u/MissScales

I haven't slept for two days, I probably won't for even more as I recount what just happened. Or did, two days ago at work. I'm sorry if this comes across as scattered, or unbelievable, but I'll try my best to make it easy to understand. Maybe someone can help, or tell me I'm not crazy. Or that I am, and I won't feel so stuck and actually do something about it.

I'm a mortuary assistant, which isn't usually a job you grow up expecting to do unless you were raised in it. I was not, but my family is full of professionals heavily involved in the medical or healthcare industry. The closest to my job they had was my grandfather, who was a pathologist for decades and only retired when he physically couldn't keep coming to work full time anymore.

I'm still considered pretty green, my first year taking a job out of University to offer the dead some dignity. Embalming, jaw wiring, the stinging scent of colourful fluids and makeup made for skin which no longer produced oil. To ensure they still looked alive. Alive and asleep.

The day had gone by as normally as you could expect, at least for us. Depending on the wishes of potential family, sanitisation, storage and then actual embalming - whatever they wished for after death, could take more than just a day. That was okay, my boss often emphasised the need to not rush whenever we could help it, both out of respect and the fact that the reputation of Barret and Son's Funeral Home hinges on the quality and attentiveness of our services. David Barret, naturally, is my boss. Or... was, I haven't talked to him, haven't answered his calls since that day yet. I'm still lost about whether to ever go back or not.

My job that day included going through intake forms. The interior of our prep room felt like going back in time compared to outisde where I used a keycard to get in and out of the building. Here, the tiles were old, the marks of an establishment nearly a century old and the changes made like that of the ship of Theseus to keep it up to date with the methods of the modern era.

David liked giving me important duties, having me shadow the whole process. We'd just finished re-checking the forms from the family of a well loved 91 year old woman who'd died in her sleep. Ensuring she had the desired jewellery, shoes, even her nail polish. Dressed up, a formal attendent of her own end, even if only in spirit for this occasion.

"Seems that's it. We should move her to the viewing room - would you like to notify the daughter?" David wondered, the question polite but the implied position of it being a professional request hanging on his words the same time.

I wondered everytime he asked in that tone if he expected me to finally have my fill of the morbid duties that needed fulfilling for this job.

"That's Saoirse, right?" I wondered after a moment of consideration. I was an unofficial apprentice to David, and I didn't want to falter in the face of dealing with people who were still alive on the job.

"That's her. Poor love that had trouble with the casket options. "

I nodded at that. The elderly mother had already been settled into her casket, forever asleep and to me, feeling... empty. Seeing so many bodies even so soon, all of them felt like that. Like they weren't real, even if all evidence suggested they were once a fully complete person. Their body a rich history of their whole lives, each process from washing the body to 'setting the features' telling me innocuous secrets no one knew and I could do nothing with.

Once she was carefully moved to the viewing room, I went to contact the family. I found myself stifling any urge to sound overly cheery like most other forms of customer service encouraged, informing Saoirse that her mother was ready, before I saw David moving around beyond our administration office where I'd made the call. I'd leaned my head out of the room while the daughter tearfully soothed herself to my understanding assurances about the funeral.

David was on his own phone, but something felt... off. His voice was hushed, and he remained facing the tiled corridor wall as his free hand scratched excessively against the underside of his jaw. It made his skin red and blotchy since I noticed it lasted the entire brief phone call.

"... Is that okay?"

Shit. I cleared my throat as I processed the last few words of Saoirse.

"Yes! Yes, of course, I'm sorry. You can see her yourself in the viewing room before - take as much time with her before as you need, okay? I'll bring you back once you're here."

Trust me, there's a reason I'm explaining the body I helped prepare.

David seemed to feel my eyes lingering on his back once he got off the phone even if I atuomatically let my eyes fall back on the desk in line of the doorway, his hand now working his jaw, shoulders set in a deeply held breath.

"Coroner Harris, new intake from the back of the hospital. Why don't you just help me with sterilision before you head home?"

Home?

"Oh, I just told Saoirse Williams I'd be able to greet her to go to the viewing room..? It's still early in the day, isn't it?" I wondered. Was I missing something?

Now, the funeral home itself was never really short on staff, but it was still considered a small and reliable place. The other staff included David, and the admin assistant. His daughter, Amy - while she should have technically been the one to address poor Saoirse about the funeral arrangements and her mum being ready, I couldn't help since I started offering to be that person the grieving could depend on. No matter how awkward I felt internally, it just felt important that I help them through the process. Amy being my boss's daughter gave her the leeway to pop in and out for her shifts if and when she liked, so I couldn't argue that I doubled as admin assistant and mortuary assistent the same time most of the time.

"I'll see her through once she's here. This one's a bit.." David wrung his wrists this time, dark eyes deep set watching mine like he thought I could discern what he meant.

"A bit..?"

"Just better you have some time today, alright? Some of the conditions these bodies are in, it can be a shock." He explained, words exasperated.

I furrowed my brow, my hands sticking into my pockets.

"All I've been doing the past month is looking at bodies - this is worse than.."

David made a frustrated sound, hands coming together in front of him.

"Please... Liv - I think you should take the day. I'll sort the intake forms. Harris just warned me how bad it was. I know how much you want to get in the dirt, always been that way, but... this is bad. S'not cause I know your mum, but... let's be honest, there'd be a warpath if you aren't equipped for it." It didn't feel like the David I'd been working with. Since I started, he'd wanted my exposure to be an assurance. It was no good having someone working this kind of job if they fainted at particular cases that turned out extra messy or emotionally stressful.

I conceded reluctantly, if only because I think if I didn't, he'd have sent me home as my boss instead of my family friend instead.

Still, even on the way home through the coastal edge of the city, curiosity had imbedded itself in my mind to the point I ended up ruminating on it when I got home. Tried to take the half-day off as a positive. Tried to read, tried to put on some shitty reality TV that helped me seperate myself from my morbid job, but I couldn't help myself.

It was getting dark by the time I decided to sate my curiosity. I knew myself, I'd trick myself into not sleeping if I didn't just check the work portal before bed to see the forms about the conditions of the newest body intake. The way David made it sound, it likely would be either a closed casket funeral, or maybe just cremation.

It was... neither?

I chewed my nail after logging onto the portal and finding the latest paperwork for the body. Nothing seemed too terrible, actually. A man in his late fifties, died due to acute liver failure. No previous autopsy made me think it was probably a while coming, but the discrepancy I did find is what made me stop. The same way some preparations took a while, some were quick depending on how prepared the inevitable was for people. This man only seemed to have a son, listed. What I noticed first were the typos. David tended to take his time, but all the forms available seemed curt, filled out in a rush as I scrolled through the document.

James Price, our dead man. The dead man I quickly realised had to have been given the wrong embalming mixture when I scrolled down to the process notes. For people with severe jaundice like this man had, regular embalming mixtures should be avoided at all costs. If David used the standard, a few hours and this poor man would be having an open casket looking like Shrek because his skin would end up green and it would be too late to fix, if the speed at which the preparation was being done was indicating how soon the goodbyes would be.

"Shit.." I hissed after rushing to try and call David. He didn't pick up, and there was no answer from the old fashioned office landline even after three attempts either.

I could have called Amy... God, why didn't I just call her?

Still in what I considered my slouchy clothes from changing earlier, I rushed to grab my coat and shoes, almost forgetting my keycard for the building before I made my way across town, avoiding the busy roads filled with taxis that were only now dropping off groups of others closer to my age to start their nights of drinking.

"David?" I called after letting myself into the building. The automatic lights past the front of the funeral home kicked in after I went to the employee threshold, the colour they cast on the mixture of old tile and new posters, and biohazard bins, cleaning trolleys reminded me of the old dentist office everyday I came here. It could be depressing, but I'd found the buzz of the lights more peaceful than the hollow silence of the viewing room that always had that smell of coffin varnish, made you feel like a pin dropping could wake the dead waiting inside.

I hiked my handbag further up my shoulder, rushing to see if Amy was in the back office. The lights were on, but empty. If David was taking over everything tonight, it tracked that he wouldn't want his daughter seeing the gruesome details either. Amy was good at her job, but she could still be rather sensitive for a funeral home admin. Last time I'd talked about donating blood she'd acted personally offended that I left the image in her mind.

I looked in the admin office, the intake room, the holding room, and when I came to the prep room, took a deep breath assuming that down in the basement, David probably had no clue I was even here. But.... the lights seemed dim. Despite how well the ventilation system tried, the old structure of the building often trapped the smell of formaldehyde, chemical cleaners and the undertone of sweet rot in the stone walls painted over for that modern touch. I braced myself, assuming it would be the familiar scent that greeted me, but... nothing.

It was empty. No body on a slab, no lines of equipment ready or waiting for Mr Price. No Mr Price. The embalming section was empty, and the viewing room when I went back up still only held the 91 year old I'd helped lay in her final bed earlier today. More calls to David. Nothing. I almost tried to use the computer to find the number for the coroner that signed off on transporting the body, but it was late and no doubt, he'd be home by now.

What's going on?

The only parts left of the funeral home to check were the restrooms and the chapel. It was the most used part of the business. Locals here would admit the local church itself wasn't very often used, typically more so for children's Sunday learning and the most attendees during the week ranging from those hoping to gain aid from what the church offered and the elderly. The chapel was also adaptable, both suited for secular services and able to implement crosses and other decor if requested for a religious service.

The buzzing lights felt far away as he came to the double doors. I peered through the thin windows in the doors, but it was dark inside. Even so, a strange whiff of something passed my nose when I lingered in the hallway of the doors. A familiar rot that I'd expected earlier, but... not just that. It wasn't the chemical smell either, and I couldn't place it except that it stung my nostrils as I pushed the doors open. As soon as I entered, I stopped. I didn't turn the lights on, because my initial thought was a potential intruder and the immediate way my heart fell into my gut had me both freezing and preferring to turn tail.

In the dark, the light from the stained glass windows showed it was empty, empty. But you know that... feeling, when you've walked somewhere you shouldn't? The last time I felt it, it was an embarrassing moment after a job interview I got lost leaving the manager's office, had a shelf stocker show me out. This went beyond that little bout of embarrassment, because the scent that greeted me reminded me of something savoury.

The closest were some seasalt chips I'd eaten once - I only remember they stung my nose because they were drowned in vingar. The smell tasted like acid reflux in my mouth, but my eyes quickly found what was truly off in the large room. The place I was so used to caskets being viewed for services... actually seemed to have a casket there. At a time of night where it should be empty, freshly cleaned and prepared for the next service. The long, rectangular shape and varnished wood reflected the light. From the moon or from the city lights glaring in, I couldn't tell you.

"David?" I hissed out quickly, reaching for the light switches once I finally saw no movement in the dark. I fumbled, but the familiar click-clack of each of them yeilded no light. There was a flash... and a shape. It made me jump, but in the split second the flash of light gave way to the dark again, I'd convinced myself there was no shape. Just how your eyes act when you suddenly turn on a bright light.

The lights not coming on, my lungs felt squeezed into my ribcage with each harsh breath through my nose. I could just go, really. Leave David messages, let him mess things up, but something was just so wrong. I was worried. Why did I have to worry?

I told myself to be an adult, this was all some misunderstanding, or accident, or something silly I'd come to realise once I saw what was going on.

I white knuckled my handbag to myself, and used the light of my phone instead. My steps were harsh and I made them that way. Walked directly down the path between the chapel pews, which all showed up as empty as my light washed over each space. That smell. It was worse now. It only reminded me of the word brine, come to think of it. Something briney. The last time I smelled such a thing, I'd been helping my father drag in a cage of crabs along the coast, but it wasn't even like that either. It was overpowering, and sticky sweet, acidic at the same time.

It was emanating from the casket. Maybe David had already completed everything himself, but why would he already have the casket here? Maybe the smell was because of the jaundice effect the wrong chemicals caused? I'd never read about it causing a smell, just the wrong colour. Even if it did, the casket should not be here yet, even for a service first thing in the morning. Breathing through my mouth was bearable at this point as my phone light shone over the shiny wood. It was one of the cheaper options for funeral preparations, hardly metal surrounding the structure.

I thought it could be ripping off a bandaid to look. I really did. I'd see a green body, I'd finally get ahold of David and figure out this whole thing. Maybe he'd had a rough week, maybe something was wrong with him and he completely made... a huge professional error.

The first thing I noticed when I put my hand on the lid of the casket was how cold it was. I didn't expect it to be warm, but it felt even colder than I'd expected. I expected to pull my hand away damp, like the wood would hold moisture to make it that cold. Not just the surface, but the immediate air around it was cold, making my breath fog as I breathed out deeply enough to reach the change in temperature.

I held my breath as my finally used my hand to lift the upper lid half of the casket, light spreading over a colour inside I didn't expect in my periphery at first. It was... pink? Until I looked properly.

Must be James Price, but it was easy to mistake him for hardly even a person anymore. At first I even thought that he had no skin, but... No that was his skin. The upper half exposed wasn't only pink, he seemed to be naked. At least his upper half was bare that I could see. I made a distressed sound that came out muffled as I held my coat sleeve over my mouth. The skin was festering. It was pitted, shades of pink and paler skin tones, highlighting the shapes of muscles in his face despite it being bloated. Like something was pushing out underneath the muscle, not the soft tissue. The eyes were clouded and glassy, looking beyond my light and upwards. Now I remember it, it felt like they were looking at something. The festering wasn't some... maggots or insect movement I'd glanced before in my short time working here, it was something larger underneath.

"Oh - my god!" My hand dropped the casket lid open from the body, taking a step back since I was just so sure that something in the swollen man's throat bulged out from within as I revealed him in the first place. The cold flowed out from him and the casket around me, I could feel it like a cold breeze landing against my legs through the worn sweatpants I never changed out of to come back earlier. The skin looked spongey - the pitted holes not full of any maggots or insects, but seemed to almost be sucked inward, like they were made from pulling inside.

I only stumbled back because of a movement from the man's jaw. Almost a snapping motion, but upon it opening the mouth, I saw the now shaking light I'd shed from my phone reflect off something in the black of his mouth. Something... grey, and pearlescent that moved almost like it was about to lunge out of the space. It was shaped like an almond and nearly the whole size of the space it fit in. Burning ran up my neck as I shrieked and stumbled back from the shallow alter steps, my body trembling so much my legs were almost jelly as they shot me towards the doors back at the other side of the chapel. I didn;t bother hiding the body again, I don't even know if I dropped anything from my bag when I stumbled, I just ran and used my shoulders to burst back through the double doors. Back to my familiar buzzing lights.

My body only felt like a livewire when my running through the doors had me colliding with another surface, with more give than wood and who's hands quickly held me with surprise that had another shout of surprise echoing off the walls. My eyes were wild as they adjusted to the light and landed on who'd caught me.

David,

He had taken on a deathly pallor, and his hands had a hidden strength that hurt as they dug into my arms through my coat.

"David - where were you!? Oh my god - there's something-!"

"LIV!" He shook me from my panicked words once by my arms, my shoulders hunched in my terror and my hair sticking to my now dampened skin. His expression wasn't one I'd seen before. He almost didn't look like the same man. He was looking over me like he was checking me over, eyes tracking my trembling hands which were grasping my phone to my chest.

My confusion was evident. What the fuck is going on? I couldn't tell if he was angry or worried. His eyebrows furrowed the same way for both, and compared to my 5'7 self he towered about 6'4. Older, stronger, years of moving bodies. The anxiety already swirling through my limbs briefly caught fire a moment at him, but he breathed hard through his nose before he let go of one of my arms, dragging me down the corridor further away from the chapel. I couldn't even question why, and he only stopped when we had two sets of doors between us and... whatever that thing was.

"Please - talk to me!" I begged breathlessly, my heart pounding into my skull as he spun back to me, lips hard set in a straight line that was harsh in a way that didn't fit the face I knew.

"Liv - fuck sake, why the hell are ye' here you stupid girl?" He didn't bark his words, but David's voice was the sort that boomed even when he didn't try, the base hitting me in a way that made me scrunch my face at his question.

"Why am I here!? I was on the work portal, you were-"

"Yeah, I saw it! I didn't tell you to double check my paperwork!"

I snapped my mouth shut, indignation and confusion mingling with the terror and still had my legs weak. David's grip was bruising now.

"David.." I rasped around my rapid breathing, "What was that?"

His bottom lip twitched, and I could swear his eyes were glassy, but the lights near the supply cupboard they were standing by were unflattering and could easily have been tricking me to think it. His eyes glanced to where he was still holding my arm and he breathed out shakily as he let go, my pulse strong where he'd finally let go.

"What you're going to do... is go home. I'm going to make sure that everything is settled down, cleaned up. And you're not going to check the work portal tonight again."

I was already shaking my head as he spoke.

"No! What the fuck!? Tell me what's going on!"

But he didn't. He didn't tell me. Even when I dug in my heels. In the moment, doing so suddenly made this... cold feeling wash over me. Not like the casket or the body. But David's eyes. They didn't change physically, but his hard set features made them feel darker, suddenly. Like shark eyes, the cast shadows on his face suddenly making him appear even older than he was from his early fifties. David shouldn't scare me. He should never scare me. Contrary to his line of work, he was so friendly. So reliable, so welcoming and helpful when I began working here. The past month had reinfoced who he was to her already, and now she realised it really had only been a month.

I didn't... really know him like that.

His eyes lingered on my phone, and all at once it made his shoulders drop and his hand come up to wipe over the side of his eyes, Why did he keep looking at my phone.

The sudden attention made me hold it tighter to my chest, the light covered by my protective fingers.

"Go home, love.." He added, voice still dry but suddenly much softer. The change almost sent me demanding answers again... but I'll admit, the painful awareness this man in front of me really was no one more than someone who had been in my general orbit most of my life, still mostly a stranger, made me too scared. David was seen as a gentle giant, but the lack of security in that image anymore made me feel vulnerable, my body suddenly much smaller and more delicate than I felt everyday.

I went home. What else could I do? What to say if I called the police? Nothing I could think of would make sense. David had followed me to see me out, like he was making sure I wouldn't come back into the building. Watched me drive off. Was probably watching to see if I logged back onto our work portal that night.

I didn't sleep. Replaying the images of what I saw in that chapel. The cold- I thought of it when I opened up my fridge this morning to try and eat, but I lost my appetite completely as the smell that stuck in my nose and mouth felt somehow worse. Briney, and... sweet rot underneath. What the hell was inside that body? What was wrong with it? Didn't need to guess that dying from liver failure didn't do that. I've felt unsettled the past two days. I didn't call to take the days off, and I didn't get a call from Amy like usual. David did call, but he stopped after trying twice, didn't try at all yesterday.

I've mostly stayed in, unsure what to do first. Trying to convince myself I was seeing things, but I just... couldn't. I've worked with so many bodies even just for the past month, even into the night. Never seen anything like it. If there was a good explanation, David would have told me. He wouldn't have made me feel like that.

I've been pacing most of the day in my flat, trying to distract myself, but my mind keeps going back to that. That... grey, shiny surface in James Price's mouth. Why did I keep thinking of that in particular? I couldn't tell you for the life of me what it could be. It appeared in the blackness of his open maw like a breaching whale, but it didn't look like it was what had been straining the rest of the body. Like I'd know. I'd only looked at it seconds, but it was so vivid.

I feel stuck.

All I know is that when I opened my eyes in the dark this morning and looked through my bedroom door, and saw a shape there.

I think I know what that grey thing was now, that reflected the light of my phone. Reminded me of all the times I took pictures of family pets over the years, and the look I saw when my cat woke me in the darkness of the morning.

I think the thing in James Price's mouth was an eye.

Public warning of Anti-trans protesters today

Something is wrong with the body [Part 1]

Need advice on a concept for my story