Jane's Burial
Jane dialed the number of the undertaker's office. "Hello?" said a gentleman's voice. "I'd like to know how much a casket costs," Jane said. "You see, we offer all services together. And we have a concrete price," said the man. "Please feel free to come and see." It's all wrong, thought Jane, disconnecting. She wanted... She hardly understood what she wanted. A few days before her friend had died. Of course Jane was at her funeral. At first she was scared to enter the room, decorated with lots of flowers, where the casket stood. But finally she did it. The dead girl lay, like a living being, in a beautiful casket, decorated with white satin. She wore her white wedding gown, which she never came to use in its direct function. Her head rested on a small round pillow.
Jane came early in the morning, so there was nobody around. She suddenly decided to find out what Maria, her friend, wore besides of the gown. Jane carefully lifted the coverlet which covered the body up to the waist. The legs of the dead girl had white stockings on them. Jane lifted the gown a little and was surprised to see that it had been stitched to the casket. Suddenly someone came in, and the girl pretended she was adjusting a bouquet of flowers which lay at Maria's feet. Jane stayed in that room till the funeral began, and she watched them put the casket into the catafalque which took it to the cemetery.
Jane stayed in the undertaker's office, hiding behind a pillar in the grand hall. She heard the night guard walk into his room and snore soon afterwards. Then she got out of her shelter. It was absolutely quiet. The place was dark. Jane went along the hall. Most door were locked. She soon reached the last door if the hall and tried to open it. It opened, and Jane found herself in a large room filled with caskets of all shapes and colours.
Jane approached a beautiful blue casket. It was opened, and there was something in it. Jane pulled off the coverlet and remembered the picture she had seen in the yesterday's paper headlined "Sisters Anne and Lily Stone murdered at home, killer not found". It was one of the sisters already prepared for the funeral. She was very pretty, and death seemed to have strengthened her beauty. She wore a blouse of white lace and a long skirt. The girl would have seemed sleeping if her face hadn't been paler than the coverlet. In the next casket was her sister, also with a coverlet over her body.
The next casket was empty. Jane touched the soft fabric of the upholstery. In a large pack were a few pieces of clothing, probably prepared for a dead person. Surprised, Jane took out a bra and panties. "Why not try it on?" Jane thought and, undressing quickly, put on the panties and the bra. The long white skirt was too tight for her, but Jane didn't mind. The blouse completed the strange clothing, and Jane thought she would trade anything in the world to take a look at herself in the mirror. Now she wanted to try the casket, too. Since she could hardly walk, Jane jumped in it and lay comfortably. She felt excited, and understood that night wasn't for nothing...
...So she stood near the phone, lost in thought. Suddenly she heard the doorbell ring. It was a messenger. He handed her a registered letter and quickly left. Jane opened the envelope. There was a printed note and a little parcel inside. "I know you were at out office," it read, "and I can understand you. If you wish, we can arrange a real funeral for you. You'll be able to experience the entire process!" There was also a phone number. Jane dialed it immediately, and the familiar voice told her it was absolutely free of charge and that they could begin right then. "The only thing you should do is to swallow the pill which is in the parcel, and prepare the clothes which you would like to wear." Jane agreed and asked him to come and get her as soon as possible.
She quickly found her white dress and underwear, and then swallowed the pill. Nothing happened within an hour, and she had plenty of time to put on her white clothes. Suddenly, Jane felt that her feet couldn't hold her body anymore, and she slowly slipped down to the floor. She couldn't move, her limbs seemed very heavy, she couldn't even moan. Soon afterwards the door opened, and two strange men entered the room. "Here she is," said one of them. They undressed her, took two coverlets and wrapped Jane in them so tight that she could hardly breathe. She felt being carried into the car and laid there, and then she smelled something very nice, some unfamiliar, mysterious odor.
After a while the car stopped and Jane was pulled out and taken somewhere. They put here on a flat hard surface and then someone unwrapped the coverlets. Jane saw a tall handsome man. "I know that you cannot say anything now," he said with tenderness in his voice. "We will arrange everything just fine. The funeral starts in about an hour, we have to hurry." He took her white dress and began his routine work which he had been doing long before Jane.
First of all, he washed her. Jane could feel the cold water, but couldn't do anything. So she would simply look into the eyes of the man who quickly wiped her, wrapped in a snow-white coverlet and tied her feet together at the knees and the ankles. He also tied her face with a special band. Then, lifting her up a little, he put Jane's dress on her. Then he crossed her hands on her chest and stitched the sleeves to the bodice in this position, explaining that this would prevent Jane's hands from moving accidentally.
Jane was astonishingly beautiful in her snow-white dress. The undertaker covered her with a light sheer coverlet and then brought in a handcart with a nice casket, decorated with blue satin. Using a special machine, he lifted Jane and put her in the casket. Then he put the lid on the casket, and Jane felt she was taken to a car. An eternity seemed to have passed till she eventually saw the blue sky. Jane felt the smell of the earth and realized she was about to be put in the grave. She got extremely excited. She looked at her benefactor with gratitude in her eyes. He kissed her lips and then pulled the coverlet over her head and closed the lid. After that Jane felt slight rocking and after that, the sound of the soil against the lid of the casket. Finally there was silence. Jane lay in darkness, moaning and trembling with excitement. Her dream came true, she was buried, in a casket, in a white dress, and she didn't see the undertaker put the wreathe on her grave.
"Are you through?" asked his collaborator. "I think she liked it." He read out loud the writing on the gravestone: "Jane Stone. Tragically died on August 17, 1987. She was 18 years old."
Original Author: Undertaker (1998).