Back to Human

Chapter Eleven

Surprise! A mid week update :)

The sliding doors parted. The receptionist looked up, but when she saw nothing that could have triggered the automatic doors she looked down and shook her head, muttering about how she needed to remember to tell maintenance.

I let out a breath I had been holding as we quickly walked inside and made our way down the hall. Charlie led the way, stopping before a door and gesturing for Ben to open it. Charlie went in first, carrying the bulky mannequin that was taller than her. Next Lauren went through. Finally, I heard the door close behind us as Ben closed the door behind him. We quietly walked down some dimly lit stairs.

When we got to the bottom Charlie led the way down a hallway with lots of doors leading off of it. Each door has a glass window in it. I made the mistake of looking through one to see a cold stainless steel gurney and a tray of gleaming sharp instruments. I shuddered before I looked away and focused on the linoleum floor. Suddenly everyone came to a stop. I looked up and Charlie stood in front of a closed door. Beside it was a keypad, with a slowly blinking red light.

Charlie turned around and Lauren grabbed the mannequin, holding it steady while Charlie turned her attention on the lock. She put her hand on the lock and she closed her eyes.

A few seconds later the lock beeped loudly, disturbing the thick silence that hung over the entire floor. I looked around in worry, hoping no body heard that.

Charlie glances up and down the hall before grabbing the mannequin again and heading inside. Lauren and Ben follow closely behind her.

The room is large, and instantly recognizable from the crime shows my mum liked to watch. It is a freezer room. On the wall are numerous metal doors, and behind each is a sliding gurney.

Charlie hurries over to a clip board on the wall and skims through it. "Number 7." Charlie says.

Lauren immediately heads over to the wall of doors, each of them is numbered. She grabs the handle to number seven and pulls.

The tray slides out and on it is a body. My body. Charlie pointed at the mannequin and it rose up, floating on its back next to my body. The mannequin stared blankly at the ceiling. The whole was creeping me out.

My body was in a black body bag lying on the tray. Ben went over and unzipped the body bag. My hair escaped first. The pastel pink tresses hung to my shoulders.

Ben opened the top of the body bag, making sure to only expose my head.

I looked awful. I was extremely pale and my face looked sunken. I suppose I technically was a corpse but I didn't want to think about that. Ben got to work.

He put a sheet over the mannequin, making it look like that tacky floating woman magic trick. Ben focused on my body, a look of concentration on his face.

Suddenly he turned his gaze to the mannequin. The sheet shifted as the mannequin put on weight. Pastel pink hair, the same shade as mine sprouted from the mannequin's head. The mannequin's matte white plastic surface started to change.

"Ash, can you keep a look out? We may be invisible but the open freezer and your body isn't." Charlie asked.

Lauren set me down on a moving tray and moved it in front of the small glass window so I could look out. No one was down on this floor. I heard muttering from behind me and turned to see Ben holding out the mannequin's left arm. I heard a noise behind me and turned.

"Someone's coming down the stairs!" I harshly whispered. Lauren came over. A man in plain clothes reached the bottom of the stairs before turning into a room on his right. The light turned on and I could see a silhouette on the wall as he went around the room. The light went off and he came out. He started walking down the hall towards us again.