Secrets of the Pier

Chapter Six: The Morgue

The room Ava was stored in was cold and hard, much like the room in my premonitions. My mom had already requested access to Ava's body, and we were granted it because of how close we were to the accident and the family. However, a coroner had to be present at all times. He lead us to where Ava was refrigerated in the morgue and carefully brought her body out. A faint sheet was wrapped around her. The coroner held the zipper of the sheet and nonchalantly asked, "are you ready?"

My mom and I nodded as he proceeded to zip down the sheet. Ava's body was slowly revealed. Her skin was tainted blue and she looked lifeless. I wanted to look away, but I knew that any moment something out of the ordinary could happen. So I stared for as long as I could at a time without throwing up.

"Rachel, she's definitely dead. I'm really sorry." My mom knew I was going to be upset.

There was a pause. "Are we ready to zip her back up?" The coroner asked. I felt too sick to speak, so I nodded my head. I didn't know what else I could have done.

Then, all of a sudden, as he began zipping the sheet, Ava moved. It wasn't a big movement, but it was definitely there. We all jumped back, stunned.

"Is it normal, for the body to twitch like that after death? Like is it a post mortem movement of some sort?" I could sense the concern and fear in my mom's voice.

The coroner looked just as shocked. "No- n-n- not at all..." He stuttered. As he began pulling out his phone to call someone down, Ava's eyes ripped open. We all jumped back again.

"I knew it- she's alive!" I practically screamed.

"Impossible." The coroner whispered under his breath. A moment later, he was running out the door to get help.

Watching the events that unfolded before my eyes over the next hour was easily the most miraculous thing I had watched in my life. Within an hour, Ava was brought to the hospital, given vitals and brought to a normal state, and walking away from the hospital with a ton of cameras on her. People from all over came to interview the girl who was deemed dead, but survived. And as this hour unfolded, I changed from the girl who lost everything to a girl who just got her best friend back- and a whole lot of respect for life and what it has to offer.

Unfortunately, I was pushed to the back of the list in the long line of people waiting to see Ava. In fact, I was basically prevented from speaking with her because so many people were caring for and questioning her. The first people that wanted to speak with Ava were, understandably, the detectives. They wanted to know what really happened on May 20th, 2016. Thankfully, Ava's family asked them to respect that she needed some time to recover, which would buy her a few days until the real work began. It also bought me an opportunity to see my best friend.