My friend, let’s call him Caleb. We’re work friends, you know what I mean, the occasional bar hop after work or maybe we’ll play games over at his place if we both have nothing better to do. It was a few nights ago that he called me in a panic. Now he was never one to cry but that night it was full tears; I could barely make out what he was saying through the sobs and sniffles. After a few minutes of trying to understand him I just told him to come over. I waited about 40 minutes and it was already getting dark but eventually he pulled into my driveway in a sedan with a dented front, I watched through the window and he looked like complete shit. His face was red and eyes puffy, his coat disheveled and he hung his head low. I met him at the door and by this time he seemed to have calmed down, and before I could get a word out he dropped a bombshell.
“I… I killed someone dude…” He said in a low tone, clearly he wasn’t some cold blooded killer who’d just kill randomly, and his face was remorseful and full of fear. It felt like it wasn’t an actual murder but just an unfortunate accident.
I stood there shocked for a moment before choking something out. “And… what am I supposed to do about that?”
“I need someone to help me bury the body.”
It was straightforward, and while I was never going to help him hide a body; I did want to see it, just out of morbid curiosity.
“It’s in my trunk dude, please.” He pleaded again, his voice becoming raspy and desperate.
“I… sure… show me.” I said, before following him out to his car.
He went to the front to unlatch the trunk as I stood there, waiting for him to lift it. I could already smell something coming from it, and soon enough once he made his way back to me he showed me what it was. It was a deer carcass. I turned to him and just stared, completely dumbfounded. “This is a deer dude.” I told him.
“It’s not, it’s a person, don’t tell me you can’t see it either!” He said with his tone slowly becoming a higher pitch and in some ways it became more of a whine. “Please… just help me bury it, okay?”
I had no other choice really, and nothing was going on the rest of the night so I reluctantly agreed to come with him.
The ride to our destination felt like forever and neither of us said anything. At one point I even fell asleep. I really don’t know how long of a drive it was, I just wanted to get this done with as soon as possible. At one point we were going down a dirt road and Caleb just started crying. The tires rolled over sticks and leaves, but to him maybe it felt like he was hearing the snap of bones and the crunch of viscera.
“We’re… almost there I promise…” He choked out, falling into tears again.
“Can I ask you something?”
“What?”
“What does the deer look like to you?”
He paused for a moment and breathed in, then let out a deep sigh. “She… looks no older than 20, short brown hair and green eyes. Her body is mangled and her face is frozen in fear.”
“Why did you hit it?”
“I hit HER. I was… drunk and going home from a party, I’m sure she was too. I don’t know I didn’t mean to…”
The car fell silent again as it rumbled off the road and into a small clearing, surrounded by trees. Caleb flicked the hazards on and left the high beams to illuminate the clearing. He didn’t speak as he grabbed a shovel from his back seat and began to dig in the ground. I helped him.
He walked to the rear of his car once the grave had been dug, and opened the trunk. He lifted the body up and took it to the grave. I helped him.
He began to cover the body with soil, and I helped him.
It was a silent ride home, and nothing of merit happened, it was just silence; Though I was scared that he had some unresolved issues, and that it could lead to me being buried in the woods next. Once I was home I slipped into bed. The next morning I had barely remembered what happened, even now I’m not able to remember every single detail, but I know now that I’ll be seeing him abit differently now. I mean, if he believed it was some girl he’d opt to hide the body rather than call the police.
Update:
I looked at the news today and it was talking about a college girl disappearing, bearing the same features that Caleb told me about. I think I aided in disposing of a body, I’ve been calling Caleb all morning but he isn’t picking up, hopefully I’ll see him at work.