Usually, the dead didn't blink.
But today, they were more active than usual.
Normally, Lucian Bowcott preferred the company of the dead.
They didn't interrupt and didn't expect small talk.
But there were moments when, occasionally, they blinked at the wrong time. Lucian's family was pretty sensitive to ghosts and other supernatural creatures.
If you ignore them, they leave after awhile. And if they're especially persistent, just ask them to leave, nicely. These were the rules their family had when dealing with the dead.
And when their only son was a mortician, Lucian had plenty of stories to tell. That morning, they had been especially active around the funeral home.
Gently, Lucian's scalpel sliced just above the body's navel area. Setting the features had been simple and quick. "Reasonably healthy…" he murmured as he used a trocar to puncture the organs in both the chest and abdomen.
The scent of formaldehyde and clove oil soothed him as he embalmed the body. Everyone deserved to see their loved ones at their best, one last time.
Outside, he heard his phone vibrate again. Lucian turned to the body and said softly, "That's my friend Niko. He's been calling me for two, three hours now?"
He imagined the body being interested in what he was saying. "I mean, I have been ghosting him and Mei for a while now…" He was annoyed and endeared at the same time.
They were the only two living people in his life who hadn't let his absence affect their friendship.
"I guess four months is enough hiding."
After the constant sleep-work-sleep routine, meeting up with them shouldn't be so bad.
He finished his tasks and plugged up the hole he made with a trocar button.
Work was the one place he could breathe without pretending; without wondering what the correct response was when talking to other people.
He looked at the deceased and ignored the ghost in the corner of the room. "All done. Now I'll ask your child to pick out a casket in the morning. You are very loved. I hope you rest well."
Before answering his phone, Lucian ducked into the bathroom to wash up.
He leaned over the sink, caught his reflection, and frowned.
Something about it felt off. Not exactly eerie — just delayed. Like it wasn't quite in sync with him.
Is this another spirit messing with me?
Lucian looked into his own gray eyes and blinked once. His reflection stared back with pity in its gray eyes. After a beat, the reflection blinked.
What? I must be seeing things...
He blinked again.
This time, the odd feeling vanished and his reflection caught up again. Lucian sighed and closed the door behind him.
That was weird...I need more sleep.
Back at his phone, missed calls and messages were piling up.
The latest was from Niko:
"Dinner after your shift. You promised us a life outside the cadavers. Don't flake this time."
The sun had just begun to set, and Lucian knew he was out of excuses.
"Fine, fine. But please, don't pick out a noisy bar, okay?"
Niko's reply came in seconds. "Yeah, I know. Mei got us reservations at Lion."
"Pulling out all the stops, huh?"
"You've dodged us for four months, Luci. Frankly, we also deserve a good drink."
Lucian chuckled and said "True" out loud. The entire gesture was sweet, honestly.
But was it really worth it? Lucian thought.
It would've been so easy to pretend he had a family emergency—it was the only excuse he hadn't used yet.
Don't be silly, Luci. These are your friends. They're buying you dinner at an expensive bar and restaurant. Sit down, smile, and socialize, for god's sake.
The mortician blew a raspberry.
His guilty conscience won out, especially when Niko sent a text saying, "Four months is long enough, Lucian. I swear, it's like you hate us or something."
So, Lucian said yes.
True to their word, Lion wasn't another loud and dingy bar. It was easy to find their way in, thanks to the neon sign that pointed to the entrance.
The moment Lucian entered, an additional sign appeared below Lion: The perfect place for one last hurrah.
There was no music inside Lion. Instead, it was full of quiet murmurs and the occasional clink of glasses.
The lighting came from tiny candles inside the mouths of crystal skulls. It reminded Lucian of fireflies flickering in the summer night.
Mostly he was thankful he didn't have to wear his headphones.
When he met up with Niko and Mei, they marveled at how long his hair had grown.
"It's up to your shoulders now!" Mei said, delighted. "Last time I saw you, it was so short!"
Lucian laughed awkwardly. "I haven't had time to get it cut. But more importantly—I can't believe we're actually here."
Mei waggled her eyebrows and preened. "Right?! I've had the reservation since January."
Lucian almost dropped his menu. "That early? It's already April…" She shrugged and he absently watched her skeleton earrings sway against her long red hair.
"People are dying to get in here, Luci," she whispered, half-teasing. "They're super efficient."
Lucian thought she was joking, but just as he drained his glass of water, a waitress quietly refilled it and added a lemon wedge.
"Are you ready to order?"
The rest of dinner passed by all too quickly. Mei and Niko traded life updates with Lucian over plates of steak, scallops, and pasta.
He had been tempted to order a glass of wine, but Niko swore that the bar had better drinks than advertised on the menu.
"All right," Lucian had said, mock-raising his hands in surrender. "It does look like a gorgeous bar."
It was made of wood so dark it looked black and the lighting above the bartender was modestly bright.
Not too much to hurt the eyes, but just enough to be inviting.
+
It was 10PM when the trio sat at the bar. They slid onto high-backed stools and were immediately presented with a small plate of salted peanuts and glasses of water.
"This place has ruined me forever. The service is fantastic," Lucian muttered, and Mei, sitting between him and Niko, agreed.
"Definitely worth the price. And being on the waitlist." Before she could reach out to grab some peanuts, the bartender turned to them.
Lucian knew it was rude, but the bartender reminded him of a crumbling lighthouse: an ancient, immovable thing that watched over everyone.
His black hair was slicked back and streaked with silver, but what truly distracted Lucian was his eyes. The bartender's eyes were milky-white, like he was blind, but somehow Lucian felt seen.
It was like being in front of Anubis himself: judged by something much older than human law. His gold monocle glinted beneath the bar's lights.
"What'll it be?"
Lucian blinked.
"What do you mean?"
"Your wish," the bartender said.
"Tell me what you want most. The drink will do the rest."
A chill ran through Lucian.
He stared into those blind, judging eyes.
"A quiet life," he said slowly. "One where I don't have to fake being normal. I just… do my work. Alone."
The bartender nodded, mixing something dark and glimmering.
"Drink," he said.
"And leave this life behind."
Lucian laughed awkwardly.
It wasn't a desperate wish clawing in his heart, but it had a flicker of something, and that was enough.
Niko and Mei had gotten their drinks in the same black glasses, and raised theirs towards him.
"To you crawling out of your grave," Niko said cheerfully.
"Out of the morgue! Welcome to the land of the living," Mei added.
For once, their gentle jabs didn't bother him.
"To not being strangers."
He drank, and the world started to shift slightly, like a spinning plate.
It wasn't sharp or violent, just…deeply unsettling. Like time had melted sideways.
The candles flickered.
The bar lights dimmed.
Lucian's heart thundered in his chest, then sputtered before stopping entirely.
It happened in seconds.
He felt the cold in his fingertips first, the way frost hugged branches.
Niko's shouting was distant, and Mei's hand reached for him.
He tried to hold it, but...her hand was out of focus.
Lucian tried his best, but he couldn't bear it anymore.
Darkness enveloped him.
Lucian's body fell to the floor, next to an empty wineglass.
What little he heard was extremely muted, like a TV with the volume set to 1.
Niko and Mei's panicked voices and the footsteps of frightened guests.
He was being moved and somebody was talking to him, but he couldn't make out the words.
Then there was...a lot of nothing.
Below Lion, the soil stirred.
Unseen by the commotion, pale skeletal hands dug inside Lucian's body, grabbed his soul, and trapped it inside a coffin.