Best Friends

“There’s something to be said about being buried alive.”

Millie, curious about where that came from, looked at Oren from the passenger seat of the car. “Like what?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Just making conversation I guess.”

“Millie, still curious about the sudden out-of-nowhere remark, studied him. “Have you ever been buried alive?”

“Oh, no, not me” he replied. “It was just a thought.” He continued driving like nothing was even spoken.

Millie was not convinced. Something was up, she just had to figure out what. “So why are we driving down this long forgotten road in the middle of the woods at night?”

“I told you” said Oren. “Justin got a new home and we’re going to his house warming.”

“Yeah, but where does he live, in the middle of the forest, with the deer and the rabbits? Is he returning to the woods from whence he came, where he was raised by wolves?”

Her mocking tone made Oren laugh. “Maybe. He was always one for the woods. We used to do a lot of hunting out here.”

“Yeah, yeah, bosom buddies you two. Did you also piss on the same trees?”

Oren laughed again. “No, no. We just had fun out here.” He glanced at her reaction to that and quickly added “Not that kind of fun.”

Millie let out a drawn out “Really”.

“Look, we’re here. You can ask him yourself.”

He pulled up to a long mound of dirt, about the size of a human. The headlights didn’t give it justice as its stark lights created a long breach of darkness behind it.

Millie looked at it with confusion. She turned her puzzled gaze from it to Oren, hoping for an explanation as he stared at the mound.

“He was my bosom buddy”, said Oren. “Friends to the end, through thick and thin. Did you know we gave blood together? Both of us in the same room with the same tubes in our arms. I called his mother mom and he called mine mom. We even got matching tattoos. You’ve seen it, on my shoulder blade. And You’ve seen his in the same place.” He turned his gaze to her, all laughter and pleasantness gone. “And then you stole him from me.”

Millie gasped as Oren continued. “What, you thought I would never find out? Shame on you, for thinking you could sleep with my best friend and he wouldn’t tell me about it.” Millie’s surprise was absolute.

“Wha…wha..?”

“Yes dear, we shared everything. Our food, our homes, our families, our friends, our feelings. Everything. Then he told me about how you seduced him, or he you, which ever. I sort of blanked out after he told me he slept with you. Tried to be all apologetic. We share a lot of things, but some things are sacred.” He turned back to the mound. “That’s why he’s in that crate, underground.”

His tone became matter-of-fact. “You see, I couldn’t just kill him. We are the best of friends after all. I was able to knock him out, then I found a crate his size, put him in it, and put that in the hole. He’s still alive. If you put your ear to that mound you can probably still hear him screaming.”

Millie’s shock turned to panic as she frantically pulled on the door handle. She tumbled out of the car, then half ran and half fell to the mound, calling his name. She put her ear to it, just as Oren instructed, and called for him again. Sure enough, a severely muffled cry for help could be heard.

She set about digging when the foot caught her in the ribs, sending her tumbling over the mound and into the wooden side of the second crate. She knew it was a crate from the light of Oren’s flashlight that bore into her. And she knew there was no running when she saw the gun in his other hand.

“You see, dear” he said, still matter-of-fact, “he’s not the only one who betrayed me. This is why you’re going to join him, here, where you’ll always be together.” His words seemed reasonable, but she couldn’t see the cold, dead look in his eyes. “This is his new home, your new home. I hope the two of you can appreciate all I’ve done for you. You’ll be together, forever. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

She looked at him, comprehending and not.

“Oh, if you’re wondering if you should scream now, you can. We’re so deep in the woods no one’ll hear you anyway, so please feel free.”

So she did. A long piercing scream.