Identity V Embalmer Novels & Stories

She felt Death's hand touched her shoulder again. "I apologize for your untimely demise," Death muttered. A pair of embalmer entered the morgue. They are carrying a smaller body bag then they placed a dead body of a young girl in one of the metallic beds. "They must be from the accident too," Emily said. A man wearing a black suit went through the walls of the room. he is accompanied by a young girl who has a pleading round eyes, thick pouty lips and long straight brown hair that has a thick fringe.

The coffin turned out to have a transparent lid, so she could clearly see what was inside the coffin. She gasped, covered her mouth with both hands and took a few steps back in surprise when her eyes saw clearly the condition of the corpses of the people William called as his parents. Their bodies did not decompose as normal corpses would look. It looked like it was preserved by embalming technique or whatever it was called. Their expressions at the time of their death were terrifying, full of desperation, begging whoever attacked them to grant them forgiveness.

I lowered my eyes and said, "Grandma's too heartbroken. She just needs to cry it out." Knowing that I used to love dressing up when I was still the heiress of the Jones family, Edith bought the most expensive post-mortem restoration service for me and Halle before the cremation. However, she did not know that the best mortician in this funeral home was none other than my husband, Timothy. My fate was so twisted. Back when my cousin had been in a car accident and was disfigured, no mortician was able to restore her body until they found Timothy.

"Her body was released to a private funeral home at 7:02 AM. For 'immediate cremation per prior arrangement.'" "Who arranged it?" My voice was hollow. "The form is signed by a 'L. J. Vance,' claiming to be a cousin. No such person exists in any database. The funeral home is a shell corporation, now dissolved. The director has vanished." He pointed to a line on the form. "But look at the time stamp on the release authorization. 6:45 AM. Before the official death certificate was even filed with the city registrar." "They moved her before she was officially dead," I said, the horror of it sinking in.

Nora said, "Henry suddenly said a few days ago that he wanted to be a groom. I was just trying to help him recover quickly. Don't worry, once we're registered and done with the wedding, I'll immediately apply to the court to revoke the declaration of your death and restore our marriage." I let out a cold laugh and shrugged her hand off me. Staring at the marks all over her body, I said icily, "A fake wedding? If it's just a fake wedding, who gave you all those marks on your body? It seems like our marriage is the fake one!"

"Please. You're his right hand. His friend. You know him. Just—look me in the eyes and tell me that's him in there. Tell me you're sure." Dimitri's face crumpled. Just for a second. Then he schooled it back to granite. But I saw it. That flicker of doubt. "You're not sure," I whispered. "You're not completely sure either." "The dental records—" "Could be wrong. Could be tampered with. Could be—" I stopped. Heard how I sounded. Desperate. Delusional. "I just need to see." Marcus put his hand on my shoulder. "They're taking him to Oceanview Cemetery after this. There's a private burial for family only. You can see him there. Before they—before they lower the casket."

I grab my phone from where it was on the dresser, and sure enough, there were text messages from Danielle from previous days, I send her a quick greeting before noticing that there was an unknown number. I tap it, and place the phone near my ear. “Hello, Ms. Vera?” “Um . . . yes?” “This is Farewell Funeral Services.” “Oh . . . Hi?” The woman from the other end chuckles lightly. “I’ve called to discuss certain matters with you, pertaining to your mother. She needs to be buried.” “Of course, what is it?” “We need you to stop by as soon as possible, to view the body, pick a coffin and do some paperwork.”

“If the refrigeration system struggled or the embalming chemicals reacted, that would have finished the job. Nothing supernatural here, just chemistry at work.” He gave a small shrug, almost amused. “Consider your missing corpse crisis explained.” I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. My shoulders eased. “It could work,” I said. “But I would like to know what the hell happened. It’s not natural,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “Don’t worry. My men and I will conduct a thorough analysis. As for the test results… they’re confidential.” He snapped the report shut. “My help goes no further.”

Ending and beginning. All of it. All together. All honored. It was beautiful. It was healing. It was exactly right. Ember watched the ceremonies. Participated in honoring. Helped celebrate. And she felt something shift inside. Something heal. Something complete. She had struggled with her own identity. Had questioned whether the hundreds died or persisted. Had wondered whether she was continuation or creation. Now she understood. She was both. The hundreds persisted in her. And she was new being created by their merger.

We were called to come identify his pale body in the morgue but I couldn't stand a minute in there. “He had an accident. He used to be a cab driver, and we had a silent burial for him.” But then, Ron laughed and my stomach dipped. “Isn’t that it?” He pulled the card from me, and I reached for it again, however, he shook his head at me before flipping the card and passing it to me again. I read, with my shaky voice forcing its way out of my throat. “Gerald Silver.” “Human Body Packer.” My fingers quivered around the plastic card and the next second, it fell to the soft floor of the car with a soft clank.