I just bought my first house. Honestly, I didn’t really want to. My wife and I recently split and I’m trying to gain custody of my daughter. I figured a house might help with that when I came across a reasonably priced one.
It happened at an estate sale. I happened to see it as I was driving by and decided to stop. There wasn’t much for me there, just a lot of knickknacks and old people stuff. I was about to leave before the deceased homeowner’s daughter, Erika approached me.
I won’t bore you with the details, but she ended up telling me that she was looking to sell the house. She had a place of her own and her only sibling was deceased. She was willing to accept less than market value to move it quickly. In exchange for the low price, she only asked me to tend to her fathers garden on the property and water it every day.
It didn’t seem like a big deal. I was a little thrown, but much more focused on the low price of the house. I did ask what the significance of the garden was. Erika told me about how important it was to her father, Yuri.
“He lived in the house for decades, constantly tending to the garden,” she said.. “He went out and sat near the garden anytime he was sad, angry, afraid, ect. He took great pride in everything he grew and almost exclusively ate from the garden. He rarely ate anything else. He used to say that he put his heart and soul into that garden and they would remain there forever. His dying wish was to not let his garden die.”
It was a bit odd, but I didn’t think much of it at the time. Guy liked his garden. I suppose I can go out and water it once a day.
I agreed to Erika’s terms. A week later, I was moving my stuff in. I didn’t plan on making many renovations to the house right away. I just wanted to fix up and paint one of the bedrooms for my daughter, Lilly. I don’t want to get into much detail on that, but I believe my wife only wants custody now to spite me. It will only be a matter of time before she asks me to take Lily. I plan on being prepared for it.
Over the next week or so, I spent most of my time painting the bedroom purple, her favorite color and fixing small things around the house like broken cabinets.
I went out once a day to water the garden like I promised I would. More than once I considered that she’d have no way of knowing whether I was actually watering it, though it wasn’t much of a chore.
Then, about two weeks after I bought the house, Erika showed up at the door.
“What brings you here?” I asked.
“I’m sorry,” she replied. “I thought it was going to be easier to give this place up. I just found myself missing it.“
I became immediately nervous that she was going to try and back out of the sale. She didn’t though. She apparently just wanted to stop by.
“I know it’s an imposition, but would you mind if I went out and just stood by the garden for a little while?” She asked. “If it’s not okay, I totally understand..”
“No not at all,” I said, lying just a little. “Take all the time you need.”
She walked out back to the garden. She paced around the perimeter of it and then stood there looking at it for a while. It was probably creepy for me to watch, but a stranger was in my house and I just felt awkward the whole time. Do I go about my business until she’s done?
After about a half hour, I walked out back to see if she was okay.
“Sorry to interrupt,” I said. “You okay?
“Have you lost anyone close to you?“ she asked.
“Parents,” I replied. “I know it’s hard.”
“Wouldn’t you do anything possible to bring them back if you could?” She asked.
“I guess so. Ya can’t though, so ya gotta just try to move on. Try to live a life they would be proud of..”
“The garden looks beautiful,” she said. “Thank you for taking care of it for us.”
“Of course,” I replied. “Do you want a cup of coffee or a glass of wine or something?”
“I’d love a glass of wine.”
We sat and had a glass of wine which turned into a bottle of wine. We actually kind of hit it off. We started joking and laughing with each other as we drank too much wine and smoked too many cigarettes. It was nice. It made me feel like a teenager again.
By the time she left I had almost considered making a move, but I restrained. She seemed pretty drunk. I called her an Uber and we waited on the front porch for it to show up. While we waited, she picked up some of the cigarette butts and put em in a bag. I told her she didn’t have to, but she insisted.
“This was nice,” she said.
“Yeah. Ya know.. anytime you want to come visit.. the garden, that’s fine with me.. I said awkwardly.
“I’d like that. Ya know, he always said he wanted to grow the biggest…something”
“The biggest what?” I laughed.
“Didn’t matter, as long as it was the biggest!”
“There’s some unused area at the back of the garden. I could probably plant some pumpkins or something. Maybe they’ll grow to be the biggest.”
“I think he would’ve liked that,” she smiled.
Her car arrived and she left. I missed her once she was gone. I had felt that feeling in my stomach that I hadn’t since I first met my ex-wife. It put me in the mood to plant some pumpkins.
So I did. I went and got some seeds. I rototilled the unused area of the garden. I planted and watered my seeds. I felt a little proud and excited to see them grow. Maybe eventually I would feel the same connection with the garden that Yuri had.
A few days later, I finally decided to tackle the garage. When I had moved in, Erika had gotten rid of most of the stuff in the house. Some was sold and some was taken to a storage unit. The garage still had some junk in it though. She offered to have it cleaned up when I bought the place, but I told her I would do it.
I started going through boxes and throwing stuff away. There was old clothes, toys, dishware, and a lot of junk. There were some records, a few of which I might hang onto. Eventually, I stumbled upon a diary.
I opened it up thinking it was Erika’s. There was some flirtyness between us and I thought there might be something in there that would give me an edge. It wasn’t hers though. The name Moriah was written inside the first page.
Erika mentioned a sibling who had passed previously. I didn’t ask about it because I didn’t want to open wounds. I assumed that it must have been her sister.
I started reading the diary. It started out pretty much how I expected. She talked about her hopes and dreams. She talked about her family. Just day to day stuff, but as I kept reading, it started to get strange. Here’s a peculiar passage.
“Daddy’s group is meeting again tonight. He says that I am the guest of honor. He says I must act respectful to his friends and not speak unless spoken to by him. He says that I am special and have a very special purpose.”
After that, she went on for a while complaining about her dad. He was strict and had rules that didn’t seem to make sense. She didn’t like his friends. Normal kids stuff I guess. Then it got weird again.
“Daddy’s friends just left. I’m glad it’s over. I hate being the center of attention. Daddy says I am special to his group because we will one day become one and live forever. He says that eternity can be preplanned if you know how to do it.”
I found it bizarre, but I didn’t finish reading it right away. Lilly was finally visiting for the weekend and it had to be perfect. I think it went well. She loved her new room and said it’s twice as big as her room at her mom‘s house. She loved the big yard in the woods behind the house. She’s used to living in an apartment in the city, and if she’s anything like me she prefers the peace and privacy of a place near nature.
We had a ton of fun all weekend and I was sad when I had to take her back to her mom. The drive was tough on me. She’s a smart kid and she could tell something was wrong.
“What’s wrong?” she asked in an adorable little voice.
“Nothing’s wrong, kiddo. It was a great weekend. I just.. I miss ya already..”
“I’ll be back soon though, right?” She asked. “I love it here! There’s a big yard to play. I saw a deer! I made a friend.”
“Well, I’m glad you like the place! I was thinking of getting a…”
I paused mid sentence because something she said had just kind of hit me.
“You made a friend?” I asked. “When was that?”
“When I was playing outside, I saw a girl. Last night, she came and saw me in my room.”
Kids say some terrifying things. It was definitely her imagination. I decided to just play along.
“Is that so? She came in at night? What’s her name?”
“Moriah,” she unfortunately replied.
I’m spelling it that way because that’s how it was spelled in the diary. It could absolutely be a coincidence. Maybe there was something around the house with her name written on it that I hadn’t found. I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t a little creeped out though.
I asked Lilly a little more about her new friend, but she didn’t say much other than it was a girl around her age. I didn’t push too much because I knew it had to be a coincidence. I dropped Lilly off with her mom and returned to the house that now felt very very empty.
I did some cleaning and made some food. After eating, I sat down and read some more of the diary. I continued telling myself it was a coincidence, but it just stuck with me that Lilly said that.
After the last passage I read, there wasn’t much that was odd or out of the ordinary. She talked about music she liked and food she didn’t. It was just a lot of random stuff until another bazaar entry caught my eye.
“Daddy’s group came over again tonight. They did a lot of talking while wearing their silly jackets. I didn’t pay much attention, but I stayed quiet like daddy asked. Once they left, daddy said that it was the last time they’d be coming over. He said that my purpose would be fulfilled soon. He said “you’re about to plant your seed, and eventually your sister and I will as well. Then, we’ll all be together forever in the garden.”
This is the point where I ran out of ways to convince myself everything was normal. This was strange in any context. I decided that I would ask Erika about it the next time I saw her.
A few days later, Erika stopped by the house again. I was happy to see her, but nervous to ask her about the diary.
I waited to bring up the diary. We went out to the garden and sat and talked. Erica asked if I would mind if she planted something herself one last time. I told her she could. She said that she would later that week.
When we went back inside, I worked up the courage to bring up the diary. I told her about what my daughter said. I told her that I had read the diary and told her about the bizarre passages.
“I haven’t seen this in years,” she said softly. “I think she was talking about my dad’s football buddies. They’d usually come over on Sundays and dad would say we would have to stay out of the living room or be quiet if we were in there.”
“I guess that makes sense,” I said. “ It’s just that some of the things she says are really strange and my daughter told me she met someone with the same name.”
“My guess is that your daughter has an imaginary friend,” Erika replied. “Moriah’s name is probably written all over this house. She used to have this habit of carving her name into everything. Trees, walls, benches. I’m guessing your daughter saw her name carved somewhere on the property and attached it to her imaginary friend.”
“Oh, I..”
“Moriah also had developmental issues. She would have these fits where she would just start swinging and they didn’t know what was wrong with her. My parents eventually decided to homeschool her. I think she felt like she was isolated. It’s tough to explain that to a kid,” Erika blurted out.
Things still didn’t add up to me, but I didn’t want to push. Erika’s mood clearly changed when I brought up her sister. It’s still plugged me though because Lily has never had an imaginary friend that I know of. The kid doesn’t even believe in Santa. She’s a little realist, for better or worse.
“I didn’t know she had a diary,” Erika said as her eyes welled with tears.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “..Do you have any booze?”
We had some drinks and ended up changing the subject. While still intrigued, I didn’t want to upset her. After a few drinks we decided to watch a movie. After a few more drinks, we stopped watching the movie..
The details are unimportant at this point.. She spent the night. She left early the next day, but she spent the night. Details are totally unimportant..
I felt pretty great the following day as one does after a night of unimportant details. She was gone but it seemed there was something there.
I made a breakfast big enough for three and stuffed my face. I then went out and started rototilling an unused section of the garden. I decided that either I would plant something new, or that I would get it all set and ready for Erika to plant whatever it was she wanted to plant there.
As I was walking in through the back door, I noticed something carved into the side of the house. It was the name “Moriah”. Erika said that she liked to carve her name but I could have sworn that it wasn’t there before.
I couldn’t get my mind off of Erika. When I went inside, I noticed that she had even cleaned before she left. She picked up the wine glasses and dishes. She even took out my trash. What a woman..
The following day, I woke up and did some running around. Groceries, laundry since I haven’t gotten a washer and dryer yet, liquor store since I have no game. I returned to fine Erika at the house.
She was covered in dirt and getting into her car when I pulled up. I got out and walked up to her car. She was out of breath and seemed surprised to see me.
“Hi there,” I said. “I didn’t know you were coming by.”
“Sorry,” she said, still catching her breath. “You said I could plant something. You weren’t here when I got here so I just went out back and did it. I’m sorry if that was like.. uncool.”
“Nah, it’s fine. How’d you manage to get so dirty?” I laughed.
“Dad always said that if you weren’t covered in dirt after planting, your harvest would come out weak.”
I asked her if she wanted to stay and hang out, but she said she had things to do. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. She felt comfortable showing up randomly and hanging out when I wasn’t home so she must be feeling something toward me.
I watched her pull away and started walking back in my house before a neighbor said something to me that I didn’t quite hear.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“I said you haven’t had any cult weirdos show up here, right?” He laughed.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“They used to meet here,” he said. “Buncha weirdos who’d dress in cloaks and.. well I don’t know what they did but it seemed bizarre.”
“Really?” I asked. “The guy who lived here last? Yuri?”
“Yeah, that’s him,” the neighbor said. “Odd guy. I didn’t talk to him much, but when I did he always wanted to talk about ancient gods and stuff like that. They were the something’s of Dionysus. The sons or knights or goofballs. I just know that the whole neighborhood made fun of them and thought they were freaks.”
When I went inside, I decided to Google Yuri for the first time. I initially didn’t think it mattered whose house I was buying, but if I was gonna continue whatever was going on with his daughter, I should probably check him out.
If I hadn’t talked to the neighbor, I’d have been shocked by what I found. Yuri had a pretty substantial criminal history dating back to when he was a kid. He’d been accused of kidnapping multiple times but nothing stuck. The reports indicated that he was believed to be a member of a cult or a secret society. From what I read, it seemed that he escaped the law every time they tried to get him.
I struggled with whether I should mention this to Erika. I wondered if she knew. The more I read, The more concerned I became. I found an old statement of his to the police where he mentioned that even if they killed him, his return would be imminent. I found another where he told an arresting officer that immortality requires great sacrifice.
It turns out that Yuri was a weird guy. I decided to look up Moriah to see how she passed. Aside from her diary entries about her father, there seems to be a constant sentiment that she thought she wouldn’t be around for a long time. She wrote about rebirth and reincarnation, which seemed very very odd for someone her age to be writing about.
I decided to do my best to get it out of my head and get some sleep. I got ready for bed, but when I went into my bedroom bathroom, there was glass all over the floor. It was the glass I kept my toothbrush in on the counter. I stepped in it and sliced up my foot pretty good. I was exhausted and chalked it up to an accident. I didn’t use that bathroom often. I quickly cleaned it up and went to bed.
I went to sleep, but woke up in the night after hearing something outside. I swear I heard the front door shut. I got up and looked around, but didn’t see anyone.
I told myself that I just wasn’t used to living outside of the city. House noises and howls were a new reality. I’m pretty good at the whole “reasonable explanations” thing.
Over the next couple of weeks, I continued hearing odd sounds at night and had moments where I felt like I was being watched. I was more concerned with Erika though.
We’d been spending more time together. I confided in her about my divorce and my kid. She started spending the night from time to time. Sometimes she’d stay. Sometimes she’d take off in a rush. I could never get a good sense of what she wanted.
I also avoided bringing up her dad. I was curious, but it was clear that she admired him so I didn’t want to suggest that he was a bad guy.
As things got better with Erika, things got weirder at the house at night. It started with just hearing noises on a pretty regular basis. I continuously came up with excuses and reasonable explanations. That worked for a while until one night, things get even more strange.
I woke up in the night having heard what sounded like a door shutting. I walked out into the hallway and looked around. I didn’t see anything until I turned the lights on and looked at the floor. There were footprints leading up to my bedroom door. Small footprints the size of a little kid’s.
I was incredibly freaked out. I searched the house, looked out the windows over and over but saw nothing. The footsteps led to my door and stopped. There were no prints leading out. I was so spooked that I called Erika. I didn’t know who else to call. Unfortunately her phone was off.
I considered calling the police, but every time I had previously for any reason, they shrugged off my problems. I assumed that they wouldn’t take me seriously. I stayed up for hours just looking out the windows. I didn’t see anything and was finally able to fall asleep for about an hour.
I was exhausted for most of the next day. I got up, slammed some coffee, then headed to Erica‘s house.
I hadn’t actually been in her house at this point. I had dropped her off there a few times, but she always wanted to hang out at my place. I felt more comfortable at my own place anyway so I never questioned it.
I knocked on the door. There was no answer at first. I waited for what felt like way too long. As I was about to turn around and leave, she opened the door.
She quickly stepped out and shut the door behind her. She looked like I had caught her off guard.
“Hey. What’s with you?” I asked. “You seem jumpy.”
“My house is a disaster area. I’m embarrassed..”
“No guy has ever cared that a woman’s house is messy.. unless you have like.. a tower of dead cats.”
She laughed and said “I’m on my way out anyway. I gotta go out of town for work.”
“Ohh. I wanted to talk to you about something..” I replied.
“We’ll talk when I get back,” she said. “Or text me. If you had texted, you’d know I was leaving and wouldn’t have had to waste a trip here.”
“It’s not a waste. I got to see you..”
She smiled, but wasn’t nearly as smitten with that line as I had hoped. She quickly took off after that. It was strange. She never mentioned a trip and regardless of what she said, something was off. Maybe she was mad at me for something I didn’t realize? It would be on brand for a lady I’m pursuing.
That night was quiet. I slept well. I wasn’t awakened by strange noises. I didn’t see anything weird. I tried to convince myself that I was being paranoid. I tried to pretend that I didn’t have to clean up phantom muddy footprints that appeared in the night. I had a few too many drinks, and I slept soundly through an uninterrupted night.
I kept trying to call and text Erika, but on the rare occasion that she texted back, it was always a quick one or two word text. She said that she would be gone for three days. She wouldn’t tell me anything else about her trip though. Not even where she was going
I spent the next day overthinking our relationship. Did she actually like me? She seemed so distant and secretive at times. Maybe it’s just her personality? Maybe she’s just using me to stay close to the childhood home she loves?
These thoughts might have kept me awake the following night, but they didn’t have to. The strange noises started again.
I first heard a loud crash that sounded like it came from the front of the house outside. I got up and looked around, but saw nothing. I sat up in the living room watching the windows for about a half hour before attempting to sleep again.
Shortly after lying down, I thought I heard another noise, but I tried to ignore it. I layed in bed trying to force myself to sleep. Another few minutes passed before I heard the unmistakable sound of a door shutting. Immediately after that, I heard someone running through the house. This time, I was positive.
I jumped out of bed, grabbed the bat by my nightstand, and went out into the hallway. As I moved through the hallway, I heard the shower running in the bathroom. I slowly approached the door. I raised the bat over my head with one hand as I turned the knob.
I threw the door open. I ran into the steam filled bathroom and quickly pulled back the shower curtain. Nothing.. The shower was running, but no one was in the bathroom. I turned off the water. At this point, I was in a full panic. I was petrified. I was about to shut off the bathroom light when I noticed the mirror..
It was all fogged up and the words “Help me. I’m trapped in the garden.” were written in the steam.
I freaked out. I ran out of the bathroom. I searched the house, gripping the bat so tight that my knuckles were white as a ghost. I grabbed my phone, keys, and wallet before running out to the car and taking off.
I drove around for a while, trying to process what had happened. I didn’t want to go home so I stopped at an open all night diner and drank coffee until the sun came up.
I struggled with what I should do. I still didn’t want to call the cops just to have them laugh at me or get angry at me for wasting their time. What would they do anyway? I continued trying to text and call Erika. She was still barely responding. Every few hours I’d get a “sorry, busy” text from her, but that’s about it.
I went home. I felt a lot more comfortable during the day when the sun was out. It felt like the day flew by though, I called Lilly and we talked for a while. That was nice, and it distracted me from whatever was happening in the house. As it got late, her mother came in and told her she’d have to get off the phone and go to bed.
We got off the phone and I immediately felt flooded with anxiety. I was alone with nobody to talk to and nowhere to go. I considered that maybe I was just losing my mind, but I’m not sure that’s less scary than ghosts or intruders. I drank the last little bit of rum I had in the cupboard and again attempted to lay down and get some sleep.
I stared at the ceiling for a bit before falling asleep. I wouldn’t get a full night’s rest though. I was awoken in the night by a loud crash at the other end of the house.
I got up, grabbed the bat again, and ran out to the living room. When I turned the lights on, I noticed that a coat rack near the door had been knocked over. I was certain that I had an intruder now. I’ve run into that coat rack and knocked it over in the dark more times than I can count.
I opened the door and looked around outside but saw no one. I frantically checked out the windows but couldn’t spot anyone. I had had enough and decided that it was time to call the police. As I started walking to my bedroom to get my phone, I noticed Moriah’s diary laying on the living room floor.
In my frenzy, I missed it at first. It was lying open on the floor with a pen in between the open pages. I picked it up and saw that someone had written a new entry.
“Please help me. I’m trapped in the garden. I’ve been stuck here for years. My soul can’t be free until my vessel is removed from the garden. Please help me. Release me.” ~Moriah
This can’t be real.. It couldn’t be real. Maybe it was the multiple sleepless nights. Maybe I’m crazy.., but I decided to dig up the garden. If there was someone buried there, I had to know.
So I dug. I went out to the garden, grabbed the shovel that was leaning against the shed, and started digging up Yuri’s garden. I had no idea where to start digging, so I just started in the area that had been recently rototilled. I figured it might be a bit easier.
I found myself taking my aggression out on the dirt. My frustration about not being able to sleep, my confusion about what was going on in the house, Erika being weirdly distant. The shovel was my fist and the garden was my punching bag.
After an hour or so, the hole was three or 4 feet deep. I needed a break so I threw down the shovel and just fell back against the side of the hole and slid to my butt. I sat in my hole and questioned my sanity again.
So far, I’d found nothing. I wasn’t confident that I would find anything. I just felt the need to keep going. It felt like the only thing I had any control of. I was about to get up and continue digging when I was startled by a voice behind me saying “not bad”.
I jumped up in a panic, turned around, and saw Erika sitting on the ground next to the hole. She was smiling. I had no idea how long she had been sitting there.
“What are you doing here,” I asked nervously, concerned that Erika wouldn’t be happy about me digging up the garden.
“I’m here for the harvest. It’s just about time.”
I was absolutely dumbfounded. She had this big smile on her face. She looked excited, almost giddy.
“What? It’s the middle of the night. Why are you here?” I asked.
“Don’t you want to see me?” She asked in a baby talk voice. “I wanted to see if you had any luck finding my ghost sister!” She laughed.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked angrily.
“What’s going on is that it’s harvest time! Well, almost. There’s still a few loose ends to tie up. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I just have to tell somebody. I’m pretty proud of myself.”
This was not the Erika I had spent time with. Even the way she spoke was different. I sat there stunned and confused as she continued explaining.
“The ritual is pretty much complete,” she exclaimed proudly. “It’s taken so much work, but incredible things always do.”
“The ritual? Are you talking about the weird cult stuff your dad was into?”
“Yeah,” she laughed. “The weird stuff! Ya see, the garden was the sacrificial ground my father chose years ago. The ritual requires a personal sacrifice. A child. I was not too pleased when he chose my sister. She didn’t even believe in him. I did though. It took some years for me to realize that he chose her because he knew that only I could complete the ritual.”
“What did you do..” I asked nervously.
“I completed the ritual. It requires.. let’s call it life force. A constant supply as well as larger more significant offerings. That’s why the health of the garden was always important. It’s like a candle. All the things that grow in the garden slowly fuel the candle and keep it from burning out by providing consistent life force. That’s not enough though. Extraordinary power requires extraordinary sacrifice.”
“What exactly was this extraordinary sacrifice?”
“People.. you’re actually about 2 feet away from one. If you were dug a little over to the right you would’ve hit him.” She laughed.
“This is insane! What does this have to do with me? Why has this weird stuff been happening in the night? Who the hell are you?!”
“You just happened to be the person who bought the house,” she said. “ I’ve spent so much time and energy bringing my father back. I certainly don’t want to spend the rest of my life behind bars after he awakens. Not only did I complete the ritual, but I might’ve pulled off the perfect crime!” She said gleefully.
“I don’t understand.. I..”
She interrupted me. “Well, I needed three more substantial sacrifices after you bought the house. I do appreciate you working on the garden and keeping it alive and well for us. I needed people though.”
She paused for a moment to light a cigarette. The big kaki smile never left her face. She continued explaining.
“What’s going to happen is that the police are going to come very soon.”
“No,” I said. “ I never called the cops.“
“I know,” she replied. “I did.. I have a friend and ally who works for a police department a few counties away. They recently told me that the sacrifices I had collected from different jurisdictions had been connected. I was careful, but at some point they connected the disappearances. That means it’s only a matter of time before they figure it out. I needed to get out in front of that.”
“What are you saying?” I asked.
“I’m saying that the police are going to show up and find you digging a hole in the middle of the night,” She said.
“What, so you’re trying to frame me?!” I yelled. “It’s not gonna work. I didn’t do anything! They will catch you! They’ll find evidence!”
“Oh shit!” She gasped. “I didn’t think about evidence! Oh wait. I absolutely did because my plan was fucking bulletproof!”
She tossed her cigarette on the ground and stomped it out.
“Just so you know, I won’t be picking up that one and bagging it up,” she laughed. “ I kind of can’t believe you didn’t get suspicious when I did last time. The police will find cigarette butts with your DNA on them at the scenes where the sacrifices disappeared. I put a few burn marks on the bodies to make sure they’d check the butts.”
“It won’t work,” I shouted. “ i’ll tell the police all about your plan.“
“That’s okay. They won’t believe you,” she said confidently. I also have your… reproductive material. Well I don’t now, but they’ll find it on the latest female sacrifice. That was a fun night, wasn’t it? I had such a good time I figured I’d take your garbage out for you the following day. It was pretty icky, but I grabbed the condom and saved it for a rainy day.”
“You’re sick..” I muttered.
“They’ll also find your blood,” she continued. “Sorry about that one. I’ll get you a new toothbrush cup to replace the one I broke. I’m not sure if they’ll let you have it in prison though.”
“You’re the one who will be rotting in prison!” I screamed. “They won’t believe you! I’ll tell them what you just told me!”
“I still like my chances,” she said, still laughing and smiling. “They will be here soon. They’re going to find you covered in dirt having been digging a hole in the middle of the night. Then they’re going to find a body in the corridor between the shed in the house. The body you were planning on burying tonight.”
“Corridor?” I asked, confused.
“Yeah, I guess I should have mentioned that when I was showing you the house. Years ago, Dad put in the corredor that leads from the house to a latch underneath the shed. All you have to do is push on the wall by the dining room table and it will pop out. It’s pretty neat! I’m kind of surprised you didn’t stumble onto it at some point. How did you think I was getting in and out at night, goofy?”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh come on,” she laughed. “Did you really think you were being visited by the ghost of my sister? I almost didn’t even go that route because it was so absurd! I just couldn’t think of another way to get you to start digging in the garden at night. I’m so excited that it worked though!”
“So it was all you? You broke in and wrote the note on the mirror? The diary? The footprints?”
“Footprints?” She asked before being interrupted by the sound of sirens in the distance.
“They’re almost here!” She exclaimed with excitement. Yeah, I was visiting in the night. I thought for sure you were going to catch me when I knocked over the coat rack! I closed the entrance to the corridor moments before you came out of your room. It was intense! I got more of a thrill from that than when we spent the night together!”
The sound of the sirens grew louder and I knew it wouldn’t be long before the police arrived. I knew I was innocent, but I was terrified. I wanted to run, but I didn’t want to look more guilty than Erika had already made me look. All I could do was hope that the police would believe me.
“No hard feelings?” Erika asked disingenuously.
“You’re a freak!” I yelled. “You need mental help!”
“Maybe so,” she said within a giggle. “If I were you, I’d be trying to convince the police that you’re the one who needs mental help though. It’ll probably be your only defense.”
“My defense is that I didn’t do anything! I’m going to tell him everything you just told me. I’m sure you messed up somewhere. They’ll figure it out! They won’t believe you!”
“Sure they will,” she said calmly as she walked over to the shed.
She walked into the shed for a brief moment and came out with a shovel in her hand.
“Your prints are all over the gardening tools too,” she said. “The same tools used to bury the sacrifices. The tools I used to feed the garden. Thanks again for all your help.”
“That proves nothing!” I screamed. “They won’t believe you!”
“Sure they will,” she said again with confidence.
She then flipped the shovel so the spade was up. She held it out in front of her face with both hands. She took a deep breath. Then, she smashed herself in the face with the shovel. She then quickly did it a second time.
She turned back toward me and I saw that there was blood running down her face. She must have broken her nose. It was gut wrenching to watch. She smiled through it though. She laughed before she started speaking again.
“I was driving by when I saw you out there digging. You had previously told me that you wanted to kill someone. It seemed like you were joking, but it made me nervous. When I walked in, I saw the body in the corridor. That’s when you spotted me. I begged for mercy, but you attacked me with the shovel.. luckily, the police arrived just in time.”
The sirens grew even louder and I knew that they were coming down my street. There was nothing I could do. I could only tell the truth and hope that they believed me. I felt frightened, betrayed, stupid, and angry all at the same time.
The police quickly made their way out to the garden. Erika’s demeanor flipped like a switch. She stopped laughing and started crying. She started screaming for help as the cops made their way around the house.
I knew what it looked like. I put my hands up. Erika started yelling that I attacked her. I just kept repeating “She’s lying. She hurt people.”
I was taken into custody. The cops who arrived at the scene did not seem to believe me at all. I told them everything she told me but they weren’t interested in listening. I was processed and taken to a holding cell. I kept telling myself that it was only temporary. I’m sure she messed up somewhere. The truth will come out.
So far, things haven’t played out the way I wanted them to. Every bit of the evidence Erika planted was recovered and is going to be used against me in court. So far, no one seems to believe my side of the story. She did a good job of covering her tracks, but she had to have messed up somewhere..
I will forever resent her for what she has done to me. Even if I am actually proven innocent, there will be people who always wonder. Gaining custody of my daughter is going to become a lot more difficult than it already was.
I’ve been locked up for a few weeks now. I am writing this so maybe someone out there will know what really happened. It’s pretty much all I’m allowed to do.. I continuously receive bad news as I await my court date. More evidence that makes me look bad. More universal praise for Erika being a strong woman who survived an attack from a brutal killer.
I’ve only had one visitor before today. Just Tim. He’s one of my oldest and best friends. He’s come a couple times to support me. He’s pretty much the only one on my side. Even my public defender clearly didn’t believe me. I requested to be assigned a new one, but haven’t heard back yet.
I’ve asked Tim to share my side of the story. The true story. He said he would share it somewhere online in hopes of gaining some support.
My only other visit came today. It was a man I hadn’t met before. He was an older guy who I assumed was my new public defender. He sat down and immediately started talking.
“Hello, Ben. How are you holding up?” He asked.
“Not great,” I replied. “Who are you?”
“I’m someone who believes you.”
I actually felt a little excited. It felt like no one was on my side up to this point.
“You’re the only one,” I told him.
“Maybe.. I’d like to help you out however I can though. I’ve added money to your commissary. It’s not a ton, but it’s something. I’ll add more as soon as I can.”
“Wow. Thanks,” I said. “..but why do you want to help me?”
“Because you’ve helped me. Whether you know it or not, you’ve aided me tremendously,” he replied. “I don’t know if there’s anything I can do to help you get you out of here, but I’ll try. Until then, I’ll try to help make it more comfortable in here for you.”
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“That’s okay,” he replied. “You’ve been through a lot. I just wanted you to know that you aren’t alone. I owe you a debt, and I intend to repay it however I am able.”
I was completely confused. I had absolutely no clue who this guy was. I didn’t know why he was trying to help me. I didn’t know if you wanted something from me.
The guard came in to tell us that our time was up. I thanked the man even though I didn’t understand his motivations. He got up and tipped his cap, an old timey looking fedora.
He started walking away before turning around briefly. Then he said “Oh, I almost forgot. Thank you for tending to the garden.” He then winked before turning around and walking out the door.