Page 2 of Made to Be

“You mean you’re too lazy to actually cook.”

I rolled my eyes even though she couldn’t see my attitude. She wasn’t wrong.

“Anyway,mom,” I teased, “I was just getting started. You interrupted me.”

I set my phone down and put it on speaker then scooted the rickety old stool out from under the table to begin organizing the spread of books, papers, jars, and bowls across the wooden surface. I was loathe to admit that I wasn't a very tidy person. Okay, I was messy. I was a messy person. But not when it came to my work. I was downright meticulous. I methodically placed the jars and bowls in order of use and opened the books to the necessary pages I would need.

“I’m genuinely shocked that you’re not up my ass about this being too reckless,” I mused, then pitched my voice up a few octaves to imitate her, “Like, Vic, what if you blow yourself up again?” I cleared my throat, voice returning to normal, “As you know, I’mentirely unsupervised. Terrifying, but there are endless possibilities.”

Alice scoffed, “Yeah, this idea of yours better work. You need to get laid. Also, you could really benefit from having someone looking out for you. Hopefully that guy knows how to cook. Or, oooh, even better, bake.”

“Oh yes,” I chuckled darkly. “I will certainly be eating plenty if this works. Plenty of dick.”

The silence stretching between us was comedically heavy.

“What is wrong with you?”

“You mean today or... like, in general?” I deadpanned.

She snorted, “Smartass.”

“Well,” I said sagely, “it all began the day I discovered my dad’s dildo-”

“Dude! Ew, shut up!” Alice screeched.

I winced, “Damn Ali Cat, my poor eardrums.”

“And my poor psyche! I didnotneed the mental image that just conjured. Marty, if only you could see your son now!” she lamented in true theatrical fashion.

I huffed a laugh, “It’s Doctor Martin Grimsley now, remember? He just got his PhD in psychology. And let’s not inform him of what I get up to in my basement, shall we? He would probably use me as his next research topic and publish a thesis about it.”

She snickered, “He totally would.”

“Other than distracting me, did you need something?” I asked, getting back to the topic at hand. “I would like to get back to work please.”

“Yeah yeah, get to making your perfect boyfriend or whatever. But don’t forget who delivered. You owe me. ‘Gotta go, date night with Mandy. And you bet your ass I’m getting lucky tonight. Bye, bitch!” She then made a kissing noise and hung up.

The line beeped as the call ended and I pushed my phone off to the side. Then set it to silent for good measure.

Time to focus.

Once the required ingredients were diced, ground into powder, and measured into their appropriate amounts, I followed the instructions and carefully mixed everything together. I followed each step exactly. There was too much at stake! I would not fuck this up. But... what if I accidentally made the body spontaneously combust or something?

Nope, not manifesting failure.

With my preparations complete, I looked around wishing I had another table down here to put the body on so I wouldn’t have to work crouched on the cold, perpetually damp floor. I could have asked Alice for one of the spare tables they had at the morgue, but screw hauling one of those heavy things down those steps or through the narrow cellar doors. It wouldn’t have fit in my car anyway. One heavy body was enough for today, thank you very much.

I dragged said body out of the ice and onto the floor. As I slowly unzipped the bag, my nerves bubbled with excitement like a kid with an early Christmas present. I couldn’t help but sit there and simply admire him for several long seconds like a total creep.

He truly was a beautiful specimen. Even all ashen gray and, well... dead.

I had known immediately when I’d seen him on that table that my search had finally, gloriously, come to an end.

***

An hour earlier...

“I found one!” Alice’s excited voice cheered through the phone pressed to my ear.