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If you missed the first part of The Widow in the Woods, you can find it here.
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Before we get into today’s story, I have some exciting news: the entire book The Widow in the Woods is finished and now available on Amazon!
What you have been reading here is my first draft. The paperback and Kindle versions have been fleshed out to contain 247 pages, 22 chapters and an epilogue (that you can only get in the published book) of where some of the characters end up a year later. If you have enjoyed the story so far, I hope you will grab your copy today and if you already have a copy, please consider leaving a five star review on Amazon.
Now, onto today’s story…
They stood there, together, looking at the gory sight of Jon’s body, completely faceless. It could have been anyone, or a creature from a nightmare.
Finally, Grace broke the silence.
“Please go get the wheelbarrow, dear girl.”
Wide-eyed, Lexie nodded and raced off to do as Grace had instructed.
Grace’s wheelbarrow was ancient but sturdy. She’d never been able to bring herself to get one of the flimsy new plastic ones. Hers was heavier, it was true, but it could also withstand a lot more weight, something she was glad of in her current circumstances.
Together, Grace and Lexie rolled the corpse closer to the porch. She propped the wheelbarrow up on the bottom step to hold it still, and then they pushed Jon’s body into it. With Grace having the use of only one arm, it was a struggle, but they finally maneuvered him into the tray, leaving a trail of gore in the grass.
It was a grim job, but it had to be done. Frustratingly, it was far more difficult than Grace had imagined. After Jon’s limp, heavy body had twice rolled out of the wheelbarrow when they tried to move it, she sent Lexie for some bungee cords in the workshop.
Necessity is the mother of invention, she thought hysterically, holding back a nervous giggle.
Lexie returned, cords in hand. Finally, they got the faceless corpse secured and the wheelbarrow was ready to push. By this time, dusk had fully fallen in the forest, but there was still enough light to reach their destination.
Grace directed Lexie to the large meadow north of the cabin, where she’d harvested sida for the herbal antibiotic. Grace used her good arm to help Lexie push the wheelbarrow. Slowly, they made their way across the meadow with their heavy load all the way to where the forest started again.
Grace unfastened the bungee cords. Lexie looked at her, questions in her eyes.
“We’re going to let Mother Nature handle this for us,” Grace informed her. “We can’t do this with Christopher’s body or Beth’s because they’d be toxic to the animals. We’ll just seal up that root cellar as their tomb.”
James had told her of something called a Tibetan sky burial that he’d encountered during his travels. In many parts of Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, and India, the ground was too rocky to dig up a resting place. Instead, in the practice of Vajrayana Buddhism, which was the most common religion of the area, corpses were taken to an isolated mountaintop in the wilderness and left as a generous offering to scavengers and carrion birds.
Far less ceremoniously and reverently than the Buddhists, they dumped Jon’s body out of the wheelbarrow and onto the ground. Grace imagined that it wouldn’t take long before the forest’s scavengers located their feast.
Lexie took hold of the lightened wheelbarrow, and they made their way back to the cabin without a second glance back. Once in the yard, they took turns pumping water so the other could wash up after their grisly excursion. They would deal with the gore near the front steps tomorrow during the daylight.
In the distance, Grace heard the call of a crow. The carrion birds had found the gift in the meadow.
The next morning, Lexie slept in.
It was the first time in glorious ages that Lexie had felt free to sleep. The first time since she’d been In Hell that she wasn’t listening while she slept, or waiting to be assaulted.
When Grace awakened, she saw that Lexie was still sound asleep. She got up and decided to revisit her regular pre-Hill-brother morning routine. She released the chickens to let them free range. She gathered some eggs from the henhouse and some fruit from the berry bushes in her garden. She put some jam on a piece of bread and ate it with a bowl of fresh raspberries. She savored that breakfast more than she had thought possible, sitting at her kitchen table, looking out the window at the gloriously blue summer sky. Soon, she’d select a book to read and sit outside, breathing in the damp green scents of the season.
However, she still had one more grievous act to commit. Although she thought that Rick might be salvageable as a human being, the risk of him seeking revenge for the deaths of his family members was far too great. She decided that she would make it as quick, peaceful, and painless as she could. He’d never even know what was coming.
She indulged in some tears as she thought about what she’d have to do. As a mother, this would be the most difficult act she had committed. Tears slipped down her cheeks as she mourned the fact that she had used her gifts to harm instead of heal. However, she had always been the kind of woman to do what must be done, no matter how unpleasant. She would wait until everyone awakened and then take care of this final task.
She lost herself in a mystery novel for hours, rocking on the porch. When Lexie finally awakened, the sun had passed its midpoint, and it was early afternoon.
About Daisy
Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, adventure-seeking, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites. 1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty; 2) The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived; and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. Her work is widely republished across alternative media and she has appeared in many interviews.
Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter.
