10. Corpse Other
It was a dark, foggy night. Just a quarter three. She was ready to go, but where was he?
Victoria had been waiting for Victor for quite sometime. He had a surprise for her and she was hoping it wasn't another wife or something.
Bored, she sat down under a tree and started tapping her foot to the beat of a song Victor was playing that morning on the piano. She smiled to herself as she saw a blue butterfly flutter by and land on a flower before flying off. She followed it until it disappeared into the trees and that's when she jumped back in surprise.
"Sorry!" shouted the corpse, "I didn't mean to scare you, I only wanted some help."
Victoria grabbed her chest to try and stop her heart from beating so rapidly.
"Just calm down," said the corpse waiting for Victoria to get over the initial shock, "better?" asked the corpse. She nodded.
"It's the middle of the day, how are you out?" she asked looking at the corpse. It was wearing rags of what used to be a suit. He still had hair and all of his flesh and skin was still intact, just grey and covered in dirt.
"I can come out whenever I want to, but most of the corpse do it at night when there are less spectators, and I really need some help," he said.
"But, I'm waiting for my husband, Victor, I can't help right now," she said glancing around to see if Victor was about to arrive.
"Wait, Victor. The Victor? This is great, now I know you can help me, after what you did for Emily," he said getting a smile on his face and grabbing onto Victoria's hand.
"How do you know about Emily?" Victoria asked bewildered.
"Who doesn't know about Emily? That's the main story down at the tavern, everyone knows it. And once I heard it I had to come and find someone up here to help me," he explained.
"Victoria!" came a shout down the road. Both the corpse and Victoria turned and soon saw Victor appear and he walked over. "What's going on? Who is this?"
"This is…" said Victoria then looked at the corpse who smiled.
"Eddie Von Munster, the third," he said bowing.
"He is a corpse, and he says he needs help," said Victoria looking at Victor expectantly.
"B-but what about…the picnic?" asked Victor pointing back in the direction he came.
"Oh it won't take long, I hope," said Eddie, "please I really need some help and you are the one who should know how."
"I-" started Victor and he looked back and forth between the two, "I guess we could help."
"Thank you so much!" shouted Eddie and then he calmed down, "first I need to tell you my story."
"Well let's go sit down where I set up the picnic," said Victor. The two followed him and living got settled onto the blanket and Eddie began his tale.
"I was married and had two beautiful children. A daughter named Jillian and a boy name Thomas. I was a successful business man, I worked in banking, my wife took care of our children. We were coming back from visiting my wife's parents when we were stuck in a storm. The next thing I knew the carriage fell over and ended up crushing my son and wife to death. My daughter and I tried to get away from the storm and we hid in the woods nearby.
"My daughter has been known to sleep walk and that's what happened that night. I don't know what happened to her. The next morning I woke up, the storm still going, and she was gone. I tried to find her but I couldn't. I was still searching for her even after the storm let up and then next thing I knew I was shot. I had enough time to see who did it; it was two men who were out hunting. They must have buried me in the woods to try and cover up the fact that they killed a man."
"I remember that storm, it was rather nasty," said Victor, who then looked up and looked back down like a child that was just scolded, "sorry, please continue."
"Yes, well, all I am trying to do is find peace of mind so I can join my wife and son. All I need to do is find my daughter. Can you help me?" asked Eddie.
"I guess we could try," said Victoria.
"Thank you!" said Eddie.
"Where should we start?" asked Victor.
"I have already covered the entire woods but have found nothing of her. I need help searching nearby towns, but I can't really go waltzing into town like a corpse," said Eddie motioning to himself.
"No, probably not," said Victor.
"We'll help," said Victoria standing up along with Victor. They shook Eddie's hand and the plan was set into motion. Together they went to each town that was adjacent to woods and they knocked on each door to see if anyone had see a little girl. No one had. They didn't know what to do. They kept going town to town and no one had seen hide nor hair of this little Jillian Von Munster.
It was the last town, she had to be here or they didn't know what to do. Eddie seemed like a nice man and a loving father and they wanted to help him anyway they could. They had found the mayor of the town and asked him.
"A little girl in the woods? Why, yes we did, she was soaking wet and scared to death, kept muttering 'dead'. She's in our orphanage right now, follow me," he said. He lead them to the orphanage where they saw her sitting at the table staring at her bowl of porridge while the other children around here was laughing and eating.
"Poor dear," said Victoria.
"You, uh, relatives?" asked the Mayor.
"We are, um, friends of her fathers," said Victor.
"May we talk with her?" asked Victoria.
"If you want, said the Mayor. He talked to a worker and she went and fetched Jillian. She walked over slowly and Victoria kneeled down.
"Jillian?" she asked. The girl look up at her.
"We are here to take you to your father," said Victoria. The girl's eyes went wide and she shook her head.
"I guess, if your father's here, you may go," said the worker. Victor found this odd that they didn't have a more secure way of going about these things, but let it go and the three of them left.
They walked back in to the woods and Jillian was squirming and crying out dead. They managed to get her into the woods and calmed her down. That's when Eddie came out and she ran for her father and hugged him.
"Now what was all that fuss I heard?" he asked her.
"You were dead, mum and brother were dead," she said with big tears rolling down her cheeks," she said.
"You saw me die?" he asked shocked. She nodded. Eddie hugged his daughter closer to him and looked up at Victor and Victoria.
"Thank you so much," he said.
"What do you wish to do with Jillian?" asked Victoria once Eddie stood back up to his full height and Jillian was holding onto his hand.
"I trust you to know what to do," he said then turned back to his girl, "now daddy has to go. Be strong and grow up to be a fine young lady. I love you, Jillian," he said and then he closed his eyes and broke out into hundreds of swallows that flew off in all directions. Jillian just closed her eyes and kept her hand where her father used to be holding on.
"What will we do with Jillian?" asked Victor turning to his wife.
"What do you think about, adoption?" she asked. Victor's eyes went wide and then he fainted. Victoria and Jillian laughed.
A/n: I know this is late, I was really busy because I went home on Thursday and I was getting ready for my trip to Disneyland. Then I didn't have internet, but I finished this Friday morning while I was in the car. I have a midterm on Wed. and a paper due Tuesday so I don't know when I will finish the rest of my one shots, hopefully this week, but I will. Thank you for reading.
-Charlotte