The Perfect Family

Tormented

I stared down at the freshly dug hole in the ground with a smile of admiration on my face, while holding on to my back with a dirt covered hand as a wave of pain surged through my spine.

Disposing of a corpse was pretty tough work, despite this not being the first time that I had done it. I had to start by cleaning the blood that covered the dining room, then I wrapped Stella's body in a black tarp and stashed it out of sight before coming to the backyard to dig her a shallow grave.

My joints were aching something fierce from all of the rushed labor, but I knew that I had to finish before Matilda got home from school. She would be horrified if she found out what I had done to her mother, and I did not want to inflict that kind of trauma on a child. Not again.

I went into the house and sat down on the sofa for a much needed break, laying my head back on the cushion and allowing myself to drift off to a nightmare induced slumber.

~~~

My eyes opened after an immeasurable amount of time passed, and I found myself lying in the hole that I had spent the afternoon digging for Stella.  There was a terrible pain in my chest, and my eyes were covered in what felt like clumps of dirt.  I opened my mouth in a startled gasp and tried to move, but there was something keeping me in the God forsaken grave.

Something, or someone, had a hold of me.

I fought through the dirt and picked up my arm, wrapping it around whatever was draped tightly over my chest.  The blood in my veins grew ice cold when I realized that it was an arm holding me down.  "What do you want?  Please, let me go!"

"You belong here with me..." The voice was dark and cold, like an evil spirit.  "You'll die with me."

"Let me go!"  My chest was heaving up and down, but I could hardly breathe. 

I was paralyzed with fear.

"You're going to die!  You're going to die!"  The voice chanted over and over.  "You're going to DIE!!"

"Who are you?  Why are you doing this to me!?"

"You have brought so much pain to so many people. I will make you pay for your crimes."

The dirt slowly fell from my eyes, and I saw the one that was keeping me prisoner.

It was Stella.

But not the Stella I knew.

This Stella was ugly and full of hate.

Her once beautiful red hair was gray and matted with clumps of dirt. There were dark sockets where her innocent blue eyes used to be, and the skin on her face was gray and covered in maggots.

She looked like she had been dead for many years.

"No!" I screamed, trying to push her arm off. "I killed you! You have no power over me!"

"Oh, but I do." She smiled and ran her slime covered tongue over my cheek. "You will never get away with killing me. I will make sure of it."

"No! You're lying!"

"You'll never get rid of me!"

"Shut up!"

"Never get rid of me! Never get rid of me!"