“Thanks,” said Jack. “Just… just hold that there, alright?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know what I’m here for.” He exhaled loudly. “I can’t believe you’re really gonna do this.”
“I have to.”
“Yeah, the curse, I know. Hey, we’re technically on the outskirts of town,” said Boris as Jack drove the spade into the ground. “And you didn’t disappear on me.”
“I told you I’d been out here before,” Jack reminded him, already panting as he used his foot to force the steel deeper into the dirt. There was little resistance.
Thiswasa fresh grave.
For all that his father might’ve claimed that Jack had never done a hard day’s work in his life, he’d spent enough time helping his mother in the garden to know that it wasn’t usually so easy to dig a hole.
Still, the work was exhausting. He was sweaty after only a few minutes and regretted wearing his suit. With every inch that he uncovered, he braced, preparing for the impact of metal on flesh.
There was no good way around it, he reasoned. If heknewthe grave was shallow, he’d dig with his hands, but?—
“Stop,” said Boris suddenly, a wild panic in his eyes. “Stop. Fuck, is that what I think it is?” He came closer, shining the light into the hole, where roots protruded from the earth.
No, not roots, Jack realized, stomach roiling.Fingers.
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
Fuck,those were fingers.
“Yeah,” he managed. “I think so.”
“Fuck,” Boris said. The beam of the flashlight shook. “Fuck, there really is somebody buried here.”
“Yeah,” said Jack, staring hopelessly. “Do you think—should we look at the face?”
“No way,” said Boris, wide-eyed and horrified. “Why the fuck would we do that?”
“So we can find out who it is!”
“I dunno, man. If they’ve been dead a few days, they probably aren’t looking their best. Or smelling it.”
That was a good point. Jack knew next to nothing about the decomposition process. What if the eyes were already crawling with maggots?
But if he was going to end the time loop, then he needed to knowwhoto help. “I think we should.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“I have to know,” said Jack. “You can just… look away, or something.”
“You think I’m a coward?” said Boris, voice shaking like the beam of the flashlight.
“No. I think you’re a person with legitimate feelings, and that you shouldn’t have to look if you don’t want to. I’m not going tohold it against you,” said Jack. It was exactly the sort of thing he would’ve told his younger brother. That regardless of whatever Dad said, it wasn’t weak to close your eyes during a scary movie, or to skip visiting the casket at a funeral.
Jack wasdefinitelygoing to cry tonight. Already, tears of terror and remorse prickled at the corners of his eyes as he stared down into the grave. What happened to this person? Why were they out here? Who thefuckput them out here?
Every time he slammed the shovel into the ground, he fought the urge to vomit. Standing off to the side, Boris chewed his lip, eyes shining, gaze downcast.
Whoever was down there had suffered enough. Jack shouldn’t desecrate the grave further.
But he had to know who it was. Had to identify any features that he possibly could.
