Horrorscope Page 1: Floating Face Down

Floating Face Down
Originally uploaded by sloanekingsfo.

It was the hair floating just above the water that she noticed first. Anne stepped closer to the rocky shore of the cold San Francisco Bay and narrowed her gaze to gain focus on the object. She was right, it looked like human hair.

Without taking her eyes from the body, she slowly grabbed an old fishing pole left behind by some poor slob who was either too pissed to throw out his old fishing pole or fell to the same fate as this poor soul. Perhaps they were one in the same. She shuddered at the thought as she hooked the end of the pole to the hair of the body.

With one small tug the body drifted toward the shards of rocks. Carefully she guided it to the edge of the shore. The skin was gray and bloated with parts torn off by some form of a marine animal. The skirt told her it was probably female, the height expressed either teen or older.

The stench of rotting flesh and fish dared to invade her nostrils. She quickly covered them with the napkin she took from Sparrow’s, a local coffee shop and then turned the body over. There was no way to tell what color eyes the woman once had as they were gone. Sockets filled with a mess of black substance and small crabs stared back at her.

She anchored the body with the fishing hook and stumbled back toward her backpack near the trail. Her cold fingers fumbled for the cell phone while she watched the body rock in the waves. She pressed a button on the right side of the phone and after a moment of catching her breath, she spoke.

“Trenton.”

The phone dialed and a familiar voice answered the line.

“Sir, we have another one.”