Secrets Under the Pear Tree

It was a crisp summer day, the soft breeze and sunshine combining to make the perfect temperature. It was such a beautiful day that Jodi Martin couldn't resist the opportunity to spend her lazy Saturday afternoon outside. Curled up underneath the tree with her newest Color Therapy book and a pack of colored pencils, Jodi quickly became lost in the pages. The past two weeks had been a taxing time for Jodi, with the days of unpacking boxes and getting herself settled into her new home leaving her little time to rest. But now that she had all her belongings unpacked and she was settled into her new job at the local high school, Jodi could afford an afternoon spent unwinding and enjoying the good weather.

The tree she was unwinding under was an oddity about the house that Jodi had been charmed by right away. It was a pear tree and the only plant to be found in the backyard. No garden, no flowers, just this solitary pear tree. The realtor told her she could have it removed if she wanted to, but Jodi decided against it. Not only did it have excellent shade for her coloring sessions, but it provided her with some fresh fruit to take with her to work for a healthy snack.

The delicious breeze kissed Jodi's tanned cheeks as she shaded in the latest design in her book. But as she got more into getting the color just right, her light blue pencil slipped out of her hand and rolled out of sight. Putting her book down, Jodi reached over to retrieve the wayward pencil. But when she saw where the pencil had wound up, Jodi found something perplexing. The pencil had rolled onto a patch of disturbed dirt at the tree's base. It was as if someone had dug a small hole to bury a small object. Curious, Jodi gingerly dug into the patch, using the end of her pencil as a makeshift shovel to avoid getting her fingernails caked in dirt. It didn't take too much shoveling to unearth what the soil was hiding: a black leather diary.

Being an insatiable bookworm with a fondness for mysteries, Jodi's curiosity was now at its peak. Wonder why someone would bury a diary out here... Jodi thought as she brought the diary back to her sitting place under the tree. After dusting off the cover, Jodi opened the leather book to begin reading. The first page of writing revealed the diary owner's name to her: Maureen Fulton. The next pages were of Maureen's high school and college days that had Jodi feeling nostalgic. Entries about Homecoming dances, stressful exams, and worries about affording college tuition brought to mind Jodi's own struggles as an awkward adolescent and an uncertain college student. It was when she read past Maureen's graduation that Jodi began to see that she and Maureen Fulton weren't all that alike after all.

In her junior year entries, Maureen wrote about the TA for her English class: Justin Willis. While she started out admiring Justin from afar while gushing about how handsome and well-read he was, Maureen would later write about their first dates at the local café and the drive-in theater a few miles away from campus. The last college years entry that mentioned Justin sent Jodi's heart fluttering:

Justin. Proposed. To. Me!!! When he brought me to Professor Thomas's classroom after the graduation party, I was thinking he just wanted to get me alone. He did...but I didn't expect him to sit me down at my old desk, pull out a diamond ring, and ask me to be his wife. Of course, I said yes, and then we had a little fun on Professor Thomas's desk like I had been expecting. I guess I better get used to using a new signature. Here goes:

Maureen Willis

Having gotten her heart broken in college by two boys, Jodi couldn't help but envy the great love Maureen discovered during her four years of higher education. The next entries detailed a rollercoaster of events: Maureen and Justin's humble backyard wedding, their honeymoon funded by Justin's parents, and getting their first house. She even found out the story behind the random pear tree: pears were Maureen's favorite fruit, so Justin planted the tree as a gesture of love and a way to officially "plant their roots" in their new home. Then came an entry that took Jodi by surprise after what was nothing short of a fairytale romance:

I think Justin is cheating on me. There's something different about him. He's been coming home late every night this week. He says things are swamped at the paper mill, but it feels like a lie. His voice is different now whenever we're talking. Like he's worried he'll let something slip to me that he doesn't want me to know about.

I'll find out the truth. Even if I have to squeeze it out of him.

Jodi was taken aback. She could almost feel Maureen's anger through her words. Turning to the next page, she found that the Willis marriage's rough patch had only begun:

Lipstick. I found a tube of lipstick in Justin's car! I know for a fact that I didn't take any lipstick into his car, so whose lipstick is this!? That son of a bitch really thinks he can play me for a fool and get away with it, huh? Well, he's gonna learn something soon.

Bastard, Jodi thought bitterly. After getting so invested in this love story between two strangers, she couldn't help but feel a little betrayed by Justin's infidelity too. The next entry, however, would turn Jodi's outrage into breathtaking horror:

If someone's reading this, you really shouldn't be because a woman's diary is private. But if you have and are wondering how this story ends, I'll tell ya: that bastard really was cheating on me. I followed Justin after work and he went to this cheap motel to meet with some bleach-blonde bimbo. I cried more than I ever have in that parking lot while he got a room with her, betraying all the love I thought we'd shared.

I couldn't let it go. I just couldn't. So after Justin left, I went up to their room before his whore could leave. Killing her was easier than I thought it would be--and a lot more satisfying. When I came home, I took the sharpest knife I could find in the kitchen to the living room. Justin was there, napping on the couch. The look in his eyes when I plunged that blade into his chest was priceless. Looking at me like he had no idea why I was doing this. Like he hadn't thrown away the vows I swore to him with my life. He'd broken my heart, so it only felt fair to return the favor.

He's down in the basement now, in that old freezer the previous owners left behind. I'll have to call someone tomorrow and act worried about Justin having never come home today. I'll probably ring up his parents to do it. First, though, I have to clean up this mess like I did with that blonde tramp. Once all this blood is gone, all I have to do is play the grief-stricken wife while the police investigate. It shouldn't take too long for them to write Justin off as an unfaithful pig who left his wife for another woman.

It's the truth, after all. If there's any justice after death, Justin and his whore are burning together in Hell right now.

Jodi dropped the book in shock. In only a few short writings, Maureen Fulton had morphed from an innocent high school girl into a murderous madwoman. Getting up, Jodi felt her legs wobble underneath her. She had to grab onto the tree trunk to keep herself from falling.

Then it hit Jodi: if Maureen's plan had gone accordingly, that meant her husband's corpse was...

It can't be, it just can't be. Jodi's mind raced as she anxiously made her way inside and towards the basement stairs.

She had to have gotten caught. The police figured out what she did, arrested her, and got her to tell them where the body was. Jodi navigated her unsteady feet down the stairs and flipped on the light switch. The ancient freezer was on the other side of the room.

He's not in there. He's not. Jodi slowly inched over to the freezer.

You're being silly, Jodi. That diary's full of crap. Probably just someone's sick idea of a jok-

Jodi flung the freezer door open--and fainted when she was greeted by the sight of Justin Willis's corpse, now reduced to nothing but a skeleton in a bloodstained blazer.