Read Online Something You Are by Hanna Jameson - Free Book Online

while. There was rarely any identity. Body parts became no more than pieces of DIY shelving. You could see what they could have been and what they used to be, but we were all just wood and polystyrene.
    â€˜
Jesus!
’ I opened the door, retched and had to look away for a moment, a hand over my mouth and bile burning the back of my throat.
    Behind me Mackie was watching through his fingers, shaking his head.
    â€˜Jesus fucking Christ…’
    The naked thing sitting on the right side of the leather sofa was the same shape as a man, but so much liquid strained the skin that every limb had become misshapen and balloon-like. It was riddled with broken blood vessels, shimmering where too much pressure had forced splits and caused unnameable fluid to ooze its way out.
    Over its head was a plastic bag, misted and grey with death rasps, and on its feet, ankles bulging over the chic lines, was a pair of black stiletto heels.
    â€˜That…’ I said, swallowing. ‘That is quite fucking disgusting.’
    â€˜You can’t tell, I fucking mean it, you can’t tell
anyone
!’
    â€˜Why would I? I don’t know who he is,’ I said, dragging my eyes back to Mackie, who was shuddering with his hands over his eyes. ‘Damn, it’s not the most dignified way to go.’
    â€˜No, I mean you can’t…’ He was almost in tears; a hideous sight on any man. ‘You can’t tell anyone about me, about
this
.’
    When it dawned on me what he was saying I couldn’t help but laugh. Between this and the stilettos I was beginning to feel as though I was on a twisted hidden-camera show. But it was a refreshing novelty; it wasn’t often I was faced with something I hadn’t seen before.
    â€˜My God,’ I said. ‘You’ve got a dead fucker in heels in your living room to clean up and you’re more worried about people knowing you’re
gay
?’
    â€˜It’s not fucking funny!’ he spat, jabbing a finger. ‘You think this is a joke?’
    â€˜Well, Mackie, come on…’
    I sighed, eyeing the thing on the sofa and trying to gauge just how much mess the decapitation was going to make. It was too big to heave into the car in one piece. The smell of excrement overriding the copper and semen was bad enough.
    â€˜He’s been here all day, has he?’
    Mackie nodded. ‘He was sleeping, so I just left. I don’t know when it happened.’
    â€˜OK, can you go into the kitchen and put your clothes in a bin liner? All of them.’
    It had clearly been here for days. Fuck knows what had actually happened, and fucked if I was going to ask. I turned, desperate to get outside.
    â€˜Where are you going?’
    I opened the front door, grimacing. ‘To get some tools.’
    *
    Mackie stood, naked and shivering, in the kitchen to avoid getting forensic over any more of his clothes, while I sawed off the most ungainly limbs in the living room.
    The majority of the floor around the body was covered with sheets of plastic and duvets from upstairs, but I knew it was going to be daylight by the time we stopped scrubbing every surface with chemicals. Every time I pierced the skin more liquid seeped out and to make things even more fun Mackie had vomited all over the hall when the shock had caught up with him.
    I wrapped an arm in more bin liners, put it in the suitcase behind me and tried to blow my fringe off my forehead. His left hand had swollen over a wedding ring, I noticed.
    My back ached from being hunched over for so long and the extra layer of the clear poncho was making me unbearably hot.
    â€˜Eh, Mackie!’ I called, sitting back on my heels to take a few breaths and eyeing one of the stilettos. His feet had swollen so much that I was unable to get them off. ‘You don’t want to keep the shoes, do you?’
    Silence.
    I regretted making the joke. ‘You guys properly involved?’
    â€˜Don’t take the