Chapter 3

For the first time since it swam out if the river, the corpse really smiled, and not just projected one. Its lips curled upwards in what was unmistakably a one sided grin. It made the face looked even more devilish. The stretching caused the lips to burst. The water that had soaked into it spilled out, a nasty brownish liquid. It stepped back from the door into the foyer, dragging Vanessa with it.

"I was getting worried you would not come."Mike said.

" I would not miss it for any reason." Vanessa replied. The corpse smiled. It leaned its head towards Vanessa. A drop of the brownish liquid dripped to the floor. Vanessa opened her lips to accept the mouth leaning towards her. The two mouth enclosed each other.

"Hmm. Brandy?" Vanessa asked, licking off the brown liquid on her lips. The corpse nodded and leaned towards her again.

When they pulled away, she spied a beautiful plaque on the wall. She moved closer. It was an award fir the best collection if diverse cultural masks. Vanessa's eyes moved over the skulls beside the plaque. The skulls ranged along the wall, and disappeared down the hallway. She fingered one, then another.She ran her thumb under the teeth of one that looked as if it was grinning. Then she unhooked it and turned it around in her hands. The lower jaw fell down and smashed to dust at her feet.

"Nice masks." Vanessa complimented. &Where did you get them&?& She asked, running her fingers around the empty sockets if one. The corpse grinned and pointed at another plaque above the door.

"Collectors' Favorite Auction Center." She read out. She turned to the corpse, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"I never found out about any auction..." She started to say.

"You rarely visit me, do you?"The corpse cut in. " No way for you to find out. Was there?"

Vanessa looked away guiltily. She could guess Mike has no plans to stop throwing her sins in her face. But she would endure. She has found out how much she loves him.

"Party?" The corpse said, holding out a hand. Vanessa took it and let the corpse lead her down the hallway, into a hall. She did not feel the yellow pus that spilled over hands.

Loud music blasted her ear once they entered the hall. The first thing she noticed was a large clock hanging on the wall right over the stage. She wondered what a clock would be doing in a party. But she has no problem with it. So she left it and started surveying what she could see of the hall through the mass of bodies dancing in it.

The most easily visible through the mass of dead bodies was the stage at the end of the hall directly opposite the door. It was a raised platform with a small white table at one end and what lokked like a pulpit at the other end. Black clothes were draped across the wall behind the stage. At one side of the hall, they were round tables and seats. But a larger area was bare and used as a dancefloor. Corpses danced on the dance floor.

Directly in front of the door where Vanessa stood surveying the room, a couple danced. The woman had a bloated body. The left cheek hung open, exposing teeth jutting every which way. Her eyes were lifeless. The skin had almost no color. She had died the same way as Mike.

Her partner had rotting skin. There was a string smell of cordite around him. The smell was emanating from his head, which does not look so much like a head as mashed pork. Only the intact lower jaw identified the mass of bloody flesh and splintered bones as a human head. The man had died from a gunshot to the crown, delivered by his own hands.

Vanessa walked past them without as much as batting an eyelid.

"Nice necklace." She complimented a corpse. It had the hilt if a knife poking out from one end of her neck while the tip poked out from the other end. It touches the hilt and smiled her thanks to the compliment. When Vanessa passed, it stood on its toes and whispered I to her partner's ears.

"A new mask for our foyer."

The man looked at Vanessa and guffawed hideously. A huge hole, caused by a bulle he once put through his mouth, was at the back is his mouth. The scene behind it showed as he guffawed.

Suddenly, the clock above the stage chimed half past seven. Every body in the room went still and the volume of the music went down. Mike's corpse steered Vanessa towards the stage. Vanessa felt her heartbeat increase. It was time to tell her story, and she does not know what she was supposed to do.

"What's supposed to be my story?" She whispered urgently as the corpse lead her up the stairs to the stage.

"Oh that." The corpse said. "Just the story of our breakup and how I committed suicide. And how you had felt about it to this day. Your life as it was from that fateful day."

" Why should I say that? In front of this strangers?" Vanessa asked in indignation.

" Because, Vanessa, this are people youare going to live among. You want to know about the people I have lived among for the past year, don't you? They want to know about you too."

They were standing atop the stage now. Vanessa faced Mike's corpse.

"And what would happen if I don't ?" She asked defiantly.

"They will assume you are not fit to live among them. They want only those who have rejected the outside world, as I did. Your story should tell them how remorseful you are, and that you want to stay with me forever." The corpse explained.

But Vanessa was still hesitant. She did not fancy telling strangers how much of a spoiler brat she was.

"Please. For me. They won't let you come with me if you show you don't want it. You promised to go anywhere with me. If you don't come with me, I will die for real. You don't wish me another death, do you?"

Vanessa melted. She was still feeling guilty about what her actions caused Mike to do and what would have happened had he not swum to safety. Besides, she would rather elope with Mike than marry the old man her father was forcing on her.

"Okay." She said.

"Introductions first. Ready?" The corpse asked. She nodded. Below the stage, the corpse that had stabbed herself muttered.

"So senseless. She does not understand a bit if what he said. And he was elaborate! I was not as clear as that in my turn."

" Ladies and gentlemen." Mike's voice boomed over the crowd. "Meet the guest of honor, Miss Vanessa! Today us her deathday and she would be celebrating with us."

Vanessa glanced sharply at the course at the word 'deathday'. But the audience were cheering and she could no longer correct it. When the cheers died down, Vanessa pointed out the mistake.

"Did I?" The corpse asked, scratching it's chin. Pieces of waxy flesh clung to the fingers and there were gashes when it stopped scratching.

"Slip of tongue. I guess deathday has gotten too familiar to my mouth." Vanessa took the explanation readily. It sounded plausible. With all the frightening mimic of a deathday, it might well have been one and she could have made the same mistake.

"It's spooky." Vanessa said. The corpse nodded.

" It must be." It said. "Now time for your story."

Vanessa felt uncomfortable telling the story. It was too personal for her not to be. It was made all the more harder because she had to make herself sound remorseful. The problem was that there were not a lot of ways one could be remorseful if your sins never even came to mind for a whole year. She decided to make it seem she was so guilty she had to forget to be able to live with herself.

By the time she was done, she was actually crying. It all felt ridiculous to her. But anything for Mike, right? When she was done. Mike started his story.

He told of how he found he could not face death after his car went over the edge of the bridge and how the car doors locked themselves inexplicably. His desparate struggles to unlock the door without success. The sinking of the car. How he finally broke the windscreen and swam out. The ache in his lungs as he struggled not to breath. The sudden inflation of his lungs, as if by its own accord, when he could not hold his breath any longer. The rushing of water into his lungs. The darkening of his vision. His throes of death. His death.

"Only that I did not die." Mike's voice said.

They had seen him falling into the water and followed after him.

"My vision cleared. I thought I had died. But then they offered me a new life. Another firm of life, different from normal life, because I would not be disturbed by life& a problem anymore. I could not face death. So I accepted."

"It was another form of life alright." The bloated lady commented.

"Of course you won't be disturbed, seeing as you are now one of life's problems yourself." Her partner commented.

"But I could not live without my heart." Mike's corpse continued. He hugged Vanessa to Gus side and smiled. A frightening benign smile.

"So I have come to take her."