The morning of Mill Neck was cold, but there were no signs of rain.
Julia had called Shenzie up early in the morning, wondering if she wanted to go for a stroll to get the blood pumping after last night.
'The fuck're you doing up so damn early Julia?'
Shenzie was alread up and getting ready, her sister was still on loudspeaker, 'hey! Jim suggested it a while ago and I hated it at first, but now I'm loving it!'
'Yeah, whatever'.
'I'll come by with the car, pick you up and we'll head down to the coast'.
'See you then, honk the horn when you're here'.
+
'You changed your mind? How do you like it?'
'I still fucking hate it Julia, you asked me five minutes ago'.
She laughed before tugging Shenzie along with her, 'look, this is your first time alright, but after a while you'll love it, especially... Especially when you have one of those days where you want time to yourself'.
She was right, then again Julia was always right.
They wandered down the coast before stopping at a big log, both sitting down for a few moments. The tide had pulled back the waves for sometime which allowed the women to roam around, looking for shells. That was what Billy liked to do, especially with Grace and Daniel.
'You're never too old to find shells'.
Julia would say.
It had been... Maybe thirty minutes when Julia had found something... But it certainly wasn't a shell.
Shenzie was quick to join Julia at a washed up hollwed tree trunk, 'what, what'd you find?' Shenzie's heart skipped a beat...
A body... Shoved inside the tree trunk.
+
Julia and Shenzie were quick to rush back home and call the police. Shenzie's mind was everywhere, she was numb to everything.
Jim was by her side in seconds, the kids weren't allowed to listen in to what was being said. All Shenzie would think about was the body in the tree trunk that was shoved into a hollowed out tree.
'Shen, are you with me?'
She realized that Julia was talking to her, 'sorry, what did you say?'
'I said did you want something to drink, something warm? A heatpack or anything, it was pretty cold out there'.
'I-I think I'll be fine, thanks Julia'.
The one thing that really put Shenzie off was the fact that the body was rather small.