Into the Woods

Chapter 12

The next couple of hours are chaos. Battery-operated floodlights illuminate these dark woods like it's high noon, not late at night. They force us to release Julie and Suellen. The coroner inspected them, and according to their body temperatures, Julie died first. We already knew this because of what Charlene told us. He put Suellen's death an hour or two after Julie's.

The most challenging thing that I've ever had to suffer through in my entire life was watching the coroner zip up my wife's lifeless body into a black body bag.

I'm unsure how Dom and I ended up back at Chad's and Jim's trucks. We're both just going through the motions. Chad is now beside himself since they haven't found Deanna. I want to be there for my friend, but I can't. I don't have the strength because of my anguish.

All that I can think about now is getting home to my children, and I know that Dom feels the same. He's been staring into space for the last hour. No one should have to witness what Dom and I did today, no one.

At the sound of Chad's bawling, Dom and I come out from our pain-filled daze.

"What the hell?"

Dom and I look at each other before getting up from Jim's tailgate. Charlene and Jim follow us over to Chad, who is now on his knees, bent over, with his hands in his face, sobbing.

Something catches our eyes coming out of the woods—a third body bag. Charlene screams, then collapses into Jim's steady arms. He tries his best to console her, but there's nothing that he can do right now to ease his wife's pain. Before finding out about Deanna, Chad gave the officer all of his information, including the cabin address and each of our phone numbers. The officer approached us and told us to head back to the cabin and he'll be in touch.

Dom, Jim, and Charlene take Jim's truck, and I drive Chad's. He's still in shock. We pull up to the cabin, walk in like zombies, and reach for the hard stuff. It didn't take long for us all to get wasted. I took one last shot and passed out onto my bed. Suellen's sweet perfume permeated my senses right before I lost consciousness.

***

Waking up to the smell of coffee, I roll over when I feel movement in my bed. What the hell? I can still feel the deep sadness weighing down my heart. Hearing a sweet moan next to me has me believing that I'm dreaming. Slowly, I open my eyes, peaking next to me, positive that Suellen's side of the bed lies empty. What I saw shocked me.

"Suellen?" I choke out.

"Hmm?" she responds sleepily, and I blink my eyes. It can't be. My mind is playing tricks on me.

She pulls me close and kisses my forehead. "Good morning, Babe. Are you ready to get up, or do you want to cuddle for a bit?"

I'm speechless when hearing laughing and carrying on out back.

"Babe? Are you okay?" My gorgeous wife looks at me with concern.

"I just had a bad nightmare. I mean, it was the worse damn nightmare that I've ever experienced in my entire life. God, it felt so real."

She turns her back to me and moves into our cuddle position. "Tell me about it."

I spend the next forty-five minutes telling her every last detail of my gruesome nightmare. She doesn't interrupt me once. When I finish, I'm crying, remembering the pain and anguish that I went through.

She pulls my hand to her soft lips and kisses it. I hear her voice crack with emotion.

"Babe, that was horrendous. I can't imagine you going through that. How'd you know that we were going to Skytop?"

"We heard you ladies talking about hiking Skytop last night around the fire." I can barely get out the words.

I hold her tightly, not wanting to let her go. She allows me to hug her, fully understanding my need to be close to her.

It takes a long time to get my emotions under control. "Suellen?" I whisper.

"Yeah?" she replies softly.

I pull her even tighter into my chest. "There's no fucking way that you're going hiking today."

*****

**The End**