Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 72561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
It was so much a part of him now that I didn’t even realize he had it most of the time.
It was only when I would run my lips over his neck, or absently run my hand down his jaw to his collarbone that I’d feel it and remember it was there.
“I don’t know, but it wasn’t that,” I snapped.
His blasé attitude pissed me the hell off.
“At the time, it was a big deal. I remember laying there feeling the warmth spreading from my throat; I knew I was about to die. But I crawled out of the abandoned building that The Crimson Horde used to inhabit, right into the path of Officer Zeth Merritt. He held his hand over my throat, staunching the flow, while he waited for medics to arrive. Held it all the way to the hospital and into surgery. When my mom met him, he was covered in my blood, and she loved him instantly. The relationship was a slow build, and they waited nearly a year before he asked her to marry him. It was the best day of my life when that happened.”
“What happened? Did they not slit your throat and arteries? I thought you always bled out really fast when that happened. Or, at least, that’s what happens in the movies,” I said as I went back to curling Penelope’s hair.
Her hair was very brittle as if it’d been colored way too often, and never treated. Which made me have to be very careful or I’d burn off her hair.
“The kid was about two inches over five feet. He had to jump on my back to slit my throat, and missed the jugular. Got a hundred and twelve stitches, though,” he winked.
I rolled my eyes at his casual attitude and went back to work until Penelope’s hair and makeup was perfect.
Then I got started on her clothes.
“Whoa,” he said turning around.
“What?” I asked as I stripped the gown off Penelope’s body and threw it into the corner where the wash pile was.
“She’s naked,” he said waving blindly with his hand.
I giggled. “Sure is. But she’s dead. She’s not going to care that you saw her dead boobs.”
“That’s not the point. It’s just wrong,” he said roughly.
I smiled as I worked to get Penelope’s bra, button up shirt, panties, hose, and long ruffled up skirt on. Her shoes, the ones she paid $1000 for, as her husband said, were the last thing to be put on.
“Okay, you can turn back around,” I told him.
He turned around cautiously and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her covered.
“You probably see naked bodies a lot as a police officer...” I left the statement hanging and raised my eyebrow at him.
He lifted one shoulder. “Sure, but that’s not the same. She looks like she’s just...sleeping. Most of the ones I see while I’m working look obviously dead.”
“Necrophilia...not your thing. Got it,” I teased.
He mock glared at me before asking, “Are you almost done?”
I nodded. “Yep, just have to get her jewelry on and call Ralph down to help me move her into the casket.”
His head tilted. “Who’s Ralph?”
“He’s our muscle. When Brittany or I need an assist, he comes down to help. He’s the night security guard,” I explained as I placed the back on Penelope’s earring before backing away to survey the finished product.
“She looks pretty good. Much better than she did when you started,” he affirmed.
I smiled at him. “Thanks.”
Walking to the phone on the wall, I picked it up and dialed three.
“How’s it shakin’ little lady?” Ralph’s deep husky voice asked.
“It’s going okay, Mr. R. I need some help moving my newest client,” I said with a chipper cadence to my voice.
“Okay, be down in a few. Want a coke?” he asked as an afterthought.
“No, I’m okay. I’m done for the night; I won’t be too much longer.” I thanked him and then hung up.
“You know,” Loki said. “I could’ve helped you.”
I looked at him and made a weird face. “But then you’d have had your hands on a dead person, and I would’ve had to hear about it all night.”
He stuck out his tongue, but stepped out of the way as Ralph came in and helped me situate Penelope in her coffin.
“You know how I hate moving the dead,” Ralph grumped as he took Penelope’s legs and I took her arms.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said. “Quit your bitchin’.”
He didn’t, but I didn’t expect him to.
“Alright, is that all you need from me?” He asked after we were done.
I shook my head. “Yes, you’re free to go back to your porn.”
“It is not porn. It is wrestling,” he huffed, before turning and stomping indignantly towards the door.
Once Ralph left to continue his duties, I fluffed up Penelope’s hair, and then closed the door on the casket.
“He was pretty...short,” Loki surmised.
“Yep.” I agreed.
Ralph was a 5 foot 4 inch, 76-year-old Chinese man who’d smoked a pack a day since he was sixteen. He didn’t act like any old man I’d ever seen before, but he was awesomely intelligent, and I loved him.
He entertained me many a days, unless it was Monday, which happened to be tonight, and the WWE was on. Although, he made it a point to tell me that it’s not the same since Stone Cold Steve Austin left the show, and I readily agreed.
“So he’s into wrestling?” Loki asked as he shrugged into his leather jacket.
Nodding, I went to the sink and washed my hands thoroughly before donning my own jacket and snatching up my purse.
Just as I was looping my arm through the strap, the lights suddenly went out, and we were plunged into darkness.
My breathing got heavy, and my mind started to race.
“You know,” I said with a shaky voice. “I’m not a real big fan of the dark in the first place, but the fact that we’re in a morgue is really creeping me the fuck out.”
When I didn’t get a response, my heart stated pounding in low, hard throbs.