4. Chapter Three
Chapter Three
Aiden
I sneak over to the back door of the mortuary wanting to get a closer look at who’s in the coffin being put to rest today. This is probably one of the worst ideas I’ve ever had, but you know what they say about curiosity and the cat. I mean, it’s not every day you attend a funeral on Halloween night. I try the handle of the door, and a smile curls the corner of my mouth up when I find it unlocked. Well, I guess my evening just got way more interesting.
I step inside the building making sure the door closes quietly behind me. I look down the dark burgundy hallway holding my breath. When I don’t hear any noise of another person nearby, I let out a little sigh of relief. I’m not built for a life of crime if my anxiety has anything to say about it.
I bite down on my tongue to keep the laugh in as I shake my head at my crazy thought. It’s eerily quiet in the building, but I guess that would be expected for a place of mourning. I would be more weirded out if kids were screaming running down the hallways. Now, that would be a disturbing sight.
On silent feet I walk down the hallway towards where I believe the service is being held. My gaze darts up and down the hallway making sure no one is around. I’ve never actually been in the funeral home before even though I’ve been coming to the cemetery for years now. I run my hand along the wall as I stay light on my feet trying my best not to make a sound.
It’s gloomier in here than it is out in the graveyard. All dark colors and dim lighting causing a shudder to run though my body involuntarily. Then again, who ever heard of a cheerful mortuary? That would probably make for a creepy ass horror movie though. I walk into the room that I saw the coffin in with my eyes darting around to make sure no one’s in here.
Rows of maroon cushioned seats are placed throughout most of the room in neat rows. The nearly black wooden coffin sits up at the front of the room on a table. Lilies and pale orchards surround the dark coffin. My eyes catch on a blown-up picture of the deceased that sits near the podium on the opposite side of the coffin.
The picture is of a young man with a gentle smile. I can’t help but wonder if he died that young or if it’s an older picture. His light brown messy hair and light green eyes gives him a look of innocence. My chest clenches tightly at the thought and I try to ignore the strange emotions curling through me.
Slowly I walk up to the coffin with a morbid fascination of seeing a dead body. Seeing him. My eyes dart to the photo and back to the coffin. My fingers gently graze the top of the coffin as I contemplate opening the lid. I mean, this has got to be all kinds of shades of fucked up.
I’ve never seen a dead body before, let alone up close and personal. I’m morbidly curious. Will it look like he’s just sleeping? Every dead body I’ve seen has only been in movies, so I guess that’s what I’m going off of.
My heart starts to beat faster with anticipation as I try to build the courage to open the lid. Just one peak and then I’ll leave, I try to convince myself. Right before I’m about to open the lid of the coffin my phone chimes in my pocket with a text message. I startle from the noise, and I swear I jumped three feet in the air. I’m pretty sure my heart may just have imploded inside my chest as well. I quickly pull my phone out as my eyes dart around the room half expecting someone to burst in.
When that doesn’t happen, I breathe a sigh of relief. My attention goes to my phone in my hand, and I open the text message.
Eve: when are you going to be home? I’m home and you’re not here. Are we still having a horror movie marathon? Also, Sin has a feral glint in her eyes, should I feed her?
I let out a heavy breath trying to will my heart to calm the fuck down. I didn’t realize how late it had gotten. It’s already seven thirty, and Eve probably got out of work early. I quickly type out a text.
Me: yeah I should be home soon-ish
Me: I’m sure Sin would love you forever if you feed her.
Eve: sure *eyeroll*
Eve: your cat hates me
Eve: anyway, I picked up snacks on the way home
Me: did you get m I jump into the empty coffin to hide. There’s a special place in hell waiting for me. I just know it.
I shut the lid as quietly as possible hoping like hell no one opens the coffin. I can hear the muffled footsteps getting closer as my panic reaches a fever pitch. I’m so screwed. I hold my breath as I listen and hope they just leave so I can sneak out of here unnoticed.
No such luck. They didn’t leave like I had hoped. Instead, it sounded like they were setting up to get started with the funeral. This is officially the strangest thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life. I guess that’s what I get for being curious. I should have just headed home instead of walking in here.
Faint weeping makes me fidget as I lie in this coffin.
“May we bow our heads in a moment of silence to remember and honor, Jeremy,” I’m guessing that’s the priest…
My hands are entwined behind the back of my head as I stare up at the lid of the coffin listening in on the funeral service. I wonder if this is how my funeral would go. I have no clue how long funerals take, but this one seems to never end. I thankfully had the foresight to turn my phone on silent mode. The morbid part is that I’m fantasizing it being my own eulogy…
“He was a pillar of this community,” the priest continues, and I have to bite back a scoff. The fuck I was. I didn’t care of the community when most days I got heckled when I left my home. So, fuck them. And people wondered why I hated to go out into the world.
“He was so loved by so many,” yeah, that’s not realistic, but sure we’ll go with that. I have a hard time finding people to tolerate me, let alone love me. Sin loves me… well, when I feed her… I think. I can never tell with her, especially when she looks like she wants to murder me in my sleep.
“He will be truly missed.” A snicker slips out of my mouth before I can contain it. The thought of someone missing me is truly unfathomable. Maybe Eve, but even that I doubt. She’d probably be angrier about me missing our movie marathon than finding out that I’m dead.
It’s a bit of a sad realization at how truly alone I am in my life. Looking at my life in this perception makes me shift uncomfortably. Everyone always thinks they have time to change things. As my mind wanders, I realize just how many regrets I have in my life.
The priest drones on until my eyes grow heavy. A yawn escapes me as I sink further into the coffin pillows. It shouldn’t be that much longer before it ends, right? I don’t really have anything to go by except for what I’ve seen in movies. I’ve never actually attended a funeral before.
At some point in the long-drawn-out sermon, I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I know I feel the coffin lift. I jolt from the sudden movement almost slamming my head against the lid of the coffin, but I doubt anyone noticed. Otherwise, I’m sure there would have been screams or something.
My mind begins to race as I try to figure out what the hell is happening now. Dread started burning low in my stomach as I fight the urge to just throw open the coffin and leap for freedom. I’m sure if I do that, I may just be the root cause of several hours in therapy for many of the mourners attending.
I’m also positive this is like some stage five felony or some shit, so I keep quiet. I’ll just wait for them to set me down. That’s the only plan I have at the moment. There was no way in hell I would do okay in prison. For all my fake bravado, deep down I knew that I would end up being someone bitch. So, fuck that.
I bite down on my bottom lip waiting with my breath held for them to put me down on the ground. With any luck they would leave the coffin unattended so that I could sneak out without being noticed. I don’t hear anymore muffled voices around the coffin, and it makes everything that much worst.
My panic becomes all-consuming when I hear gears grinding as I feel the coffin’s slow descend.