My wife’s true love had an accident, and she was convinced it was my fault. No matter how much I swore, no matter how many times I begged or provided evidence, Karen refused to believe me. She was certain that I, driven by jealousy, had tried to kill her beloved Michael. So, she made her decision. Cold and decisive, she sent me off to a hellhole of a coal mine to “reflect on my sins.” Life in the mine was brutal. The work alone could break a man, but that wasn’t enough for Karen. She made sure I received “special attention”—round-the-clock torment from the guards she’d paid to oversee me. I didn’t last long. Karen didn’t bother to check on me until three years later. By then, I’d been dead for over two years. Three years ago, Karen accused me of attempted murder and had me sent to a coal mine to reflect and atone for my supposed sins. No matter how much I pleaded, no matter how many pieces of evidence I presented, even if I got down on my knees and begged her, she refused to listen. She was convinced that, out of jealousy, I had plotted to harm the love of her life—Michael. Life in that coal mine was anything but easy. Especially when Karen had arranged for “special care” to ensure my suffering continued day and night. It didn’t take long before I died there. When Karen, her expression cold and her brows furrowed, arrived at the mine with her bodyguards to “check on me,” I had already been dead for two and a half years. “Whether he agrees or not, I don’t care. Tie him up if you must, but get his signature on the donation form!” The visiting room was warm and cozy, but her icy voice cut through the air, making the temperature feel like it had plummeted to the dead of winter. She looked around with irritation, clearly disgusted by her surroundings, and snapped at her bodyguards, “What’s taking so long? Bring him out to see me—now!” After what felt like an eternity, the foreman of the mine finally appeared at the door. But he wasn’t bringing me with him. “Karen, I’m sorry to make you wait, but…” “But what?” Karen’s expression turned instantly colder. The foreman stammered, “It’s just… Daniel won’t be able to come see you.” “Won’t see me? Ha!” Karen sneered. “What’s that supposed to mean? Enjoying himself too much here? Three meals a day without a care in the world while he hides from me?” “Tell him this: as long as he voluntarily donates a kidney, I’ll let him stay here as long as he likes—even until he dies!” She ordered the foreman to deliver the message, thinking it’d lure me out. What she didn’t know was that I was already floating above her, my ghost watching her with a bitter smile. The foreman didn’t move. Karen noticed his hesitation and immediately narrowed her eyes. “What’s wrong? Is Daniel that unwilling to see me?” The foreman shook his head quickly. “No, it’s not that. It’s just… he’s not here anymore. He hasn’t been here for a long time.” Of course. All that was left of me was my invisible spirit. My body had been gone for years. The day I died, they couldn’t stand how gruesome my corpse looked, so they threw me out. By now, I’m sure my body has been reduced to fertilizer by some stray dog out there. Karen, however, didn’t believe a word of the foreman’s explanation. She ordered her bodyguards to keep an eye on him as she began searching the mine herself. Room by room, she went—checking the dorms, the break room, the kitchen. She even scrutinized every name on the employee roster. But no trace of me could be found. Her frustration grew with every passing moment. Rage simmered beneath her icy demeanor as she turned back to the foreman. “I told you no one was to let him leave. Are you deaf, or do you just enjoy defying my orders?” The foreman, who had been nothing but her loyal lapdog, would never have dared to let me go. Three years ago, when Karen’s men tortured me until I was barely alive, I had begged the foreman on my knees to let me out for treatment. He hadn’t even flinched. I had bled, I had wept, I had smashed my head against the ground until it was covered in blood, but the foreman never once relented. Karen sat down, her face frostier than ever, and gave the foreman one last ultimatum: “You have five minutes. Bring him to me.” Cornered, the foreman sighed deeply and finally confessed. “Karen… I’ll tell you the truth. Daniel is… he’s dead.” “He died horribly. His entire body was covered in wounds. The walls and floor were smeared with blood from where he bashed his head and clawed with his fingernails until they were gone. The day he died, we… we threw his body out to the dogs.” Karen didn’t believe him. If anything, her irritation only deepened. “Stop lying to me. What did Daniel offer you to help him escape? Do you think you can deceive me and get away with it?” “Michael’s been stuck in a wheelchair for life because of him. Does he think death will excuse him? Or worse, did you two conspire together to fool me?” The foreman panicked. “No, no! Karen, I wouldn’t dare! You’re my boss—I’d never betray you!” Desperate to prove his innocence, he fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a photograph, placing it on the table. “This is a picture I took at the time. Please, Karen—don’t let anyone else see it…”
Karen cast a doubtful glance at the foreman, her gaze landing on the photo he placed before her. The moment her eyes focused on it, her pupils contracted sharply. The image showed a figure, barely recognizable as human. The body was contorted into an unnatural, agonizing curve, covered head to toe with cuts, bruises, and swollen welts. Blood streaks ran across the face, obscuring any identifying features. The skin was a patchwork of dark purple scabs, with no unbroken area to be found. The fingernails appeared to have been ripped out, exposing raw, bloody tissue beneath, where nerves and flesh were left mangled and torn. From the state of the body, it was clear—the person in the photo was long, irreversibly dead. Karen froze for a moment, her eyes widening involuntarily. But soon, she broke into a cold, mocking laugh. “The makeup job is impressive. For a second, I almost believed this was Daniel.” “Do you really think I’m stupid enough to fall for this? How could he possibly end up like this? All he does here is eat, drink, and work in the mine. What could’ve hurt him this badly?” “And,” she added with a sneer, “if he really was dying, why wouldn’t he be taken to a hospital? No, this is obviously fake!” Her words stabbed at me like knives. Floating invisibly above her, I felt a deep ache in my hollow chest. It was her, after all, who arranged for me to be “taken care of,” ensuring I could never leave. How could I have died here in such misery if she hadn’t ordered it? I remembered the last time they beat me. After that, I couldn’t hold on anymore. I knelt on the ground, begging the foreman to call her. But she had only relayed a single message: “If he’s going to die, let him die quickly. Don’t disgust me with his whining.” Even though Karen had clearly stopped caring about me, my will to survive still burned. I smashed my head against the ground repeatedly, the sound echoing through the grimy room. Blood mixed with dirt, forming a dark, sticky sludge that dripped down in slow, heavy drops. The foreman, perhaps out of some faint flicker of pity, finally spoke to me. “It’s not that I don’t want to let you out. It’s just… what’s the point?” “You got money? The nearest hospital’s hundreds of miles away. How do you plan to get there? And don’t forget, all your ID—everything that proves who you are—is in your wife’s hands.” “Just hold on. If you make it through this, it’s fate. If you don’t… well, that’s fate too. Next time, kid, marry someone kinder.” His words made me laugh bitterly. Fate, huh? I collapsed onto the floor like a deflated balloon, utterly defeated. Blood bubbled up from my mouth, but I swallowed it back down, forcing myself to crawl toward the dormitory. Maybe I could rest there for just a little while. But rest was a luxury I couldn’t afford anymore. Ten minutes later, the foreman had me dragged from my bloodstained bed and thrown back into the coal mine. That was where I finally collapsed for the last time, never to rise again. Karen glanced at the foreman, whose face was filled with unease, and let out a cold scoff. “Enough with the theatrics! Stop wasting my time!” “Tell Daniel to get his ass out here. If he agrees to donate his kidney, I’ll let him go—and I’ll even throw in an extra $20,000.” Floating above them, my spirit felt colder than the bitterest winter wind. So this was it. My kidney was worth $20,000 to her. Less than the cost of one of the designer jackets she’d bought for Michael. Let alone the millions she’d casually spent on that concept supercar for him, a gift she didn’t even blink at. Her indifference? That was reserved only for me. All her love—all her warmth—was saved for Michael. The foreman continued to try to explain, but Karen was stubborn, convinced that I was hiding somewhere and that the two of us were conspiring to deceive her. “You said he’s dead? Then where’s the body? The grave? A single photo isn’t proof of anything!” “I’m warning you—if you don’t hand him over today, I’ll make your life a living hell.” With no other option, the foreman gritted his teeth and led her outside to a barren patch of land. Pointing at a small, overgrown mound, he said reluctantly, “This is where we dumped him.” Karen’s face darkened as she issued a cold, cutting order to her bodyguards. “Dig. I want him found—alive or dead.”
Digging up someone’s grave is seen as a line you simply don’t cross—a vile act, no better than arson or murder. But Karen stood there, cold and detached, watching her bodyguards claw away at my grave with shovels, showing not a shred of sympathy. I hovered above, staring at her in pain and disbelief. I never thought her hatred for me could run this deep. The foreman, perhaps feeling a twinge of guilt, stood off to the side with his hands clasped together, muttering prayers under his breath, as though hoping my ghost wouldn’t come after him for vengeance. But his moment of solace didn’t last long. A bodyguard grabbed his arm and dragged him to the edge of the now-dug-up mound of dirt. The grave was empty. Nothing. No bones. No body. Just cold, barren soil. “Where is he? Where are the bones? Didn’t you say Daniel was buried here?” Karen’s voice was sharp, the kind of sharp that precedes an explosion. She glared at the foreman, her anger bubbling beneath the surface like a volcano about to erupt. “It’s just dirt!” she snapped. “You better not be telling me you got the wrong spot!” The foreman’s eyes widened as he stared into the empty pit, disbelief plastered all over his face. “I… I swear this is the right place! I saw wild dogs sniffing around his body, and I—I couldn’t stand it! That’s why I buried him here myself! This… this doesn’t make sense!” Even I felt a flicker of confusion. My body was here—wasn’t it? Karen, though, had run out of patience. She folded her arms and cut him off with a bitter laugh. “So, let me guess—now you’re going to tell me the dogs dug him back up and ate him?” “Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. All these years, and no one’s ever managed to fool me like this before!” Her voice grew icier with every word. “Daniel. You. All of you. You’re all just great.” The foreman stammered, trying to explain, but before he could get another word in, Karen’s phone rang. The second she saw the name on the screen, her frosty demeanor melted away entirely, replaced by a softness so tender it was almost sickening. “Michael,” she cooed, her voice dripping with warmth. “How are you feeling today? Don’t worry—I’ll make sure Daniel willingly donates his kidney for you!” Michael. Him. The very person responsible for me being thrown into that coal mine. The reason I suffered and died in agony. The one who started it all. On the other end of the line, Michael’s voice was weak, barely above a whisper. “Karen… you really don’t have to go through all this trouble for me. My condition—” “Stop it!” Karen interrupted, her tone suddenly frantic, as though the mere suggestion of giving up was unbearable to her. “Don’t say things like that. I promised you I’d save you, and I will!” “If it weren’t for you donating one of your kidneys to me back then, I might not even be alive today. And now your other kidney is… well, don’t worry. If Daniel’s is a match, I’ll track him to the ends of the earth if I have to!” I frowned. Wait, what? Since when did Michael save Karen’s life? There was a brief pause on the other end of the call before Michael hesitantly asked what was going on. Karen explained the situation—how I had supposedly “disappeared” and how no one could find me. And then, to my shock, Michael said something that made my non-existent heart skip a beat. “That’s impossible,” he said, sounding surprised. “Daniel just called me earlier today. He said he’s leaving the country.” He paused before adding, almost casually, “Oh, and he said he left something for you at the old house. Once you see it, everything will make sense.” What?! I wanted to scream, to yell, to warn Karen not to believe him. He was lying! He was manipulating her, like he always did. But no matter how hard I tried, no sound came out. Even when I floated right in front of her, waving my hands wildly, she didn’t notice me at all. After hanging up the phone, Karen’s expression turned ice-cold again. She shot one last glare at the foreman before turning on her heel and leaving without another word. Half an hour later, Karen arrived at the old house where we used to live. It was a modest two-bedroom place—a cozy little home that had once been our sanctuary, filled with warmth and love back when we were happy. Without hesitation, Karen pushed the door open and stepped inside. Her face was set in a hard, determined expression, but there was a flicker of something else—nostalgia, maybe, or bitterness—as her eyes scanned the familiar surroundings. In the living room, on the coffee table, she spotted an envelope. She picked it up, opened it, and pulled out a single sheet of paper. There was only one sentence written on it. “Karen, you’ll never find me.”
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