Faeries, Mermaids, and Arguments: A Short Story Collection

Time to See Him Again

He was dead. The one person I loved was dead. He was lying on the ground in a pool of blood. There was no weapon or cause of death in sight. I knelt beside him and began to cry.

I heard someone breathing and looked up.There was a man standing just behind his head watching me. He was holding a gun. The man had a pale, deadly beauty, like ice. He looked at me and smiled calmly. I glared at him. He killed the only person I ever loved. I lunged at him to tackle Jim or something. All I wanted was to kill him and just as I was about to reach him, he disappeared with a pop.

He killed him! The thought quickly left my head, as my attention refocused on the dead body of the one I love. He was dead. What do I do? Call the police, a voice in my head said. I stood up slowly, tears still running down my face. I took my phone out of my pocket and dialed 911. My phone rang once,twice, three times before an operator picked up.

The operator said something but it didn't register in my brain. He was dead. That was all I could think about. He was dead. "Hi, I live at 350 Steele Drive, in Fort Erie. Um, when I got home from work today, my husband was dead. Somebody shot him. Please help me, please," I said.

"I'll send over some officers," the operator said calmly. "Are you at the address you mentioned?"

"Yes, I am. But he's dead. The only person I ever loved is dead," I said, bursting into tears.

The operator said calmly, "It'll be alright. Just take a deep breath."

I took a deep breath and my tears began to slow. The operator continued talking."Now, I've sent some police officers and some paramedics to you house. They'll get there as soon as possible," she said.

"Okay," I said and I hung up. I could hear sirens coming up my road. I looked out the window and I saw a police car and an ambulance not far behind it.

The rest of the day passed in a haze. The police officers and paramedics decided he couldn't be saved and had been dead long before I got home. Apparently, he died from food poisoning. I knew that they were lying though. Anyone could see he had been shot. Each time I told them that, they looked at me like I was insane and tried to sign me up for therapy. However there were no clues for them to figure out whether or not the food poisoning was intentional. I wanted nothing more than the man I saw to be found. I never mentioned him because I knew they wouldn't believe me if I told them there was a man holding a gun and he disappeared.

It was a month later and they still hadn't found the man. My phone started to ring. "Hello?" I said.

"Hello, this is Constable Brown calling to say that the investigation into your husband's death is being called off from lack of clues and information. I offer my deepest condolences."

The termage eaters had cancelled the murder investigation. How could they do this to me? Finding the strange man was the only thing that mattered to me. It didn't make me happy, but with him gone, there was no joy in my life. My capability of feeling joy died when I found his dead body. If they wouldn't keep trying, I would, I vowed to myself. "Could you send me the case file, please?" I asked, dangerously calm, like the quiet before the storm. I knew once the call ended, I would end up bawling my eyes out again. Not a day went by I didn't miss him. Termage, I was thinking about him again.

Constable Brown said, "Sorry, I'm not allowed to do that. All case files are completely confidential. I'm sorry."

I didn't know how to react to that. They were cancelling the investigation and won't even let me read the case file. How could they do this to me? I took a deep breath and tried to calm my thoughts. I heard Constable Brown say, "Hello? Are you still there?"