Page 110 of XO Karma

He drops my hand, and I breathe out a sigh of relief when the door opens immediately. We hurry inside the pitch-black room, and a foul odor assaults my senses. “What the hell?” I gag, throwing an arm over my nose. A second later, Aster turns on his phone’s flashlight. I take the hint, pulling out my own. “That smell is rank.”

“Something’s dead in here,” he says, and I shudder walking through a row of gardening tools.

“Something or someone?” My heels clank on metal below me. Illuminating it, I find a material different from the concrete floor throughout the rest of the barn. Checking the perimeter of it, I notice a handle-like object on the far side. “Aster, I think I’ve got something.”

He rushes over and crouches to take a closer look. “Seems like some kind of cellar door.” He breathes in, then grimaces, shining at the edges. “Looks sealed.” He places his hand on the concrete next to the metal. “That’s weird.”

“What?”

“The floor is warm. It should be freezing in this weather.”

“Why would you heat a barn floor?” I make the mistake of breathing through my nose and gag for real this time. “Is it just me or is the stench getting worse?”

Aster’s eyes find mine. “We already know they have skeletons in their basement.”

“You don’t think…” I shuffle off it onto the concrete.

“Guess we’re about to find out.” He hands me his phone to grip the handle, and the hinges squeal as he lifts it open. By the time I’ve thought to shush him, my light catches on a deep hole scattering with movement.

“Shit,” Aster says, hopping back, and the door remains ajar.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, pointing the light towards him as a cloud surrounds me with a smell worse than anything I’ve ever experienced. Another gag racks my body, and I hand Aster his phone, craning my head for a molecule of fresh air.

He flicks at his arm. “Another beetle.”

I struggle to laugh through the stench, returning my light to the hole, my own flood of expletives slipping out as I scuffle away. The scene before us is abhorrent. Half-decayed bodies lie parallel, beetles flooding them by the thousands like they’re underwater. “What the hell is this?!”

Frantically, we zigzag the lights. “There seem to be,” Aster begins, “two…” He shines his light further, the beetles scattering as he does. “No, three different corpses.”

“But… why?”

Aster cranes his neck to get a closer look. “Those are Dermestid beetles.”

“Is that supposed to mean anything to me?”

“They eat decomposing flesh. They’re usually used by museums and stuff to clean carcasses before preserving them for presentation.” Aster gasps, a full body shudder racking him. “Disgusting! I had dead people beetles on me!” He gags dramatically. And then again with his hands on his knees.

“Eww,” I mutter. “So, this is where they put the corpses before bringing them to the studio?”

Aster clears his throat, regaining composure. “Looks like it.” With his burner, he snaps a few quick photos, then closes the lid, resealing the horrific scene.

“Okay, we need to get out of here before these beetle shits make us their next meal.”

“They only eat dead flesh, but yeah.” He shudders again. “I’d still prefer we get out of here sooner rather than later.”

“How are we going to get back inside the mansion?” I ask as we slip out the door and round the barn.

“Let’s head across the yard, then straight for the car.”

“How will we explain why we’re out here?” He retrieves cigarette out of his jacket pocket, and a lighter appears a second later. “Since when do you smoke?”

“Since the easiest explanation to ‘why are you wandering outside?’ is ‘I’m having a smoke.’”

“Oh, okay, that’s very logical.”

We make it to the cellar door we escaped through, then head towards the front of the house.

“Ready for that milkshake?” he asks, lighting the cigarette and holding it between his fingers.