Dead Eyes — Alan Brown

Dennis Glenn was a shy, socially awkward teenager when he met Elise Pinera, the daughter of a funeral home owner. His family struggled in life. Her family was well-healed. They came from different social classes. Still, they fell in love with each other. Her family tried to keep them apart, but their love was too strong. They married despite her family's wishes. With time, her family came to terms with their marriage. They even paid for Dennis to attend mortuary school. When he graduated, Anthony Pinera offered him a job in the family crematorium.The crematorium only operated between 11pm and 7am. The hours suited Dennis well. He didn't especially like being around people. He was a loner. The graveyard shift provided him solitude, quiet and the opportunity to work alone. He enjoyed his time in the crematorium. That was until bodies began piling up in the refrigeration room. There was something unusual about those bodies. Their eyes were open. They would not close. They looked up at him every night.  He believed that they were trying to tell him something. Sometimes, he thought that he heard their screams as he dropped the corpses into the cremation furnace.A series of tragedies struck the Pinera family. First, Gloria Booker, the ex-stepmother of Elise, died in a car accident. Then, Elise's parents were killed in a gas explosion at their house. All three of the bodies were cremated by Dennis. But, that was just the beginning of a series of events that made Dennis realize that something evil was happening in the Pinera Family Funeral Home.His questions resulted in threats. The threats materialized into action. Dennis had no way out. He couldn't go to the police. They owned the police. He was driving down a dead-end road that could only end in death. His family was in danger. In one final attempt to save himself and his family, Dennis searched for the evidence that would bring down the funeral home owners. His efforts that night resulted in a fire at the funeral home that killed five people. It also resulted in several murders at the crematorium.But did any of this really happen?