Page 22 of Apathy
With my hands, I started touching the ground, trying to understand my surroundings. Branches and wet ground played beneath my fingers until I touched something cold, something foreign and sinister.
“Oh my God,” I gasped.
My heart thundered inside my chest, and as my fingers explored further, I knew. I just knew.
I was touching fingers.
Cold, wet fingers.
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the scream tore from my throat, followed by the onslaught of tears and fear like no other.
“Skylar!” I could hear Lauren now, but knowing she was near did nothing to soothe my nerves.
There was a body in front of me. Adeadbody.
Her blonde hair was caked in blood, and the lifeless blue eyes stared at me, the terror etched on her haunted face. I followed the line down her neck with my eyes and shrieked when I realized that only half of her body lay in front of me. Her torso was ripped away from her legs that were disposed of next to the tree above her head. The clothes on her body were ripped open, exposing her midriff and the slope of her breasts. Her bloodied intestines mixed with dirt and leaves were scattered all over the place, creating a connection between her legs and her upper body.
“Holy shit. Holy fucking shit.” I started scrambling backward, trying to get as far away as I could.
My hands caught on something sharp as I tried moving away from the girl, from her stare, but the pain never really registered in my mind from the shock I was going through.
I could see the light shining through the dark forest, and as it caught on her soulless face, I drew a shaky breath, fighting the tears that were freely falling down my cheeks.
“Sky… What the fuck?” Lauren’s voice echoed around us. “Oh my God!” she screamed. “Oh my fucking God!”
Her hand landed on my shoulder, and she started pulling me further backward, the light from her phone still illuminating the girl.
“I-It’s Megan,” I cried out. “Lauren, that’s Megan!”
I knew that face. I saw her smiling more times than I could count. I saw those eyes twinkle when she talked to her friends and when she was happy. There was no happiness on her face right now. There was only terror, a nightmare, and I didn’t want to think what she went through.
“Sky, what is that?” Lauren pointed to Megan’s stomach, illuminating the area.
The foreign-looking inscriptions and sigils were carved into her stomach, creating dried, bloody marks. The scream that was building up inside of me escaped, thundering around the forest. There was so much pain on her face. So much fear, that even in death she looked like she wanted to scream. Her face was pale, bruises on her cheeks, with blue lips open at half-mast.
“This is—”
“We need to call the police, Lauren,” I interrupted. “We need to go up and call the fucking police.”
I felt dirty and violated. When I looked down, I could see the blood over my hands, and I wasn’t sure if it was mine or hers.
“Fuck,” I mumbled, rubbing my hands over my pants. But the more I rubbed, the more it started spreading. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…”
“Hey, hey.” Lauren took my hands into hers, dropping the phone to the ground. “Stop it.”
“She’s just… She—”
“I know, Sky, but you need to get up and we need to get the hell out of here.”
I tried. I really did try getting up, but as if the weight of the world rested on my shoulders, my legs wouldn’t work. They remained plastered to the ground.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you fucking can,” she argued. “Come on.” She gripped my arms and started pulling me up. My knees shook as I finally stood up, leaning against the tree.
Her presence was overwhelming. The stench of death was everywhere, and I wanted to bathe myself in bleach to remove this depravity from my skin. But I knew that this was going to be just another demon to haunt me.
“Skylar?” Lauren started, her voice strained.
