The Body in the Window

04/18/11

The cool night air pushed tendrils of blood down her side, a tickle she’d never feel.

She was lying over the windowsill, the broken glass still working its way into her flesh. She’d only been dead a few minutes, but the killer was long gone. He rabbited out of there the second he heard us coming up the stairs, leaving just the stink of his cheap whiskey and her body as evidence he was ever there.

The killer’s footprint was still on her back, a cold sign of a desperate man using the still-warm corpse for his escape. He must have heard us coming, jumping through the window to the fire escape, leaving his mark on the bloody corpse.

I walked over to the next set of windows, and pushed one of them up. Leaning over I could just make out the street, four floors below. There was darkness, and a dimly lit street, but nothing else.

I started leaning back in, but I stopped when I saw her face. Her body was on the sill, her head and shoulders resting on the rusty grate of the fire escape.

Even in death her eyes pleaded with me.

They asked me why I hadn’t been there to save her. They asked me why she had to die for me. They asked why I had broken my promise to be there for her.

I looked away, closing my eyes and fighting back the tears. This was no place to break down, not with my partner and the other men here, and not if we were going to catch this killer.

I leaned back in the apartment, and solemnly closed the window. I walked over to her body, taking in how such beauty could lie in such horror. I let my finger push a few of her hairs away from her face, as I’d done so many times when she was alive.

I wished that things had been different, that she and I could have just run away. But there had been a debt to be paid, and she was more than willing to help. Willingness that I should have ignored.

Now the debt could never be paid back.

I looked back at the men, at my partner who had been with me since the beginning of it all. They were all quiet, their faces telling me what I needed to hear.

I stood up straighter, allowing my fingers a last caress of her beauty. I looked at the men.
“Burn it all before the cops get here.”

As I left, the cool night air pushed the hair back into her face. A last tickle she’d never feel.

~ fin ~

Russell Dickerson writes a monthly blog for the Apex Book Company, and has been published throughout the genre press as an illustrator. Visit his website for more of his writing and artwork at www.darkstormcreative.com.

Thanks, that's nice of you!
Russell Dickerson
April 22, 2011
Nice first I've read from Russell it seem he writes as god as he draws!
noigeloverlord
April 22, 2011
Thanks all, that's great to hear! I appreciate it.
Russell Dickerson
April 20, 2011
I don't have much to say beyond well written (not a bad thing at all). I enjoyed it. --Anthony
sgtzero
April 19, 2011
Some debts are just a real bitch. Ending's just right. Life ain't ever a sure bet, is she?
ajhayes2
April 19, 2011
Thanks, and that was definitely what I was hoping the effect would be. I didn't want to come out and say it, I was hoping the prose would lead you that way. I might just expand it too, we'll see.
Russell Dickerson
April 19, 2011
Very nice. I like how you lead the reader to think that the MC is a cop, but then twist it. Not sure what he is, but he's got a life full of regrets. This is just one more. Would love to see it expanded.

Thanks
shadowflame1974
April 19, 2011
Thanks!
Russell Dickerson
April 19, 2011
Darkly beautiful. Loved it.
Paul D. Brazill
April 19, 2011
Thanks, I appreciate that! This is the first one I've written in that style, usually I lean towards horror (though this is also my first ever fiction published). I don't have a further story, but I am curious to maybe try to go further with it.
Russell Dickerson
April 18, 2011
Excellent story, Russell. Do you have more stories with this character? I'm interested in where this is going from here.

"As I left, the cool night air pushed the hair back into her face. A last tickle she'd never feel." My favorite line. Very haunting.
Sabrina E. Ogden
April 18, 2011
Thanks! I've been thinking of expanding it, it was fun to do.
Russell Dickerson
April 18, 2011
Good story. I enjoyed this, you painted the picture well and left me wanting more! Well done.
McDroll
April 18, 2011
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!
Russell Dickerson
April 18, 2011
I almost wasn't sure what to think while I was reading it. Then I did.

Well done.
Dana King
April 18, 2011

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