Alicia was inside her hospital room when she knew she had rested enough. She sits impatiently in her bed while staring at the clock. It’s been about twenty-four hours since her father and her lover failed to come back and pay her another visit. She was feeling agitated due to boredom in her room and decided to go for a stroll to relieve herself. She rose to her feet and changed her clothes, wearing her outdoor garments that had been delivered by the staff nurse the day before at her father’s request.

“Hey,” the forensic pathologist greeted when he entered his working area and noticed a woman standing right next to a dead body wrapped in a white fabric placed on a stretcher.
Nothing came out of the woman’s mouth, and she just stood there staring at the corpse in silence with her expressionless face.
There was a minute of silence while the forensic pathologist inspected the woman, wondering who she was and how she got there since her clothing did not appear to be from the hospital. When a familiar face caught his attention, the forensic pathologist asked, “You’re not afraid of dead people?”
On the other hand, Alicia, the daughter of the hospital director, did not utter a single word. “I suppose this is not your first time seeing a dead body based on your actions, no?” the medical examiner said as he walked his way to his desk.
While the forensic pathologist was putting on his gloves from his desk, there was absolute silence in the room. Once more, he tried to say something in an attempt to break the ice. “I saw you yesterday,” he said, hoping to break the ice. In the meantime, Alicia tilted her head to face him in anticipation of hearing another word from him, then turned back to face the dead when she didn’t hear anything else from him.
As soon as the medical examiner was done with his gloves, he walked around to the opposite side of the stretcher, away from Alicia’s position, and stood next to the dead body. He flipped the fabric over while keeping his gaze fixed on Alicia’s face, waiting for any reaction from her. He was surprised when there was no change in her expression at all.
“You see, most people would already vomit when they see something as horrific as this,” he stated. Still, not a word came out of her mouth.
“What are you doing here?” he asked a tinge of irritation in his voice from having to ask far too many questions but not answered. “I’ve got work to do. Please leave,” he sighed as he attempted to cut into the lifeless body with his scalpel.
The forensic pathologist was about to cut the corpse open with his knife when Alicia suddenly spoke, “It is my first time.” The medical examiner looked at her with complete confusion, wondering what she was talking about. “To see a dead body,” Alicia added. “I really enjoy the fragrance here,” she continued. The medical examiner was taken aback by what he had just heard. “What?” he exclaimed, believing he had misheard her.
When Alicia inhaled deeply, the stench of rotting flesh filled her nostrils. “Being here makes me feel comfortable and tranquil,” she stated, raising both her arms mid-air then wrapping them across her shoulders.
The middle above the bridge of the medical examiner’s nose wrinkled, giving Alicia an odd look. “You claimed to have seen me the day before?” Alicia asked when the medical examiner had not spoken a single word, his face looking puzzled.
After being utterly speechless for a minute or two, the only thing that came out of the medical examiner’s mouth was the word, “huh?” There was another awkward pause in the conversation. “Care to tell me what you saw?” Alicia asked, a tinge of suspicion that she knew what he had seen in her voice.
The medical examiner gently lowered his scalpel down into the tray. “Now you want to speak?” he asked, sounding annoyed for having to talk the whole time earlier.
“Was it fun?” Alicia asked, her eyes looking flirty.
“Huh?” The forensic pathologist appeared to be perplexed by her statement.
“To watch,” Alicia added, the corner of her lips slightly raised.
Both fell into another silence while looking into each other’s eyes. When the forensic pathologist knew that Alicia was aware of the situation, he stated, “I’m sorry. I—I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” he apologized. His face flushed with embarrassment as he said those words.
In response, Alicia rolled her eyes at him and said, “Don’t be.”
“What?” The forensic pathologist made a wobbly motion with his head. He then realized he was making a fool of himself by being limited to merely uttering the words “what” and “huh” out of his mouth.
“I mean, it wasn’t your fault when he failed to lock the door,” Alicia stated, while her gaze remained fixated on his bashful and confused face.
The forensic pathologist tried to conceal his discomfort with a chuckling expression.
“Have you?” the woman posed another question.
“What?” the forensic pathologist said in response to the question.
“Locked the door, silly,” Alicia clarified.
In order to determine if Alicia was making light of the situation by cracking jokes to lighten the mood, the medical examiner looked into her eyes. However, Alicia’s manner didn’t change in the least. His scalpel was in his hand as he chuckled, having doubts if she was playing him.
“You could just pass by, you know?” said the woman with her eyes lightly squinted, one of her eyebrows slightly arched, and the corner of her lip slightly raised. The forensic pathologist came to a halt when Alicia went on, “Were you curious?” she asked as she continued to give a provocative expression on her face.
The medical examiner barely returned his scalpel back to the tray and tugged his gloves off his hands, steadily losing his cool and still wondering whether the woman standing in front of him was making fun of him.
“Look, Miss. I’m sorry if that offended you.” The medical examiner was succinct in his words. “Your room is next to mine---” He was cut off when Alicia began to speak. “No biggie,” Alicia replied, placing her index and middle fingers on the cart while carefully moving to the opposite side, right next to him.
“What is it that you want?” the medical examiner asked without moving his body and head, only his eyes following Alicia as she approached him. “Hmm...” Alicia hummed as she lifted herself up and sat on the cart where the corpse was placed.
“The question is, what do you want?” she emphasized, a luscious tone in her voice as she brushed the back of her nails into the physician’s cheek. The medical examiner grabbed her hand when it reached his chin and held it there, preventing her from going any further down the line.
They intensely looked at each other until he slowly drew his mouth closer to Alicia’s ears and whispered, “Are you intending to hook up with every man you see?”
What he said took Alicia completely by surprise.
“Leave.” After a one-on-one stare, he blurted out the most insensitive thing he could think of to say to her. In the meantime, Alicia remained seated with a bitter expression on her face as the medical examiner walked to the door and opened it for her.
Alicia couldn’t believe her ears when she heard what she was hearing. She leaped off the trolley and made her way up to the door. “I wonder if you prefer the dead,” she sneered, scraping his skin a little with her nails as she ran her fingers across his face before heading out the door. Only a light grimace on the medical examiner’s face can be seen since the wounds were not deep.
When the door shut behind her, Alicia’s cheeks were flushed with irritation. A few moments later, her expression shifted drastically. She scowled and sneered as she walked towards the elevator with a villain’s smile and livid eyes.
The forensic pathologist was making his way back to the corpse when an arm of one of the dead bodies slipped off the stretcher. He was about to put the arm back in place when he noticed something on the arm. He took a closer look at the marks and wondered if they had been there previously.
Having worked so hard to recall those marks, the medical examiner subsequently dismissed them as being a part of the corpse’s wound, presuming they were already there when he received the body.
He continued his way and picked up his scalpel.
When he was ready to cut the corpse with his knife, he saw scrapes on its skin inscribed in the baybayin language, similar to the dead body he had just seen. He immediately stopped what he was doing and looked closely.
When he noticed the corpse’s skin’s abrasions, he unintentionally inflicted himself with an injury. He tried to compare the cut of his scalpel to the cut visible in the corpse, but it was far different.
This time, the forensic pathologist was so certain that those wounds weren’t even there when he received the body a few minutes ago. He examined the wounds and discovered a small quantity of bleeding coming from the incisions, which suggests that the wounds were recently opened. He checked all of the other bodies and noticed similar wounds etched on their skin.