I was in the mood to write some more but it's now way past my bed-time so here's a little more to tide you over! Enjoy and don't forget to let me know what you think :-)

Pt 7

Fortunately the following week was the beginning of the school holidays as Dinah was convinced that she would not have been able to concentrate, waiting every day for news that the team were ready for her. Heeding the advice of the head of the team, she stuck to loose-fitting summer dresses and long t-shirts when she bothered with clothes at all, often opting to simply go nude and enjoy the warmth of the sunshine on her bare skin, even when playing in the back garden, although if Dinah went outside, her mum made sure she was well covered in sunscreen, knowing how devastated the little girl would be if she lost her chance at the promise form of immortality due to sunburn! Every morning and evening her parents took turns in rubbing the special preparation cream into every inch of her soft olive skin.

Finally, after what seemed like several months but had in fact only been a few days, the call came to say that they were ready and Dinah’s parents agreed to take her in early the next morning. Since they knew they would not be allowed to stay, Mr Martinez agreed to drive past the museum on his way to work, dropping his daughter off to meet her fate. Mrs Martinez promised that she would come along to see Dinah off and give her a final kiss before they had to leave her.

The next morning, after one final cream application that Dinah’s dad ensured was well-documented, the Martinez family drove to the museum, the parents both dressed for work but Dinah in nothing but a nightshirt with a laughing monkey emoji on the front. The museum would not be open to the public for several hours yet and Mr Martinez wondered if they would be able to get in or whether they would have to call someone when they got there but it seemed that they were expected. As they made their way up the front steps, the Museum Director opened the door and welcomed them inside, having seen them approach on the CCTV monitor in his office.

“Dinah, how lovely to see you again!” he beamed with genuine warmth. “Do come in! I’m afraid I can’t allow you to stay.” He spoke apologetically to Mr and Mrs Martinez, “But I do appreciate you brining Dinah in so early.”

“That’s okay.” Dinah’s mum smiled. “Everything was explained last time we were here. We just wanted to make sure she got safely handed over and to wish her luck!”

“Of course, of course.” The Director replied in a friendly tone. “You three should say your final goodbyes then, Dinah, I have something to show you that I think you’ll find interesting.” The farewell between Dinah and her parents was surprisingly unemotional as the three had made their peace with the situation during the week, sharing the tears and declarations of love that needed to be shared between them. This final goodbye seemed more as if they were simply dropping Dinah at school or, at most, sending her off for a weekend’s Brownie camp, wishing her luck, sharing brief hugs and sending her on her way with cheery smiles. “Perhaps you would like your parents to take your shirt?” The Director suggested. “You won’t need it from here on and it saves it getting lost.”

“Good idea!” Dinah agreed, quickly pulling the night-shirt over her head and exposing the body that would very soon be on public view for decades, if not centuries to come. Less than ten minutes after they had arrived and with a promise to attend the next morning’s unveiling, Mr and Mrs Martinez were back in the car and on the road.

“What did you want to show me?” the nude little girl asked once her parents had left and the Director had locked the door behind them to prevent anyone wandering in before the museum was open.

“Ah yes!” The Director grinned as if he had a big treat for her. With a gentle hand on her shoulders, he guided her down one of the corridors to a room she had never paid that much attention to on previous visits – the L-shaped room where the museum’s collection of bugs, butterflies and other creepy-crawlies were displayed. Most were dead and mounted as she would soon be but there were a few tanks with live specimens such as stick-insects and hissing cockroaches. Dinah peered at them as she was led past them, intrigued but still not sure what the Director was so keen for her to see. Rounding the corner, however, she spotted something larger and more intriguing that she was sure had never been there before.

Standing alone on a table in the middle of the floor so that visitors wanting to take a look could stand all around it was what looked like a long glass fish tank with a glass lid but instead of water it was filled about one quarter of the way up with soil.

“What is it?” Dinah asked, putting her hands on the glass and peering inside with interest. She noticed that it was not just soil in the tank but that various leafs were scattered around and running between them in neat rows and collecting small pieces that they they carried into tunnels down into the soil were hundreds of ants, the same shape as the ones she was used to seeing in the garden but reddish-brown rather than black and at least three times the size.

“This is how we’re going to clean your bones ready for display.” The Director explained. Dinah looked up at him curiously, the questioning look in her eyes rendering words unnecessary. “It’s how they prepared skeleton specimens for display in Victorian times,” he told her, “and honestly there’s been no better technique developed since! Once you’ve been skinned, your intestines and other innards that can be easily removed without risking damaging your bones will be taken out and the rest of you placed in this tank, on top of the ants nest. Over the next month or so, the ants will gradually eat away any flesh and connective tissue, leaving just a nice, clean skeleton ready to be displayed behind your mounted skin.” Dinah looked in nervous wonder at the tank and wondered how it would look to see her flayed form reduced to a skeleton by the tiny army. “We thought people would find it interesting to observe the process.” The Director smiled. “That’s why we’ve put it out in the open here.”

“So once they’ve killed me and taken my skin, my body will be put in here?” Dinah asked, still trying to get her head around this new revelation. In truth, her focus along with everyone else’s up to that point had been on her skin and how it would be preserved, she had not given her skeleton or how it was to be prepared much thought.

“Once you’ve been skinned, you’ll be put in here for the ants to strip your bones, yes.” The Director confirmed. If Dinah noticed the way he had subtly rephrased her question in giving her answer, she did not remark upon it to herself or make any comment to him. “Until your bones are ready,” he continued as if he were a teacher delivering a lesson, “we will keep your predecessor’s skeleton on display. Once yours is ready, we will move hers to a different part of the museum to form part of a different exhibit and yours will be put in its place.” Dinah nodded.

“What happens to my guts?” She asked as he led her back out of the room and not towards the upstairs room she had met the team in before as Dinah had expected but towards the kitchen of the museum canteen on the ground floor.

“I was thinking I might take them home for my dogs,” the Director smiled, “if you don’t mind, that is? I’m sure they’d enjoy the treat!”

“Oh that’s fine!” Dinah replied with genuine happiness, pleased at the idea of the animals that she had always loved enjoying the viscera she would have no further use for.

“Right, well this is where I leave you!” The Director explained as he pushed open the door to the kitchen showing the preservation team waiting inside with a somewhat more detailed gel mannequin that the one she had seen before and a quite different set of equipment, including a large metal frame with what seemed to be restraints hanging from it. “Good luck!” he patted her on the shoulder, “and I’ll see you when the process is finished!”