Dead Leaves

Part One: A Body

It’s all fun and games until you find a body. I was staying at my grandfather’s house for the summer. My mom was fed up with me, so she shipped me off to the middle of nowhere. Grandad’s house was basically just a rundown shack, in the deep woods of Missouri. Fun times. But, at sixteen years old, I really just needed a place to smoke my weed anyway. Plus, I met a cute older girl, who lived just a mile down the road. So, it wasn’t a punishment, like my mom had hoped, it was the perfect situation. Almost.

I had started watching my grandpa from out in the woods, where I smoked my pot. I noticed there was some strange activity going on. Grandpa was always a little odd though. Living alone for years out in the boonies would drive anyone a little mad, I would suppose.

I watched him, night after night, going out to the old shed behind the house. What the hell was he doing in there? He would stay in there for at least a couple of hours. Then, he would emerge, lock it up and back to the house he would shuffle.

I went to the shed one night to investigate, but found he had two locks on the door. Two padlocks! For what? Who was going to come way out to the sticks to break into a raggedy, ancient, woodshed? Nobody, that's who. It was suspicious.

One morning, over breakfast, I decided to just ask him what he did out there every night. He uttered one word, “Tools.” That was it for the explanation. It sure didn't satisfy my curiosity. I set out to solve this mystery. I decided this was going to take a lot more weed and some camping equipment, to set up a surveillance area in the woods. I was going to get to the bottom of grandpa's antics or happily overdose on pot, trying.

My plan was set in motion, and I headed out to score some more weed first. I took a shortcut through the woods, to find a guy named Jerry. He lived on a farm, a few miles up the road. Every time I came to visit grandpa, Jerry would hook me up. He was a scroungy dude, thirty years old and a real loser but he had the stuff.

His parents died in a car wreck, when he was twenty years old and left him the farm. He let all the young misfits in town hang out at his place. He could get them alcohol and drugs, so he was a teenager magnet, pretty much. Parents loathed him and he got in trouble frequently, letting minors have parties out in his barn. But he was my only go to here. I needed that marijuana.

I was walking through the trees, kicking at the leftover dried fall leaves, when I found it. I had stopped, noticing a long, oddly shaped mound of leaves. It was about the size of a small grave. As I got closer, I noticed something of a textured, brown material. At first, I thought it was a deer. I noticed a shovel propped against a tree nearby. I grabbed it and nudged at the mound of leaves. That’s when I realized it was not a deer. The brown material was part of a jacket, and the jacket was on a human body! I jumped back in horror.

After the initial shock and my breathing had returned, I scooped all the leaves off the mound, with my hands. Obviously, someone had dug a shallow grave and covered the top of the body with the leaves.

It was a girl around my age. Fifteen, sixteen, maybe even seventeen? She looked like she was just sleeping, except for those dark bruises on her neck. My heart was thumping hard, as I studied her. She was wearing a silver heart necklace, the chain crimped and twisted, up near the bruises on her neck.

I looked around and instantly decided that I would have to cover her back up. I was shaking, as I hurriedly brushed the leaves back in place over her. I put the shovel back against the tree. My thoughts racing, I ran the rest of the way, through the woods, to Jerry’s farmhouse.

“Holy Toledo, dude! Kevin, did we just see a ghost?” Jerry snickered, opening the dilapidated screen door for me. I was shaking and felt sick to my stomach. “Can I use your bathroom?” I choked out, almost falling into the house. “Just don't stink it up!” Jerry called after me, laughing.

I promptly fell to my knees at his crusty toilet, emptying the contents of my stomach. All I could think was, I can't tell anyone! Not Jerry, not anyone! They would think I did it! That I killed her! Hell, I was sent here for being a bad kid! I was known for fighting, back home. They would say, “He is known for being a violent kid!” I spent half the school year in the principal's office and detention, for Pete's sake. They would send me jail or prison! For something I didn't do! Fuck that! I came out of the bathroom slowly and stiffly. Jerry eyed me suspiciously.

“Want Weed?” he asked me, with dramatics, eyebrows raised. I nodded yes, not trusting my voice. I plopped down on his filthy, stained with who knows what, couch. I also did not trust my legs, to hold me up. What I did trust, was that I had to pretend that nothing had just happened. I had to somehow erase the image of the dead girl.

Yes, I agreed with myself, I would need to smoke alot of marijuana that day. As I watched him pulling out the merchandise, my brain suddenly started working again. I heard myself croak out, “Got any camping equipment?” …Thanks for reading! So, stay tuned for Kevin’s severe pot smoking habit and the surveillance of his oddball of a grandpa! What’s a body got to do with it? We shall see...