When we found him he'd been hollowed out like a Jack O'Lantern and filled with shark egg cases. The poor things were still alive inside him - we later found that this was because he'd been kept in seawater, chained by the ankle until the tether broke and the tides carried him back to us.
Nature's funny like that - always circling around so that no matter how far you think you've gone you'll always find your starting point is barely a few steps behind. He'd washed up on the very same beach he went missing from five years ago but the coroners report said he only died a few hours before he'd been found.
He had been alive when they put those egg cases in him and took out everything else to make more space. It shouldn't be possible - it couldn't be possible for someone to survive without their internal organs but the report claims that somehow he did.
They barely had to do anything at the funeral home, he was as lifelike as the day he vanished and that only made burying him that much worse. He looked like he'd open his eyes any minute and ask us what we'd be having for dinner. He looked like he was just holding his breath and playing dead.
When his grave was found busted open from the inside we weren't at all surprised.
I expect him to turn up again sooner or later.
I'll keep a plate warm for him til he does.
No comments:
Post a Comment