Skip to main content

Open Casket


“I’ll give you a moment,” Tom said, ever the respectful brother.

“Please stay,” Susan asked. “If you leave me here I might jump in with him.” She had always been dramatic, but there was definite sincerity in her voice now.

“He’d love the absurdity of that. If it wasn’t his funeral he’d probably double-dog-dare you to do it.”

A laugh caught halfway in Susan’s throat, escaped a moment later as a sob.

“He was so funny, so full of life, so determined. Every day he’d tell me, ‘Susan, if all those supermodels beating down our door can’t take me away from you, how does cancer stand a chance?’”

“Supermodels?” Tom’s train of thought often struggled to build up steam. “Oh,” he muttered eventually, “he was joking.”

“I miss him so much. I hope he knows that.” Susan traced his cheek with her fingertips, bent and placed a trembling kiss on his unmoving lips. She pulled back slowly, shuddering with grief and leaving many tears in her wake.

“It’s hard, seeing him like this,” she sniffled. “I almost wish we hadn’t done open-casket.”

But I was happy she had. Torturous as it was, I was glad to feel her touch, her grieving kiss, her tears warming my pallid skin. And though I couldn’t breathe, much less move or share my appreciation of her gestures, they were precious sensations that I would hold dear in the long, cold silence that would follow the closing of the casket.

----

source: by reddit user WriteOrWrongo via reddit.com/r/ShortScaryStories

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Wish Come True (A Short Story)

I woke up with a start when I found myself in a very unfamiliar place. The bed I was lying on was grand—an English-quilting blanket and 2 soft pillows with flowery laces. The whole place was fit for a king! Suddenly the door opened and there stood my dream prince: Katsuya Kimura! I gasped in astonishment for he was actually a cartoon character. I did not know that he really exist. “Wake up, dear,” he said and pulled off the blanket and handed it to a woman who looked like the maid. “You will be late for work.” “Work?” I asked. “Yes! Work! Have you forgotten your own comic workhouse, baby dear?” Comic workhouse?! I…I have became a cartoonist? That was my wildest dreams! Being a cartoonist! I undressed and changed into my beige T-shirt and black trousers at once and hurriedly finished my breakfast. Katsuya drove me to the workhouse. My, my, was it big! I’ve never seen a bigger place than this! Katsuya kissed me and said, “See you at four, OK, baby?” I blushed scarlet. I always wan

Hans and Hilda

Once upon a time there was an old miller who had two children who were twins. The boy-twin was named Hans, and he was very greedy. The girl-twin was named Hilda, and she was very lazy. Hans and Hilda had no mother, because she died whilst giving birth to their third sibling, named Engel, who had been sent away to live wtih the gypsies. Hans and Hilda were never allowed out of the mill, even when the miller went away to the market. One day, Hans was especially greedy and Hilda was especially lazy, and the old miller wept with anger as he locked them in the cellar, to teach them to be good. "Let us try to escape and live with the gypsies," said Hans, and Hilda agreed. While they were looking for a way out, a Big Brown Rat came out from behind the log pile. "I will help you escape and show you the way to the gypsies' campl," said the Big Brown Rat, "if you bring me all your father's grain." So Hans and Hilda waited until their father let them out,

I Was A Lab Assistant of Sorts (Part 3)

Hey everyone. I know it's been a minute, but I figured I would bring you up to speed on everything that happened. So, needless to say, I got out, but the story of how it happened was wild. So there we were, me and the little potato dude, just waiting for the security dude to call us back when the little guy got chatty again. “Do you think he can get us out?” he asked, not seeming sure. “I mean, if anyone can get us out it would be him, right?” “What do you base this on?” I had to think about that for a minute before answering, “Well, he's security. It's their job to protect people, right? If anyone should be able to get us out, it should be them.” It was the little dude's turn to think, something he did by slowly breathing in and out as his body puffed up and then shrank again. “I will have to trust in your experience on this matter. The only thing I know about security is that they give people tickets