Chapter 2 - The Silent Victim
A muffled, agonized cry echoed from inside the wooden casket.
The pale hand twitched wildly, scratching frantically against the broken edges.
Blood began to smear against the white plaster lining of the coffin.
Maria dragged herself across the slick floor, her fingers clawing at Arthur's pant leg.
"Monster!" Maria choked out, coughing hard.
"What did you just inject into her?!"
Arthur turned his head slowly, looking down at Maria with utter contempt.
He tossed the empty syringe into his jacket pocket with a smooth, practiced motion.
"I am her legal guardian and her husband," Arthur said in a icy, steady tone.
"I am stabilizing her seizure."
"You tried to kill her!" Maria yelled, struggling to stand up.
"You buried her alive!"
"You're a crazy maid with a history of mental instability," Arthur replied calmly, adjusting his dark tie.
"Who do you think the police will believe?"
"The grieving billionaire husband?"
"Or the hired help who brought a sledgehammer to a funeral?"
The heavy chapel doors burst open with a loud bang.
Four armed police officers rushed inside, guns drawn, scanning the room.
"Hands up!" the lead officer shouted.
"Step away from the casket!"
Arthur immediately dropped to his knees beside the coffin, bursting into frantic, theatrical tears.
"Help her!" Arthur sobbed loudly, holding his head in his hands.
"This crazy woman smashed my wife's coffin with a hammer!"
"She's disturbing the body!"
Maria stood frozen, covered in dust, sweat, and dirt, holding the sledgehammer's handle on the floor.
"Officer, no!" Maria pleaded, raising her gloved hands into the air.
"The woman inside is alive!"
"She was breathing!"
The lead officer approached cautiously, keeping his weapon trained on Maria.
"Drop the weapon, ma'am!" the officer commanded sternly.
Maria let go of the hammer, and it hit the tile with a dull thud.
"Look inside the hole!" Maria cried out, tears streaming down her face.
"Please, just look inside!"
The second officer moved toward the coffin and shone a bright flashlight down into the jagged hole.
The beam of light cut through the settling dust.
Inside, Emily lay motionless.
Her eyes were wide open, staring blankly upward, completely paralyzed.
Tears ran down the corners of her eyes, but she could not move a single muscle in her body.
Her fingers were stiff and still once again.
"She's not moving, ma'am," the second officer reported, turning to his superior.
"There's no sign of life."
Arthur smirked subtly, hiding his face behind his hands as he feigned heavy crying.
"She was just muscle spasms!" Arthur whimpered through his fingers.
"Cadaveric spasms!"
"This lunatic traumatized my dead wife's memory!"
"Take her away!"
The officers grabbed Maria's arms violently, forcing them behind her back.
Metal handcuffs clicked tightly around her wrists.
"No!" Maria screamed, fighting against their grip.
"Look at her eyes!"
"She's crying!"
"Dead people don't cry tears!"
The officer dragged Maria toward the chapel doors as she kicked and screamed.
Arthur stood up slowly, wiping his dry eyes with a silk handkerchief.
He stepped toward the hole in the coffin and looked down at his paralyzed wife.
He leaned down very close to her ear.
"You should have stayed asleep, Emily," Arthur whispered so quietly only she could hear.
"Now I have to make this painful."
Emily tried desperately to scream, but her throat refused to make a sound.
A single tear rolled into her hair as Arthur pulled his phone out and dialed a number.
"Dr. Vance?" Arthur said into the receiver with a cold smile.
May you like
"We have a slight complication."
"Prepare the basement facility."
