The following day, Thomas opened his eyes, shocked that he was still alive. He was confused about where he was. All that he remembered was that the secret he believed he was keeping actually was not a secret at all. Someone knew what he had been hiding and wanted to punish him for it.
Suddenly, Thomas began to question why it was that “the voice” kept him alive.

It was the night of Thomas’ Christmas party and boy, was it a blast! He must have had ten shots of tequila with Bob from accounting. The night had ended way too early, but he was his own designated driver and he wanted to be responsible and stop before he would begin seeing triples instead of doubles. Even though all his co-workers witnessed all the drinks he had just had, no one stopped him when he headed to the exit with his keys. It took him a couple tries before successfully unlocking his car door, but he finally made it in.
As he drove down Chestnut Ridge Road something jumped in front of his BMW. ‘It had to have been a skunk or something; those things are notorious here in Rockland’, he thought. He immediately slammed on his brakes as he felt the impact of whatever it was that he had hit. He hesitantly opened the car door and began to follow the trail of his shattered headlights. He stopped in his tracks when he discovered that it was not an animal as he had hoped…

That night played in Thomas’ mind over and over again. He felt hopeless and ashamed that he never tried to save her life. But what was he to do? He was wasted, and he knew that if he had called the police, they would have surely arrested him on the spot. So instead, he dragged the young girl’s body off to the side of the road, covered it with leaves and drove away without even a second thought. He began to vomit.
When he finally composed himself, he started on his feet, but realized he could not move. His feet were handcuffed together; but his hands were free. And in his reach was the .44 magnum. The Voice, however, was silent. It was as if it was waiting for Thomas to come to terms with his fate. It suddenly became apparent to Thomas what the Voice wanted him to do.
He reached for the gun, oddly appreciative of the way it felt in his hand, opened his mouth and placed the barrel of the gun in it. The Voice spoke.

“Do it now, Thomas. You’re delaying the inevitable. Just do us all a favor and end it!”

That night played in Thomas’ head once more. He decided the Voice was right. He took someone’s life…that is unforgivable. He was a fool to believe that this would remain in the shadows forever. But there was one thing he had to know before he did what the Voice so adamantly requested of him. Thomas felt a lump in his throat but managed to let the words escape from his lips.

“Who are you? Who was she to you?”

To Be Continued…