I’m a mortician and I found a note in a corpse’s lung.

I’ve been a mortician for five years now. Since I’ve graduated college, I’ve been working at the local funeral home in the small town where I live. Apparently, it’s the only one in town so we get pretty busy.<br><br>I’ve seen my fair share of corpses. I think it takes getting used to, but I’m used to it. It’s my job and, I can’t explain it, but I love it. I’m most comfortable when I’m around the dead and making sure they look their best for the last time in their life. I’m 24 now but I remember being 9 and wanting to be a mortician. My mom thought it was weird, I don’t know if I’d call it weird, but it’s definitely different from what other little kids wanted to be when they grew up. <br><br>Anyway, I had a regular day today. Working my morning shift at the funeral home. It’s not really morning though, I work 10:30am-7:00pm. Today, there was a lot of bodies brought in. I was kind of overwhelmed but I got it all done. I only had one funeral to do the makeup for, but that one was a bit of a challenge. The man had died from drowning. Now, I’ve worked with drowning victims before, but it’s tough. You have to suck all of the water out of the body. Literally. It’s this weird pump thing that you stick into the mouth and it sucks all the water out of their lungs. I gagged a little bit, but that’s not what I’m here for. <br><br>When I was done sucking the water out, I was about to sew up the incision I had made in his mouth when I saw something strange. Inside his lung, there was a folded up piece of paper. I knew there was no way the water could have tucked that in there, so I decided to take it out and take a look. <br><br>I opened the piece of paper and it was a note. <br><br>**Please cremate me**<br><br>**Do not bury me**<br><br>That was it. That was all the note said. I was a little confused, but figured I would show it to my boss and see what he thought of it. <br><br>When I found him smoking outside, I showed it to him and he looked absolutely terrified. Like, white as a ghost. <br><br>“Where did you find this?” He asked. <br><br>I told him, and said, “I think this is for you, right? He doesn’t want to be buried.” <br><br>My boss got really nervous looking and said “Well, we definitely can’t cremate him then.”<br><br>I asked why not, and he said, “Well, the family wants him buried and they’re paying us for burial. It’s none of our business.” <br><br>I thought that was a little crazy, but I didn’t think much of it. I figured the guy had no family or friends and it was his last wish, but the family didn’t want him buried. My boss looked very stressed out and I didn’t want to make it worse on him, so I didn’t say anything else. <br><br>I went back to work, and for the rest of the day, I couldn’t stop thinking about the note inside the man’s lung. I thought about the family, and how they wouldn’t let him be cremated. We had the funeral later that day, I didn’t see it but apparently the family wanted him to be Buried at Sea. I don’t know where they got the idea but I don’t know if that’s legal. I hope they at least let him keep the suit I dressed him in for the funeral. I rode home on cloud nine thinking about the body floating away in that beautiful black suit. We had to get consent from the police to do it, but they barely watched. They cared little, this man was old anyway. <br><br>As soon as I got home, I called my boss. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and I just wanted answers. I asked him, “I understand that the family can override his wishes, but why would he put a note in his lung? That’s crazy.” <br><br>“Well,” my boss said, “I think it’s time you know the truth. I don’t think it would be right to not tell you.” <br><br>“Okay,” I said anxiously, “what is it?”<br><br>There was a silence and then he started talking. He talked for quite some time but I listened. Once in a while, I’d say ‘okay’ or ‘uh-huh’ to let him know I was still there. <br><br>“You see, in some situations, when someone dies under mysterious circumstances, our government took possession of the body instead of the family. They would then cremate the body and have the ashes remain on government property in a vault. They didn’t want them scattered or anything like that, they wanted them locked away. <br><br>“That’s how it used to be, back in the day. It’s a completely different way now. <br><br>“When a person would die from drowning, that’s when the note was used. The mortician has to suck the water out of the lungs, and that’s where the note would be. <br><br>“The note was telling the mortician: Please cremate me. Don’t let them get me again. You have to put my ashes in the ocean. I can’t be held captive forever. They can’t keep my soul here on this earth and they can’t lock me away. <br><br>“You hear stories of people drowning but their bodies never show up. It’s because they were held captive. It can be for many reasons. <br><br>“When people drown, their souls don’t leave their bodies. Instead of going to heaven, they’re held inside the body. <br><br>“The government has these devices called Soul Holders. If you put a person’s soul in there, it’s trapped. It can’t get out under any circumstances. <br><br>“Whenever someone drowned, their soul is trapped inside their body and they can’t leave. That’s when the government takes the bodies that they find. They lock the souls away and keep them on earth, alive, but not alive. They’re trapped souls. <br><br>“That’s why morticians and funeral homes are so important. We have to make sure souls don’t get locked away. The government can’t hold them captive. They need to be put in the ocean to free their souls.” <br><br>That was it. He stopped talking and I hung up the phone. I sat in silence for a while and thought about it all. Was I just a mortician, or was I a savior for souls that needed saving? <br><br>**edit: 1:37am. I just woke up. I received four calls from unknown numbers. All four calls were just my boss on the other end telling me to: “Remove this post.”**