Goodbye Forever, Mom

After the truck sped past, all that was left on the ground was a pulp of flesh that used to be me.An old woman out for her morning walk nearly had a heart attack at the sight, and the police finally rushed over a few minutes later. Looking down at what was left of me, no longer recognizable as human, one of the officers sighed."Looks like this one's going to be a tough job for Ms. Sullivan."Ms. Sullivan was my mother, Diane Sullivan, the finest mortician in the city. People said her hands could work miracles, turning ruin into something whole again. No matter how gruesome the death, she could restore the victim's face to exactly how they'd looked in life.I just didn't know, this time, whether she'd manage it with me.While I waited anxiously, my mother finally arrived at the scene, out of breath. She'd seen more gore than most people could stomach in a lifetime, but one glance at my body was enough to make her frown. She grabbed a water bottle from an officer nearby and took a

The funeral home was in complete chaos. The damage to my body was so severe that her apprentice, who'd only started the job a few months earlier, had no hope of restoring my face on his own.My mother's brow creased in irritation. "You can't even handle something this simple. What good are any of you? I could've been home tucking my kid into bed by now."The apprentice forced out a placating smile. "Not everyone has your gift, Ms. Sullivan. I'm sorry Sophie didn't get to fall asleep in your arms tonight."The instant my name left her lips, my mother snapped back at her. "It's not her. That wretched girl's off running wild somewhere again, hasn't been home in days. I never should have had her in the first place."The apprentice's expression froze for a second, and he gave an awkward little laugh.Already dressed and gloved, my mother asked briskly, "What's the status on the body?"The apprentice pointed to show her. "I've got the skeletal structure mostly reconstructed, but the fa

My mother's skill really was something else. Work that would take anyone else a day or two, she finished in a single night, all while her nerves were stretched to their absolute limit.Just as half my face was slowly coming back together beneath her hands, whatever thread had been holding her together finally snapped.She thought of me, calling her with the last of my strength, begging her to save me, and of how coldly she'd cut off my one chance at survival. It hit her, all at once, that her own actions were what had led to my death.The makeup brush slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor. My mother, always so proud, so composed, no longer cared that a room full of her colleagues was watching. She sank to the ground right there and covered her face, sobbing.Mom, didn't you always hate me? Why cry for me now?While I was alive, I asked you so many times just to look at me. You never once did.Now that I'm dead, why can't you look away?Her apprentice's face had gon

It wasn't just my relatives who showed up. My old classmates and friends came too.Plenty of them knew exactly how Kyle used to torment me back in school, and seeing him now, strutting along beside my mother like he owned the place, made their blood boil. Every last one of them was itching to march over and slap the smug look right off his face.Kyle stopped by my casket and let out a fake, tragic sigh. "Sophie, if there's a next life, don't be so stubborn again. It's only ever you who ends up hurting for it."Watching him play the grieving, sympathetic cousin even now, spouting the same hypocritical, backhanded criticism as always, one of my friends finally lost her patience. She stormed up, grabbed him by the collar, and snapped, "Kyle, what's your problem? Still not done playing saint? Sophie's dead, and you're still putting on this whole performance? Do you have any conscience left at all?"Kyle hadn't expected anyone to actually confront him in public. His face went from red t

My mother's entire world came crashing down, and once again, it was because of Kyle.She truly had no idea how many rotten, unspeakable things this seemingly sweet, obedient boy had been hiding behind her back. Her legs threatened to give out from under her, but she kept her ear pressed to the phone, straining to catch every word."How did Kyle explain it to you? Did he tell you to wait by the road with the truck?"The man on the line let out a long breath. "It wasn't that simple. He promised us a few dozen grand once it was done. At first, we didn't want any part of it. Kidnapping's serious business. Get caught doing something like that, and we're all looking at real time."But he swore that nobody at home would even bother filing a police report if Sophie went missing for a few days, said her family didn't care about her at all. He told us to rough her up good. That kid's got a cruel streak in him, though. Wound up breaking that girl's bones all over her body."My mother could b