She could see it happening over and over again: the heavy rock, her hands, the dent in the back of his skull, getting deeper and deeper with every blow.

All too soon he was sprawled on the ground, his body lay there, limp and lifeless. She looked at him with great pity as she let the heavy stone fall to the ground with a deaf thump.

She looked at her hands, they were covered in blood, the slimy viscous red liquid was everywhere, all over the floor, splattered on the walls, staining her dress, smudged all over her face, dripping from her hair. How she had managed to get blood in her hair, she would never know.

All of a sudden she realised she had done something wrong, something truly terrible. She slumped down against the wall, contemplating the fruit of her rage. She would have never thought herself capable of such a dreadful hateful act. He hadn't even screamed. He hadn't even had the time to realise who his executionerwas.

She had to get out, get away from this place. She glanced over at the door, which had remained ajar like an invitation from God –or rather the devil, after what she had just done, luring her to safety. As the cool night air hit her face, she was overcome with panic; she had to get away as fast as it was humanely possible. She started running erratically, taking the longest strides her legs allowed her to.

Her surroundings became blurry as she increased her speed, she had a hard time distinguishing the bushes from the trees she ran by, and everything looked the same, patches and smudges of different shades of dark brown under the moonlight. She was hardly paying attention to where she was going, and she did not notice the tree root sticking out of the ground until she had fallen head first flat on the ground.

The shock of the impact between the hard earth and her body was the last straw, it was too much for her to handle. She started sobbing uncontrollably; tears were streaming down her cheeks washing away the blood stains from her face.

But she couldn't stop, she had to go on, she had to go home and wash the evidence of her sin off of her body. Desperately trying to ignore the pain in her knee caused by her fall, she struggled to pick herself up for a moment, and in the process she lost one of her shoes.

For a moment in the dim light of the moon, she felt lost, she didn't recognise where she was, her eyes darted around in search of reassurance, a sign telling her where to go next, when suddenly she was startled by a noise coming from a nearby bush.

What if somebody has already found the body? What if they are already after me, she wondered. Her heart was now pounding fast and hard inside her chest.

She started running frantically again, leaving her discarded shoe behind. She ran for what felt to her like eternity, in no particular direction, without being totally sure of where she was heading.

She was out of breath and exhausted, but she knew she couldn't stop, not now, not yet, she wasn't safe, they could still be right behind her. Paranoia had taken the control over her ability to reason.

When she couldn't take it anymore, she stopped to lean against a tree trunk; it was at that precise moment that she heard them. The dogs, they were barking with their masters yelling behind them, they were following her trail, they were after her, she was sure of it. Why else would they be out here in the middle of the night?

She gathered up what was left of energy, willpower and fear inside her, and set off again, doing her best to increase her speed with each stride, but it was no use, it was impossible. She could hear them getting closer and closer with every minute that passed; it would not be long before she would practically be able to feel their breaths on her neck.

The sensible thing to do would be just to give up, running was pointless, they were going to catch up with her sooner or later. After all, they were much faster than she was. But even so in her mind sooner was better than later, she couldn't stop she had to go on.

Blood pounded through her ears as she dashed through the misty woods, she was beginning to panic and was no longer able to think clearly, they were getting so close, she could feel them closing in on her, they would be at arm's length any time soon.

She woke up.

Her nightdress was drenched in sweat and she was panting, desperately trying to catch her breath.

She had had that nightmare again, the same one as the night before, and the one before, and every single night since Ashley had died. Every night since she had killed Ashley.

The memory of the terrible thing she had done haunted her day in and day out, when she was not having nightmare about it, she was replaying the events over and over again in her mind. She couldn't get the vision of him crumpled into a pathetic miserable heap on the ground after she had stoned him to death out of her head.

A part of her still refused to believe that she had been capable of committing such a horrible thing, it made her shudder. Yet the truth was that she had done it, she had grabbed a stone and hit another human being with it until that person died, she had literally beat the living daylights out of a man.

With her own hands she had ended another individual's rights, and that reality would be with her for the rest of her life, until the day she died.

She wasn't sure it was a burden she was prepared to bear. The guilt had already started gnawing at her soul. Even though she was safe between the four walls of her home after what she had done that night, and she was actually sure that nobody suspected she was the murderer. Even so, she felt that she could no longer walk freely walk down the streets of Atlanta freely without making sure that she was not being followed.

What would people think if they ever found out what she had done? It would be awful; she did not want that to happen.

But what if she never got caught? She had killed a man. Surely she deserved some sort of punishment for her dreadful sin; she did not deserve to go about her life free, as if nothing had ever happened.

Not that she would ever be free, she would forever be bound by guilt, she had murdered someone. She disgusted herself, the more she thought about what she had done, the more nauseous she felt.

She was still sweating and still panting, she tossed her covers back got up and started pacing up and down her bedroom.

Her head was bursting, split in two by the slicing pain of a sharp migraine. The headaches had started with the nightmares.

She couldn't go on like this.

It was torture.

Perhaps this was her punishment after all.

She would rather be hung, she thought. At least then she might be able to get a bit of rest, some peace and quiet, she could make amends, beg for forgiveness, God forgives all those who are repentant.

At the moment, an eternity of peace in death was far more appealing that a lifetime full of guilt and remorse.

She did feel remorseful, she was dreadfully sorry about what she had done; she wished she had the power to turn back time and right her wrongs.

Suddenly, in a moment of lucidity everything was crystal clear. She was going to turn herself in. She had to, it was the only way. If they ever arrested another person in her place, she would never be able to look at herself in the mirror again, if somebody faced the punishment of a crime she had committed.

The minute she had made this decision, she was swept with a feeling of inner peace; it even brought a smile to her lips.

She light a candle and sat down on her chair, patiently waiting for morning to come.

She just sat there for hours, staring at nothing, her mind completely blank. Once the sun a rose and she thought it was a decent time to venture outside, she carefully got dressed, crept downstairs and quietly slipped out of the house without anyone noticing.

She stepped out on to the street, she shielded her eyes as they accustomed themselves to the bright sun, the town was waking up and it was already getting busy.

On her way to the police station, she crossed paths with many individuals she considered as her friends. As they politely tipped their hats or bowed their heads to greet her, she could not help but wonder if they'd still be this polite as soon as they found out what she had done.

When she finally arrived at her destination, she entered the building in a determined march, she had never been this sure of herself; every single ounce of doubt had evacuated her mind and body. She walked up to an officer who acknowledged her presence with a wild smile.

Unfortunately for him, she had no time for the frivolities of society today and no desire to be, even remotely, charming, she was here for a reason, she had a confession to make.

"Good morning officer, I come here bearing good news for you, what I'm about to tell you will allow you to close one of your on going investigations," she paused, as if she was allowing the young man to get prepared for what he was about to hear and then she said flatly "I murdered my husband."

She stopped to take a deep breath before going on, "I murdered Ashley Wilkes. I just couldn't bear it anymore, I had to, I was going crazy. So I went to the mills one night, at first I was just going to confront him with my feelings, I wanted answers to my questions, but when I got there, it was as if all the anger I had accumulated throughout my lifetime rushed through my blood in a wave of pure rage. I couldn't stop myself, I picked up the biggest heaviest stone I could carry and I crept into his office and I struck him with it. I hit him again and again until he crushed into a heap on the ground. He was dead, I had killed."

The coolness with which Melanie Wilkes had given her confession had cause the whole police station to go silent. Melanie Hamilton Wilkes, sweet kind harmless and defenceless little Miss Melly had murdered her husband, Ashley Wilkes.

The look of pure and utter shock on the young officer's face said it all.

The End

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HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY!!!!

*insert evil laughter here*

Ain't I so evil?!

Pretty please with Rhett Butler on the top tell me you were in a state of "OMFG WTF?! What on earth is this rubbish? Wait-what?!! This is the end?" or something like that.

Ok, just to make things 100% clear, this chapter was just for fun, my little contribution to the wonderful April fool's day. It is not the end of this story, nor is it even a "real" chapter of it (yes I did an AU of my very own AU, I am that self-absorbed, lol).

It's totally OOC, I had loads of fun writing it though, nevertheless I do think it may qualify for Alica and Corrin's 'What was I thinking?!' category.

The question is what do I do with it now … I can't leave it here, it'll be totally confusing in the future (when I upload a real chapter), and past April fool's it's a bit lame. I guess I'll retire it once I upload a new chapter :)