I don’t know what it was doing outside. It was lying in the woods, cold and white when I was walking by. My dog started barking when we passed it, and that’s how I found it.
“Hello?” I asked, even if it was stupid. Nothing that looks like that could be alive. I looked around as if to find anyone. Was this a prank? Maybe it was a doll. I scrambled up my phone, typing 112 hurriedly. I looked around again because I thought I had heard something.
What the hell do you do when you find a dead body in the woods?
I thought about just continuing to walk. No one could prove I was there; my dog couldn’t be a witness. I bent down and inspected the face of the person further. It had blue eyes and fair skin that had started to sack. The hair tied in a ponytail had started to loosen.
I did not know what to do. I felt fright and dread. Had they died on their own? Had someone murdered them? I didn’t see anything that said grabbing on their neck. There were no wounds, at least not openly. There was nothing.
I slowly regained consciousness. I quickly typed in another number.
“Hello?”
“Hi. It’s me.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Can you do me a favour?”
“What? Kayla, it’s the middle of the night, go to bed.”
“I need help.”
“What?”
“Do you still have your job?”
“Yes?”
“Can you help me?”
“You have already asked that.”
“Yes. Can you?”
“With what?”
“I’ve found Eleanor.”
Silence.
“What?”
“I’ve found Eleanor.”
“I- How? What is going on?”
“Look, you don’t have to make a fuss about it.”
“What?!”
“Look, just help me put her down again. Or else you will end up in prison.”
Silence.
“No I won’t.”
“No one knows it’s gone yet.”
Silence.
“Where are you?”
My friend, Kurt, walked towards me; his footsteps anxious. “Alright, what?” I did not need to say anything. His eyes dropped to the body. I watched everything in his face shift. After a while, he spoke, his throat dry and his voice hoarse. “Are you sure it’s her?”
“Definite.”
He nodded slowly. “What do you want me to do?”
“Take her, and bury her. She deserves it.”
He looked at me, and his expression is blank. But something in his eyes was fear. “Okay.” He finally mumbled, his voice thin. Together, we carried the body, constantly looking over our shoulders. We walked in silence, except when one of us made a sound, such as “oh!” when we dropped a limb and had to bend down. When the sun had started to rise on the horizon, maybe it was five, we had reached the cemetery. Slowly, Kurt got out the equipment he usually used. Then he got to work, saying nothing and doing nothing except shovelling dirt. It took him twenty minutes until he reached the casket, which was empty up until now. Then, we placed the body in it, and hurryingly threw the dirt back in the hole.
Kurt left immediately, and we never spoke of it again.
I just hope whoever took Eleanor never gives her body back and that whoever left the other corpse in the woods never goes to find it again.