Dancing In The Morgue - Chapter 1

Life's Weird

I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

- Henry David Thoreau

As usual, the alarm clock was unforgiven. Beeping insanely, he wouldn't leave Emily alone until she got up. The sound was beyond obnoxious and Emily didn't want to get up. She had to because, unfortunately, she had come up with the awesome idea of placing the god damned alarm clock on top of the closet. Well, it worked, because now she really had to get up in order to get the damn thing to shut the hell up.

Fuck my life... she muttered, getting up, dragging her feet out of bed and almost crawling across the room. There should be a law against waking up at 6 AM...

Careful not to wake up Nana Beth, Emily made her way into the bathroom and undressed, while the water of the shower was running cold. It always took ages for the damn water to heat up!

In the shower, Emily wondered why she bothered bathing before going to work. After all, she was preparing to spend her entire day sweeping the Morgue's floor and looking at guts in jars...!
She sang very low, not to wake up Nana. She sangan old song:

Although we lie close together
We still feel like miles apart
But that's what they say:
Every rose has its thorn
Just like every night has its dawn...

She almost sang too loud. Either way, Nana had to wake up because, while Emily was at work, Nana had to stay with Aunt Daisy, Emily's only aunt and Beth's only child, ever since Emily's mom was brutally murdered by her own husband.

After the shower, Emily got dressed, not caring too much if she looked nice. She was going to spend her entire day cleaning up around dead people, so why bother looking all pretty?

Emily's consolation in her boring depressing days were the cello lessons given by Aunt Daisy's husband, Mr. Gray. He was a little of a hate-able person, but what a wonderful musician he was! Emily didn't exactly like him, but the thing is, the lessons were free of charges. So, she couldn't really complain. She survived those hard days at work because she wanted to make it through the day so she could have her cello lesson. Music made her feel alive, that is why Emily would sing every time she had a chance.
Her dream of becoming a well-known musician had been crushed by her parents' tragic deaths and the fact that they left her with nothing but an old lady to take care of.
She was forced to drop out of school and start working in order to provide for herself and a mentally ill grandmother. The job at the Morgue was the best she got. And it wasn't THAT bad. At least nobody complained. Especially because nobody was even alive.

She was getting ready to leave, just waiting for Aunt Daisy to arrive. Eventually, Nana Beth would wake up.

"Morning, Nana." she said, smiling. Looking at her grandmother like that and knowing about her father's mental condition, Emily was often afraid of thinking what would happen if she turned out like that. Like, with a mental illness that could kill her or end up killing someone she loved. Or, in Nana's case, forgetting about her own grandchild, thinking she was someone else or pooping her pants.

"Good morning, Emmy." Nana said. Surprisingly, she was herself that morning. Didn't think Emily was Lizzie, her mom. "Can you make me some tea?" she asked.

"Already did. I know you love tea in the morning, Nana." She answered, still smiling. She couldn't NOT love her nanny, no matter how awkward Nana could get because of the Alzheimer's.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Oh it must be Aunt Daisy." Emily said to herself. She was right.

She opened the door and welcomed Aunt Daisy in, a short somewhat chubby middle aged woman with a sense of style that made Emily giggle. She would always wear the most colorful clothes in the entire world and mix greens with blues, reds with yellows, pinks and purples. The colors she would never wear? Black and gray. Ever. Emily thought it was just her way of coping with the loss of a sister and well, a number of tragic events that Aunt Daisy went through in her life, from a really complicated divorce to a failed relationship with a man who tried stealing from her. She had been through it all. And she lived. And now she wanted to enjoy the rest of her years as a happy woman. And she was entitled to it. Everyone thought she was crazy, everyone judged her. Truth is, Aunt Daisy was a strong woman. And she deserves to be happy.

She kissed Aunt Daisy's cheek and smiled at her. She felt like Aunt Daisy, despite the fact that deep inside, she loved her, didn't find her the most adorable girl on Earth.

"Well, Nana, I gotta go to work." Emily said, kissing her grandmother's cheek. "Have fun with Daisy!"

Smiling, she left the home, ready to catch the bus. On her way to the Morgue, she couldn't stop thinking about how insane life could get. One minute, you're the most average person in the entire world, getting ready to go to college, having fun with your friends, enjoying a lovely boyfriend. Next thing you know, you're cleaning up at the local Morgue, taking care of an old diseased lady and dreaming full-time about being a pro musician.

Life's weird...