Voodoo [H.S.]

Two

May 25th, 2022

"Mornin' Jim. Need me in the back or downstairs today?"

"In the back today," Jim says, counting out the money for the registers before we open. "Got a few snakes that need taken care of, they're already in the freezer."

"On it."

I push open the door to the room where we do all our in house taxidermy, revealing the workbenches, cabinets and shelves full of supplies, and the small door leading to where we store the animals and insects.

Snakes in the freezer, snakes in the freezer. There's fifteen fuckin' freezers back here, he couldn't have said which one?

I dig through the different freezers until finally spotting the one with green bags neatly arranged on a shelf. Jim color codes the bags depending on the animal or insect we're preserving, thankfully because this shit gets disorganized as fuck. I take out one of the bags and move it over to one of the work benches and start working on making the solution to place the snakes in to start the process of preserving them properly.

This is definitely not something I ever saw myself enjoying, but Jim is like the dad I always wanted. I give him hell, but I'd do anything for that old man. We go way back. I've never been much for talking or socializing in general, more of an action kind of guy, and he always had my back. Being an introvert growing up in a group home got me into some trouble, and Jim took me under his wing and took me out of there when I turned eighteen. He got me my own apartment, made sure I was able to eat, and then got me a job eventually.

Plus, dead things just don't scare me.

Jim opened Voodoo Taxidermy and Oddities five years ago. Stupid fuckin' name if you ask me, but whatever, it makes sense I guess. He wanted a place where he could sell his own creations and run his side business at the same time. I've been working for him for all five years, both in the store and as a part of his "underground" operation. He doesn't give me much of the ins out and outs of either part of the business, I just do what I'm told.

He taught me a few things about taxidermy over the years. It started when I moved into my apartment and wanted a pet, so I bought a bearded dragon named Lacey to keep me occupied. The seller I bought her from said she was older and required a lot of maintenance, and Jim convinced me she would be good to keep me out of trouble. I never knew much about love until I had Lacey.

I had her for a year, and one day I came out of my room and she was sleeping. Except she wasn't sleeping. I texted Jim as soon as I couldn't shake her awake. He found me on the floor of my living room holding her and sobbing.

Once he calmed me down enough, he walked me through some options on how we could preserve her. I opted for a necklace made out of her bones. I wore it everyday for two years, until deciding to keep it hung up in my living room, above where her tank used to be.