Unexpected Fate- A Short Story

“What are we supposed to do?” Fred asked, fixing his hair.

Maria studied the object her friends were so intrigued by. “I don’t know, but we need to act as if we were never here,” she said, bending down to examine it closer.

“Maria!” Lucy exclaimed. “What are you doing? Get up! Hello, finger prints!”

Maria got up, apologized, and rolled her eyes to Andrew. He laughed but covered it up when Lucy looked in his direction.

“Should we pull off the cover?” Fred asked.

Ellie went straight for it, pulling off the black cover that was hiding the victim’s face.

“Dang, that’s a lot of blood,” she said, throwing the cover to the side.

Maria went to stand next to Ellie. Immediately, she retraced her steps back and a few more. “I think I’m gonna throw up.”

“Not that bad, Mary,” Ellie said, snickering. Maria hated the name Mary with a passion. But Ellie was her best friend, so she let it slide.

“Have you seen it, Ellie?” Lucy chimed in. Ellie shot Lucy a look.

“Yes, I have seen it,” Ellie said. “I’ve seen a lot of dead bodies, so this isn’t really affecting me.”

Andrew looked up at Maria and widened his eyes. Everyone knows that when Ellie brings up her past, don’t make a conversation.

“Anyone know who this is?” Fred asked the group.

“Pretty sure if someone knew him, there would be talk about it, Fred,” Andrew said.

Fred nodded his head and pulled out his blue pocket notebook.

“Really? Come on, Fred,” Lucy said, her short blonde hair blowing in the gust of wind that passed by.

“Documentation,” Fred said, not looking up from his notebook. “Hey, shouldn’t we just call the police?” he said, finally looking up.

“Yes,” Maria and Andrew said in unison.

“Nah,” Ellie said casually. “Cause you all are next.”