Dead Simple Novels & Stories

she asked. "Soñar," She gasped again and smiled, "I'm so sorry for your loss. I hope Soñar gets repaid badly for his misdeeds," I let out a choked laugh and cleaned my tears, "Soñar is also dead. Dashiell killed him."

she pulls my head back up "I'm-I'm not sad," I tell her surprised by my mind and feelings, "At all," I add "Well you never actually feel pain," she says "That's a condition, Mika. I feel emotional pain, or I was supposed to," My eyebrows furrow, "I saw him," I whispered "You saw him? Saw who?" She asks "Ha-Death I mean," I tell her turning to face her "You saw him?" She questioned as shock crossed her face, "I knew you were special," she whispers

In this life, consider it a debt repaid. Finally, on a night one month later, Stellan died. When he went, his lips were still moving. I had to lean close to make out the word. It was Ansel's name. I stood in the doorway of the cell for a long time without speaking. Then, I had his body wrapped in a straw mat and thrown into the common burial ground. It was not an act of cruelty. He simply did not deserve more than that. Daphne died a few days later. She starved to death. From beginning to end, I never went to see her again.

“She’s dead. His mother is actually dead, she killed her herself before we could go for her. I heard as she shot herself. Delaney is no more.” “Wow she’s really dead?” Davis nodded in affirmation. “This is more reason to why we should take Theodore in with us.” “Fine. I will think about it, you should go to sleep.”

Closed casket. Cause of death: internal hemorrhage after a lab accident. No body view “due to damage.” Her grandfather standing rigid. Not crying. Not once. Mason broke the silence. “That’s deepfake tech. It has to be.” Caleb shook his head immediately. “No. That feed was analog to digital direct. No interference artifacts. No AI rendering glitches. That was live.” Origin’s eyes never left Ariana. “You were told he died in a research accident.” “Yes.”

He looked up as I loomed overhead and I saw for the first time who it was. I frowned. “Is that Vasily Kutziyez?” “I’m afraid so.” I gazed with unabashed curiosity at the World Latin American Dancing Champion who had become such a familiar face on television. There is always a moment of internal silence when you are in the presence of death. It is a reminder of your own fragile mortality. “How did he die, Professor?” “Drowning, by the look of it.” Stephen Baker replied. DI Silver stood up and peeled off the gloves. “Better get him out of here before the rain comes.”

"Not just this thing. The smell. Under the rot." I've been choking on the rot. I push past it. And there it is. The same wrongness that was carved into the birch. I study the thing we killed. I’ve seen enough dead to know the stages of decomposition. This didn't die Tuesday with a cute phone in its pocket. "It's old," I say. "Been dead a long time." Dax goes still. "The ones going missing," he says slowly. "They're disappearing alive." "Yeah." "So this isn't one of them."

Nora continued stabbing the hairpin into Henry's abdomen. "Now I finally realize what an absurd mistake I have made! It's only John who truly loves me. You broke his ribs. I'm guessing you even instigated me to kill his mother. You deserve to die and have a taste of your own medicine!" Nora's eyes were bloodshot. Henry was barely breathing anymore. She raised her hand high up once more, aiming for Henry's heart. "Stop right there!" I ran over and kicked the hairpin out of Nora's hand. Letting Henry die just like that would be too easy on him.

He walked to the adjacent ward and opened the door, but there was no sign of me. Frowning, he went to the nurses' station. "Where is patient 807? She just had kidney surgery. She shouldn't be moving around." The nurse checked the computer and replied calmly, "Patient 807, Jocelyn Pryce… was declared deceased at 5:20 p.m. this afternoon."

Tiffany put on a show of pulling me up, feigning sympathy. "Celeste, the dead can't come back to life. We need to move forward." Phineas handed me a document and said, "This is Dylan's will. You're his sole beneficiary." I wiped away a tear and straightened up. So, not only had they staged a fake death, but they had even prepared a will? How suspicious. I quickly skimmed through the document. "All debts incurred during my lifetime will be assumed by Ms. Celeste Harper."