Shaking my head frantically, I try to make it impossible for him to choke me, but he tightens his hold, almost as if he’s punishing me for trying to stay alive. I claw at his hands to get free, but he’s too strong and to desperate to silence me.
Slowly, I feel myself slipping away. My eyelids close as the end inches closer. All I wanted to do was have some fun tonight, and I’m going to die because of that. This bastard is going to take my life right here in these woods on this chilly October night. He’s going to kill me, and everything I’ve ever dreamed of will be taken from me.
Going to college to be a TV news reporter.
Getting married someday and having children.
Seeing my parents again and one day watching them love being grandparents.
He’s going to take all of that from me.
Then, just as I’m sure I only have seconds left in this world, Connor’s hands leave my throat. I’m too scared to open my eyes to see his expression or what he intends to do next, so I stay still and play dead, praying to God he won’t check my pulse.
A moment later, he lifts himself up off my legs, and as much as I know this may be my last chance to get away, I can’t move. All I want to do is sleep.
Just sleep.
When I finally open my eyes, I’m alone. Leaves and dirt cover me, filling my nose with the earthy scent of decay. I used to love this smell. When I was a little girl, I loved when my father would rake the fall leaves into a pile and let me jump into them. I’d giggle and throw the leaves high in the air as my father took pictures.
I’ll never smell this scent again without hating it. It’s nothing but putrid to me now.
Too afraid to move in case he’s still nearby, I take shallow breaths that hurt my throat, thankful to be alive. Everything on my body hurts, especially my head. My face feels swollen, but I can’t tell for sure. A sharp pain in my lower abdomen sends waves of utter agony coursing through me. I’ve never experienced anything like this.
All I know is I’m alive. That’s all that matters.
Those birds from a few minutes ago seem closer now. The noises they make remind me of shrieks of horror. It’s the perfect soundtrack for what I’ve endured.
I hear voices in the distance calling out like they’re underwater. They say my name, but I can’t respond. I have no voice now.
Leaves and twigs cover my arms and legs, and dirt lays on top of me. He buried me, thinking I was dead. He buried me so I’d never be found again.
He thought he killed me, but I survived.
“You’re quiet. That’s never a good thing, Kelsey. Talk to me.”
My husband always knows when I’m getting lost in my own head, a dangerous place to be for someone like me. In his sweet way, he somehow always manages to rescue me before I get in too deep. If he didn’t, I’d drown in those terrible thoughts I can’t seem to stop.
I look over at him and smile. He isn’t looking at me, so I feel okay doing that.
“Just thinking. I never thought this day would come. You did, though, didn’t you?”
He glances over at me and nods. “I was going to do anything I could to make sure it did. You know that, right?”
I don’t answer, but I give his hand a squeeze to let him know I never doubted him for a second. The justice system? I doubted it would ever catch up to Connor. But not my husband. Not the person who’s been with me every day since the horrible events of that night and all the terrible things that followed.
I wish Samantha could be here with us. She should be since she suffered as much as I did because of that night. Never able to overcome the guilt she felt for letting me go with someone like Connor, she lived in torture before taking her own life right after Christmas three years later. I never wanted that for her, but nomatter what I said, she could never shake the feeling that she was to blame for what happened to me.
She was wrong, though. She didn’t ruin my life.
He did.
And now he’s going to pay.
After parking the car, we walk along the sidewalk surrounding the courthouse. My husband holds my hand and brings it up to his mouth to place a kiss on my knuckles. He’s sweet like that. Always has been. I saw that in him the first time I met him that terrible night.
“Are you ready for this?” he asks as he stops the two of us before we walk up the stairs into the building.
I nod, suddenly feeling like I’m going to burst into tears. I hadn’t expected this to be so emotional. For months, we made our plan to get revenge on Connor. Then nothing went right. First, I was careless and let him see me at the grocery store. I worried that may have ruined everything we had planned.
