Chapter 8
After I died, my soul stuck around-like some cosmic joke where I got front-row seats to watch my own aftermath.
I watched Mom and Dad bury me in a white dress I’d never worn, then head straight to the police station to play the grieving parents.
An old man doing his morning jog had found me floating in the river. Following his lead, the cops tracked down the shithole motel where I’d spent my last night alive.
The place was so run down that the owner barely checked IDs. Nobody had any clue who the bastard was who’d attacked me.
When Mom and Dad went to see my room with the detectives, I watched Mom break down the second she walked through the door.
Tiny. Dark, Reeking of mold and desperation.
Emma always kept everything so clean,” Mom sobbed, clutching Dad’s sleeve. “How could she stand staying in a place like this?”
[couldn’t, I wanted to tell her. But you didn’t give me a choice.
The room was so cheap and sketchy that housekeeping was basically nonexistent. The cops found evidence everywhere-DNA on the sheets, strands of my hair he glass ashtray that asshole had used to bash my skull in.
he ashtray was still sitting on the nightstand, filled with cigarette butts from God knows how many different scumbags, my dried blood still staining the glass.
The victim clearly fought back,” the detective told my parents. “But she was overpowered. Poor kid didn’t stand a chance.”
ven as a ghost, I started shaking, memories of that night flooding back like ice water in my veins.
pparently death doesn’t erase trauma. Who knew?
ad punched the moldy wall so hard his knuckles split. “I’ll kill him! I’ll fucking kill that animal with my bare hands.”
he investigation led them through the entire hallway, interviewing the other residents. One woman-a regular who’d been living there for months-finally ave them something useful.
Yeah, I saw her that night. Maybe around 1 AM? This young girl in pajamas, carrying a cup of noodles. Some big guy grabbed her from behind. She screamed nce, then… nothing.”
I thought it was just hooker business, you know? Everyone who stays here is either broke or selling themselves. Figured it was consensual.”
fom lost her absolute shit. “Why didn’t you call the police?! You could’ve saved her!”
he woman shoved Mom away. “Lady, you’re her parents and you couldn’t protect her. Don’t blame a stranger for your failures.”
cop had to pull Mom back before she completely went feral.
This is my fault,” she kept crying. “I killed my own daughter!”
My baby died hungry. She never even got to eat those noodles.”
ad finally cracked too, and they held each other in that disgusting hallway, sobbing like the world had ended.
The case moved fast after that. Police found the guy within a week-DNA evidence made it an open-and-shut conviction.
The day he was sentenced, it rained again. Mom said the sky was crying for me.
That’s when I finally found peace. My spirit stopped wandering and settled somewhere quiet.
I heard Mom developed severe depression after my funeral. She’d spend entire days in my bedroom, clutching my old clothes and surrounding herself with collector figures and all my favorite snacks.
But the guilt ate her alive. Six months later, she slit her wrists in my bathroom.
After Mom’s suicide, Dad completely lost his mind. Jacob had to commit him to a psychiatric facility where he’d wander the halls asking everyone, “Have you seen my daughter Emma? She’s twenty-one. She went missing a few days ago.”
