By Trinity Krolak

The room is dark, damp, and cold. The ceiling is littered with cobwebs. A man sits at a large table with a humanoid figure on it. His large hand pulls the needle and thread through the once warm skin. His eyes dull focusing on nothing but the task at hand. It was getting closer to the end. People were getting suspicious of him. He needed to finish before they found him. Before they found her. In their eyes this was disgusting and morbid, but in his it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Her glass eyes shimmered like bright blue pools of tears. Her once bright olive skin now as white as snow. To him she really was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, even if her heart had stopped beating. It was almost as if she was a girl frozen in time. She would never age, rot, or disappear. She would be his forever.

The woman had been dead for awhile now. Almost a week and a half. On the day of her burial her body had mysteriously disappeared. Nobody had seen where it went or who had taken it. All they knew was that she was gone. Some people had their suspicions that it was the woman’s widowed husband, but there wasn’t enough evidence to prove it was him. If only they knew how right they were.

The man used to be a taxidermist. He had given up the profession because it had seemed boring to him to only stuff animals. Now he has a new inspiration. This is going to be his greatest creation yet! His wife could now be with him forever.

“You’re almost complete my angel… You’ll be the most beautiful work of art yet,” he whispered ominously.

“Thank you,” whispered someone back.

The man had been hearing her voice in his head for awhile now. He had believed it to be his wife thanking him for doing this to her. Thanking him for making her eternally beautiful. He continued to stitch her skin together after stuffing a mannequin inside of her that had a similar figure like hers when she was alive. His work was almost complete. Just a few more stitches and it would all be over. He would finally be able to leave this place, the place he once called home with his deceased wife. This place was now only filled with people who wanted to steal his masterpiece away from him. They should be coming in an hour. He needed to hurry. The people who suspect him call him insane. They want to take her away from him and throw him into an asylum. He didn’t believe he was insane. His wife was really here. She was speaking with him right now, encouraging him to keep going.

As the man finished the final stitch a loud “CRASH” echoed throughout the house. Two men and two officers entered the room. They looked at the man, then at the doll, then back man again. The four men instantly recognized the doll as the missing woman’s body. The man is taken into custody to be tested to see if he’s insane. Everyone leaves the room, momentarily forgetting the woman’s body. As soon as everyone leaves the house is deathly silent again until a soft whisper is heard.

“I’m now Eternally beautiful.”

The End