The Resurrection of Adam

 “The man she buried is back and knocking.”

The fire crackled, casting dancing shadows across the cabin walls. Lola, lost in the warmth of Ichiro’s embrace, forgot the crisp autumn air nipping at the edges of the mountain hideaway. They had been together for five years. Lola had met Ichiro at her job. She worked for his Uncle. Ichiro flirted from their first meeting, but he backed down when he found out that she was married, at least at first. Until he finds out how abusive her husband, Adam, was to Lola. After he met Adam, Ichiro pursues Lola even more, determined to save, protect, and make her his.

One night, Adam had come home drunk, and he wouldn’t leave Lola alone. She tried to lock herself in the spare room, but his rage was out of control. He broke down the door and dragged Lola to the living room. She fought him best, but he was bigger and stronger. Eventually, during the altercation, she made it to the kitchen. He pursued her, she grabbed a knife out of the butcher block, and used all her force to attack him. She sank it into his back. She grabbed a pan and hit him in the head. A neighbor heard the fight and called the cops. There was a rough investigation because Adam was a cop on the force. They determined she was killed in “self-defense.” She buried Adam and moved on. Five years since she had killed her first husband in “self-defense.” Five years she’d lived with the secret, the guilt a cold stone in her gut. She and Ichiro married four years ago and celebrated their anniversary this weekend. They came back to the Cabin each anniversary. Wrapped in each other’s arms, on the rug before the fireplace, after a passionate encounter. Lola had never felt so loved.

A sharp rap on the door shattered the intimacy.

Lola’s heart stuttered. Who could be out here, miles from civilization?

“Who in the world is here at this time of night?” Lola asked, not wanting to move from Ichiro’s warm embrace.

“Someone who is a fool for disturbing us. You stay here, I will see who it is.” Ichiro said his voice laced with agitation that someone would bother them. Ichiro, a magnificent sculpture of lean muscle and dark hair, rose, pulling on a silk robe.

Ichiro opened the door. Lola gasped. Standing there, bathed in the pale moonlight, was Adam. Older, heavier, face etched with a cruel familiarity, but unmistakably Adam. The man she buried.

“Lola,” he said, “Come here, baby, kiss your husband.”

Lola shrank back, clutching the blanket to her chest. Horror choked her. How? Why? “Adam, you can’t be here, you’re dead, I buried you,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.

His bloodshot eyes locked on her. “Lola. I had friends on the force. It wasn’t hard to fake my death; money can work miracles. You think I would let you go? You know you belong with me. No one else could ever love you. You’re too ugly, too damaged. You are my possession. I paid your parents a considerable sum to own you. That’s why only I can handle you.” Adam said as he reached for Lola, grasping her chin.

Ichiro’s eyes narrowed. The air around him crackled with restrained fury. “Stop insulting my wife,” he growled, his voice low and dangerous. “And get your hands off her. She belongs to me. Only I can touch her.”

“Ah, if it isn’t the man who tried to take my wife from me. Following her like a puppy dog, couldn’t keep your hands off a married woman. And I’m still alive, so she is still my wife,” Adam said.

Ichiro’s rage erupted. “You disgust me,” he roared. “You didn’t deserve Lola. You were a monster. She’s finally happy, finally free, and you dare to come back and poison her life again? She is MINE now!”

Adam lunged, grabbing Lola’s arm, his grip bruising. “She’s mine! You don’t understand what she’s like! She needs to be controlled and punished for her disobedience. She is coming with me.”

Lola recoiled, fighting his grip. The lies, the abuse, the fear - it all flooded back. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not with Ichiro. “Get off me! Let me go, I won’t go with you!” she screamed, crying from the pain of his grasp. Adam raised his hand and hit her in the face, knocking her down.

Ichiro reacted instantly. He grabbed Adam and threw a punch that sent the larger man staggering. A brutal fistfight erupted, furniture crashing, and curses filling the air. Panic clawed at Lola. She had to stop this. Not again. She couldn’t let Adam hurt Ichiro. She bolted to the kitchen, grabbing the first thing she saw: a long, serrated bread knife. She rushed back into the living room and, without thinking, lunged at Adam, driving the knife into his shoulder. He screamed and collapsed to the floor. Seeing his opportunity, Ichiro delivered a final blow, knocking Adam unconscious.

Lola stood frozen, the knife clattering to the floor, her body trembling. “Oh God, Ichiro, what have I done?”

“Don’t worry, my love,” Ichiro said, his voice surprisingly calm. “The police already think he’s dead. We don’t need to involve them. That would cause us issues.”

His eyes held a chilling finality. “Throw on some pants and a sweater. I’ll take care of this.”

Lola, numb and terrified, obeyed. Ichiro dressed quickly, and his movements were precise and efficient. He dragged Adam’s limp body out the door and into the woods. Lola followed, her stomach churning. The crisp autumn air suddenly felt suffocating.

Ichiro found a secluded spot, shielded by ancient pines. He began to dig, the shovel biting into the soft earth. “Three feet deep,” he explained, his voice devoid of emotion. “It will decompose faster.”

He tied Adam’s hands and feet, gagging him with his scarf. Then, he lowered him into the hole. Adam woke from his unconscious state, looked around, and realized what was happening. His eyes, wide with terror, pleaded for mercy as he looked at Lola and Ichiro.

Lola stepped back, recoiling. “Ichiro… We… I…. You….can’t…” The horror of what they were doing washed over her.

Ichiro stepped closer, cupping her face in his hands. “I would do anything for you, Lola. Anything. Don’t you see that? Don’t you understand how much you mean to me?”

“But… but burying him alive… that’s… that’s…,” she whispered, her words trailing off as tears streamed down her face.

Ichiro’s face tightened. He saw the fear in her eyes, the dawning realization of the darkness within him. “Lola, don’t look at me like that. I did this for you. I love you. He would have taken you away.”

He kissed her, a desperate, pleading kiss. Lola felt her fear melting away, a dangerous warmth replacing it. The sheer force of Ichiro’s love and willingness to commit such an act momentarily overshadowed its monstrous reality. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to her husband, seeking solace in his embrace.

Ichiro let go of his wife and looked down at Adam, staring down at him, his face a mask. “Before I bury you,” he said, his voice a low growl, “Understand this. You will never threaten Lola again. Not in this life or the next. This is my promise to her. Because she is MY WIFE.”

He grabbed the shovel and got to work shoveling the dirt back into the hole, one spade full at a time, burying the man alive. The rhythmic thud of the shovel against the earth was the only sound for what felt like an eternity. Each clod of dirt that landed on Adam was a weight on Lola’s soul, a permanent stain on her conscience. When the last clod of earth was patted down, he dropped the shovel and turned to Lola, his expression softening.

“It’s over,” he said, reaching for her hand.

As they made their way through the woods, the crisp autumn air felt less suffocating, like a cleansing breath. The golden light filtering through the trees seemed to mock the darkness they had just embraced. As they walked arm in arm back to the cabin, an uncertainty raced through her mind. A cold stone in her gut remained. Yes, she was free from Adam, but at what price? The man she loved had revealed a capacity for violence she never imagined. Was this love? Or was it something far more dangerous, a possessive obsession that would forever bind her to a man capable of unspeakable acts? The silence between them was heavy, filled with unspoken questions and the chilling realization that their lives, once idyllic and straightforward, had been irrevocably changed and buried with Adam in the heart of the woods. The warmth of Ichiro’s hand in hers felt less like comfort and more like a shackle, binding her to a secret that could never be shared, a truth that would haunt her every waking moment.