The lying corpse

By Keyur Patil

“Melvina!” I heard someone call my name.

Arthur had come to break a devastating news to me, a friend of mine Daryl had been killed! They said. I was at the docks, from there we headed to the park where they found him lying. I checked the corpse twice, its belly read the letters- F, L, O, R, and A.

“Florentyna!” Arthur screamed. She was another friend. We called her Flora. The thing about murders in a small town is that there isn't much inquiry, the sheriff does not bother looking unless there is a serial killer in the midst. Yes, sad truth. He does his job for the glory, not the service. They wanted to end the case quickly and suffocate the life out of all the fuss it had caused. “How idiotic of her to kill the lad and write her name on his belly, how sickening!” Arthur complained to me. Now the only thing left for them to do was to find her, and put her away. Where was she? In the arcade perhaps? Her favorite place. But why would anyone ever head to their favorite place after commiting such a crime? Why not just hide somewhere? Or maybe, your favorite place is the best place to go to! Nonetheless, they found her at the arcade. The cops had heard of her relations with Daryl. Word spreads like wildfire. Daryl had been using her! For sex, obviously. She was a junkie nymphomaniac anyways. She did not have much to live for. And he never loved her, the truth is, he loved me. We had been together for the last eleven months. But I am not someone who breaks down, or cries. I have anger issues, they are terrifying, they scare me the most. And I was more than ready to break her jaw. But no! How could they let that happen, they held me back, the police. Did they have to hear her filthy excuses? No. There was no time, nor was there a point. A case opened and closed in the blink of an eye. People of the town saw her being dragged out of the arcade. Tickets fell out of her pockets, she had been winning. Along with tickets, were drugs. They took her and dumped her behind bars, she deserved it.

I then left the chaos and went back to the docks- my favorite place. I pondered for a while. I was never a smart kid, intelligence is out of my reach. But carving up her name on his corpse was probably one of the smartest things that I have done. They deserved it for what they did to me.

By Keyur Patil