Till Death us Depart

Week 3:3

Tuesday the 10th of October; I barely slept a wink last night, those footsteps I heard became thundering and echoed all throughout my tiny apartment, bouncing from wall to ceiling, and yet the footsteps never reached passed my bedroom door; Strange.

I am sluggish and barely alive when I trip and fall into the office, almost knocking Max over with me.

"Whoa, Hey stranger, you need some coffee?" Max says cheerfully as he catches me with one tensed arm with ease.

"I'm so sorry!" I stumble back and regain my composure.

"Umm, yes please. I'm sorry I hardly slept last night and am on auto-pilot, and apparently a plan that crashes and burns." I feel drained and can barely think, my mind hardly registers the look of concern and fear on Max's face and the sentence he just said.

"We are what?!" I almost scream.

Max steps back, clearly taken aback, as I would be too in his position.

Max clears his throat and says "We are prepping a young girl who has committed a self-harming act." He doesn't even look at me; what is going on?

I shiver and feel tears well in my eyes, my first young girl and a suicide. This is heavy and going to be a hard day; although I feel honoured for having the opportunity to help the family in this difficult time.

"You can sit this one out if you would like." Max's voice pulls me back into reality.

"No, no it's okay, I can do this." I need to do this.

"Okay, let me set everything up." Max seems hesitant and yet he also seems on auto pilot; he has done this for such a long time.

I stand back and wait, until I can step in and help prep the tools and patient, repeating my mantra, I am alive and breathing; it almost seems rude in the situation.

"Oh my, umm Scarlett can you come here please." There is panic in his voice, now I am extremely nervous.

I inch closer and closer to the morgue, moving slowly and cautiously, not sure if I want to look or not. I round the corner and enter into the cold, damp room.

Holy s**t!

The body had thick black lines running up and down her, runes of some sort, almost burnt into her skin, the skin is pale with a slight blue tinge, her face is red and scraped raw as if she had fallen or had someone push her face into the ground, the chocolate brown hair was matted and knotty –no way of brushing those out, her fingers tips are muddy and covered with blood which had seeped under the nails leaving red moons, her veins are showing through her skin – delicate like a spiders web, and worst of all her eyes are missing.

"That counts as a suicide?" Max breaks the silence once again, pulling me back into the light.

I put my hand over my mouth, shock and vile both rise up inside me, who would do such a thing.

"Someone murdered her Max!" I scream out, horror is tearing at my skin and causing my face to burn, I feel cursed just looking at this poor girl.

Max looks taken aback and seems to register what I'm saying at a snail's pace, can't he tell that this isn't suicide, surely not.

"I mean come on max, look at the runes on her body, the wounds; no one could inflict that on themselves. This was a set up." I am terrified.

"I understand Scarlett, but we can't do anything about it other than make her look exactly how her friends and family remember her, the police will fill us in later, so let's get back to work." His voice becomes stern and distant, as if he is shutting his emotions off; a cold chill runs through me.

I put my head down and start preparing the equipment we will need to prep this very bizarre and scary client.

If I just stay focused on my job this won't be so bad, I can make it through to the end of the day.

Just as I am picking up the small needle and thread used to stitch wounds back together I see a flash of shadow out the corner of my eye. Fear turns me cold once again.

I shake my head and try to concentrate, yet the shadow is still lingering.

I turn towards Max, yet he has disappeared, the smell of rotting flesh has almost trailed behind him, as if it is coming from him!

What is going on? I ask in my head, afraid of the answer if I ask out loud. If I just keep working the fear and anxiety will ease; head down, back to work.

To distract myself while I wait for Max to return – since I am still learning I don't want to do many clients unless he is by my side, I start sorting through and organizing the deceased notes and files.

A lot of people have passed away this year and it's only March now, awful.

Just as I am about to reach the end of the pile I notice something strange, someone that looks familiar, hold on a second I know those glasses and curly chocolate hair anywhere.

Max!? He is dead!?!