Author's Notes: See below.
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Courtney Wallace
by Kristen Elizabeth
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Children have neither past nor future; they rejoice in the present. - Jean de la Bruyere
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I met Sara and Gil on a Sunday night. I never liked Sunday nights. Sundays are supposed to be the start of a new week. But really, they're just the end of one.
It was the last Sunday in August. School was starting on Monday. The first day of ninth grade. I was kind of excited. A new school with new people…I could be a totally new person if I wanted. Someone cool and mysterious. Or maybe super popular.
The funny thing is that I ended up being the only thing anyone could talk about on that first day. But only because I was dead. And that really doesn't count.
They found my body in the woods by Lake Mead. Some guy was walking his dog or something and found me. I wasn't there. I didn't like hanging out with my body, especially after things started crawling on it. That's just seriously gross.
But when the police showed up, I kinda felt like I had to go watch. They put that yellow tape up all around me, just like on TV. There were a few reporters who tried to take some pictures. One of the policemen yelled at them to stop.
"Captain Brass," one of the reporters asked him. "Is it her?"
Captain Brass looked really tired. I bet he's been doing this job for, like, fifty years. "That hasn't been determined yet," he told the reporter. "Take anymore pictures, and I'll confiscate every single one of those cameras. Got it?"
Did I mention that I was naked? Yeah, that was so embarrassing. I didn't have a lot going on in the chest department. I was really hoping they'd get bigger in high school. I looked like a boy lying there. Except for not having a…well…you know.
I was actually getting kind of bored and was thinking about leaving when they suddenly arrived. They came together in a big black SUV. Gas guzzlers. I was in the environmental club in junior high.
They ducked under the crime tape like I used to duck under those stupid velvet ropes at the movie theater. They were carrying silver briefcases. The man had a jacket on that said "Forensics" on the back. Crime scene people like on TV. I knew that much, even though I wasn't allowed to watch those shows. Too much blood and guts, my mom said. I didn't really care. I liked shows with romance.
"Gil…Sara," Captain Brass greeted them.
You know how names kind of fit people? Like you can look at someone and say, 'she's totally a Heather,' and 'he's so a Chad.' Well, they were totally a Gil and a Sara.
Gil is like an old man's name, and he was kind of old. His hair was going grey. He reminded me of my junior high science teacher, Mr. Lapinski. He always said I was his best student. Not in a creepy way, just in a nice teacher way.
My best friend in fifth grade was named Sarah. I remember she said it meant 'princess.' I didn't believe her until I looked it up online. Well, this lady didn't really look like a princess, but she was kind of pretty. She was the only person so far who looked at me and didn't immediately look away. That was nice.
"Is it her?" she asked Captain Brass.
I'd been following the story of my disappearance. Everyone was wondering where I was, if I was safe, and would I come home again? People were praying for me, crying for me…it was really cool. I was popular.
Captain Brass nodded. "Courtney Wallace. Fourteen. Found her purse about a hundred yards away. Had her junior high ID in it." He shook his head. "She looks like she's been here since she went missing."
"The bugs will tell us for sure," Gil said. I would have told them if they could have heard me. But I'd already tried talking to people who were still alive, and it didn't work. That sucked. I'd always believed in ghosts, but it turns out it's just a bunch of crap. We're here, but we can't do a darn thing!
Gil walked over to my body and picked something off of it. Ew! It was a maggot! "Second instar," he said, like that was supposed to mean something. "Sara?"
She already had a glass jar ready, and she handed it to him. I figured she'd done this a lot. While Gil collected maggots from my body…so freaking gross…Sara started circling around me, taking pictures. Every now and then she'd say something.
"She looks posed."
And then, "Killer might have kept her clothes as a souvenir."
"Looks like ligature marks around her wrists. Maybe we can pull some trace."
Gil stood up and looked around. "No one, especially a child, should have to die in such a beautiful place."
I was a little pissed at the "child" thing. I was fourteen after all. Just because I didn't have boobs yet, doesn't mean I was little kid.
"She wasn't a child," Sara said softly, and I suddenly liked her even more. "But she never got a chance to be a woman."
I don't think anyone but me noticed when Gil put his hand on her shoulder. Up until then, I figured they just worked together. But he looked at her and it was totally not how my teachers looked at each other. She kind of reached up and touched his hand for, like, a second before she started taking pictures again.
I think it was right then that I decided to stick around, to see if Gil and Sara would figure out who killed me. Or to see them make out.
Whichever came first.
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To Be Continued
A/N: This story was definitely inspired by (but not modeled after) Alice Sebold's amazing book, "The Lovely Bones," which I listened to on CD driving from Florida to California. I highly recommend it. I cried my way across the country;)