#52 Deadly Evidence

by Kimberly King

The mess on the manicured lawn looked as if a raccoon had been busy at work, but I soon discovered otherwise. A wrinkled fast food bag was left gaping open amongst balled-up hamburger wrappers and crumpled napkins, suggesting that whoever had been here had left in a hurry. Annoyed, I sighed with disgust at the garbage can that was just four feet away as if it had somehow been involved.

I picked up the garbage with great deliberation, shoving it into the paper bag. Beneath the fast food remains were shredded photographs. A bad breakup, I decided. A negative strip burrowed up from the pile, and I almost stuffed it into the bag too, before changing my mind. Instead, I held it up to the sun, staring at it until the strange images began to make sense. In one scene, a car was overturned in what looked like a ravine. The image below revealed a body, naked and sprawled out like Da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man.”

Murder. This dirty word echoed in my mind.

Chills like landmines exploded over my body, and I became light-headed as if suddenly aware that I was being watched. I quickly placed the brown strip into the bag, pretending I hadn’t seen anything. With wobbly legs, I stood up and shoved the bag into the garbage can, suddenly grabbing the negative at the last second, and stuffing it into my pocket. As I walked the lonely road to my house, another set of feet lurked behind.

6 comments:

Sam Knight said...

A story after my own heart! What a great way to start a thriller and leave me in suspense!

Kimberly King said...

Thanks, glad you like it! :)

Flutterby said...

This is a great premise to a bigger story.

Anonymous said...

whew...this is suspenseful. Good job Kim!

Kimberly King said...

Thank you, guys!

Jade said...

Yipes! Lots of good suspenseful build up, now I'm ready to hear what happens next.