseous as my hands grip the shovel with a steel tight grip.
I push my drenched and stringy hair out of my face and go about my business as quickly as I can.
“I won’t tell if you won’t.”
Even though the words are whispered I can still hear them loud as thunder in my ears, rattling not only my teeth but my thoughts as well.
A shiver goes up and down my spine, causing my body to tremble as I slightly in the direction of the shadowed figure next to me.
My vision is blurred with rained mixed sweat but the expression on her pallid face is still very clear. It matched the way I felt inside.
I open my mouth to speak, but it was like my throat was the Sahara so my words come out as a hoarse mumble. Licking my lips, I tried again only to have my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth.
Instead I nod curtly in reply and continue my job.
The ground gives away easily as I stab the dull metal end into the soft earth and heap up piles and piles of sloppy mud.
A tired ache in my chest makes me pause; I lean heavily against the tool in my hands, glancing over at my friend and accomplice in this whole horrible deed.
The light of the glowering, half hidden moon overhead gives off enough light for me to take in her demeanor.
Her thin shoulders are hunched and her deathly pale skin ripples while she heaves her own tool around with smooth, deliberate actions.
Something comes over me as I stand there in the dead in the dead of night with a red-stained shovel in my hands, staring at Jodie. It was dark and intense; a sneaky serpent that coiled its way around me.
My arms move by themselves, lifting up my deadly instrument with one fluid movement and bringing it back down in a flash so quick that I don’t even realize what’s happening.
A high-pitched screech tears into the rainy night, destroying the distorted calm that was once surrounding the area.
I lift the shovel again, slamming the blunt edge straight into the form currently resting on the ground. The body jerks and spasms like a stroke victim before it joins the other in the world beyond this one.
Feeling an unknown weight being lifting off my chest, I sigh to myself, tossing the tool I’m grasping into the pit. Her lifeless form soon follows, along with his.
For some reason there’s an energy in my actions that wasn’t there before. As a result it doesn’t take long to fill the crevice back up. Once the deed is done, I stand back and brush my hair from my face again.
A smirk makes its way onto my face. I even let out a soft, inaudible chuckle that lilts through the humid air and wafts all the way up to Heaven, I imagine.
The silence that follows is thick, almost smothering; it threatens to swallow me whole and send my soul to Hell where it rightfully belongs for the crimes I have committed here.
I push my drenched and stringy hair out of my face and go about my business as quickly as I can.
“I won’t tell if you won’t.”
Even though the words are whispered I can still hear them loud as thunder in my ears, rattling not only my teeth but my thoughts as well.
A shiver goes up and down my spine, causing my body to tremble as I slightly in the direction of the shadowed figure next to me.
My vision is blurred with rained mixed sweat but the expression on her pallid face is still very clear. It matched the way I felt inside.
I open my mouth to speak, but it was like my throat was the Sahara so my words come out as a hoarse mumble. Licking my lips, I tried again only to have my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth.
Instead I nod curtly in reply and continue my job.
The ground gives away easily as I stab the dull metal end into the soft earth and heap up piles and piles of sloppy mud.
A tired ache in my chest makes me pause; I lean heavily against the tool in my hands, glancing over at my friend and accomplice in this whole horrible deed.
The light of the glowering, half hidden moon overhead gives off enough light for me to take in her demeanor.
Her thin shoulders are hunched and her deathly pale skin ripples while she heaves her own tool around with smooth, deliberate actions.
Something comes over me as I stand there in the dead in the dead of night with a red-stained shovel in my hands, staring at Jodie. It was dark and intense; a sneaky serpent that coiled its way around me.
My arms move by themselves, lifting up my deadly instrument with one fluid movement and bringing it back down in a flash so quick that I don’t even realize what’s happening.
A high-pitched screech tears into the rainy night, destroying the distorted calm that was once surrounding the area.
I lift the shovel again, slamming the blunt edge straight into the form currently resting on the ground. The body jerks and spasms like a stroke victim before it joins the other in the world beyond this one.
Feeling an unknown weight being lifting off my chest, I sigh to myself, tossing the tool I’m grasping into the pit. Her lifeless form soon follows, along with his.
For some reason there’s an energy in my actions that wasn’t there before. As a result it doesn’t take long to fill the crevice back up. Once the deed is done, I stand back and brush my hair from my face again.
A smirk makes its way onto my face. I even let out a soft, inaudible chuckle that lilts through the humid air and wafts all the way up to Heaven, I imagine.
The silence that follows is thick, almost smothering; it threatens to swallow me whole and send my soul to Hell where it rightfully belongs for the crimes I have committed here.
♠ ♠ ♠
547 words.