A Veil Between Worlds

Chapter 3: The Body

Anastasia and her friends arrived at the forest on the corner of Pine and 12th for another round of searching. Anastasia and Alison were planning on starting near where they stopped earlier, while Peter and Kai were pretty much on the opposite side of the forest.

"This is the second day of this search party. As you may have noticed we have a few more officers joining us today, this is so we will be able to cover more ground before nine-thirty tonight. We would prefer it if you guys start where you left off yesterday so we don't waste any time on areas we have already searched. Now, listen to your nearby officers and be safe," Tom said.

The groups all went into the woods and Anastasia felt a little more optimistic about finding Nora tonight. She felt like there was a bit of hope that Nora will be found. She had no idea why she thought she wouldn't. "These searches are more exhausting than they sound," Alison said as she dodged a giant rock on the floor that she had just noticed.

"Yeah, I didn't know how tired I was until I laid down. I was out almost immediately," Anastasia said and the night had started to take over the forest as storm clouds start to take over the already darkening blue sky. "You've got to be kidding," Alison said as light rainfall hit the forest floor. "How wonderful," Anastasia said sarcastically.

As the search party went on the darker the forest became and the heavier the rain fell. By eight-thirty it was pouring rain and everyone was soaked. Anastasia knew the roads would be flooded for a few days due to the harsh rainfall.

Anastasia had gotten separated from Alison since they walked off in separate directions to search. Anastasia had spotted an odd pile of leaves near the edge of another set of flags. She shined her light on it and she saw something that definitely did not belong in the forest. She pushed the soaked leaves apart and what she found wasn't expected.

Anastasia stumbled away from the pile of leaves, not evening noticing the scream she had let out. Kyu and Alison both ran over to her as other groups came to check on what was happening. Anastasia didn't even notice the tears streaming down her face. She immediately turned away from the pile of leaves.

When Anastasia saw Alison approaching she did her best to block her view of the leaves. Kyu looked down at the pile and grimaced. He blew a whistle alerting the others that they found something. "Ana, what is it? What's wrong?" Alison asked.

"It's a body," Anastasia said and Alison's calmness dropped into concern. "What?" Alison asked and more officers gathered around the pile of leaves. "Call the coroner. We are going to need an autopsy and a DNA test," Tom whispered over to Kyu. "On it," Kyu said, glad he had an excuse to get away from the body they had found.

Kyu pulled out his phone and dialed the number for the town's coroner's office. "Ana, was it her? Was it Nora?" Alison asked and Anastasia shrugged. "I don't know, I couldn't tell. All I saw was..." Anastasia trailed off as the image of what she saw appeared in her brain and she felt like vomiting. "All I saw was blood," Anastasia said and Alison covered her mouth.

Once Kyu was off the phone he walked over to Anastasia and Alison. "How much did you see?" Kyu asked as he saw how shaken up his sister was. "Enough to feel sick," Anastasia said and Kyu sighed. He had hoped she'd seen a hand or something, not anything else. "Did you guys ID the body?" Alison asked.

"No, it's, uh, it's unidentifiable," Kyu said not wanting to give them the details, but just by the look on his face they could tell it is bad. "What do you mean unidentifiable?" Alison asked.

"I really shouldn't say," Kyu said and he walked towards the exit of the forest so he could greet the coroner. The other officers had created a small barrier along the crime scene to keep from anyone seeing the body. "How bad is it ?" Alison asked and Anastasia just had the image stuck in her head, unable to get it out. "Do you really want to know?" Anastasia asked.