By Isabel del Rio
Once your heart stops beating, the blood collects
in those parts of the body closest to the ground and
which, for now, are still as warm as those of a healthy living organism;
this is a condition known as livor mortis.
The next stage occurs when the body, which we could say is gradually
ceasing to be yours, cools down; this stage
is called algor mortis and lasts until
your temperature equates that of the surrounding environment.
Although at the onset of death your muscles
got to be totally relaxed –primary flaccidity
it is called– they now begin to stiffen; this is a state identified as
rigor mortis, the most noticeable sign that you are definitely dead.
Adipocere, suggillation and decay are words that, from now on,
will very much define what you have become.