3 | HURRICANE - LIP GALLAGHER

10. not taking any chances

i was at fiona's and i saw lip and ian were in the house. the group home was finally letting them leave until it came night then they had to go back.

fiona was currently trying to get frank and monica to sign away their rights so she could get full custody of the kids.

we went over to the alibi and we started to come up with a plan so they could get the house since aunt ginger was dead.

lip, ian and i were out on a mission. we were walking past the el.

"there once was an old lady that lived in a shoe." lip said.

"she's 22." ian told him.

"so many kids, she didn't know what to do." lip continued.

"what difference does it make? she's been doing the job for years." ian told him.

"you cool with it?" lip asked.

"whatever it takes. you?" ian asked.

"as long as i don't have to call her mom." lip replied.

"trust me, that won't happen." i told my boyfriend.

"did you sign up yet?" i asked lip.

"for what?" he asked me.

"SAT, you told me you would." i reminded him.

"i'll do it online, it takes two seconds." lip replied.

"you said you'd graduate, too and you're on your what? fourth semester, senior year?" i asked lip.

"my third. only two courses left." lip told me.

"alright, fine." i said as we walked across the street.

as we were walking into the building i heard lip and ian talking.

"you taking the SATs?" ian asked his older brother.

"not unless someone pays me." lip replied.

"i heard that!" i told lip.

we went over to see carl and liam. i was with liam just talking to him when i heard one of the dad's tell carl they had church in ten minutes.

lip got a text from fiona so we had to leave and go meet back up with her.

veronica had a dead body they could use as aunt ginger. we all met at the back of the old folks home.

"you take care of the will?" fiona asked us.

"signed and notarized." lip replied.

veronica knocked on the door and a guy named lanny opened the door for her. he was the janitor.

"i told you, two taps, then three." lanny said.

"forget the code. let us in?" veronica asked.

"which one of you is looking for an old white women?" lanny asked as fiona raised her hand.

we all went inside and went over to the morgue. lanny pulled out one of the body's.

"just booked a first class ticket to eternal damnation." veronica said.

"out of rigor mortis, starting to decompose. and lucky for you, set to be cremated." lanny told us.

"won't her family ask questions?" jimmy asked.

"got a jane doe in the back, never been id'd. best thing about ashes, they all look the same." lanny told us.

"what do you want for her?" fiona asked.

"could use a pick me up. night shifts killing me." lanny said.

"what's your poison?" lip asked him.

"i'm not picky." lanny replied.

"hmm, can you guys handle it from here? mom, she got a little ambitious on the ambien. i'll meet you back at the house." jimmy said as he walked out.

"wanna work fast. she won't stay cold long." lanny said as he walked out of the room.

we brought the body bag home and unzipped the bag and the smell made all of us sick to our stomachs.

i started coughing and i heard ian gag beside me. fiona passed all of us some towels to tie around our faces to mask the smell.

"get the legs?" ian asked.

"jeez, it fucking reeks." lip said.

"technically it's a she." i told him.

"need the biohazard masks they use when ebola breaks out." veronica said.

"this is the best we got. cover your nose." fiona told us as all of us got down to grab her but lip.

"lip, get her fucking legs, man." ian said.

"oh, we really gonna do this?" lip asked.

"i'm not taking any chances. okay. okay, come on." fiona said as we lifted the dead body onto the bed.

"oh, god." i said as we put her down.

"oh, boy." fiona said.

"okay, who wants to do the honors?" lip asked holding up some plant trimmers.

"look, the real aunt ginger lost a toe. somebody's gotta snip it. v, you're a nurse." lip said.

"not a chance." veronica said.

"mel?" lip asked.

"no way in hell, babe, sorry." i told him.

ian stepped up and he grabbed the trimmers from lip.

"alright. oh, fuck." ian said getting ready to cut it.

"won't it bleed?" fiona asked.

"the hearts stopped pumping." veronica replied.

"you can do it, ian." i told him as he nodded.

"okay." ian said taking a breathe as he went to cut it.

"oh, fuck, no. no, no, no." ian said backing out.

"give me that." i said grabbing the trimmers from ian and walking over to the dead body.

"okay, here we go." i said getting ready to cut off her toe.

before i could snip off her toe, we heard a thud downstairs and we all ran down there. once we got there we saw debbie eating food out of the fridge.

"debbie?" fiona said.

"what's going on, debs?" i asked her.

"are you okay?" lip asked his little sister.

"i can't talk, hungry." debbie replied drinking some milk.

"are they not feeding you?" fiona asked.

"do we have any more milk?" debbie asked.

"you're not going back there." fiona told her little sister.

"gotta bring food to the others." debbie told us.

"grab bread and cereal. we're gonna need grocery bags." veronica said as we all started moving.

"yeah, yeah, yeah." lip said passing me some food and i put it in the bag.

"you're coming home debs, i promise." fiona told her.

fiona went back upstairs and she cut the toe off of the dead body.

fiona had called the ambulance and they brought her body away.