NYC Midnight Competition Submission

 Competition Parameters:

250 word max

Genre:  Horror

Action:  People Watching

"Must use" word:  mix

Results:  Round 1 - did not qualify

A Wrongful Death

A mound of fresh soil sits piled next to an open grave on a blustery November morning. Maple leaves fall from the branches above as a collection of family and friends gathers to mourn.  A priest delivers a poetic benediction as Sarah watches her own funeral from a few feet away, hovering silently.

Her mother, veiled in a black dress, shivers in the cold.  She has aged in the days following Sarah’s death.  She looks frail, drained, as if the wind might knock her over.  Sarah’s brother cloaks her mom in his dark jacket, placing a supportive arm around her.

Sarah yearns to speak to them, to tell them she is there. 

One by one, people step to her grave, utter a kind word or memory and toss a rose upon the casket.  She watches in silence, but the memory of dying escapes her.

Until He arrives. 

She hadn’t seen him in the mix of mourners.  He killed her, took her life and staged the accident. 

Now he dares to grieve among them, false sorrow in his eyes, acting the victim.  Sarah screams to the gathering, but no one can hear her now.  Her body, cold and dead in the coffin while her spirit hangs in purgatory. 

“Is there no justice!?” she cries.

A skeletal hand grips her shoulder.  Death stands beside her. 

“Fear not.  You will have your revenge, and soon.”