I take a deep breath to calm my racing heart. I know I’ll need to fix that with Jenni. She sure as shit didn’t deserve my yelling at her.
“Mr. McCoy.”
I follow the doc inside to identify my sister’s body. Once I pass through the swinging doors, I follow her down another hallway.
“We were able to identify your sister through fingerprints. You were listed as her next of kin on all police files.” She looks back at me as she continues along the corridor.
“I’m a little shocked she had me listed at all. It’s been years since I’ve seen or heard from her.”
“It’s not uncommon.”
It may not be uncommon for many, but it is for me. The last time I saw my sister she was just a child.
She pushes through another door, and I follow. The temperature is drastically different from the hall to this room. “Fuck, it’s cold in here.” Bringing my hands to my mouth, I cup them around my mouth, blowing my breath into them.
“It has to be. Some of these bodies must lay in here for weeks to either be claimed or processed. This is where we keep everyone who comes in from the streets. Most are homeless and transients.” Chills run up my spine as the thought that I’m in a room full of dead people settles.
She scans the clipboard hanging on the wall, then walks to the far left and pulls the bottom table out. The sound of the wheels running along the metal track echoes along the walls, stopping with a thud. I watch as the body in the bag teeters back and forth from the motion.
“I need to warn you, Mr. McCoy, she may not look like the sister you knew.”
“The last time I saw her she was only thirteen. I’m sure she’s changed a lot over the last sixteen years.”
She bends down and starts to pull at the zipper, but stops. “I would just like to warn you that your sister has a tremendous amount of scarring on her body from continuous needle usage. She has sores on her face and limbs, and the majority of her teeth have been either pulled or rotted away.”
“You have no idea the shit I’ve seen, Doc. I can take it.”
“All right.” She pulls back the zipper and pushes the plastic open.
She wasn’t fucking joking.
My stomach drops at the sight, and I swear to Christ, if I hadn’t seen my mother’s dead body with my own fucking eyes, I’d think I was looking at her now. She looks like the typical fucking junkie.
“Fuck…” I say under my breath. Reaching out, I touch her lifeless body.
“Is this Betsy McCoy? Is this person your sister?”
“Y–” My voice cracks. “Yes.”
“What would you like done with her body?”
Pulling my eyes away from my dead sister, I feel rage like I haven’t felt in years start to heat my skin. What the fuck am I supposed to do? How in the hell did she end up like this? This wasn’t supposed to be her life. She isn’t supposed to be dead at twenty-fucking-nine.
My fucking mother.
This is her fault. She did this. She fucking killed her, and I’m left to pay for it. Just like always. I’m the one left with the reminder of what that cunt did to our family.
Fuck her.
I need to get out of here. I can’t fucking take this shit anymore.
“Mr. McCoy?” Her voice sounds a million miles away. “I need to know what you’d like for me to do with the body. Is there a place I can call and have her transferred?”
My gaze falls to the corpse of my sister. “W–What?”
“I need to know what your next step is.”
“Um…” My eyes dart to the doctor’s, then back to my sister. I feel like I can’t breathe. I suck in air, but I can’t get my lungs to take in the air. “Fuck. I don’t know.” And that’s the fucking truth.
I watch as she bends over and zips the bag back up which makes it even harder for me to breathe. I take a step back from the body. My sister’s body. “I’ll give you a couple of days and let you decide. That’s the best that I can do, Mr. McCoy. Please get back to us as soon as you’ve made a decision.” She hands me a card, and I turn my back on her, but before I’m out the door, her voice draws me back.
“Oh, Mr. McCoy? The autopsy shows evidence of multiple births.”
I turn to face her. “Excuse me?”
“Your sister has given birth. Her cervix and uterus both show signs of past pregnancies—multiple pregnancies.”
I push through the doors and into the night air. My head is spinning with information. I’ll never be able to forget how far gone my sister looked. That thought both pisses me off and makes me sick. I put up with so much shit when I was younger all in the name of keeping my sister safe. All with the hope that she would grow up and live her life the total opposite of our mother.
“Wanna ride?”
Cut’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. He’s sitting on his bike with my empty bike right next to his. Jenni drove us here in her car, but now my bike is here, ready for me. I know she called Cut because she knew I’d need to ride. I was a total fucking douche to her, and she still made sure I had a way home.
Too. Fucking. Precious.
“Fuck yeah.”