𝕌𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕥𝕝𝕖𝕕 [𝕂. ℍ𝕖𝕚𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕓𝕖𝕣𝕘]

Chapter 7

"Your incision here is sloppy. It's too jagged." The directness in his voice made Y/n hang her head. She's worked on dozens of corpses, but it didn't feel like she was improving. Heisenberg placed a hand on her shoulder, drawing her attention to the corpse in front of her. He leaned in closer to get a better look at her work and ran his thumb along the cut. Heisenberg stopped and tapped his finger near the end of the laceration. "You need to slow down a bit more. It needs to be slightly longer, too. Two centime—about an inch and a half. I need a little more room to install the reactor."

Y/n stared at his finger. She was hoping he wouldn't notice the mistake she had made right at the end, but she should have guessed she couldn't hide it. "Okay."

Heisenberg remained standing behind her. His forearms rested on her shoulders. She took in his constructive criticisms and tried to fix her mistakes. Y/n held her breath as the scalpel cut into the skin. A feeling of disgust she couldn't shake off settled deep in her stomach. The corners of her lips twitched in a small frown. She bit her bottom lip, trying to hide it from Heisenberg's sight. Gross... gross... gross.

Behind her, he leaned in close. She caught a glimpse of smokey tendrils in the corner of her eye before the warm, earthy scent of his cigar. His rough whisper resonated in her ear. "Stop there."

Y/n looked down at her handiwork. Pleased with how it turned out, despite how unnerved she felt during the process, she placed the scalpel off to the side. "Is this better?"

Using his hands, he opened up the chest cavity. Ash fell from his cigar to the table. His thumb ran along the laceration. He gave her a nod. "Much better."

"Does that mean I get to learn how to remove all the inside gunk next?" Y/n asked.

"I don't know what lit that fire under you lately. I like it, though." Heisenberg chuckled under his breath. He looked down at the corpse one more time and back to Y/n. She looked at her face reflecting off of his glasses. "How about this, do one more, and then I'll decide if you're ready for that."

Y/n agreed. He tapped the table. His magnetic hold pulled it along, following him into the next room. She played with the gloves on her hands, stretching out the latex and watching it snap back in place. The gloves didn't feel like enough protection between her and the corpses. Y/n just wanted a long, hot shower after she was done.

"Here we are." His voice drew her eyes up from her hands. He pulled the table to her, with a new body stretched onto the table. Y/n's heart hurt seeing such a young life cut short. Heisenberg motioned his hand to the table before folding his arms across his chest. "Remember to slow down this time."

Y/n breathed in, taking as much air as her lungs could carry. Slowly, she exhaled. She softly placed one fingertip below its collar bone and another further down the corpse's chest. Her gaze drifted to Heisenberg. "About this big, right?"

Heisenberg breathed out a cloud of smoke. He held the cigar between his teeth with a smug grin on his face and shrugged. Y/n's head whipped back to the corpse, and she examined the space between her fingers. Convinced she had it right, she delicately held the scalpel in her hand.

She looked over the untouched chest one last time, imagining a black line down the center. The surgical knife trembled as it pressed its pointed tip against the corpse's skin. As Y/n pressed in, she steadied her hold. She tried to keep her mind off how disgusted she felt by repeating the advice Heisenberg had been giving her. Keep the skin tight. Go in one fluid motion.

Y/n held her breath. Her brows knitted together, and her eyes narrowed as she concentrated. The imaginary line she had been following came to an end. She lifted the scalpel and looked to Heisenberg.