Chapter 1 - The Cold Flesh
The pristine white chapel was silent enough to hear a drop of sweat fall.
Arthur stood rigid beside the pulverized coffin, his breath hitching in his chest.
The pale, ghostly hand hanging out of the broken plaster and wood did not move at first.
Every eye in the funeral home locked onto those bloodless fingers.
Maria’s chest heaved as she dropped the sledgehammer onto the polished marble floor.
The heavy steel head cracked the tile with a loud, echoey clatter.
"I told you!" Maria shrieked, her voice raspy from panic.
"I told you she wasn't dead!"
Arthur took a single, hesitant step forward, his jaw tight and pale.
His dark eyes flared with a strange mixture of absolute terror and burning rage.
"Get away from her!" Arthur shouted, lunging forward to grab Maria’s arm.
"You’ve desecrated my wife's body!"
"Look at her hand, Arthur!" Maria screamed back, ripping her arm out of his grasp.
"Look at her damn fingers!"
Slowly, the pale index finger twitched.
A collective gasp ripped through the audience of black-suited mourners.
Women screamed in the back rows.
Men knocked over chairs as they scrambled backward toward the heavy chapel doors.
Arthur froze mid-stride, his face draining of all color.
The hand in the hole flexed again, fingernails scraping against the jagged edge of the broken coffin lid.
A wet, agonizing gasp echoed from deep within the dark void of the box.
"Emily?" Arthur whispered, his voice trembling uncontrollably.
Maria dropped to her knees beside the shattered lid.
She reached her gloved hands into the dark hole without hesitation.
"Hold on, ma'am!" Maria begged, her eyes brimming with tearful determination.
"I’m going to get you out!"
"Don't touch her!" Arthur yelled, grabbing Maria by her hair and pulling her backward forcefully.
Maria cried out in pain as she hit the marble floor hard.
"She’s contagious!" Arthur yelled frantically to the panicking crowd.
"She died of an airborne neurotoxin!"
"She's a biohazard!"
The crowd dissolved into complete chaos.
People trampled over each other, desperately trying to escape through the chapel doors.
The funeral director sprinted out the side exit, leaving the heavy doors slamming shut behind him.
Only Arthur and Maria remained near the ruined casket.
Inside the dark coffin, the gasp came again, louder this time.
A woman's voice, choked with dust and wood powder, wheezed from the hole.
"Ar... thur..."
Arthur didn't reach down to help her.
Instead, his hands moved toward his jacket pocket with unnatural speed.
He pulled out a small, metallic object before Maria could fully push herself up from the floor.
It was a syringe filled with clear fluid.
Maria's eyes widened in horror as she realized what he was holding.
"What are you doing?!" Maria screamed, launching herself at his legs.
Arthur kicked back sharply, his polished shoe catching Maria directly in the ribs.
Maria groaned, collapsing onto her side, gasping for air.
Arthur leaned over the broken coffin hole, hiding the syringe from any angle behind him.
"Stay quiet, darling," Arthur whispered softly into the dark opening.
His face was devoid of any sorrow or love.
May you like
It was cold, ruthless, and terrifyingly calm.
He plunged the needle downward into the shadows.
