She fumbles in the dark for the light switch, the bright overhead lights flickered on with an electric sound.The bright lights made it easy to see the rows upon rows of metal mortuary table, each covered in a clean white sheet, draped over a bodily form.
Jenny glanced at her clipboard pressed to her chest, her eyes darted down the paper to read the tag number for her "patient."
"Sixth row," she murmured to herself.
Her steps were tentative, and the slow, but loud clicks of her heels echoed around her. Jenny quietly read out the rows as she passed by them.
The white sheet was pulled down, exposing pale white skin, and a flock of dark black hair. A single finger was sticking out as well, seemingly pointing towards her.
Jenny's eyes glanced at her clipboard again, the patient's name, age and other necessities were blank, her cause of death was marked unknown, the only piece of information that was written on the board were the single word that said "harvest."
Jenny knew perfectly well what the word meant.
Jenny looked at the supposed Jane doe, however this wasn't her first unknown patient, in the past she had multiple John doe's and Jane doe's, in this line of work, they were all known only for one purpose.
she walked further towards the body, to the flock of dark hair, and grasped the very edge of the white sheet. Jenny's hands shook as she grasped it, and her once steady breathing, became restricted and hard to catch.
Jenny didn't know what she expected to see once the sheet was finally pulled down, however she couldn't help but be disappointed by what she found.
she found nothing.
Jenny then took a deep breath, and when she felt her racing heart dying off any last bit of adrenaline, she allowed herself to release said breath.
It came out as a cold fog of smoke.
Jenny placed the clipboard on the side table, littered with knives and scissors and other various tools.
She turned away from the body as she pulled on a pair of gloves.
A sudden shallow draw of breath, that wasn't her own, caught the attention of her ears.
Instinctively Jenny whipped her head around to the noise, as she did so, the sheet covering the body fell soundlessly to the floor.
Jenny gripped her scalpel, and moved closer to the body.
Nothing had changed, The body laid in the same position she left it in.
Except, the woman's chest was moving steadily up and down.
"Shit." Looking at the body she sighed in exasperation, and said to no one, but herself.
"They forgot to kill another one."
She moved her scalpel to the woman's throat, whose eyes flew open, and were staring in a scared panic at her.
"No, wa-"
Jenny slid her hand across the woman's throat, her plea turning into an unintelligible sound.
Fin.
YOU ARE READING
The Sixth Row
Mystery / ThrillerJenny's job doesn't usually involve killing. ____________ Short story for the welcome to the Blum house writing contest.