Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 307: Burial

Chapter 307: Burial

Letting go was one of the hardest things ever. When Emily had come to the small town of Joy, she had brought the unfinished puzzle picture with her, as well as the embroidered heart that she had been planning to give to Derek. But ever since her arrival there, she had not looked at them.

It was Thursday now. She had almost been there a week. It was time for her to make a decision. Was she simply going to wake up one day, pack her bags and leave, making sure that the two were not a part of her luggage?

Or would it be more therapeutic for her to buy a pair of scissors, and just go to town, tearing everything up until nothing was recognizable anymore. Or maybe she could find a metal trash can or a bucket. Get herself some lighter fluid and just burn everything. Fire was a good way of cleansing after all.

Those had been the thoughts that Emily had been having while she had been passing her time around town. Mostly just walking around for a bit before heading back to the motel to mope. But now she felt that she had finally come up with something that she could go through with.

Without feeling as though she were belittling the feelings that she’d had for Derek. Sometimes the best way to move forward was to bury the past and never look back, keeping your focus only on the future and the promises that it held. So Emily had decided to go with that option, to bury her past.

That felt like a proper send-off for her. After all, she had spent weeks grieving. Crying over the demise of her relationship with Derek, heartbroken that they were not meant to be. Ever since her arrival in Joy, Emily had very nearly fallen back into the bland existence she’d had back in the city.

But now that she had decided thata burial was proper. She had a sense of determination to her, a sense of purpose.

One that she would have welcomed wholeheartedly except for one very key factor...the idea had come to her at a very bad time.

It was evening.

The best thing to do would have been for Emily to wait until morning so that she could dig a hole. Place the objects inside. Cover them with soil. And then walk away from it all. But the moment that the idea occurred to her, there was no holding back. She needed to do the burial, and she needed to do it right that very moment.

Never mind that it was late evening, and it was getting darker by the second.

If she did not finish things that very day. Emily felt as though she would begin procrastinating. Coming up with different reasons why she could not go through with it. She had been known to waste time in the past. She did not want to keep doing that.

The puzzle picture, and the heart had to go.

So rather than risk losing her nerve, Emily grabbed the puzzle photo, as well as the embroidered heart. Placing them in the center of a silk scarf and then tying it up so that she could carry them in a makeshift sling across her chest.

What she thought would be her biggest problem.

Which was finding something to dig with, turned out to be no big deal. She simply went to the reception, and asked the old man if he had anything that she could use. And after the customary staring match, a bit of wheezing and grumbling, the old man got up.

His joints groaning like old hinges. He disappeared from view for a few minutes. Leaving Emily to wonder if he would be able to make the trip back without dying along the way. But wonder of wonders, he made it back in record time and he was carrying a shovel with him.

He handed it over without a word. "Thank you," Emily said, receiving a grunt in response. The old man going back to doing his best impression of a corpse. Holding the shovel in her hands, Emily risked a quick glance over at the old man. Wondering what he would have done if she had asked for a chainsaw. Most likely he would have given it to her as well. But Emily really did not want to know if he had one too.

For all she knew there were pickaxes, hammers, and many other tools out there. Hopefully all of them at worst, were a bit rusty, and did not hold even a single drop of human blood on them.

Holding on to that bit of hope, Emily made her way outside.

As expected, it got dark very quickly. The outdoor lights, barely being enough to guide Emily as she made her way to the tree where she had decided to bury the heart, and the picture. Halfway there, Emily realized that she had forgotten her phone in her room. But she was already too close to her destination to turn back.

So she decided to just keep going.

Her phone was not that important for the ceremony after all. It was not as though she was going to film it. Or call somebody to narrate what was going on. It was a private matter, one that she would handle on her own and would be the only one to ever know about it.

Her relationship with Derek might have ended as a nasty mess. But in the beginning, it had been beautiful. Which was why Emily chose the tree as the resting place of all that represented her feelings for Derek. It might have seemed ridiculous, but knowing that the tree would protect the representation of her heart, made her feel better about the whole thing.

In the evenings the branches would split the rays of sun, and it would be beautiful to look at. And in the extreme heat of day the leaves would provide shade. It was a lot of effort to go through for some inanimate objects. But she felt that it was worth it.

Undoing her sling, Emily put it on the ground, and held the shovel. There was no need for words of goodbye.

There was nothing left for her to say. She had cried her tears.

All that was left was for her to just get it over and done with, and move on with her life. But still, even as she thought that Emily could not help the single tear that escaped her, and she wiped it away with a shaky hand before steeling her resolve.

She had to do this.

Gripping the shovel firmly. She dug it into the earth to scoop out the first bit of soil. But the moment that the metal met the ground, the lights went out, and the entire area was suddenly bathed in darkness.