A ‘"deadly" encounter

This was written some time ago, but only get to be posted now.

Gruesome as it is, I have to relate this experience since it is not something that one encounters every day. In fact, I think this will be etched in my memory forever, as I feel the guiltiness of being an accomplice, trying to cover up the incident.

The incident must have happened in the middle of the night, though I did not hear see any suspicious figure or hear any sounds (coz I slept like a log, as usual and thanks to my infamously ‘good’ hearing). As usual, we went about our early morning preparation for the day, when we discovered the body lying unconscious, on the car porch. The discovery gave us the fright of our life since we had encountered other beings eg dead birds, lizards, bats around the compound, but never this huge, gigantic THING! Not sure if this is good thing for the kids to experience, my daughter was totally disgusted by the presence of the Thing, and my son was trying to guess if the Thing was dead, judging by the eyes, which was still opened. It was lying very stiff and we saw trails of blood around it, as if it had been dragged to where it was now positioned.

I saw the kids off to school, and in my mind, I was thinking fast, how was I to get rid of the body, since I felt disgusted too. I couldn’t imagine myself getting rid of the evidence, the very thought of holding the body with my bare hands was already enough to send shivers up my body. Should I put it in a plastic bag and let the unsuspecting rubbish collector get rid of it, or should I find a spot outside the house compound and bury it? Whatever it is, there was no getting away from this gruesome task, like it or not.

After I mustered enough courage, I equipped myself with gloves, newspaper, shovel, plastic etc. I need to be fully protected to ensure that I don’t get infected by whatever virus that the dead body might have. I went about digging a hole big enough for the body, at the outside the house. Then comes the moment to carry the body to the freshly dug grave. Yeeks! Thinking of it now, still gives me the shudder. I realized that rigor mortis had already occurred as the body had stiffened and it was quite easy (but still gruesome) to catch the Thing by its end, and put it in a plastic bag. All this while, the 2 pairs of eyes of the suspected murderers was watching me from a corner. I just went about my business, with courage and determination to get the task done.

I quickly put the body in the hole and got it covered, all the while chanting a little prayer for the unfortunate being, hoping it gets reincarnated to a higher being. I covered up the hole but still saw part of the ends jutting out. So, I quickly found more soil so that there is no evidence left.

I went back to the house and finished what I started. I washed the bloody murder scene and made sure there is no trail left, all the while thinking whether I was an accomplice or whether I did a good deed by giving the 8-inch dead rat a decent burial. I wished I never have to do this again, and that the 2 obviously guilty but innocent-looking dogs would stop their antics of pouncing on whatever little animals that come into our compound, in the bid to safeguard the house.