Paddock Daisies

• Maddison Teys, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2021

A foot smashes against his crippled body. Once, twice. Again. Bones crack, a horrendous sound escapes from his mouth; it pierces my soul, casting his pain onto me. He sprints away trying to escape, she just walks. Knowing that her job has been done.

Picking up his dying body a wave of guilt flushes over me. His heartbeat gets slower. Slower. Breaths short, faint. They fall out of sync before finally stopping. Tears fall, drowning me in guilt, he's gone.

On the back seat, the softest towel drapes over him. He's just sleeping. Right. Flinging myself into the front, a glimpse of his face in the mirror catches my eye. The pure peace on his face is breathtaking. The stillness of the body mesmerizes me. The sense of no pain brings me bittersweet joy. But at the same time it feels like I'm being pelted with rocks, ripping apart my heart and soul. I turn the mirror around. Out of sight, out of mind.

Speeding down the highway the car rips away the gravel, my mind withdraws from the road.
You did the wrong thing! You killed him! It's all your fault!
These words roll over in my head, like a storm at sea.

“I Helped him!”
The pain isn't there anymore. It was the right thing to do. I saved him.

The breaks slam down making gashes in the mud. The makeshift outback graveyard has an uncanny feeling. The tree bordered by rocks. Skulls of rotting animals. A shovel hidden inside. I take it out and carry it to the last patch of red dirt. This spot is perfect. It will finish my collection, I tell myself. The shovel slams into the ground barely cracking the dried dirt. Strike after strike the shovel slowly breaks through into the soft dirt underneath. Six feet under he’ll go.
Wiping the sweat off my brow I'm done. The hole is perfect. Ready for someone to move in.
Forever….

Unwrapping his cold, stiff body he still looks as peaceful as ever. Walking with him sprawled in my arms, his head flops side to side with each and every movement. His body hits the dirt like meat slapping on the floor. Opening a black satin bag, I place a handwritten letter and a few paddock daisies inside. Next for the body. Clearing his face of dirt, his eyes have been frosted over, like glass. Dried blood around his mouth starts flaking off onto my hands. it's time to let go. Laying him into the bag and tying it closed the same wave of guilt washes over me. He deserved this I remind myself. Shoving the bag across the ground it falls down into the grave. The afternoon sun shining onto him for one last time.
The shovel layers the dirt on top of the bag, burying him, but also burying my regret.

Climbing back into the car, there's only one last thing left to do, find myself another graveyard for the rest of them.