Chapter 8
280words
Steven stood trembling beside Jessica's fallen form, strangulation marks still visible on his hands.
Jessica's face was deathly pale, but her chest still rose and fell faintly—she clung to life.
Footsteps splashed through puddles as Robert emerged from the rain, sheltered beneath a black umbrella.
Steven stammered excuses—he'd only hurt her because she'd bitten him, he claimed.
Robert crouched, examining Jessica's body with clinical detachment.
"We're deep in the mountains. People disappear here all the time. No one will ask questions," Robert murmured.
Steven backed away, horror dawning as he grasped his father's meaning.
Jessica's plea for mercy came as faint as a dying insect's buzz.
Robert pulled a butcher knife from his backpack, its blade gleaming wickedly in the rain.
"Please... mercy..." Jessica's hand trembled weakly upward, eyes wide with terror.
Robert ignored her pleas as the blade fell, rain instantly washing away crimson splashes.
Steven turned away, retching violently into the undergrowth.
Robert dismembered the body with practiced efficiency, movements as casual as if dressing a deer.
The lake's surface danced with raindrops as weighted packages sank one by one into its depths.
Father and son silently sanitized the scene, rain helping wash away all evidence.
As darkness fell, Robert drove back to town alone, pausing outside Betty's cottage.
Warm light spilled from the windows as Betty anxiously watched her silent phone.
Robert smiled with cold satisfaction before quietly driving away, engine noise masked by the relentless rain.
Hatred and vengeance kept Jessica's spirit earthbound until she found the town morgue and an unclaimed body.
She hadn't left. She had returned.
