Pushing the cart into the lockers, Helena watched as the face of another client faded into the shadowy bearings of the funeral office's storage. She noted each individual bruise and scar that still had visible pigmentation on the limbs of the deceased despite her draining the blood from the body. This was all part of a day's worth of work and watching these bodies, many who have already suffered blemishes and other injuries in time with their death. These sights were nothing out of the regular, hell, it was less frequent for her to see a completely unscathed corpse in her office than anything. If someone were to hand a body like that in for service...only then would she really be surprised with how oddly sublime its conditions are. Her eyes narrowed, the dryness of the cryogenic office leaving her eyeballs parched.
This wasn't eerie, neither was it tragic.
Helena told herself constantly that taking on her family's funeral home was the right decision. People were bound to die and she's long grown used to being surrounded by death. Even at the age of 20...going in 21, she would always remember what her father told her as a young girl: "Those who've passed on smile down upon you."
Should she be grateful and say this job was doing herself a favor? Superstition was never part of her own beliefs but she knew just how much it meant to the remainder of her family. Even if she didn't believe in things such as ghosts, anomalies, and curses— it was good to know she would likely be the last victim of a vengeful ghost in the case they were real.
By the time she had finished her thought, the lockers made a click as the lock securing it would shut. The keys on her lanyard in which she used for these storages lightly jingled when she raised herself from her slouched over posture and began returning to the main room. Greeted with a diluted color of blood and the smell of rose-like chemicals, she stared at the spotless operating table before raising iher head to the calendar conveniently placed in front of her work station.
'NOVEMBER 2ND'
The more she thought about her birthday approaching within the next few days, the more nerve wracking everything became.
It was certain that on the yearly occasion everyone throws a grand party for her birthday, the topic of marriage and its prospects would return beneath the limelight. Helena was grateful for their concern and her loved one's efforts to throw such a grandiose celebration, but even she had to admit it grew tiring over the years. Nowadays, she's begun to forget the tale as to why her birthday is so celebrated in the first place...
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On the night of November 4th, she sat in front of a vanity putting on one last final earring to match with her dress. She remembered in that moment why she was celebrated. It wasn't simply due to the fact she was an only child, though it played a large part in how much she was spoiled...but rather the circumstances that led to her birth.
The longer she sat in silence, the more recollection flowed back into her. It began with a woman that she never called mother.
In the freezing depths of a cave, an infant Helena had cried. The only source of warmth she had was growing colder by the second, with limp limbs. She would then instinctively tuck herself between two corpses and a vehicle. The car's windshield had been fully shattered and the engine of the auto had practically imploded on itself. It was also shortly after the implosion that she had left her mother's wound despite the fact both her biological parents had suffered fatal wounds, leading to an instantaneous death.
She could never recall how long she had been wailing. The only thing that a child as newly born as her would have been concerned with was eating and staying warm, and a rotting body was providing her with. It's of these— but that was surely soon to run out.
Everything after those events were a blur though, as the only thing she was told after that was how her current parents found her in the midst of a criminal investigation in the same town of Fauster and insisted they took her in.
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26 years from that same incident, she now found herself sitting in a lavish dining hall that had been rented out for her. Clearly having such a big celebration every year wasn't normal, and furthermore she always questioned how her parents could possibly earn so much money to afford things like this in the city when their practice was in the middle of a quaint town. The impact of this luxurious birthday tradition lost its weight with each passing year but this wasn't she say she wasn't grateful.
Before she even needed to open the door, a sudden raise in volume is heard in the voice from the main hall. Was it normally this chaotic during her birthdays? She often forgot since it only happened once a year. It didn't bother her nonetheless, the louder— the more the merrier after all.
"...9:45. Looks like it time for me to go." With the last few remaining minutes, Helena prepped the final things on her face and hair.
Upon completion, the lights of the vanity mirror is shut, leaving only the yellow ambient lighting of lamps and candles of the dressing room alit. Her dress, despite only being a cocktail dress stood out with its sequin accents reflecting off the lighting before she finally exited.
When she finally left the room though, the hall exit would phase into the main hall. Instead of the lighting remaining consistent, darkness became to leak through the floor and only then would she realize that the venue became eerily silent.
Maybe they're just trying to surprise me by turning the lights off...they're known to pull things like this after all.
Helena continued to walk, gradually entering the main hall as her hands brushed across the walls. They were searching for a light switch, but by the time she reached the switch, her hands made contact with what could only be something she was far too familiar with. This horror would only be confirmed when she conquered her shaken heart and turned on the light.
Her hands were red, and it was touching something she swore she wouldn't have to see outside of the funeral office.
Human Flesh
YOU ARE READING
MIDNIGHT CONTRACT | Eyeless Jack x OC/Reader
Fanfiction"...In exchange for your supply, rest assured I'll keep you alive." -------------------- The year is 2011, and the small town of Fauster is about to witness its century long curse resurface from its imprisonment once more... On her 21st birthday, ou...
