The day started slow for David, which he appreciated after the previous night. He spent the morning cleaning the caskets on display in the sales showroom. Cleaning every inch of the teak clad room wiping non existent dust from the shelves that held the different urns. The showroom was always spotless. Death is big business. The soothing background music, designed to promote sales, added to the growing monotony. The woman from his vision was on his mind. Euphoria washed over him again, her words repeating in his mind.“Follow the details,” she said, but what details? Her words held meaning but he didn’t know exactly what it was. Could it just be his imagination? He knew the answer was no. There was no way his mind could have created such a vision. Deep down he knew his ability to observe details was unusual. Maybe it was his training in martial arts as a child that honed his skills. Could this be why she was communicating with him?
David moved onto polish the urns, as he rubbed his cloth over the small brushed metal vessel, his thoughts drifted. He needed to buy more Absinthe, the bitter green liquid enabled him to leave his body, to travel and to learn. He wanted to see more of the woman in his visions, go deeper, ask more questions. The visions always ended too quickly for his liking. Many times he had tried to drink a second shot, to extend the experience. It never worked. Once he was back in this reality, in his body, the connection was lost. Like an ever shifting desert of sand. It would be impossible to find the same grain of sand twice. He always had to wait at least 24 hours before he could travel again. Sometimes to the same place, most of the time he had no control over where he went, or what he saw. As soon as his shift ended he would head over to the Port to get more.
The Boss walked in and interrupted David as he was moving the last of the urns back into place. “A pickup in town” he said, in his usual monotone voice, waving a file. “Motorbike accident…take Simon. Beck is busy with paper work and Paul isn’t in yet.” “No problem” David said as he placed the cleaning box back behind the hidden wall panel. Excited to be getting out of the office, he walked to the door. The Boss handed him the file. As David took it his Boss kept hold of it and said in a low voice, “Keep an eye on Simon. Its his first bike accident.” David nodded, took the file and walked towards the garage.
Simon was cleaning the wheels of the car with a cloth when David entered. “Simon, what are you doing?” he asked rhetorically. Simon looked over his shoulder to him with an expression of extreme boredom. “What does it look like i’m doing?” he fired back. David ignored the sarcasm “Come on we have a pick up in the city” Simon looked at the office as if looking for the Boss to save him or an escape route. Then he stood and threw the rag into the bucket and grabbed his jacket.
Thankful to be out of the office, David drove the black Mercedes fast towards the City. Simon sat in silence watching the road ahead. “How are you related to the Boss?” David asked. Simon looked down. “He’s my Uncle” he said in a low voice. “Ah I thought so”, laughed David, “so that’s how you got the job.” Simon’s face turned red “My Uncle wants me to take over the business. He has no children of his own” he explained. David didn’t respond. He’d heard enough. So that’s why this kid gets Special treatment he thought. “What does the file say?” David asked, changing the subject. He knew full well what happens to a human body in a motorbike accident. Motorbike deaths were the bread and butter of the business. Simon opened the file and read. Male, 21 years old. David shook his head. “Young and stupid” he said. David knew the timeline for any rider was finite. Accidents are inevitable, fatal or not, are inevitable.
The Cops had blocked the road as David and Simon approached. There were people everywhere. It looked like a riot. David nodded to the Cop manning the barricade and he moved it to the side just enough to let them through. Around 50 relatives and friends of the dead were screaming and shouting in anger. The Cops were struggling to hold them back. When the crowd saw the car, they became more aggressive. David looked at the angry crowd and looked at Simon who was looking very scared. The crowd began trying to push through the Police line towards the car, to prevent them from picking up the body. The Cop in charge ran to the car and David opened the window. “Be as quick as you can” he said, in a worried voice. David and Simon looked at each other “We go on five” said David. “One, Two, Three, Four,….Five!
They both opened their doors and ran from the car to where the white sheet covered the corpse, laying in the road. David lifted the sheet and the sight shocked him. He stepped back as his mind tried to compute what he was seeing. The body was in a completely un-natural contorted shape. One leg was close to the face and the other was protruding out from the back of the torso. It looked like every bone in the body was broken. David stood for a few seconds looking at the body, then he looked towards the intersection and saw the single, long tire mark on the road, leading to the traffic lights. The motorbike was in a pile of debris by the wall nearby. The pole itself had been what stopped the bike. Judging by the state of the bike and the location of the body, the guy must have been going fast. Losing control on the bend near the bottom of the hill and hitting the traffic light pole. The body had then continued traveling through the air at high velocity before hitting a white parked car, before coming to rest where David stood, 10 meters away.
The crowd grew louder and a bottle smashing on the floor nearby. “Lets get the hell out of here” Simon shouted as he lay the body bag on the ground. Bending down, they tried to lift the crumpled mess in to the bag but because everything was broken they had difficulty. It was like they were carrying a bag of fluid. Struggling to hold it, they managed to shift the body in to the bag as quickly as they could. Simon ran to the car to get the trolley as David made the body fit inside and zipped the bag closed. Lifting the body bag to the trolley they ran back to the car. Another bottle smashed on the ground and other things began to fly in their direction from the crowd. Quickly they pushed the trolley into the back of the car and slammed the door closed.
Simon jumped into the car. As David was about to get in, one of the fire fighters shouted and pointed in the direction of a car on the far side of the road. David saw another smaller white sheet between the cars. “Shit!” he cursed, looking at the crowd now almost tearing through the Police line. He ran over to the sheet and under it there was one of the bikers arms, which had been torn off at the armpit. He picked up the arm by the shoulder and ran to the car. As he got to the car he waved to the cop in charge, but with the arm in his hand it looked like he was waving with the dead mans arm. At seeing this the crowd became uncontrollable. “Go” shouted the cop as he ran forward to help keep the angry mob from charging at the car.
David jumped in to the drivers seat and threw the bloody arm into Simon’s lap, then started the engine and put his foot down. As he cleared the barricade and drove away from the madness, David looked at Simon. He was looking down at the arm in his lap, his face as white as the sheet that had covered the body. “What?” said David, “You’ve never seen a severed arm before?” then grabbed the arm and stuffed it into a plastic bag between the seats and drove towards the City Morgue.
After delivering the body to the Coroner, they sat waiting in the corridor for the paperwork to be completed. David sat holding the plastic bag with the arm hanging out of it. “That was a close call” said Simon, “I thought we might not get out of there without a fight.” “Do you know how to fight?” David asked. “I’ve never had a real fight,” replied Simon. “I hear you can handle yourself” he continued. David nodded his head but didn’t say anything. At that moment the Boss walked in and saw the shopping bag. Simon sat up straight when he saw his Uncle. “What’s that?” asked the Boss, pointing to the bag. David lifted it, “It’s an arm” he replied “from the Biker.” The boss’s mouth dropped open and his eyes widened in shock. “What the fuck are you doing with that out here?” he snapped, snatched the bag, and disappeared through the two way doors to the Coroners office. David leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and looked at Simon “I can show you how to fight”
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