"I think so..."
With that positive answer, we wander around the woods for about an hour before I pull Ace to a stop. I look around in despair. I say to Ace, "We're going in circles. We've walked past that same rock formation twice already."
"I'm sorry, Elle."
"It's okay, Ace. Let's go this way."
We walk for about fifteen minutes when the ground beneath me suddenly disappears. I had been making my way through some bushes. I slide down a steep, but luckily short, incline. I look around. It looks like a man-made crater with shrubbery surrounding the raised edges. In the center were a row of stones. One looks like something has either been buried or dug up recently.
My throat goes dry as I think about Daniel with his dirty shovel. That's ridiculous. He wouldn't really be burying a body, would he? I yell for Ace to slide down here. When I hear his hmph behind me. I slowly make my way to the row of stones. As I get closer, I see that they have names engraved on them. The recent looking one says, "Rita Remirez"
No. It can't be what I'm thinking it is. I say to Ace, "Help me dig. It's recent enough to not be too hard."
After we were sweaty and dirty, my hand finally brushes plastic. The only thing that I can think is NO! I rip open the bag and red hair spills across my fingers. No, no, no. My brain is in complete denial. The gruesome scene before me is gone. Instead, I'm just getting home. Dad had called Aunt Rita to come talk some sense into my mother. Aunt Rita had almost knocked me over running out of the house. There was a purple bruise already beginning to form around her eye. Tears streamed in little rivulets down her cheeks. I heard Daniel's footsteps running down the back stairs. I didn't really see him, but who else could it have been?
I blink and back in the woods with Rita Remirez's hair covering my hands. I rip open the bag. I know what I'm going to find, but that doesn't stop the hurt, anger, and fear. My aunt's once beautiful face is now covered in cuts and bruises. She has no clothes and I can see that her body is even more damaged than her face.
A sob escapes my chest. I was blocking Aces' view so he hasn't seen her yet. He gently pushes me to the side. When he sees Aunt Rita's ravaged body, he leans to the side and throws up. I wipe the tears from my face and an unsettling coldness settless over me. The only emotion that I can feel now is fury.
I stand and wipe the mud off of my hands. The sky is dark now and I can't see any stars. A drizzle starts and I help Ace up. I lead the way through dark woods. I finally get us home. Dad is working a night shift and I have no idea where Mom has snuck off to. I storm through the house to the gun cabinet. I pull out a shotgun and a case of shells.
Ace says, "I don't like the look on your face. I've never seen you this angry. What are you going to do with that?"
I snarl, "I'm gonna kill him."
