Integrity Funeral Home - In the Middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic

"Ten calls over the weekend." Amelia announced that morning

"Do we even have room??" the Mathew and Frank chimed in all together

"This is an all time high for us, the last couple months have been crazy." Sarah piped up, "I was going over the numbers, and we have never done this many cases in a month."

"That is kind of overwhelming..." Crystal said looking over her paperwork

"oh ya, I know you have been slammed with print packages, but we are gonna have a few more for ya." Mathew laughed "Sorry."

"No your not." Crystal laughed

Amelia's eyes darted between the two and piped in, "Alright, well if nothing else, then lets open up." she nudged her head to the side while making eye contact with Crystal.

After unlocking the doors and turning on the phones, Crystal was sorting through paperwork when Amelia walked over to her desk, "I have told you, you need to watch how you speak to the directors."

Crystal looked up, "what?"

"You have the habit of speaking to them with no respect, like this morning."

"How was that no respect? We were joking?"

"Well what you think is joking, I feel is disrespectful, and I am you boss, you should do good to remember that." Amelia huffed, "Now, dont forget to work on closing files, they are piling up in my office."

"Yes I have a stack of them right here I was working on."

"Did you leave those on your desk overnight?"

"Well, I did grab the stack yesterday when I finished the other."

"NO! You do NOT leave anything on your desk you hear me?! At the end of the day you need to bring them all BACK into my office! you got that!" Amelia went off

"Ok, ok, I don't honestly see the point of carrying them around.. but ok."

"You should know better."

"Well since I was never instructed that, how would I know?"

"You should just KNOW!" Amelia turned and stormed off

Rolling her eyes, Crystal sighed, another day that Amelia was on her cranky pills apparently. By this point, Crystal had gotten used to Amelia's mood swings, though they were annoying.

"Ya know love, she is the reason this job is always open right?" A sweet and subtle Irish accent whispered into Crystals ear, she turned quickly and looked around, no one was around her, but she could feel her.

"Kathryn? Took long enough for your strength to come back."

"Aye, well there has been a lot going on around here, I didn't want to interrupt your work, especially with that gobshite muking about."

"I appreciate that." Crystal said warmly. She had grown to love the warm feeling that encompassed when Kathryn was around, even if she couldn't see or hear her, she could feel when she was near.

"Lotta souls coming by lately."

"Yes, it has been a crazy couple of months."

"Has it? hmm.. timing is different on the other plans then." Kathryn said quizzically.

"Well, we are in a pandemic, so that would be a good reason for the amount of souls you are seeing."

"Is it the Spanish Flu again? I lost a couple aunts and grandparents to that, even a baby brother."

"I am so sorry about your loss, and no... its called Covid-19, and whats going on right now is a variant, called the Delta variant, and it is highly deadly, even people with the vaccine are getting sick, not all are dying who got the vaccine, but some are."

"Well then the death toll should be low right? If everyone has the vaccine?"

"Unfortunately, there are massive amounts of people who are refusing to get it, saying it hasn't been tested long enough, or are saying its a government conspiracy. That and refusing to wear masks."

Kathryn faded into light next to Crystal, with a quizzical look on her face, "Blokes are refusing to wear a mask in the middle of a pandemic? Do they know what happened in my time? The amount of deaths?!?" she wondered over to a chair and sat crossing her long and slender legs. "I lost friends and family to that flu, and you know, some people did the same thing, refused any kind of medical advice as well. they never lasted long." she shook her head.

"Well, Katheryn, want to tell me what happened after you took your sister home?"

She thought for a moment, "Aye, might as well..." she sat up a smidgen and adjusted her bodice, "Ok, my sister was distraught when I told her I forgot I didn't have the money, she wanted so bad to have her own pretty frock. She screamed at me all the way back home, and as soon as we crested the threshold, she ran to her room crying. I felt so horrible and like a monster, but after what I had heard, I could not in good conscious put her through that. I needed to talk to my folks, privately, cause if she had known I told them, she would have been furious."

Crystal nodded in understanding, "Even though it would have been in the best interest for her right?"

"Aye, but she wouldn't have seen it that way. She would have seen it, as I had told our parents her hopes and secrets of gaining a new frock, and that I dashed that away from her. " Kathryn looked away for a moment and back, her eyes meeting Crystals. "So I told my parents that I wished to speak with them alone, and explained what Abigail had said and about how Mr. Frank gives me discounts if I bring her in with me, and all of the things that just sat wrong with me."

Crystal leaned in close, "Did your father freak out?"

Kathryn hung her head and shook it slowly, "No, actually, they accused me of being jealous of the attention she got, and that I was trying to take everything from her. I explained that no, I was just worried about Mr. Frank... Father threatened to ground me, take my allowance and tell not only Abigail about this, but Mr. Frank."

"No..."

"Aye. I left. I turned and walked up to my room, leaving my parents screaming at me. I had no idea what to do."

"So what happened??"

"I sat in my room for the rest of the day, trying to figure out what to do, as a young girl, twasn't a thing I could do myself, and not having the backing of my family or my father, aye that posed a problem."

"Police??"

"Ain't gonna listen to a sixteen year old girl sadly. Times are different now then back then. I had decided, I was going to run away. This would bring the attention to my parents that what I was saying was worthy enough of me trying something desperate."

"How... exactly??" Crystal looked at Kathryn confused

"Well... back then it made sense." she chuckled a bit, "So I adorned my boots, grabbed my cloak and slipped out the back kitchen door. I walked down the walkway a bit, slowly, really just thinking and contemplating. The darkness enveloped everything, but the clear night sky was speckled with stars, they were so pretty. I was swallowed by my own thoughts, and did not realize how far I was wandering."

"What time of year was this??? If you had boots and cloak on.."

"It was winter, and that was my downfall." Kathryn shook her head, "I should have used my brain some, and instead of letting my emotions control me, I should have stopped and thought; but instead, I walked for a few miles, before I realized how cold I was. I stopped and looked around, trying to see where I was, but it was pitch black and had started snowing very heavily. I could not see a thing, and was all sorts of turned around."

Crystal covered her mouth slowly, feeling as if she knew what was coming up.

"I turned around and started to walk back, but the pathway had become slippery under my boots. I stumbled a few times, and once actually slipped, but sadly, where I had slipped was a cliff. I tumbled down, screaming for help, and trying to avoid all the rocks I could. Next thing I knew, I was gone and the snow was not letting up. I laid unconscious at the bottom of a hill, laying next to the back of someone's barn. Had the snow not been falling so heavily, maybe someone would have found me the next morning. but alas, that was not the case." Kathryn stopped for a moment and stared off into the distance. "My shell of a body remained their for a few months. but during that time, It had came to light that Mr. Frank had been viciously assaulting young girls, many of whom came forward. The dress shop went up for sale, and a family purchased the building and redid the inside for a funeral home. they found so many torn articles of clothing, blood, and evidence that Mr. Frank had done more than just assault this poor girls."

"Oh my..." Crystals voice trailed off as she could hear the clicking of heels coming down the hall.

Quickly straightening up and trying to look busy Crystal's mind was reeling, so much information had flooded her, and she was not sure she could deal with it and whatever Amelia had to through at her.

Sarah slipped around the corner, surprising Crystal, "Hey! How's it goin?"

"Oh you know, another day another death." Crystal chuckled

"That's for sure, we don't have room for anymore though. Hey we are gonna do lunch, anything special?"

"Oh, Uhm no I am good, I brought lunch."

"Are you sure?"

"Ya, Im good, thank you though." Crystal smiled at Sarah, trying to figure out how she could say she was not allowed to accept offers of meals per Amelia's restrictions.

"Ok, well let me know if that changes."

"Will do." she smiled sweetly and watched her walk away, turning her eyes back to Katheryn, "Ok, continue??"

"Aye. So Mr. Frank was arrested, and my body had not been found yet, it actually wouldn't be found until late spring. The worst part of it, was that they had not really even looked for me. My sister was devastated first when I disappeared, then when Mr. Frank had his accusations. Her and my Parents thought I had something to do with it, though they had not seen me in over a month." Katheryn huffed, "Like I'd have a way to do that from beyond the grave I tell ya." she moved to the other side of the desk and sat in a chair.

"My body was found, by a wee girl. She was out playing by the barn, and had chased a cat around to the back. and that is where my decomposed body lay. My cloak still pulled around me as if to keep warm. She screamed so loud, her father and older brother came running to her, and when they arrived, all they could do is stand wide mouthed."

silence over took the room for a moment, and Katheryn glanced around, sighing, "My corpse was taken here, within the first couple months of it being open. My parents did not pay for a funeral, did not have any sort of party like I see happening now, and my sister was beyond distraught. She actually got sent to the loony bin not long after my discovery. My parents only continued to live their lives as if they had never had children, Father started drinking a lot, and poor blessed Mother, started earning more money as a special kind of seamstress." Katheryn gave a small wink, "Like the ones in Seattle."

"That is crazy."

"Aye, its why I still roam around here. Ain't got no where better to go. But if you think my story is crazy, wait till the others start a talkin to ya."

"Oh?"

"Oh gosh love, you are in a funeral home, were the dead come and say goodbye to their families, and the souls tend to linger, they need someone to listen to their tales mind ya."

"And that someone.. is me?"

"Bingo. Now, I am exhausted, and that cranky ol bitty is stomping her way down here. " Katheryn started fading slightly "Remember listen to those who can't be listened to."

"Crystal! Who are you talking to?" Amelia hollered from the end of the hallway

"No one Ma'am.."