Catalepsy

New to the world of employment; John Linwood, not only a rookie but a young man with barely 21 years old, found himself reading the jobs advertised in the newspaper. A highly paid job with very few responsibilities was among his preferences; Rest in Peace Crematory didn't sound bad. They were requesting an operator for the crematory chamber. The lad didn't gave it a second thought; he was 6'3 tall and had a broad body, deep green eyes and tons of dark curly hair, with a hooked nose and traces of curly beard coming out of his jaw that made him look older and threatening. John called to ask for the job in the newspaper but nobody answered his call, instead he heard this message in the voicemail.

It wasn't long before an unknown number reached back to John. A deep creepy voice came from the phone. "Mr. Linwood I am calling from Rest in peace Crematory, we are glad to inform you that you were selected for the position as operator, we expect to see you next Friday 3:00 pm to sign the paperwork, I will send our address shortly by text" the call ended.

"I couldn't leave a message as the mailbox was full how did they know my name, did they just hired me without any further explanation?!"

The day came to sign the papers. Entering the building, a Mr. Reyker sign was hanging at the office door where John was supposed to receive further instructions for the work. The manager, a short old man with a delicate body, his most outstanding characteristic were his eyes; an almost indistinguishable blue with deep dark circles, lacking almost all of his hair, only a few strands of silver blond hair could be seen above his ears. He was seated behind a big desk with his bony hands clasped in front of him. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you Mr. Linwood, I presume?"

John was about to shake the managers hand when he stepped away from the desk. "Yes, Sir. I am John Linwood, I was looking forward to meet you and get to know what my responsibilities will be, Mr.... Reyker?"

"It doesn't matter, you can address me as Manager or Boss whichever you prefer" The manager started to move around the office; took a file out of a drawer that was next to the entrance door, and placed it violently at the desk. "Mr. Linwood these are the papers I need you to fill out and sign at the marked spots"

The file contained the contract, Tax forms, company privacy policy and a short list of DO's and DON'Ts. Enlisted were 5 mandatory points.

1. Remove any articles remaining on bodies (Jewelry and prosthetic devices).
2. Place the bodies in the designated containers.
3. Wear security equipment all the times.
4. Under no circumstances turn down the crematory chamber once started.
5. Do NOT open the morgue drawers while alone.

Before John could ask anything the manager started. "Your coworker will show up on Monday at 11:00 pm, he will explain to you all you need to know; make sure to be on time". After all the paperwork was signed, the manager took it with him, stormed out and slammed the door behind him.

The day arrived and it was Monday at 11:00 pm. A muscular, tall man with broad body was standing at the entrance of the building. It was dark even though the door had a dim light where the boy was waiting. When John came closer, took a better look at the man's features. He had round hazel eyes with brown straight hair and a prominent reddish beard, John thought of a big white gorilla when he first saw him. "So, you must be john....My Name is Earl, I will be your supervisor while we are at work"

They went inside the building to get ready for the shift." Safety always comes first" Earl said while he showed John how the safety equipment is worn. Once they finish putting on their equipment, Earl started to walk down the crematory areas. "Here is the mortuary, you shouldn't open the drawers alone" John made a face "why?, will the corpses eat me alive if I'm alone?" Earl rolled his eyes at the comment. "Look, I don't make the rules, is up to you to follow them or face the consequences". John shrugged his shoulders with an innocent face. The night went by with no major arguments, John was showed the process to cremate the corpses and how to handle them properly.

The next day at work started as usual, equipment, read the instructions and do the round through the halls. But today something was off, Earl had a fresh scar on his face and arms. "What happened Earl?, Did you had a fight with your wifey??!" Earl didn't seem to be in the mood for jokes. -"Maybe the bodies wanted a piece of your tasty meat?" Earl turned his body to face John with all his corpulence. "Ok pal, up until now I've been patient with you, this job isn't a themed park and you shall show some respect".

(Turn on your sound)

Suddenly the lights started to flicker like it was about to go down. Earl's face went white as if he's seen a ghost. "Embrace yourself, here they come" Those were Earl's last words before the lights went down.

When the light came back Earl was missing, "Come on Earl, I know I wasn't being professional you can stop the prank now" But no answer was received, John started walking towards the entrance of the mortuary. The moment John stepped inside the mortuary area, he noticed something weird, one of the drawers was open." Earl?!!....if you are trying to be funny is not working..... please stop, I get it we work with dead bodies and it is scary" The only response the pal received was a dull echo followed by the sound of a low howling. He could hear the voice of a man, he was crying in distress. "Earl, is that you?....Please respond what is going on?"

The moment John reached the back of the mortuary he could see in a very dark corner a tall man crouched down crying out loud. John Felt a cold breeze coming from behind. The moment he walked towards the man he slipped in a puddle of blood, it was followed by a blood trail that ended below the crouched man. "Earl, are you ok?" A pair of giggles resounded as John was standing off the ground, but he was more worried about Earl.

The moment he reached the man's shoulder and turned to see his face, the poor lad was horrified to see that Earl was missing an eye, one of his feet was dislocated. The man could barely stand and was frightened to death. "Earl what happened, who did this to you?, let's call an ambulance". Earl was shocked he could not express a word, the moment he was able to talk, he pleaded. "Get me out of here, I beg you they will come after me!, they know what I did and they will take their revenge"

"Who are they and what did you do?" Seeing Earl so disoriented John though the best he could do for now was to call an ambulance to get Earl attended. They walked to the manager's office where the closest phone was located to call the police and an ambulance. Unexpectedly footsteps were following their trail as if someone was chasing them. "Who is there?, whoever you are, you are going to pay for what you did to Earl" the sound that followed that comment was a strong hissing almost like a growl of a big beast. John felt a shiver down his spine, whoever was playing games was in the wrong place he thought.

The moment they reached the manager's office John made sure to lock down the door and placed Earl on a chair while he called an ambulance and the police but the phone was dead. He was about to reach for his cellphone that was in the adjacent room where they left their belongings before entering the crematory chamber. The instant the lad walked to the adjacent room he noticed someone was peering in the door waiting outside.

John Turned to search for the nearest object he could use as a weapon, he found an iron forge near a videotape with the name "Catalepsy" it was weird that Mr. Reyker kept this video in his office instead of the orientation room. There was no time to be curious about it, John went straight to check once again the shadow peering at the manager's office door but it was gone. Instead he found Earl almost passing out. "Earl don't fall asleep please stay with me" but the only words that came from Earl where "Don't be afraid of the dead John, be afraid of the living......C a t a l e p s y they are not dead." Earl closed his eyes and didn't wake up anymore, he was gone.

John felt warm tears streaming down his face but it was no time to weep. He had to find out what Earl meant by catalepsy and what was this thing. The lad went straight to see the videotape. The video showed a Scientific who was explaining how people get into the state of catalepsy. "So Here we are we have a brand new corpse but see this guy isn't dead yet......this male was addicted to cocaine so what happens sometimes when we withdrawn his vice he enters into this state in which he looses consciousness and sensation, it is accompanied with rigidity of the body and low vital signs that make it look as he has passed away. We can also get people into this state by a strong trauma in the head, or giving the patient certain medication...." The video keep going.

All of the sudden John heard a familiar voice coming from the back of the office "I would have preferred a lot if you didn't find out this way, I really liked you Mr. Linwood" John turned as fast as he could to face the voice.

A pair of dull blue eyes were coming out of the dark, "Unfortunately, I don't trust you enough to continue with Earl's work and you see, he didn't want to continue with his work either, he was starting to become annoying with all the whining about ghosts that haunted his sweet dreams" John gasped at the view of Mr. Reyker, his face looked even more frightening than usual his smile was wicked and all his wrinkles connected as if his skin was made out of paper. He was holding a short scalpel and started again. "Are you afraid of the death Mr. Linwood?"

John started to back up little by little until he touched the handle of the door "Mr. Reyker you don't have to do it" -"oh Johnny but I do have to, who else will take care of the business if not me, you don't seem the quiet type, and don't call me Mr. Reyker that was my boss name and I hated him so....we can do this the easy way or the hard way"

John opened the door and started to run as fast as he could, he saw a dim light coming from the crematory chamber, without thinking he ran towards it and hid on one side of the chamber. "Johnny Johnny, I have never liked the game of hide and seek, come over here so I can go back to sleep" A sound came from the inside of the chamber which startled john and let go a small whim. "found you" Mr. Reyker bended to see inside the crematory chamber, he only saw a small face on the other side of the chamber but Mr. Reyker didn't have a good sight so he went inside the chamber. Suddenly the chamber's door closed behind him. "What is this? You won't dare John and then who is with me.?"

The manager screamed out loud when he saw a charred face in front of him laughing. "Ahhhhh get me out of here, John get me out".

Outside the chamber the only sound that came was the door being slammed and the starting button of its engine. Once again a laugher resounded throughout the room but this time it didn't stop until the fire in the chamber was at its most higher level. John knew for a fact that once the chamber had started nobody could make it alive.

All kinds of voices were heard in the building coming from everywhere they were whispering and laughing. John ran all the way out of the building when suddenly he could see the place catching fire and eventually an explosion brake out.

The next day, the incident was on the news, they reported an accident again as they always did when a missing employee happened at the crematory. after a deep investigation, police department found videos revealing that lots of the corpses where cremated while they were still alive.

John was treated for posttraumatic stress, he kept saying that voices resounded in his head and he could still hear the giggling of playful kids. After a long recovery he got married found a regular office job and never talked again about what happened in the Rest in Peace Crematory.

Author notes.-

Thank you so much for reading my second article, it has been quite an experience and I was trying to publish it by Halloween season, unfortunately I deleted half of my work while adding some of the pictures and sounds.

Lesson learnt, I will always save my work before adding pictures and sounds.

I hope you enjoyed, I will keep on working harder in my next articles.

Thanks you so much again for reading!