Sarah

by Polen, Teri

  I’d known Jacob was shallow and only thought about himself, but to treat someone like that, embarrass and attack them, all for a bet? To think so little about another person’s feelings? His story varied from Sarah’s, but I figured neither was the absolute truth, more somewhere in between.

  “Is that the story you’re sticking with, Jacob? According to Sarah, there was a little more to it. She said Liam and Nathan held her down.”

  In response, Jacob raised his chin and halfway smiled, almost as if he was gloating.

  “You know, Cain, maybe we should let Sarah have him. After hearing this story, now I’m thinking maybe that’s not such a bad thing,” Finn said, his voice full of contempt as he glowered at Jacob.

  “You might be right.”

  “How could you treat someone like that, Jacob? Were you raised by a pack of feral dogs?”

  Jacob’s brows drew together in confusion. “What do you mean? It was just a joke, guys. What’s the big deal?”

  I shook my head in disbelief. “Just finish the story and get this over with.”

  Jacob shrugged his shoulders and continued. “Anyway, Sarah didn’t want to kiss me. She kept screaming and Liam and Nathan were still laughing, but now the idiots were laughing at me, and I knew they’d never let me live it down, so I grabbed Sarah’s shoulders.”

  “You forced her to kiss you?” I asked.

  “I see mug shots written all over your future, Jacob. What’s wrong with you? She said no. It should have ended there.”

  “I forgot, you’re used to hearing no from girls all the time, Finn, but I’m not. Even if they say no, they’re just playing hard to get. Girls think guys like that kind of thing.”

  Finn dove for the back seat, but I grabbed the back of his collar before he made it over. “Stop! Jacob, just finish the story.”

  With Jacob breathing heavily and staring daggers at Finn, I knew he was seething, but needed us too much. Finn knew it, too, which is probably why he smirked at Jacob.

  “Anyway, she pushed me away before I could kiss her, and it made me mad, you know? No girl has ever shoved me away, but I knew she really wanted me to kiss her, and I told Liam and Nathan to hold her. Sarah kept fighting, trying to get away and her stupid heel must have gotten caught in something, because the next thing we knew, she’d tripped and stumbled backwards and hit her head on the floor. When she stood up, blood was dripping in her eyes and I guess she couldn’t see very well. She had on some kind of scarf thing and wiped off the blood, then tried to run, but missed the first step and fell. She screeched all the way down the stairs.

  “Then there was silence. I don’t know what was worse. Hearing the screaming or the way it cut off when she hit the bottom.”

  Jacob stared straight ahead, his eyes unfocused as he remembered. He wasn’t fooling me – remorse wasn’t part of his genetic makeup and I wished him nightmares for the rest of his life. However long that would be. “What happened after that?”

  His head snapped up, almost like he was surprised to find us there. “We ran down the stairs to check on Sarah, but she wasn’t moving. Her head was still bleeding a little, but the scarf kept it from dripping, and one of her legs was twisted around and I knew it was probably broken. Liam felt for a pulse, but said he couldn’t find one. Nathan and I tried CPR, but nothing worked.”

  “Did you call 911? Call anyone at all for help?” I asked.

  Jacob looked incredulous, his brows raised. “Call for help? Do you know how much trouble we would have been in? Besides, it was too late and there was nothing anyone could do, because she was dead.”

  “So you just gave up on her. Did you ever think about at least dropping her off at the emergency room? You didn’t even need to go in with her. All you had to do was get Sarah to someone who could have helped her.” It was inconceivable to me Jacob was so self-absorbed that he and his friends getting in trouble outweighed the cost of Sarah’s life. They had tricked her into believing Jacob wanted to be with her, lured her out there, and then didn’t seek help after she was injured. Don’t get me wrong, Sarah’s murderous vengeance was unconscionable, but no one deserved what those three had done to her.

  “Even if we’d gotten her to a hospital and they’d revived her, she would have told them what we did. Our parents would have killed us and we were trespassing in that house.”

  “What about her parents? Did you think what it would be like for them? Not ever knowing what had happened to her? The pain and grief they’d go through? Wait, what am I saying? Of course you didn’t think about them. You were only worried about saving your own pathetic lives.” If I didn’t quit running my hands through my hair, I wouldn’t have any left, but Jacob was making me crazy. “What else?”

  “We knew we couldn’t put her in the trunk of our cars, I’ve seen on television shows about hairs and fibers and all that, so we decided to bury her. Nathan had some camping equipment in his car, so we got a shovel and carried her through the woods until we found a good place. The grave’s pretty far from your house and it’s well hidden, so you’d never find it without me, Cain. And if you have any ideas about going to the police and telling them what happened, think again. Her body is in the vicinity of your house and you know a lot of details about her disappearance. I’ll deny everything. You’ve been acting so weird at school anyway, it wouldn’t be a big stretch to come up with some motive for you killing Liam and Nathan either.”

  What? Jacob had ideas of pinning this on me? But then I frowned and pulled back. Because Jacob was right. My actions had been out of character lately - stalking football practice more than once, huge public breakup with my ex-girlfriend, who was now dating Jacob, and spouting stories about a vengeful ghost. All circumstantial, but it wouldn’t take much for the cops to look in my direction if someone pointed them my way.

  Finn had been silent for an abnormal amount of time, and I turned to see his reaction to Jacob’s story.

  “I’m trying to think of a good reason, just one, to keep from tying you up, wrapping you in a pretty box, and delivering you to Sarah myself. That’s after I strip you naked to make it easier for her to get to your protruding body parts. I’ll bet she’s got something special planned for you, Jacob. Probably saving the most brutal method of killing for last, don’t you think?”

  The color visibly drained from Jacob’s face and his hands trembled as he rubbed his forehead.

  “Jacob, you may not have to answer for Sarah’s death now, but some day you will, and that’s between you and God. If you’re even given the chance to explain,” Finn said.

  Amen to that.

  Chapter 31

  Trudging through the marshy area behind my house with Finn and Jacob, surrounded by menacing darkness, wasn’t at the top of the list of things I’d like to do. But if it could help us rid the world of the murdering evil spirit also known as Sarah, I’d dress up as prom queen, wear the biggest sparkly tiara I could find, and sing Zippity-Doo-Dah.

  My whole body felt like a warm, damp sponge from the humidity. And then there were the mosquitoes – I’d lost at least a pint of blood. I carried a forty pound bag of salt, unsure of how much we’d need, but I figured the more the better. Finn lugged a container of gasoline, and Jacob a bag of other supplies, leading the way through the woods with a flashlight. All three of us carried shovels. It had been several months since Sarah was buried, so we weren’t sure how hard the ground would be at her grave. Since I’d first met Mona and learned which materials were required to get rid of Sarah, I’d stocked all the items in the garage for when we’d need them. Once we found out where she was buried, the last thing I wanted to do was go on a shopping spree.

  “Jacob, we’ve been walking for a while now and I’m beginning to wonder if we’re going i
n circles. Are you sure you remember where Sarah is buried?”

  “How could I forget something like that, Finn? It’s not like I bury a body every day.”

  “Well, you lied about the first one, so who’s to say it’s never happened before? Maybe we should start correlating your whereabouts with the backs of milk cartons.”

  Jacob stopped and faced Finn, the glow from the flashlight revealing a scowl across Jacob’s face. “It wouldn’t take much for me to add another grave, Finn, so I’d suggest you shut your face.”

  “Come on, guys. Lock it up until we get this over with.”

  “Keep your dog on a leash, Cain, and this will go a lot faster.”

  Before Finn had a chance to react, I jumped in front of him. “Don’t even think about it,” I hissed. “Keep the end game in sight, alright? Once Sarah’s gone, you can deal with Jacob.”

  I knew Finn was close to erupting and it was killing him to keep silent, but he nodded and continued.

  We’d been walking about twenty minutes and after passing through two more swarms of mosquitoes, Jacob came to a halt and surveyed the area with his flashlight. “We’re close. There, behind that grouping of rocks,” he said, sweeping the beam over a pile of mossy rocks rising a few feet from the ground. “We thought maybe the rocks would keep the animals from getting to her body,” he said, pulling at his collar. At least he had the decency to look guilty after that statement. But since it was Jacob, he was probably just stretching his shirt away from his sticky body.

  Jacob led us around to the other side of the rocks and we dropped our equipment, while he took the camping lanterns out of his bag and set them in a semi-circle, allowing us enough light to see what we turned up in the dirt. Although I knew this was what needed to happen to erase Sarah from this world, it still didn’t lessen the creep factor of being with an accidental murderer in a sinister forest and digging up the body of his victim, someone who would take great pleasure in gutting me.

  “How deep is she buried, Jacob?” I asked.

  “Um, maybe a few feet at the most? We were pretty nervous and just wanted to finish it and get away from here.”

  “Yeah, it was probably still early and you had other parties to get to, right?” Finn voiced exactly what I’d been thinking, but didn’t want to waste any time starting a fight with Jacob.

  “Look, Finn, I’m willing to forget you said that because I don’t want to spend any more time here than I have to. I mean, it’s pretty spooky, don’t you think? It kind of feels like we’re being watched,” Jacob said, scouring the perimeter of light given off by the lanterns.

  Honestly, I halfway expected Sarah to make an appearance here tonight because I didn’t see her going down without a fight. Would she know we were here? Was it something she could sense? Finn and I were wearing our protection amulets and we’d given one to Jacob, but that didn’t mean Sarah wouldn’t defend her grave and try to prevent us from salting and torching her remains. “Let’s just get started.”

  The three of us dug in silence for a period of time, but when we didn’t turn up anything, Jacob admitted he might be off a few feet, so we split up to cover a broader area. We’d trekked through a marshy area to get here, but now we were on solid ground and without any rain over the past few weeks, the digging was strenuous and all three of us were dripping sweat and dirt.

  For a while, the only noises we heard were shovels hitting the packed earth, a few curses here and there, and the occasional slap of a hand against mosquitoes feeding on exposed body parts.

  “I’ve got something,” Finn said, his voice wavering a little. “Bring over a light.”

  Jacob grabbed a lantern and we rushed over to where Finn had been digging. About two feet down, there was what looked like part of a yellow purse. “This is it,” Jacob said, swallowing loudly. “We wrapped her body in an old blanket and almost forgot her purse. Liam threw it in while we covered her up.”

  The three of us continued digging, but a little more carefully now that we knew Sarah’s body was there, because we didn’t want to stab her with a shovel. Despite all the unspeakable things she’d done, it still seemed disrespectful. A few more inches down, we were hit by a wall of stench, the smell of a rotting, decaying body. The blanket they’d used had done nothing to contain that pungent odor and we all lunged away from the grave, seeking fresh air. Jacob gagged and turned to vomit into a bush.

  “Breathe through your mouth,” Finn said. “It makes it a little easier to handle.” The thought of that smell in my mouth was enough to make me look for a bush of my own, but at least the odor wasn’t quite as overwhelming.

  “Does the salt have to be directly on her body or can it be poured onto the blanket?” Finn asked.

  That thought hadn’t occurred to me until Finn mentioned it, but I didn’t want to take any chances. “Just to be sure, let’s sprinkle it directly on her body. We’ll have to dig around her to remove it.”

  We shoveled a little more, brushing dirt away from the blanket, until my hand hit something that didn’t feel like dirt or a blanket and I jerked away in revulsion, afraid of what I’d just touched. “Everyone stop. Don’t uncover any more. Finn, bring the light closer,” I said, my voice unsteady.

  My fears were confirmed when the lantern revealed a gruesome sight. Sarah’s hand had either fallen out of the blanket or she’d worked it free, and dirt was encrusted under her jagged and broken fingernails. Small patches of skin were missing, which I assumed were from insects or whatever was in the ground with her.

  Jacob’s eyes bulged, and his mouth opened and closed as he struggled to find words.

  “Sarah wasn’t lying, Jacob. She really was alive when the three of you dumped her body. How could you have been so careless?” Finn asked, his voice growing in intensity as he accused Jacob.

  “W-w-w-we thought she was dead! Liam checked for a pulse! He said she was dead!”

  “And none of you idiots thought to confirm it? Were you dropped on your head as a child or just born this stupid?” Finn was unable to stand still, pacing and muttering to himself in his anger.

  Jacob shook his head rapidly as he continued staring at Sarah’s exposed hand, unable to accept the abominable result of his egotistical actions, which was now lying in a decomposing pile in front of him. “He’s right, Jacob. Why wouldn’t you and Nathan have confirmed what Liam said? This was a person’s life and you treated her no better than trash you toss to the curb.”

  “You murdered her!” Finn yelled, his voice gruff and coarse with outrage. “Maybe you didn’t mean to, I really don’t care, but your asinine bet and misguided belief that all women want you got her out here and then got her killed! How can you live with yourself, Jacob? Really - I want to know.”

  Even though I felt the same emotions as Finn, I knew it wouldn’t do any good for both of us to attack Jacob. But how did Jacob go on about his life and sleep at night, knowing what they’d done to Sarah? If I’d been in the same situation, I would have called for help right away, no matter the consequences, because the truth would come out eventually and hiding it would only make matters worse. And Sarah would still be alive. I liked to think I was a good person and not stupid enough to play puppet master with someone else’s life over a moronic bet.

  Jacob set his sights on Finn, his mouth drawn in a hard line, jaw squared, the shock of burying Sarah alive having worn off as his self-defense mode activated. “Look, I told you it was an accident and we believed Sarah was dead when we buried her. We thought there was nothing we could do for her, so calling for help wouldn’t have helped anyone. Our lives would have been ruined over something we didn’t mean to happen and it’s not fair to punish us for it, so just shut up about it and let’s get to the reason we came here.”

 
Again I thought maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to let Sarah have a few minutes alone with Jacob before we salted and burned her body. He was both directly and indirectly responsible for all of this - Sarah’s death, the haunting and killing - and he only cared about how it could have affected him. His lack of compassion sickened me and I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

  “What about Sarah’s parents, Jacob? Going through life and never knowing if their daughter was alive or dead? At least give them some closure and take responsibility. It’s called being an adult and accepting the consequences of your actions,” I said, knowing my words would have little, if any effect on Jacob. He was incapable of seeing the big picture and only worried about the impact on his own little world.

  “If you’re so worried about Sarah’s parents and their feelings, why didn’t you go to them when you began seeing her, Cain? Don’t judge me until you take a look at yourself.”

  Jacob’s words stunned me into silence. I’d thought about seeing them when I believed Sarah was here to get a message to her parents, not for vengeance. Outside of that, no, it had never occurred to me to go to Sarah’s parents. What would I have told them? The ghost of your daughter is a psychopathic killer with a taste for blood? Don’t count on seeing her in your afterlife? No matter what Sarah had become, hearing revelations like that about their daughter, assuming they’d even believe me, could only hurt them more, not help.

  “We could stand here all night discussing Jacob’s lack of humanity and intelligence, and he’d still be dumber than a brick, so can we just do this?” Finn asked, ripping the top off the bag of salt.

  Finn and Jacob were like cats hissing at each other every few minutes, but worked silently as Jacob gently pushed the blanket away from the rest of Sarah’s body, a sight that would headline my nightmares for years to come, while Finn dumped the forty pound bag of salt into the grave, spreading it over Sarah’s body and making sure she was thoroughly covered. I poured a generous amount of gasoline over the salt, then pulled out the box of matches I’d taken from the kitchen. Before striking it against the side of the box, I felt the urge to say a prayer, not only to ask forgiveness for the irreverent act we were about to perform, but to request that it be successful and eradicate Sarah from our lives so she could move on – to wherever her soul deserved to go. I’d leave that decision to someone else, but if it were up to me, Sarah would be descending instead of ascending.