“What a good boy you are!” Dr. Benedict Thruman announced with a beaming smile.
His favorite vulture out of the three was sitting quietly on his perch. Victor and Ivan, the other two, were walking on the steel counters of the morgue. The sounds of their razor-sharp claws tapping on the metal, creating an eerie sound.
“It looks like Luther is the only one who has decided to listen today!” The eccentric mortician chuckled. Luther’s wings were limp alongside his body while he waited for a treat. Victor and Ivan were watching Luther and Dr. Thurman out of the corner of their beady eyes but still hadn’t acquiesced to their master’s wishes.
Dr. Thurman’s eyes were wide with excitement as he fished a severed finger from one of the stainless-steel pans used for organs. He giggled as he gingerly carried the appendage and walked over towards Luther’s perch. The patient vulture volunteered to open his beak as wide as he could when he saw what his master was holding. The meticulous mortician dangled the finger just within reach of Luther’s beak. Not more than a millisecond later, the appendage disappeared in the vulture’s gullet.
Victor and Ivan witnessed this whole exchange as they both began to squawk loudly. Their claws scraped loudly against the shiny steel as they struggled to regain their footing. Ivan almost fell completely onto the floor while Victor managed to maintain his balance. Both vultures were desperately trying to quickly return to their respective perches in hopes that they too with experience the same luck as Luther did.
In Victor’s rushed attempt to successfully fly across the room without incident was thwarted by his surroundings. The edge of his claw accidentally knocked one of the stainless-steel pans onto the floor. The noise was momentarily deafening, which was unnerving to say the least. The clanging of metal reverberated throughout the room almost like a miniature aftershock.
Ivan barely managed to avoid smashing into a cluster of pans that rested by the sink. Dr. Thurman glared at both Victor and Ivan as they ended the chaos by successfully landing on their perches. His glare intensified as he slowly alternated his gaze between the two of them. Both birds were visibly uncomfortable as the doctor continued to stare at both of them for a few moments longer. Victor hung his head as if he actually felt ashamed of his failure to obey the mortician. A few seconds later, Ivan looked at Victor and slowly hung his head as well in shame. Dr. Thurman shot them one last glare and turned back to look at Luther.
A loud knock immediately commandeered everyone’s attention as the cautious mortician headed towards the door. He looked back at his birds one last time. Standing in the doorway was a short balding man wearing a lab coat that sported a multi-colored pocket protector.
“ Well, hello there, Mr. Moss!” Dr. Thurman declared. “ So nice of you to show up!” the doctor tapped his wrist as he stood aside.
The moment after Arthur Moss crossed the threshold into the morgue basement, he winced. The smell was something that he hadn’t become accustomed to yet, having only begun his internship in the mortuary program a week earlier. There were a lot of things that he needed to get used to and working on site helped him with the process. Unfortunately for him, it was the first thing his boss noticed.
“ Smell getting’ to you?” Dr. Thurman asked as a surreptitious smile crept across his lips.
“Haha!” Arthur laughed nervously. “ A little,” he added.
“ You’ll get used to it!” the eccentric mortician giggled. Arthur flashed an uneasy smile as he stared at the three imposing birds who all happened to be currently staring back at him with their beady eyes.
“ So I’m assuming that you printed out that email I have sent you with all the instructions for the birds?” Dr. Thurman asked. He impatiently jingled his keys inside of his pocket as he waited for his intern’s response.
“ Sure do,” Arthur quickly answered.
“ Good! I should be back in less than two hours,” the mortician said.
“ No problem, sir,” Arthur nodded his head and smiled.
“ That’s what I like to hear!” Thurman exclaimed over his shoulder. He grabbed his bag off the desk that was by the doorway. Before he left for the evening, he whacked Arthur on his back which caught him off guard. Arthur forced a smile and pretended like it was alright, but it was clear he was obviously bothered. His discomfort with this gesture went totally unnoticed by Dr. Thurman. The mortician was preoccupied with blowing kisses to his birds before closing the door behind him for good.
The sound of the steel door slamming shut jolted the young intern into a whole new reality. He stared at the door for a few seconds longer before turning around to face the three spooky birds who were watching his every move. The future mortician breathed a sigh as he summoned the courage to deal with the situation at hand.
Luther flapped his wings and squawked for no other reason than to test his boundaries. Arthur just gulped, not completely sure at all how to care for a trio of vultures confined to the morgue in the basement of a funeral home. For more than a few moments, Arthur begins to harbor serious doubts about his current career trajectory.
“What the hell is wrong with me? I just started this! I can’t give up yet!” he muttered to himself as he shook his head. Thinking positive thoughts which was like giving himself a silent pep talk, he stared at the piece of paper his mentor gave to him.
“Hmmm! Seems like a lot of shit on this list. I hope he comes back soon!” Arthur mumbled as he looked up from his list. Luther flapped his wings again while the other two were grooming themselves on their respective perches.
“Now let me see here,” Arthur said out loud, wondering which bird was who as he briefly glanced at their names on the paper. “Who’s who here?” Arthur carefully approached the vultures with a wary eye.
The three vultures sensed his apprehension which only fueled their mischievous behavior. Following the lead of Luther, they ceased their grooming responsibilities and began to flap their wings and squawk in unison. The anxious intern looked around nervously as he gingerly placed the paper on top of the nearest counter. Not knowing exactly what to do, he began to wave his arms up and down as he glared at the birds. Making squawking noises and shouting, Arthur attempted to mock the carnivorous birds.
They must have known that’s what he was doing because Arthur’s actions did nothing to calm them down. Luther was the unquestioned ringleader. Flapping his wings harder, he managed to launch himself into the air. His long wingspan inadvertently knocked the paper Dr. Thurman provided his intern for proper care of his birds off the counter and onto the floor.
“Shit!” Arthur shouted as he dashed for the rogue paper. Before he could make any progress regarding recovering these directions, Ivan suddenly launched himself in the air as well. This time he used Arthur’s back as a launching pad. Two birds trying to maneuver around a relatively small area created a chaotic scene to say the least.
Amidst all the scuffle, Victor decided to launch himself into the air as well. Using the same blueprint as Ivan, he stepped on Arthur’s back . The two vultures with their combined claws, left more than a mark on the terrified intern. Arthur screamed as he frantically reached around and grasped at his back.
“What the fuck!” he shouted in frustration.
The three vultures flew around the morgue basement and eventually each one of them landed on various places throughout the room. Arthur just moaned as he grabbed his back and winced from the pain. He wandered around the room, looking for some medical supplies, rifling through each drawer.
“Where the fuck are the bandages?” He mumbled under his breath, feeling the pain in his back from the sharp talons of the vultures. He felt the blood staining the back of his shirt. Frustrated that he couldn’t find adequate supplies to care for his wound, he leaned against the far counter. He groaned in pain as he glared at the birds who were watching him intently.
“What the hell are you three looking at?” Arthur exclaimed. Luther flapped his wings and began to squawk. The other two chimed in as well, creating a racket that was giving Arthur a headache on top of the agony he was already facing from the deep scratch marks on his back. Rubbing his head, silently wishing to himself that the birds would shut up, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.
There was a door in the corner of the room that was slightly ajar. He wouldn’t have noticed it since it was the same shade of white as the morgue walls. Arthur managed to ignore the birds who had finally calmed down however continued to watch him. He ignored their watchful glare as he headed gingerly for the door.
“What have we here?” he said out loud. Arthur carefully approached the door and proceeded to open it slowly. Peeking inside the entrance, he looked around the room. During his quick glance inside, he saw a tall stack on metal shelves. In one of the middle shelves, he saw a box of gauze bandages. A smile crept across his face as he quickly entered the room holding his bloody back.
“This is a good start,” Arthur mumbled.
In one impetuous move, he reached up to grab the bandages. In his haste he slipped. As he was attempting to regain his balance, he grabbed the side of the wire rack. As a result of impetuous behavior, he forgot to check the shelves above the bandages to make sure there was nothing that could fall on him.
On the top shelf there were two full cans of paint that were for some reason placed precariously on the edge of the wire shelf. The force exerted by Arthur as he grabbed the shelf, sent the cans directly down upon his head. Darkness washed over him as his suddenly limp body collapsed onto the floor.
The sound of the doctors’ keys jingling outside the door was heard by the vultures. They had been inside the room where Arthur was lying unconscious. Luther was the first one who flapped his wings repeatedly as he made his way to the door.
“Luther! What a pleasant surprise!” the smiling mortician exclaimed. He ventured carefully further into the room and looked around.
“Where the hell is Arthur?” Dr. Thurman asked, looking very confused. Suddenly he froze in his tracks and glared at the door in the corner. Squinting, he saw that it was open more than he had left it. He felt a pit in his stomach as he heard what sounded like flesh getting ripped and torn apart. Looking down at the floor he noticed that there was blood everywhere. Frowning, he opened the door.
Shaking his head at the scene in front of him, he slowly opened the door. Victor and Ivan immediately flapped their wings and headed towards the far end of the closet away from the incoming doctor. Arthur’s body was ripped to pieces. His eyes had been scratched out, leaving just two bloody holes. His chest was torn apart, revealing some of his organs had been removed. Dr. Thurman looked at Victor and Ivan with a disapproving look.
“Oh well. I guess we found another intern that wasn’t cut out for this line of work. I knew he wasn’t going to make it,” the crestfallen mortician exclaimed. He beckoned for the vultures to come out of the closet and head to their perches. He glanced over and noticed that Luther was already sitting on his perch with something hanging from his beak. Upon further examination by the doctor, he noticed that it was a severed finger.
“I know how much you love those Luther,” Dr. Thurman reached over and rubbed the bird’s head. “Looks like you guys had a surprise meal. I guess I don’t have to worry about dinner for you guys,” the weary mortician announced to his vultures.