6
410words
I noticed she cast no shadow in the sunlight.
I yanked free.
"Why…won't I need them?"
"Why no shadow?"
Realizing I'd noticed, her eyes reddened.
"Laura, it's not that I have no shadow—you can't see it."
"Don't you get it? You're dead. I didn't want your soul trapped here with James, so I came to guide you."
"On September 28, James beat you. You couldn't take it and called me."
"I came to get you out, but James caught us. Furious, he hit you with the bat. Your head struck the shoe cabinet, and you were gone."
"He panicked, tied me to the bed, and bashed my skull."
"Then he fled. My mom called the police, reporting me missing. They found me in time—I survived."
"Later, I heard James, that coward, ran to the hills, fell off a cliff behind the park, and died. But his ghost came back to haunt you."
Her words pierced like ice. I shook my head, dazed.
"No way—I can't be dead!"
She sighed."Check your knees—from his beating."
She lifted my skirt, revealing deep purple-black bruises on my knees and thighs.
James hadn't hit me in ages, yet the marks were fresh.
My eyes widened, my body weak, nearly collapsing.
Sarah gently touched my head."Your soul's trapped here without a guide. Don't worry—I'll lead you."
I nodded, ready to follow.
Her expression shifted. "He's back! I'll come again when I can."
She pushed me into the bedroom.
The room felt darker, more sinister.
Sarah's words explained the neighbor's reaction.
Was the blood on my slippers from when I died?
I checked under the bed for my slippers out of curiosity.
A piece of clothing peeked out—a beige sleeve with a small bow, covered in dust and blood. It was Sarah's outfit.
Trembling, I pulled it out.
The beige coat was soaked with oxidized brown blood, and the brown pants had spots of it too. Her bag and even her underwear were there as well.
No, no, no.
Sarah lied—she was the ghost!
If she was dead, and her clothes were here, where was her body?
Outside, James resumed chopping.
"Thump, thump, thump."
I remembered the fridge's rotting, maggot-ridden meat.
I collapsed, dazed.
The chopping continued. I grabbed my phone."Hello, I need to report a crime."
The line beeped, then a raspy robotic voice:
"Report? I'm outside—open the door—"
I forgot—James was a ghost too.
