Emily was still. The bath water was still. No bubbles escaped to the surface. No ripples danced across the water till they broke on the edges of the rusted tub.

The undead girl liked the quiet. She did not know if the water was warm or cold, but assumed its temperature. She had been under the water for at least five hours. This was the closest thing to sleep Emily knew of. She tried to think of nothing as she lay down in the water. This meditative exercise was common place now and she found peace within herself quite easily. She did not breathe. Her heart did not bother her with its incisive beating. Her skin did not wrinkle because water did not absorb into her skin. She just was, nothing more.

She opened her eyes and saw a ghostly face staring down at her. It quickly disappeared. Emily was unfazed by the apparition and slowly lifted herself out of the bath water. She dried herself off with a pink towel and started applying baby powder to her skin. She found the powder kept her stale, sour smell from bothering people. The water slowly drained from the aged tub.

Emily began her routine of getting ready for the day. She put on her undergarments, hosiery, and corset. After all these years, she still wore the blasted contraption, but she was a lady and a lady wore her corsets. The Southern belle still wasn’t very fond of pants, but she knew it was the style and it was important for a lady to always look her best. Today, she decided to wear white, straight-cut dress pants and a red button-up shirt. She wrapped a thin, black scarf around her neck. Her final steps were her makeup. Her face was quite pale and lifeless, but nothing a little rouge and shadow couldn’t fix. She sprits her chest, wrists, and behind her ears with perfume.

She stepped out into the hallway and checked her gris-gris above the door. This small pouch filled with mystical objects was meant to keep evil spirits out of her room. A man walked down the hall and disappeared through a closed door near the staircase.

At the bottom of the stairs was the showroom. Caskets made of polished wood adorned the open floor-plan. The plush inner linings were even inviting to the living, if one didn’t think too much that the box was made for the dead. Emily had a few families coming in to look at caskets today so she decided to dusk and vacuum. Though she kept the place in impeccable conditions, one cannot be too clean. This afternoon she would go with the mortician to the cemetery to prepare for a burial. It was Emily’s job to set up the chairs and flowers around the burial site before the body was lowered into the ground.

Emily had been in New York for almost two months now and had found a job at one of the family-owned funeral homes. Downstairs kept the coolers, embalming rooms, offices, and showrooms. The family and a few of the employees lived upstairs. Many employees and even some family members didn’t like to live there because it was believed the house was haunted.

The undead girl enjoyed working at the funeral home. She was learning how to reconstruct bodies for open casket services. People who had suffered horrible car accidents or fires could be restored to their former glory after death, so their loved ones could see them one last time. This new knowledge would help her if she were ever to get seriously injured somehow. She also gave families closure, which was important to Emily.

The funeral home’s director knew what Emily was and helped close up wounds that were out of Emily’s reach. She was an older woman in her seventies who was going to leave the business to her son after she was too tired to work. The old woman, Jolene, promised to teach Emily how to drive again. Emily had learned to drive in the 1920’s, but hadn’t been behind the wheel since 1968. They had been practicing and Jolene was going to let Emily drive to the cemetery today.

Emily finished her cleaning and put the vacuum away. The elderly Jolene walked in, spry and exuberant as she was in her youth. “Are you ready to go my dear? The boys put the flowers in the van and the cemetery caretaker is meeting with us at noon. Hannah has a meeting at one with a family, the McFarland’s, but I’d like you to meet with the Johnson’s at four. You remember them, don’t you dear? They came in a week ago to look at caskets and I believe they picked one out.”

The younger looking woman smiled at Jolene. “I’m ready when you are, Ma’am. I am quite excited to drive today. I promise not to knock any over the flower arrangements down in the back.”

“Good. Let’s go. And put on your jacket dear, or you’ll catch a death of cold.” Jolene added with a wink.