She put on her usual performance, pretending to be a thoughtful sister. “Mom, Dad, don’t be upset. It just shows how skilled she is! Imagine, even those mangled, torn-apart corpses are made whole under her hands. People in the village will probably praise us for having such a talented college graduate in the family.”
My mom and dad were prideful people. They were obsessed with how the people perceived them. They were especially terrified and hated to become the village's object of gossip. Having a daughter who became a mortician would not make them the envy of the villagers, instead, my whole family would be criticized by them.
And, so my sister's words had successfully had the desired effect.
On the other end of the line, they cursed me out for what felt like an eternity. Their final words echoed, “If you don’t quit, don’t even think about coming home!”
That’s my family for you.
I had wondered countless times that if I died one day would they actually grieve for me?
However, when I looked at them standing at the scene of my death, the answer was obvious.
This was the first of my death. No one in my family had shed a single tear.
The tears I had collected were zero. Days remaining to gather tears was twenty-nine.
The fire that had consumed my body brought everyone in the village together. It did not take long for them to find my body. When they discovered my remains, they had become charred, blackened and shriveled.
Seeing my pitiful state after death, a few of the aunties from neighboring homes, who had watched me grow up, couldn't bear it. Tears welled up in their eyes.
“What a shame. She is such a good girl and now she's just gone.”
“I heard she worked as a mortician in the city. Honestly, it's no wonder something bad happened. People who deal with dead people all the time will take the dead people's bad luck.”
…
The crowd buzzed with whispers, many of them filled with disdain for the work I had chosen.
My parents clearly heard the murmurs. Their faces darkened with anger and shame.
My father spat on the ground, then turned to my mother and complained to her, “What a cursed girl, even in death she brings shame to us.”