Happy Days at the Morgue
By: Faith Ridler
Tags: Shocking, Halloween, Short Story, Horror

Dr. Freddy Sallow was a man of many talents. He could speak 11 different languages, had a gift for writing, and was an impeccable painter. But, where he lacked skill was in social situations. Anyone who had ever met Dr. Sallow described him as a loner. He had a cold looking demeanor with arms so pale they were almost transparent. You could see almost every vain in his body, and he had thin dirty blond hair that looked frayed. The wrinkles on his skin made him seem that he was about the age of 70, but he was almost 40, as his birthday was coming up this month. Dr. Sallow was a man of very few words to the living, but at his job at the New York City Mortuary he was a man of many to the dead. Due to his lack of social skills, Dr. Sallow was left friendless. Though, to him this was not the case. He found comfort in talking to the dead bodies that would come into the mortuary. Freddy spoke to them as if they were still living and he had known them for years. Sometimes he would even wait for them to respond. Though they didn’t, Freddy acted as though they did. These were Freddy’s happy days at the morgue.

Freddy’s coworker, Steven, was the only other employee at the mortuary. He found this unsettling and often complained to their boss about what Dr. Sallow would do at work. Despite his several claims, their boss told Steven whatever Freddy was doing was probably no big deal and to let it go. So, Steven had no choice but to hear the disturbing “conversations” that went on between Freddy and the dead people.

It was October 30th, 1920, and two weeks had gone by. Nothing that wasn’t out of the usual had gone on; however, the usual at the morgue consisted of Freddy speaking to incoming dead bodies about life events he had no one to talk to about. But, one conversation in particular changed everything for Freddy. A dead body had come in, and as Freddy was preparing the body to be stored he started to speak about how he was going to be alone on his birthday this year. As Freddy pulled the cloth out of the cabinet to the right of the counter where the dead body laid he began to speak.

“It’s beautiful outside isn’t it-,” he cut himself off looking at the name of the corpse attached to a tag on its foot, “Mr. Defray.” He continued speaking as he was listening to the rain tapping on the window pane which oddly sounded of fingernails tapping on a desk. “Too bad we’re stuck inside here all day,” Freddy said. He continued, “You seem like a man who would enjoy the rain.” “Do you like the rain?” asked Freddy. He waited for a response. No one responded. “Oh you do!” he said with a crazed tone and look on his face, exaggerating the response more than it needed to be. “Well I love the rain,” he started. “I asked for it for my birthday.” “Did you know my birthdays coming up?” he asked the unresponsive corpse. “Oh you didn’t!” he said. “I’m turning 40 this year,” he said breathing heavily as he lifted the corpse up to place cloth underneath the body. He then reached over for embalming fluids. “Though it’s supposed to be a happy time it is quite sad for me,” said Freddy waiting for a response. “What’s that?” he asked getting excited. “You’re going to spend my birthday with me?” he asked as his voice was modulating to a high tone. “Why don’t-,” Freddy was cut off by Steven reluctantly opening the door.

“Steven!” cried Freddy like a madman. “You just interrupted me inviting my new friend, Mr. Defray, to my birthday party.”

Steven stood in shock unable to move his legs. He felt as if a thousand tiny pins and needles had gone into his entire body. Steven had seen Freddy on his worse days, but it seemed to him as if he had gone flat out crazy. As soon as Steven got up the courage he let out a high pitched “sorry!” and ran out of the room.

“Ah, where were we?” Freddy asked in an unsettling calm tone. “Oh, yes! I remember now! My birthday party,” he said, clapping his hands in excitement. “Would you like to come?” he asked. Again, Freddy stood for ten seconds waiting for a response. Acting as if the corpse had responded and given him the worst news in his life he cried out in a frantic, “You changed your mind? Are you crazy?” running out of the morgue room. As he was running out, Steven was hiding behind a table located right outside the room, listening to the whole thing.

The next day, Freddy was late to come into work. Steven knew this was unlike Freddy as he was devoted to his job, and to him missing a day of work was the end of the world. But, no one would know that since he never talked to anyone who could actually breathe.

Two more days went by and still no Dr. Sallow. He hadn’t called or been seen anywhere in the city. Even though he was a very strange man, this was odd for him. Steven didn’t think much of Freddy being gone. Steven attended to the desk and rarely ever wanted to be near Freddy, so he tended to let him do his own thing with no questions asked.

All the sudden the thought of the dead body sent in four days ago came to Steven’s mind. If Freddy had rushed out of the room four days ago and hadn’t returned then the body was still lying cold on the metal counter. Steven knew the mortuary smelled of rotting eggs but didn’t notice the morgue had a more displesant smell than usual. Steven leapt from his desk and bolted into the room where once Mr. Defray laid cold as ice.

He ran into the room expecting to see a dead body lying on the counter, but instead he was greeted with no body, an empty room which still included the corpse cooler, and flickering lights. All of a sudden the lights went off then on again. Steven then quickly noticed a scene of a birthday party set up but with no guests. In the middle of the room stood a big birthday present and surrounding it was balloons, confetti, streamers, and banners. Steven went to go investigate and started to lift the present. He felt something stick to his hand almost like honey. As he went to check his hands again the lights went back off and on. As they came back on he found his hands covered in blood. It took him a moment to regain his courage and he started to open the present. The present seemed never ending. It went from box to box to box. He finally got to the last box and found a birthday card addressed to Freddy. It wrote, “Thank you for the company. I wasn’t much of a talker either. Sorry I missed your birthday.” It was signed by Mr. Defray. Steven, not even bothering to see what the present was, dropped the card and ran outside the mortuary.

As Steven ran out into the streets of New York City, he bumped into the newspaper cart. He had accidentally made a single newspaper fall. As he went to pick up the newspaper, blood still on hands, he noticed a picture of Freddy on the front page. It read, “Dr. Freddy Sallow sentenced 30 years in prison for stealing the body of Mr. Carl Defray. The body was found sitting in an armchair in Dr. Sallow’s home when the family of Mr. Defray did not get the confirmation he was sent to the crematory. Officials say all the blood from the body had been removed and has not been found yet. Officials believe Mr. Sallow may have sold the departed’s blood. Mr. Sallow made only one statement on this saying, ‘Steven, thanks for throwing the best birthday party!’ It surely takes no Sherlock Holmes to understand this man is a lunatic.” After Steven read the last line of the newspaper he became lightheaded and fainted in the middle of the street.