A Not So Normal Day

It was a cold day and the grey clouds were laced across the sky. Sara was pulling into her driveway.

"I don't understand why the stores are so crowded, I can't believe that I had to stand in line for 15 minutes. And why is food so darn expensive nowadays?" Sara mumbled to herself as she carried the last of the grocery bags into her small kitchen.

She took off her jacket, threw it onto the couch, and started to put the food away when she realized she left the trunk of her car open. "Oh man!", she exclaimed, not wanting to go back out in the cold. She quickly ran back outside, and shivered as the cool wind blew across her bare arms. She reached out to close the trunk and suddenly felt a cold hand press firmly against her mouth.

"Don't scream", she heard a deep voice mutter.

Her heart raced and she froze, not knowing what she should do. Then her adrenaline kicked in and she threw her head backwards into the man's nose. She heard a cracking sound and was pretty sure she just broke his nose.

He swore and let go of her. Sara turned and pushed him away from her with all her strength. The man, still clutching his nose and moaning, toppled over hard and hit his head with a thud on the edge of Sara's car. He fell forward, with his head in her trunk, where the groceries had just been. He didn't move. Sara caught her breath and looked around. No one else was in sight. The man still didn't move. She reached out slowly and felt for a pulse, nothing. He was dead.

"Think, think" she said to herself. "Think, think," she mumbled again.

She panicked and slowly heaved him into the trunk and slammed it shut. She didn't want to involve the police. After her unwarranted arrest for a DUI last month, she never wanted to see another cop. So instead, she ran inside and grabbed her jacket and car keys.

"I'll just drive him out into the country a bit and leave his body there, she thought. It was self defense...it was an accident... I didn't mean for him to die... he probably would have killed me...". The thoughts kept flying through Sara's head, faster than she was driving.

Sara drove for about an hour and then stopped to get gas before she got out to where it was more remote. The last thing she needed was to run out of gas, she thought. Today was already a crazy day.

She pumped the gas, her hands wouldn't stop sweating. She was trying to be patient, as the tank filled at a painfully slow pace. She felt like everyone was watching her and wondering why she was so nervous. She put the gas cap back on and quickly got into her car. At the same time, a young man, with dark beady eyes, and a cap on his head, jumped into the passenger seat and yelled, "Drive, drive!"

Sara froze. "What in the world?" Sara thought as she looked at the man, not planning on going anywhere. Then she saw that he was holding a gun, as the light flickered off of it.

He pointed the gun right at her and said in a rough, low voice, "I said drive!"

Sara slowly started to drive, her hands shaking on the wheel. They drove for a few minutes, and then he told her to pull off on a remote road. The man yelled loudly at her to stop the car! Sara immediately slammed on the brakes and threw the car into park. She grabbed her keys and jumped out of the car and started to run, but the man was faster as he jumped out and ran to her and grabbed her arm roughly and yanked her towards him. She hit him as hard as she could, but he didn't even seem to notice. She tried to kick him, but he lifted her off of the ground and she felt like a rag doll, being swung around in every direction.

He accidently fired his gun and saw Sara go limp and fall hard on the ground, as the bullet entered the side of her head.

The man swore and kicked the ground, he just wanted to steal her car, not kill her. He ran to the car and opened the trunk to see if there were any tools in there, he was thinking he could bury this woman and no one would ever find her. As the trunk flew open, he gasped, and swore again, when he saw the dead man in there. "What the heck is going on?" He yelled loudly? He slowly pulled the man out of the trunk and looked at the two bodies lying side by side on the cold, hard ground.

The next day, as the sun shone down between the clouds, two policemen were standing in the same spot, looking down at the two bodies on the ground. "It looks like a murder, suicide", the older cop said, as he scratched his nose.

"Seems that way to me", said the younger cop, and he shuffled his feet on the dirt, and he looked around at the scene. A dead man and a dead woman, lying dead on the ground. The man had a gun held loosely in his hand. They both had been shot in the head. The car was close by, with the door and trunk open. The woman clutched the car keys in her fist. No one else was in sight.

"It must have been a lover's quarrel", said the younger cop.

"I'll never understand why two people who love each other can end up like this," said the older cop.

The heard a siren and waited in silence for the ambulance to come. Then they watched the paramedics slowly put the two bodies in the ambulance and drive away. The two cops got into their police car and turned slowly around to head back to the station.