Her Disappearance

"Who found the body?"

"Kayla Lanchester."

"Where is she now?"

"In the interrogation room."

Detective Joe nods his head and walks towards the room where Kayla waits to be questioned. When he enters the room he sees a frightened young woman in running apparel. Puffy eyes instantly meet his stern gaze.

"You are our prime suspect for a murder." His voice comes out stern, he already knows she has nothing to do with it, but he has to go through protocol.

"No, no! I just found the body. I go on my run every morning before school. I swear I didn't do it. Please you have to believe me." She begs to be heard and believed, hoping this isn't a death sentence for her as well. She knows how the law system goes, she can never fully trust the system to do their job, especially around the town she lives in.

The town is right on the Mexico border. Not that she has anything against Mexico, but she knows of different mafia groups that live close by her apartment right on the other side of the border. She grew up next to the border all her life but nothing like this has ever happened. Her life had went smoothly up until this point. She finished high school while being one of the top students and is currently attending the community college in her town. She didn't wish to move away because of her family and friends. Now she's questioning her decision to stay.

"Miss Lanchester, have you not been paying attention?" Detective Joe interrupts her thought process.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so scared. I promise I didn't do it. I know that doesn't mean much." His stern gaze cuts her off.

"We know you didn't do it. The person has been dead at least a few days now, possibly even a week. He was dumped in the ocean, poor bastard, it just happened to be you that found him. I just want to know if you saw anyone or anything unusual besides the body." His confession throws her off as she stares at him with wide eyes.

"No, all I saw was the body. I immediately called 911." She looks down at her hands, they still feel disgusting after touching a rotted dead body. When she turned him over she let out a horrified scream. His face had been partially eaten off by something, he was missing a hand, and it was clear that he was shot with a huge gun since there was a hole in his chest the size of at least a baseball. She shutters at the thought alone.

"We are working to try to figure out who this man was, and if he has any surviving family members that have been searching for him. If you remember anything more give me a call." He hands her a business card, and slowly stands up. Nodding to the door, he leads her out of the room and to the front door of the police station.

"I'm sorry we had to meet because of this circumstance, but either way it was a pleasure to meet you." Detective Joe shakes Kayla's hand, and leaves her standing at the door.

As soon as Kayla snaps out of her trance, she heads out of the police station. She had missed her first two classes for the day, but with her state of mind she decides she won't go to her last one either. Pulling out her cellphone, she turns off airplane mode to see texts and calls from her roommate and some of her friends that are in her classes. She rarely skips, and when she does she lets them know first.

Calling a cab to get back to the apartment her roommate and her share, she quickly gets in and tells the driver the address. Barely any time passes and she's already paying him and hopping out to dash inside her apartment building.

As soon as the door opens her roommate, and best friend, Kathleen bombards her with questions.

"Kat give me a minute to sit down." Kayla pleads with her friend, hoping to have a little space.

"What in the world happened to you this morning?" Kat continues without a second of hesitation.

"I found a body on my run Kat." Kayla answers quietly.

"A body? Like a whale?" Kat knows the answer, but she wants to believe her friend didn't find a human body on her run this morning.

Kayla only has to give her friend a look, and Kat gasps with realization. Questions flood out of her mouth, but only one sticks out for Kayla to answer.

"I was taken to the police station for questioning after I called the cops. It seemed like I was there for days, but obviously it was only a few hours." Her answer seemed to calm Kat down a little, but she could tell her friend is still anxious.

"Why didn't you call anyone?" Kat asks finally.

"I was scared and freaked out. I didn't think to call anyone besides the police. The detective was rude enough to make me think I was a murder suspect too, and I ended up having a mini panic attack at the station. On top of that, he already knew I wasn't!" Her frustration finally pours out, as huge tears roll down her face.

"Kay, it's fine. You're home now, if you need to take a couple days and relax that's all that matters. You didn't do anything, you just have to move past this." Kat leans in to hug Kayla, but Kayla is hardly comforted. The dead mans appearance is drilled in her head, and every time she closes her eyes he appears before her.

Little did she know that this is just the beginning.