DEATH part 1

DEATH

Every time I get anxious, she tells me this story again. Now, I want to tell you the story. I was involved in it, but I like her perspective better. Here's how it goes:

She said the dirt was cold, yet felt pleasant on her skin, or what was left of it. It had been years since she had seen the world. She told me a force kept her underground. But one day, the force went away, and she was finally able to pull herself from under the ground. I witnessed her coming out of a grave. I visited a dead relative's grave when I witnessed it. We locked eyes when she finally was above ground. She looked pale. Her skin was missing in some places, exposing her bones and her clothes were ripped. There was dried blood all over her and a very distinct wound where her heart should have been. It almost looked like someone ripped it out. She reached her boney arm out in my direction. "Help me." She said in a raspy voice. I ran away in fear, not knowing what to do. I forgot about it after a few hours when I made it home that day. That was until I heard a knock at my door. I opened it to see the zombie-like girl looking back at me. "Please help me, I promise I am not harmful. I just need somewhere to go." She pleaded. I was speechless because her appearance was so chilling, I literally watched her emerge from the ground. Nevertheless, I stepped back away from the door and motioned her inside. She bowed and walked in. I immediately led her to the bathroom where we cleaned the blood off of her flesh.

"So... Who are you? What happened to you? I literally watched you emerge from the ground and now I'm cleaning your... uh, very obvious wounds." I said.

"My name is Bonnie. I'm not too sure what's going on with me. I have been dead for a while, at least I thought I was. I have never seen a heaven or a hell. Ever since I was buried, I have seen pure darkness. I wasn't allowed to leave the ground, it felt like a powerful force was stopping me, until today. Say, what is today? Are we still in the year 1986?" She said. I lifted my eyebrow in confusion. "1986? That was 37 years ago... it's 2023. Is that the year you died?" I asked. She nodded her head, confirming my question. "I can't believe it's been so long. He's probably dead now..." She said, sounding a bit discouraged. "Who are you looking for? Maybe I can help you find him. It's a lot easier to find people nowadays, as we have this thing called 'social media' where you can find almost anyone!" I said cheerfully. Bonnie looked at me with sadness in her eyes. "His name is Michael Glissen; he was my killer. He murdered me when I went to him for comfort. I was 17 at the time and he was 40. He was my moms' boyfriend at the time, I saw him as a father figure, so I trusted him with a lot of information. I just wish I told my mom everything before I died. Maybe it wouldn't have gotten this far had I done so. But I know she's dead and he probably is too." She said, holding her legs to her chest. Tears started to collect at the bottom of her eyes. I put my hand on (what was supposed to be) her shoulder. "It's okay Bonnie, according to my calculations, he should be 77 years old now, so there's a possibility that he's still alive. I will do everything in my power to find him and when I do, he'll regret what he did to you." I said powerfully. She smiled a bit and continued to clean her wounds. By the time she was done, she looked a lot better. She even combed out her hair and put on a new pair of clothes. The only thing that made her stand out was the missing chunks of skin and abnormal skin color. We decided that she would only leave my house at night so a lot of people wouldn't see her. Afterward, I gave her a blanket as she lay on the couch while I started to investigate. I started with a quick search on the web, which didn't help a lot. Then, I searched social media with still no luck. I spent hours searching the internet for Michael, but I didn't find a match. I finally chose the last resort and searched the criminal database in our area. "Do any of these men look like him?" I asked Bonnie. We looked at the screen together for a while before we got to a picture of a pale, older man. Bonnie's eyes lit up. "That's him. That's my murderer." She said with a shaky voice. I clicked on his profile which revealed all his convictions. Both Bonnie and I were shocked by what we found, apparently, Michael had been convicted of a plethora of crimes which involved two counts of murder, domestic violence, and SA. He was currently on the run. "Great, so now we have to play hide and seek to find him? This is ridiculous, how will we ever find him?" Bonnie asked. "I guess we have to start with going back to where he once lived. The only question is, are you emotionally prepared to go on this journey? If we find him, will you be too scared to confront him?" I asked. "I'm already dead, it's not much he can do. I'm going to gut him out like a fish. Just be careful, you're still alive so he might hurt you." Bonnie said. I nodded and continued to pull up as much information as I could. We found every address he has lived at throughout his lifetime. I packed a bag and we left on our journey that night....