Dark Diamond

Poor Wes–his dad left him the funeral home, the crematorium, and all the nasty deeds that go along with it. One night, he has to make good on a pretty shifty job his dad has contracted for with the asylum for the criminally insane –some poor soul that swallowed a diamond earring–

At least the inmate was reduced to a few pieces that he had to hammer down.

   All he had to do after that was scoop him into a box and slap a fake label on it. Homeless John Doe, so sad.

A thought came into Wes’ head about what the driver had said about the diamond being his if he could find it.

“What the hell, might as well give it a shot.”

He sifted through the ash on the tray, past small shards of bone here and there.A flash caught his eye.

Wes reached down and snagged what looked like a small chip of darkened glass, rubbing it against his sweatshirt. He could see the tiny piece of twisted metal that was the stud of the earring, but the stone itself looked like no diamond that he had ever seen before. Heat wouldn’t have done that to a diamond, heat and pressure was what made a diamond, right? It was dark like smoke, with flashes of red inside. He turned it over and over, looking into its depths. Something about it was—really weird—

“Wh—what?”