Alyssa's boyfriend had died about a month ago. The autopsy results said that his death was caused by a broken neck and broken limbs. He was badly hurt all over, and no one knew why. Alyssa had left him at home, alone, and when she came back she witnessed him lying on their bedroom floor.
Some people were convinced that it was suicide, but the only way that that suspicion could've been true is if he had jumped from a tall building. He was at home, alone. Some people suspected that it was murder, but all the doors and windows had been locked when Alyssa came home. And there were no marks from his neck that proved that he'd been strangled to death by another person. And even if he was, who can explain the broken limbs?
Everyday, before Alyssa would come home, she'd visit his grave. She never believed that he was truly gone. She couldn't believe that he was truly dead. He didn't deserve what happened to him. He was the kindest, most caring man she'd ever known. Though, it got her thinking about the few times he acted differently. There was a night when JD didn't come home. He stayed out all night and Alyssa couldn't contact his cell. The next day he came back with a crashed car.
Ever since that night of the car crash, he'd been acting differently. He'd stare at one thing for a long time without blinking, and sometimes he'd be talking to someone who wasn't there. He'd say "I'm coming!" He'd start to walk towards the voice that was calling him but Alyssa would always stop him and get him back to reality.
"Where have you been?" JD laughed. Alyssa was listening from behind the door. He was inside their room, and he was talking to someone again. Alyssa opened the door and saw JD staring at the window.
"JD?" She said his name softly. He didn't respond so she slowly walked in front of him, breaking him out of his trance.
In a few days, the young man got even worse. People were starting to think that he was going crazy. The neighbors would see him gather a bunch of rocks to throw at the window.
"Open up!" JD yelled at the window. He'd caught the attention of the neighborhood. They were watching him yell at his own house, at his own window, as if someone else lived there.
Alyssa had been at work all day. She did keep getting random phone calls. Every five minutes her cellphone would ring so she decided to pick it up. It was one of the neighbors. They told her about her boyfriend's activity of the day so she got off work early to take care of him.
Alyssa came home that day to a house with a broken window. That day was the day before she came home to his unconscious body. That day was still clear in her mind.
"Good job, Alyssa. Since you're done for today, why don't you go home early?" Her boss said, and of course, she obliged. She walked back home because her work wasn't far from the company building she worked at. The dusk sky was beautiful, and she smiled at the thought of spending the rest of the night with her boyfriend for once. Just a block away from their bright blue house, she heard two kids yelling at each other.
"Give it back! It's mine! I found it!"
"No! I want to play with it too!"
Alyssa giggled at the typical kid fight, and smiled bigger at the thought of having a family with JD one day. She got excited and ran the rest of the way home. When she unlocked the front door a sudden chill ran throughout her body, but she shrugged it off, yelling for her boyfriend to come down to the living room. When he didn't answer she went upstairs to open their bedroom door, and she couldn't believe the sight in front of her. JD was lying on the floor, in front of the bed. His head was facing the left, his eyes wide open. His neck was stretched out a little, and his legs... they weren't in the usual position. It was like someone had just played with him like a barbie doll... and he was dead.
His funeral was painful for her to watch. Even if she couldn't see anything from the tears that were blurring out her vision, she still felt the pain in her heart. The cries of his family weren't helping either. It just made the whole situation even realer.
Now, she's at the cemetery once more. She's been coming here everyday, around the same time that she came home to his death. The tears served like rain clouds on his grave. Sometimes she wondered if roses would start to bloom where she'd been crying, right where his non beating heart should be. But she bought him roses from the shop, anyway. And she'd replace them every time they wilted.
It was a sunny day out, as she talked to JD's grave. She laid down on her stomach on the grass because she wanted to feel as close to him as possible, even though she knew she could never have that anymore.
"Hey JD." She smiled. "I miss you so much. I can't sleep in our room anymore. It's too much for me. I hope it stops... the pain. I know you're in a better place now, so I need to stop wishing that you weren't."
Every time she'd visit him she'd always wish for him to return. She'd pray that he was still alive, that she could still hold him, and kiss him, and care for him. But she knew it would never come true, and she had to stop wishing for something impossible.
"Just know that I'll always love you, JD." She stretched out her arm to hug the dirt pile that started to grow weeds. The tears came running down her cheeks again. And she stayed in that position for a while, just letting her tears slide down to the earth.
Then, something weird happened.
She heard a very faint knocking from down below, followed by a muffled screaming. The screaming came from a young man, a young man that she knew so well. Alyssa's eyes widened and she sat up, unsure if she was scared or excited. "JD?" She called for his name loudly. The screaming stopped and so did the knocking. She gripped her hair and wiped her tearstained face with her sleeves. She was starting to hear things, she thought, so she stood up and began walking away from his grave. But something in her made her stop and turn around. She stared at JD's grave and slowly walked back to it.
She kneeled down on the ground and placed an ear against the earth. After a few seconds she heard a loud thud and the word "HELP!" being shouted.
Alyssa stood up quickly, her eyes wider than before. "JD?!" She breathed heavily and started pacing. "I'll- I'll get you out of there, I promise! I'll be back!"
And with that, she rushed out of the cemetery and immediately went home to find a shovel. She searched all over the house but the tool was nowhere to be found, so she took her wallet and keys, and headed out the door. She went inside the car and put the keys in the ignition, but the engine wouldn't start. She hit the steering wheel out of anger and got out of the car, slamming the door shut. She, then, started running for the nearest mall, which was 10 minutes away by car. But, with the speed she was running in, she was able to get there at the same time. The only problem was that the mall was already closed. She broke down in the parking lot and cried for a while, until she looked to her left and saw the big Walmart sign. She stopped sobbing and ran inside the brightly lit store, immediately searching for the gardening section. There, she saw the last shovel, grabbed it, and waited in the long line to pay for it.
When she got back to the cemetery JD's grave seemed a little different, but she shrugged it off. She stuck her shovel into the earth and it surprisingly broke off easily. The rest of the dirt was easily dug out and she now had both her feet on his coffin. She stepped to the side as far as she could, against the wall of dirt, and opened it up. Though, she couldn't believe what she saw. It left her more speechless and frozen than when she'd found him dead at home. The coffin... it was empty.
