9
HEATHER
I take hold of Rupert’s hands and start to pull.
As his body begins to move across the ground, I feel like I’m back in that nightmare that I had just before Chloe called me. The sights, sounds and smells are almost the same. The sight of the blood on the shirt. The sound of the body scraping over wet leaves. And the smell of death, that unmistakable stench that fills my nostrils and makes me feel like I am going to be sick.
But this is no nightmare. This is very much real life, and if I needed a reminder then the presence of my daughter at the other end of the body does it for me.
‘I can’t do it,’ she says, losing her grip on Rupert’s ankles again and causing his feet to flop down onto the floor.
‘Yes, you can,’ I tell her, but it’s more of a command than a fact.
I feel terrible for making Chloe go through this, but I know things will be even worse for her if we call the police. If she had insisted, then I would have dialled 999, but I could sense there was doubt there, so it was my duty as a parent to act to protect her. She doesn’t know what is best for her at this moment in time. Of course she doesn’t, she has just seen somebody die right in front of her eyes, and that kind of thing takes a long time to come to terms with. But because of that, it’s up to me to act in her best interests, and despite her scepticism, I know this is the best thing to do.
This way, she has a chance of still having a normal life. This way, she won’t just be some girl that everybody gossips about and Googles.
This way, she can still be the same beautiful woman I know she is blossoming into.
I might be biased and maybe even a little deranged, but one thing I’m not is stupid. I know we are taking a massive risk now. There’s no way to avoid it. We’re moving a body, and we’re hopefully going to keep it hidden forever. It’s hardly an everyday occurrence. There are probably very few people alive right now on this planet who can even understand what this feels like. Now my daughter is one of them, through no fault of her own. It was just a stupid, senseless accident. A young life snuffed out. Sadly, it happens every day. Car crashes. Trips and falls. Disease. Sheer bad luck. Rupert isn’t the first person to die before his time, and sadly, he won’t be the last. But life goes on, as cold as that might sound to say it, and those who are still alive have every right to fight to make their existence as painless as possible, at least until their own day of reckoning comes.
That’s why I am doing this for my daughter. I will take as much of the burden of tonight onto myself as possible, which will hopefully enable her to still have a very long, healthy and happy life. Isn’t that what every parent wants for their child? I’m no different.
It’s just I’m having to take things to the extreme.
‘Come on, Chloe. The sooner we get him to the trees, the sooner this will be over.’
My daughter glares at me, and I’m not sure if it’s contempt that she harbours for me, but she eventually does as she is told and grabs hold of Rupert’s ankles again.
With her assistance, moving the body is much easier, and it doesn’t take as long as I had feared it would to get him out of the open field and into the treeline where things are much more obscured.
‘How far do we have to go?’ Chloe asks me as if there is some set distance that all ‘body movers’ must adhere to. But of course there isn’t. You just have to do your best, like anything else in life, I suppose.
‘A little further,’ I say, glancing over my shoulder at the dark woods beyond.
The woodland is too dense for the moonlight to seep through to us down here, and it is getting darker the further we go. With that in mind, I decide this is far enough.
‘Okay, let’s put him down,’ I say, and Chloe is only too happy to let go of the poor man’s limbs again.
I’m a little more careful in letting go of Rupert’s arms, lowering them more slowly until they are resting gently on the ground beside his torso. I’m trying to be as respectful as I can be considering what I’m currently doing. Yes, I’m trying to hide his body, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t treat it well while it is in my care.
‘Now what?’
Chloe’s question is a reminder that while we have now managed to move the body to a more discreet location, there is still much to do before I can be sure that nobody will ever find it again. But that’s my problem now. This is where I take over.
‘I’m taking you home,’ I reply, walking back in the direction of the car park.
‘What?’
Chloe comes after me, but I make sure to keep walking so we don’t slow down. Every minute we waste is one minute closer to sunrise, and the body has to be buried by then, or both of us are in serious trouble.
‘Mum! What are you doing?’
Chloe grabs my arm, and even though I try to keep going, she is stronger than I anticipate and is easily able to pull me back. I turn and face her, or at least what I can see of her. Most of her face is in darkness, the large tree we are standing beside doing a great job of blocking out the moon above.
‘Listen to me. I’m taking you home, and you are going to go to bed. On the way back, you will text Zara and tell her that you were feeling sick
