Sick Boy

A Walk Home

I left my girlfriend's house with that same smitten feeling I always had around her. I kissed Lacey's cheek before leaving and she smelled like coconut butter. I knew I was gonna see her the next day but that didn't stop me from looking back once I was at the foot of her driveway. She was still standing at the threshold of the front door, smiling at me and even though it was cold outside and her cheeks were going a rosy colour, she kept standing there. I waved at her and sighed as my breath left my lips in a white cloud form. She waved her small fingers back at me and rested against the side of the doorway.

I left for real this time. I assumed she went back inside with a red nose and cold hands. I thought about her a bit more as I kicked stones along the gravel sidewalk with my white sneakers. We had been together for nearly seven months now and I felt like nothing short of death could break us apart.

It was late when I said goodbye to Lacey, maybe around ten o'clock, so there wasn't any hustle and bustle in the shopping area I was walking through. I hated that place, it was so creepy at night with all the rustling trees and the dim lampposts. I shoved my balled fists into my letterman jacket pockets and felt my phone in one hand and my house keys in the other, jingling them about to create some sort of sound instead of just... nothing. I jumped them around in my pocket and timed the chime with my quick steps. Walking home was never an ideal thing, but Mum wasn't coming to get me and it was always worth it to see Lacey in the end. Lacey's older sister, Marie, sometimes gave me a ride, but those were only nights when she wasn't drunk or at least tipsy. Marie was a bit of an alcoholic. She was cool, but she was intoxicated almost all the time. On top of that, Marie also happened to be staying with her pathetic excuse of a boyfriend. Lacey thought that maybe this time, she'd really break up with him, but considering the extended length of her stay, that probably wasn't the case.

My eyes lingered a moment until I was staring at the moon. It was full and beautiful to look at, so I stared for a little bit before my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out in the palm of my hand and noticed a message sent from Lacey. It read: Already missing you xx. I had a giddy grin on my face and I knew I looked stupid, my mates never failed to mention to me how stupid I really did look. But that didn't stop me from being happy about it. I started typing as I stopped dead in my tracks and focused on what to write back. It began to get a bit windy which I first complained about the cold, but then my nose caught the smell of something rancid. I couldn't quite compare it to something as simple as rotting food or trash cast aside. It was filling my nostrils as I flared them twice before the smell got stronger and stronger. I quickly held my nose with my index and thumb and scrunched up my face in disgust. I remained still for a moment, figuring out which way the smell was wafting from. I turned to face the wind and noticed that the direction it was coming from was a path that travelled through a small thicket that no one ever entered. I stitched my brows together and exited out of my text messages and opened my phone's torch feature.

I led myself towards the thicket, hovering the light over the entire path, feeling my heart thumping more and more as I progressed. It was blocked off by this old, wooden gate that looked like it would fall apart if I even touched it, but when I unlocked it and opened it, I was surprised by its stability as it swung with a creak and a thud against the wall it was attached to. I stepped past and watched my footing as I almost slipped on the mud on my way in. The thicket was quiet with the exception of the trees rustling above me and my now heavy breathing as I felt my body temperature drop with every second I stayed outside in the cold. I thought about turning around and going home, but I managed to catch another whiff of that smell from the wind and I couldn't help feeling in the pit of my stomach that something was wrong. I couldn't help my curiosity.

I kept going, snapping twigs beneath my feet and keeping an eye on all of my surroundings. I stepped around a large tree but missed the root as something to use as a foothold and slipped, taking a short tumble downhill as I put my hands out to stop myself. My back arched around a tree as I grunted and felt myself being winded. My face was covered in clumps of dirt and my jeans and jacket had grass stains smothering the fabric. I rubbed my lower back and pushed myself onto my knees as I dusted off my face and arms.

It wasn't until I stood up that I realised the smell was extremely close and was even more revolting than I imagined from within town. I couldn't stand it as I covered my nose and mouth with my hand. It did nothing though as the smell overpowered any countermeasure I could've thought of. I screwed my face up in disgust as I searched the thicket with my phone light. At first, there wasn't anything suspicious as I backed up and nearly tripped over something for the umpteenth time. I quickly flashed my light down by my feet, thinking I'd dismiss it as a log or a rock, but what I saw instead made my body shudder as I screamed shortly and skittishly jumped away, falling back on my butt and widening my eyes. I stuttered to myself, unable to get any words out. There was a lump stuck in my throat as my lower lip shivered, my phone stuck loosely between my fingers as losing it was the least of my worries.

I shuffled along the ground until my back was against a tree, the pain still present but almost numb and the least of my worries.

A girl, young-looking and pretty, skinny and lean, laid on the grass and dirt, mangled and bloody. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders and down her back, stained with a thick substance which acted as glue and tied strands of her golden locks together. Her blouse barely covered her skin, all ripped and ragged and covered in mud. There was a patch of her stomach that looked especially grubby as I raised my light to inspect. Bugs, blood, and flesh infested her skin and dug a deep gash. I watched as the insects scrambled and moved across her body, flies surrounding her like vultures.

I gagged the longer I stared as I began to sweat despite the weather condition. I felt my stomach lurch inside me as I tasted bile collecting in my throat before throwing Lacey's home-cooked dinner up and onto the pile of leaves and grass in front of me. I breathed unsteadily after I was finished, my throat burning and my head spinning. I threw myself back against the tree and choked while trying to get oxygen to my brain, followed by my panting. I looked left and right, but it was no use, I couldn't see a thing. I carefully sent my gaze her way, the girl who had met her unfortunate fate here in this thicket. I slapped my palm against my mouth, thinking I was about to vomit again, but the moment passed. Her eyes were piercing as they reflected the moon and gleamed. They stared at me, open and wide, but scared. And through that emotion I felt in her eyes, we came to a common ground. I was scared. My heart thumped in my chest and my bones ached and my stomach hurt and I didn't know what I should've done. I bit down onto my lip to stop it from quivering and I dug my nails into my palm as I stared at this poor girl.

I moved a little closer, covering my mouth and nose from the smell. I gulped and only had the courage to stare. My knees felt weak as I noticed her pale skin and dried, bleeding lips, and everything about her that confirmed she was dead. I squinted, nearing her further as I thought she looked familiar to me. With a shaking hand, I reached out slowly and pushed her blond hair away from her face, disgusted by touching her cold, dead skin.

My face went white as my body felt paralysed out of shock. I bore my teeth and fell onto my hands, feeling the mud beneath my palms and collecting it underneath my nails as I clenched my fists. I stared at her, feeling my eyes pool with tears until they spilt out onto my cheeks and I sucked in a deep breath, the smell of death thick.

"Marie...?"

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/A/N/ This was actually an internal for school *cough* which I got an excellence on *cough* but anyway, nevermind me.

- Jay