Claiming victory for my Story a Day today and it’s again doing double duty as my Thursday Threads piece. This week’s sentence to tie our stories together: ” It was so long ago, but the memories hadn’t faded.”
I went back every fall to see the place where she died. It was so long ago, but the memories hadn’t faded, at least not for me.
The water was low this year and I could see the rocks at the bottom of the stream bed. Sharp, gashing rocks where she had bled to death.
My throat closed up and I started shaking as flashes of the scene rushed in. The auburn hair, half matted with blood and yet still floating in a cloud around her unblemished face, the wound hidden beneath. Her schoolbag laying on the ground along with her flute case, as if she’d stopped for a moment to look at something.
I grimaced and unclenched my hand. The rose and the few bits of my blood it had claimed arced out of my hand and were soon carried away by the swift current. Fitting that our blood should be forever mingled that way. After all, she’d died instead of me.
Ever the big sister, Mary Jean had offered to talk to my boyfriend for me. Help him see that we should break up. They couldn’t prove he’d killed her but I’d known and after fifteen years I’d finally gotten our revenge.
“You can rest in peace now. Car accident, at least that’s what the police report said.”