Abra Cadaver

Now You See It

The Professor stated that part of our midterm was going to be conducting autopsies on cadavers to find out their causes of death. My plan was simple so there was no need for worries. I continued scribbling songs in a notebook titled Class Notes. A few pages over I began to actually take notes for the written exam. I don’t have anxieties about testing so that didn’t bother me. I was just a bit behind on anatomy and procedure. The next morning I arrived on an empty campus at 4:30 am. I didn’t really want to do this but making very little money at the coffee house and lack of space was taking its toll. I needed at least a full 60 credits to work under an internship, one of which would be paid. To me, any step closer to being without four roommates was a step in the right direction, even the wrong one. Ducking through the clearing I noticed a midsized truck leaving the loading dock area. After it turned down 7th Street, I scurried down the loading dock ramp to the side door. After about 10 minutes the door was open and I was in. The Chambers were at the end of the hall. Which happened to be pitch black since the school had not yet opened. I passed the Botanical Lab. Pressing my hands together I shuddered. It was indeed cold but it was the darkness that send a chill up my back. Inside I clicked my flashlight on, facing it upward on top of the file cabinet. The freezer had about 20 compartments that held cadavers for both medical and mortuary science. Each Cadaver was in a white body bag. There were only about 13 cadavers in the drawers but I still had to be quick about it before janitorial staff arrives for their 6:00 shift. It was already 4:49 and a lot of time had been wasted on that stupid delivery truck. It didn’t even have anything on it! Just a plain white nuisance! Now I had to move a lot quicker than planned. The first nine weren’t labeled but appeared to be together. The last four were for our class. It was 5:10 and I was definitely cutting it close. The first one was a woman that had a long battle with cancer. Second was a man who had a long battle with Diabetes. The third was kind of a weird case. It was a woman with no previous health issues. I dropped the file as an ominous feeling crept over me. Pictures of both were quickly taken and I moved on to the next one. Halfway down an arm fell out wearing the same watch as Professor Senad. Pulling faster out of fear his ID badge fell out and my heart stopped. With both hands trembling, I opened the rest of the bag. The truth was in his eyes. As soon as I saw his piercing blue eyes, I knew it was him. This was beyond comprehension. What was going on? Run! No you are on camera! I began hyperventilating, shaking uncontrollably. “Think Sabrina! They’re going to throw you in jail and get you a court appointed attorney because you are too broke for a real lawyer.” I would have to do a quick autopsy on the professor or get my affairs in order for a life sentence. With both options being terrible I swallowed hard, grabbed a scalpel and made a small enough incision to feel around and see what I could find out. There were no markings on his body to assume he was strangled, Nor exit wounds suggesting he’d been shot, or entrance wounds to indicate he’d been stabbed. There was no evidence of a struggle. His clothes were intact. The room didn’t appear out of place. How did Senad die! Frantically scanning his body my eyes darted while looking around crazily to ensure that no one saw me. Then placing my left hand on his side to keep him in place I felt the weirdest thing. There was a stitch up the side of his body. It felt as if it went up about half a foot. Turning him on his side revealed a fresh incision that was in fact stitched up quite professionally if I do say so. Was he killed for a kidney I thought while cutting through them? Slowly I entered. Nothing really stood out beside the displacement of his Kidney’s His liver was also intact but his Kidney was in an odd positioning. I tried feeling around this went on for a minute or so before I felt something odd. Unable to make sense of it I felt around it knowing it did not belong. It was hard and was not attached or connected to any organs. This is becoming odder by the second I thought as I pulled the cover of a small leather cash drop bag. Speaking in the 3rd person I began stutter. There were at least 20 stacks in it. Immediately I tried reasoning with myself aloud. “Twenty thousand dollars! What should I do with the money? You should definitely take the money.” There was also no way I could go home at this point I thought. It was 5:23 and way passed time to go. I gathered all of the loose files that fell, closed every shelf except Senad’s. There were surgical supplies out and all kinds of proof of what took place just now. Startled I jumped from the noise coming from the loading dock door. Someone was in here! Sliding the shelf closed without so much as a peep I clutched my bag and ran for the green house. It was the only room with an alternate exit. It was the glass roof or the bolted side door. Which is funny because the original plan was picking the lock versus running pass it for the readily unlocked rooftop because it is insanely high. Every sound grew closer until gathered the courage and slid down the slanted rooftop, down the water drainage system to only an 8 foot drop sliding on what appeared to be a small black notebook as I sprang to my feet.

Now You Don’t

With the book in hand I kept running. The janitor was running in my direction. By this point I was certain that he was more “the cleaner” than a janitor in real life. My nerves began to subside a bit once I was on the train. Nervously flipping through the pages I discovered that this book was being used to track someone but who? Senad had been in the city for over ten years working at Southeastern. It had addresses from California, Mexico, Canada and several parts of Virginia and DC, dating back three years. “It’s funny because the last cadaver had strange circumstances around her death three years ago. Then I opened my phone to take a look at the pictures of her files. Looking at it I noticed that even with the autopsy there weren’t many notes explaining what happened to her that night that caused all of her organs to just shutdown. I need to go to one of the addresses to try and figure more out. DC wasn’t safe anymore and I needed options. A friend of mine hooked me up with tickets to Mexico under the table. From there I followed the address in the book. It was a Small house in the middle of nowhere with what appeared to once be a place of agriculture or farming at one point in time. Now all that remained was a raggedy old porch covered in decades of soot and outgrown shrubbery. As I approached the front door I began to hear noises from behind the house. It sounded like a person crying. Before thinking I said, hello is anyone back there? It got quiet as I advanced the truck. This time I said it with aggression, I know someone is back there! He sprang to his feet to run. “SENAD” I screamed Turning with a look of shock on his face “Sabrina” he said with a sigh of relief. Confused I interjected. How are you alive? How are you here? I said more with more severity in my voice. He took a long deep breath and began to explain. My family and I grew up here with my family. My father built this house with his own two hands. A few years later my mother came here then had my brother and I. We are a year apart but could not be any closer to identical than actual Identical Twins. Even at an early age he would do things to try and hurt me. When I was seven he set fire to our beds. I was on the top bunk and it almost killed me. My parents did not want to, but felt it was safest to send him away to seek therapy and council for his issues. By my last year in Grade school my parents were informed that my brother Deivile had ran away from the facility. For over a year my parents searched for him but nothing. BY the time I was in high school we moved to California. They couldn’t take losing there son. Everything was fine until one evening while returning from a parent teacher conference my parents car was side swiped and they were killed. Deivile was implemented in their deaths but the lawyer had no substantial evidence. Out of fear, anger and overall sadness I came here and lived for a few years until I went back to California to study at UCLA where I later became a professor before transferring to Southeastern University.” There was a long pause of silence before handing him the small black notebook. “There is a lot more to all of this Sir. It seemed that your brother may have killed the 3rd cadaver some time ago, well I assume three years ago. She too had a brother who tracked yours to DC and Virginia where about six months ago had stolen and copied your work ID. He did so to smuggle delicate items inside the medical cadavers. Her brother took his chance and killed him. Looking away in disbelief he sighed, thinking of all the ways his brother caused him harm or troubled. How he would get him in trouble for crap all the time. About to disclose the money she noticed a mark on his neck that Professor Senad didn’t have. Senad talked openly about his birthmark being on his back. He would always laugh about how it resembled a slice of watermelon with seeds in it. He was corny that way that something so childish would have him giddy with glee. Gaining control of her racing pulse “Well I am so happy you are alive sir. I thought I would never see you again. I stood to my feet awaiting a hug. It was my chance to grab a peek at his shoulder Blade. I squeezed him tightly as one would that lost a dear friend. There was no watermelon, the small mark on his lower neck looked like a military chopper or drumstick but I was certain my hunger saw that. He looked at me and said what now? Now you can live free of your brother, with no fear right. Examining her features as she spoke he said what about you? “Oh I definitely can’t go back. They probably think that I killed you so I may try studying a broad” as I headed toward the door my heart began pounding as I caught the money bag sliding from the broken zipper of my bag. It had gotten stuck as she slid down the greenhouse roof. The door closed behind me and though I was sad that Professor Senad, I was not mad at starting a new life with twenty grand.