There was a murder.

There was a murder, there was. 

“There wasn’t, mam,” 

Was I talking out loud? 

“Yes, mam, your talking, I can hear you,” 

There was a murder, there was.

“No, mam there wasn’t,” His soothing tone finally pierced through the veil of fog that I felt over me. The cop’s hand rested on my outstretched arm. I jerked away from it instinctively and melted into myself. 

There was a murder, there was. 

“Mam, we found no evidence of a murder,” I detected the slightly agitated edge his tone had.

“I’m not agitated, mam,” He sighed, exasperated, “Why don’t you head on down to the precinct, your son’s waiting for you there, he’s pretty shaken up,” 

Son? 

Karl. 

The name seemed familiar somehow…

There was a murder, there was.

Karl, my husband.  

“Mam, Karl is your son, not your husband…” His voice took a cautioned edge.

The cornfield. 

The memory was very prominent.

A face, hazel eyes with long swooping auburn hair dangling over them, a soft joking smile…And another, a horribly eroded creature, there was no way it was alive. If I could have used one word to describe it, it would be rotted. The first thing I noticed was its eyes. Dull and glassy, focusing on something unseen, in the distance mounted on a lopsided head leaned too far to one side. Its cheekbones stook out of its face, I was sure that every single bone in its body was visible. Its skin was ashy pale with a thick layer of grime coating it, all of its limbs were bent at unnatural angles and largely deteriorated. it seemed lifeless, it seemed...human. 

I was not afraid, for it was human.  

The memory was very prominent. 

The creature seemed to move itself, dragging itself across the cornfield, then it saw. I could feel the bloodlust and hatred coming in waves off the creature, its eyes snapped upwards and locked with my husband, its head cocked to the side, and it lunged. 

The horrible bloodcurdling outcry of the creature, and its match, mine. I was afraid now, afraid for Karl. Our screams were the only ones, Karl was dead silent. 

The memory was very prominent.

I could see out of the corner of my eye, Karl’s features soften, his eyes flash with recognition, then his lip tugs up into a sneer. “Ryan,” He breathed his voice cracking slightly, “Welcome back,” 

The creature hesitated, I could tell the name meant something to it.

It’s pause was very brief. It surged forward again, It’s cold-rotting hand slipped deep into his chest, blood bubbling from the surface of the wound. Karl convulsed, he stumbled forward, into the creature. 

The creature smiled, I could call it a smile. By definition, a smile happened when someone was pleased or amused. 

It was most certainly both. I could see the hunger in its expression, along with pleasure lining every eroded feature. A moan of bliss came from the creature as its hand sunk in further. 

This was when I reacted. 

The memory was very prominent. 

Karl. 

I wasn’t sure If I even said the word, or mouthed it. I was utterly shocked, so many emotions flooded my body rendering me useless. 

This was when my instincts reacted. 

My first concern was Karl. I lurched forward. 

The memory was very prominent. 

The creature's head lifted, it’s eyes found mine. I could not read emotion through them. It’s hand retracted, the crimson coated glob that it was dropped to its side, completing its purpose. 

Karl slumped to the ground, groaning softly.

“Karl!” My instincts yelled as I crumbled to the ground next to him. 

Then, I heard a sound. I didn’t recognize it at first, my most prominent concern being Karl, but then I knew what it was. A laugh. 

It didn’t sound like a normal human laugh, although I could hear the joyous undertone, the voice sounded as if someone had swallowed a gallon of sand before speaking. 

“I’m falling,” the voice said, I heard the horrible laugh once again, “I’m falling,”

I didn’t have to look up to know it was the creature talking if I could even call it that. 

The memory was very prominent. 

I remember sacrificing one second to look away from Karl…

The creature was rotting. Particles of it whisked around the air as more of it fell apart, chunks of it hitting the ground. 

It laughed on, its mouth forming the words I’m falling, I'm falling over and over again until it too became a part of the Earth.  

Then, I heard another noise, this noise captured all my attention, a whine of pain. 

I whisked around yet again, and Karl was gone. 

Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone-

“MAM PLEASE STOP YELLING!” The cop had both hands on my shoulders, his eyes wild, “You're causing a scene,” He hissed. 

“He’s gone,” I murmured, speaking aloud, “He’s gone!” 

“MAM-” 

The phone rang, I barely noticed it, a new kind of pain formed in my chest, the pain of loss. 

Out of my prereferral vision, I watched the cop snatch it like it was his lifeline, shooting me a look, “Hello?” He said gruffly. 

His face fell within five seconds, I studied his expressions, unable to get my scrambled brain to get to a conclusion. 

“I see,” He murmured, his hand flinched downward, “I will be there...soon,” He hung up the phone. 

“Good news,” The officer slid towards me warily, “They found something on the scene of the crime,”

“Really?” I breathed, relieved, did they find Karl?

“A gun, a gun with a barrel, a gun with five bullets out of six, a gun with bullets that match the gun stolen on the day that Ryan Howe went missing, a gun with her blood on it,”

I froze, “What?” 

“You are under arrest for the murder of Ryan Howe,” 

No, no, no, no, no, no. 

Everything seemed to happen so fast. 

Everything became so clear. 

That was not my gun. 

Karl called that creature Ryan. 

Ryan was murdered with that gun, the same gun that he brought with him…

He was going to kill me. 

He was going to kill me. 

My feet seemed to move, a cord pulling me towards something, a strange purpose.

Towards the cop. 

I obeyed, throwing myself forward, a horribly mangled screech coming from my throat. 

The cops hand fumbled with something, a gun, a gun with five out of six bullets, a gun that should have been at the crime scene.

There was a large band, and then…

Nothing.

Floating. 

Life wasn’t much else. 

I didn’t expect death to be so similar.