A Walk Through the Woods
By Pia Euler-Vestey
A walk through the woods helps me relax and release tension. The fact that I’m dragging a body behind me should be irrelevant. Rain begins to patter on the leaves around me and I can tell there’s going to be a very harsh storm. The person’s starting to get heavy. I let go of her feet and sit down by a humongous tree. Randomly finding a body on your first date isn’t exactly ideal. The fact that he ran away in his car isn’t helpful either. I have to get to the police. I put my hood on over my dark long hair. I get up and grab the girl’s feet again. I push past the unforgiving shrubbery and the smell of rotting leaves. I make it to the side of the road and watch a couple cars drive past until one of them stops. How was I supposed to explain to this woman that my hair was dripping wet because I had found a body and had to bring it to the police?
“You alright, honey?”
“Could you call 911 please. My, um, friend is injured in the woods and I don’t have my phone.”
“Oh of course darling.” I wish she didn’t call me those things. Her coffee breath made me feel more sick than ever. She pulled out her white iPhone and dialled the number. I shivered as I felt how soaked through I was. She handed the phone. I put it to my ear.
“9-1-1 what is your emergency?”
“Hi I, um, found a dead body in the woods?” I whisper facing away from the lady in the car.
“Ma’am what location are you at?”
“I’m at the regional national park.”
“Are you in need of any immediate assistance or medical attention?”
“Well I’d be grateful if you could get rid of it.”
“We are on our way ma’am.”
I turn around and hand the lady her phone. I watch her car pull away and her trying to shout ‘good luck’ over the obnoxiously loud sound of thunder. The police were upon the dead body and I in less than five minutes. They shouted and shouted and the ambulance came, taking the body. I get shoved against one of the police cars and get put in handcuffs all the time shouting that it’s not my fault. And yet here I sit in a room with textured padded walls that smell of plastic.
Word Count: 430
Rationale
I wrote this story to explore the theme of Justice and how it isn’t always equal nor fair. My story features a main character who’s name isn’t revealed. She goes on a first date with a guy and as they stroll she spots a dead body. The guy runs off and leaves her stranded in a forest and the body. She decides she has to bring the body to the police and make them aware that a crime has been committed. However, this backfires when the police think she’s a psychopath and refuse to listen to the truth. They lock her up. I chose to write her story in first person become it really allows the reader to become involved and see the right perspective. Had I written this in the perspective of the officers at the scene, the reader would’ve been as suspicious as the officers were. Through this story I wanted to show that the justice system is sometimes flawed and one must see every perspective before making decisions.
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