Morose Marvin

Morose Marvin

"Right." The professor flipped the lever to start the machine. With a shudder it whirred to life, and then it immediately bogged down.

Some tubes collapsed, others fattened. A squeaky, airy sound came from the body.

Something was wrong.

Marvin stared in horror as the corpse began to bloat, its veins bulging rigidly. Its limbs all stiffened as if the woman were stretching, and then they fattened, angling out as pressurized air filled their vessels.

One arm angled out toward Marvin, thumping against him and slowly pushed his chair over. He sprawled in a heap on the floor, screaming.

The other boys just roared with laughter.

The professor stood over Marvin testily. He turned the machine off and waited for Marvin's screams to subside to mere sobs.

"Students, Marvin has just shown us how not to embalm a corpse. And he'll be in detention this evening cleaning up the mess. The rest of you, dismissed."

The other boys gathered their things and were out of the room in a flash, off to the dining hall for a hot meal. Peter paused briefly to tousle Marvin's hair, and then left too. Marvin picked himself up and sniffed. He made his way over to stand before the professor, who scribbled notes in his class book. The man eventually put the pen down and looked up at Marvin.

"Don't worry it, lad. Happens often. Just let the air out of Mrs. Maguire and mop up around your station. Janitorial supplies are around the corner, two doors down."

Marvin nodded. "Yes sir."

The professor gathered his books and strode out of the room, which felt even creepier when Marvin realized he was alone with so many dead bodies.

Marvin tried not to look at them all on their tables as he pulled tubes from the hissing corpse of Emily Maguire. Clotted fluids spit out the needle holes as it emptied.

It didn't deflate completely until he sat on it.