Dearly Departed by Katie May

Author:Katie May [May, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Hadley

The body swings like a pendulum from the tree. Brown slacks on muscular legs, white pressed shirt, and standard school jacket with the crest over the breast.

The man’s name was Dennis. A first year, like me, and a man I saw from time to time. I never talked to him before, but he sat behind me in more than one class. Quiet and subdued, his eyes were vibrant with life despite his timid nature. His laugh was hearty, the full belly kind that made you want to join in.

And now, he’s dead. Nothing but a body dangling precariously from a tree branch.

I stare at his unblemished face. His open eyes, still trickling blood from the corners, are sightlessly staring down at me with an unnerving intensity. No cracks mar his skin.

He died differently than the girl I saw in the river.

I hear the whispers from the professors, the hushed murmurs in quiet corridors when they think we’re not listening.

Two murderers.

Two different MOs.

Fear clamps my heart, refusing to release it. My breath saws in and out.

“Hadley.”

The voice claws at my skin, piercing nails I feel down to my very soul. I turn, wide-eyed, only to see Dennis staring at me. Watching me. His lips move even as his body continues to swing, the rope a vise around his throat.

“Hadley.”

The voice is not the one I remember. It’s lower, raspier, and sounds like thousands of voices overlapping. Thousands of dead souls crying for me, screaming at me, demanding something of me I can’t entirely comprehend.

“Hadley.”

I spin wildly at the second, unfamiliar voice. The girl’s jaw is gaping as fissures sever her skin like cracked glass. Her burnt eye sockets are fixed on me, and I feel like I’m looking into black abysses. Falling head over feet into a black hole, tumbling like one would in a tidal wave. Drowning, but the pain is almost bittersweet.

Her jaw cracks open even farther until it’s hanging by bloody tendons. Her voice is a distorted growl.

“Hadley.”

“Hadley.”

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