Even the Dead

Even the Dead

By Arpie Murphy

He knew it would come down to this if the experiment succeeded and was cocksure then. There was now a sense of remorse for putting himself in this mess. He might get his life back by pushing that button. Or destroy everything. He planned suicide. First, donating his body to the field he loved: science. Death would be painless. A ricin pill and some ketamine from the lab. They would find his body in one piece. Foolproof plan, until he came across Theo’s research.

He met Lori, a waitress at Finnigan’s, two years prior. Dr. Mose used spiritless trivia to impress her after a few too many. He saved her from the man’s lame attempts by complaining about olives in his martini. An hour later, after Mose stumbled to a cab, he approached her and explained his intent. She said it was obvious, but would later admit she thought he was being a jerk.

They walked in the park for their first date. She thought it would be nice for their mutts to meet. It was so great they made it a twice a week thing. The date ended at her apartment where he awoke the next morning to scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and coffee. He asked her to marry him right then; she said yes. Four months later they had their wedding in Cabo, becoming Dr. and Mrs. Patrick Britton.

She quit her job, and they bought a house in the hills with a big yard for the dogs. While he worked at the lab, she spent her time with meditation, yoga, and her passion, photography. They turned the garage into a studio and he promised to keep out. The bedroom where he researched was off-limits to her. He worked with a team on a project for the Pentagon. A new formula to speed the process of tissue regeneration.

That’s where he met Dr. Theodore Kaufman, an Oxford fellow recruited by Langley. The only theoretical physicist on a team of molecular biologists. He discovered the formula after years of sacrificing a normal life. They became good friends, golfing every Sunday and playing an ongoing game of chess at the lab. He even acted as Theo’s wingman from time to time at happy hour, but never strayed. His beautiful wife was always waiting at home.

Parties at their house were extravagant and coveted by many. They always joked about starting a waiting list. It would be him and Lori with Theo and whichever date in the game room at the end of those nights. He caught them flirting, but thought nothing of it. Theo was a respectable man. More important, Lori adored him, and would do nothing to harm that. 

Theo approached him for help with a personal project during lunch. He explained the theory. A chemical change causing electromagnetic waves to reverse their direction. He stumbled upon something the government should not get their hands on. Theo expounded on the problem and he chuckled, but the man stayed adamant it was no joke.

They looked over notes in Theo's personal laboratory a few days later. He used the research from the team’s project, altered his own, and came across something he called a ‘miracle of science’. It looked intriguing and made sense in theory, but the missing piece would be unimaginable to come by. The ramifications it posed scared him. Theo wanted to kill it and asked him to help. There could be no retracing steps, which meant fudging records in the lab.

The next day at the party, Lori drank a bottle of cabernet and passed out before the last guests departed. Mose called him a chivalrous nerd when he carried her to bed. Theo was going away for three days and they would not see each other until it happened. They discussed the details once more. He still worried his friend may be bonkers, but decided he would help.

Lori slept, sprawled out in her new sequined dress, taking up the entire bed. He felt like the luckiest man in the universe and forgot about any silly mad scientist shit. Before retiring, he stumbled through the house, turning off lights. Before closing the garage door, he put away some of Lori’s junk and spotted a file cabinet open and an unsealed envelope with Secrets written in marker. Inside were pictures of his wife and best friend fucking in the room he stood in. A camera on a tripod in the middle of the room pointed at the spot where they posed for the pictures. There was still film in the reel from that night and he put it up to the light. Lori was in her new dress performing fellatio on the man he had minutes ago sworn a pact with. He put the room back the way it was and left the door open. There was no sleep that night, and he almost lost his mind. 

He made Lori breakfast in bed: scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and coffee. They walked the dogs on a beautiful day. Oysters and burgers for lunch, and then to Finnigan’s for an epic happy hour with her old friends. Later, when they made love, she told him it was the most wonderful night of her life and never wanted it to end.

He got home from work the next evening and told her Theo wanted to watch a movie coming out in two days. He would have to work late that night, but suggested that she invite her friend Hannah. The two might hit it off. Lori was wild in bed that night, and he savored every second. The next night even more.

In the morning, he met Theo at his lab to prepare one last time. They talked about his trip to Atlantic City. How he dropped $15,000 on roulette and then had sex with two strippers at the same time. He bragged about how they took turns on him when the needle pierced his skin. The only thing tying them together that day was the work they wanted to destroy, so he packed it all up. He put Theo in the trunk of his own Jaguar and transferred his drugged wife there so she could ride with her lover.

He walked to the covered car parked on the other side of the parking lot for lunch. You could spot that flashy thing anywhere. His wife’s eyes had opened, but she was still out cold. He gave them both another small dose, being careful not to overdo it. The movie would be a matinee at 4:00. He asked for time alone with his work. He would be there late that night.

He got pulled over for a busted taillight on the way home from work. He told the officer he scared some kids away from messing with his truck. They must have got their kicks in before he saw them. The cop wrote a warning and sent him home. At about 9:30, he called Hannah to ask if Lori was with her. She said they never showed up to the movie and thought Theo backed out. They must be at a bar, he told her, then apologized for keeping her up.

They ruled it an accidental death by vehicular malfunction. A brake wire had stripped, and the car lost control, dropping a hundred feet to the rocks below the bridge and exploding. The bodies were in awful shape, but they called it a correct identification and cause of death. No need for any autopsies or further queries. Closed case.

He did not fake the tears. It should have never happened, and the reflection in the mirror was unrecognizable. He quit his job and spent all his time with the dogs. He kept the syringe and capsule with him at all times. A month ago, after a two-day bender, he took out the box of Theo’s work and began going over everything. He became obsessed, locking himself in the house to work on his secret experiment.

The moment of clarity came when he played catch with his dead wife’s dog. So simple it terrified him. He spent almost a week building the contraption to hold the power needed for the split. He could calculate the right configurations to get his desired result with precision. In what capacity? At what cost? And would it make everything right again? Only pushing that button would answer those questions.

He had the ricin and ketamine in his hand in case he needed it. He fed the dogs and left a letter on the fridge explaining everything in case it failed. Deciding he had no choice, he pushed the button. A harsh light emitted from the metal, then flashed everything away.

A shriek woke him up. He knew because it lasted for a while after. He had no hangover and remembered everything. Has it worked? In the apartment he had before Lori, the small mounted TV showed war footage on CNN with the sound off. He heard a commotion outside and ran to the small window. People in the streets yelling and crying and beating each other up, bodies lying motionless. Every car crashed and fire blazed in the distance.

Another scream came from across the hall, followed by banging and shouting. Something on the TV caught his eye. It was no foreign war being covered; it was footage of major US cities in absolute chaos and disorder. He found the remote and turned the volume up over his neighbors. The anchorman used a barrage of expletives explaining what happened. He listened with disbelief.

After finding a bottle of gin in his old hiding place, he plopped down on the bed and took a huge swig. He no longer had the drugs to end it right then, or he would have. The result had not turned out exactly as intended. Five hours ago, everyone in the world had traveled approximately two years in the past. And they all remembered. Even the dead.