Corpse | Corpse Husband

3

Corpse tossed and turned in his white sheets. The cold sweat that dribbled down his skin coruscated against the night light, a glow beaming on his cadaverous skin. His hair messily covered his eyes, mouth slightly agape, and body half-way slipping from the covers — a peaceful picture unfit for the ghastly paint his dreams were splattered with.

Aspyn's worry grew as he continued squirming instead of waking up. Any other night, he'd be awake and in his kitchen guzzling faucet water already, but this nightmare had been going on for half an hour and it seemed to have been the worse one so far.

Aspyn was contemplating on going over there with a half-assed excuse of needing sugar at two in the morning. She didn't want him to have a panic attack in his sleep or anything close to it. It'd be a shame for something to happen and he not have anyone there for him — so if she could to be that one person, she would gladly. 

From talking to him over that past few weeks, she learned he didn't have anyone at all. He moved to Colorado by himself to escape the terrible memories he had in California. Where most people found comfort in the beaming sun and hot sand, he found agony and pain.

He'd also confided in Aspyn about not being close with his family, so even if they were to find out something had happened to him, they wouldn't care. The one thing he hadn't spoken on that Aspyn was the most concerned about was his late-night hauntings. She wanted to help him — to comfort him and help him find the reasoning behind them, but she couldn't if he didn't open up to her about it.

After another thirty minutes, Aspyn couldn't take it anymore. After letting go of the blinds and watching them spring back into place, she scampered to her front door and slid into her slippers. She grabbed her jacket from the coat hook and rushed into the dead of the night without a second thought.

An eerie silence settled over her neighborhood, nothing but an owl hooting in the distance and the occasional moaning of the wind being audible. She shivered as a cold chill ran down her body, the Colorado air welcoming her in its icy arms.

"Christ on a sandwich..." Aspyn mumbled while sprinting to Corpse's house, her baggy pajama pants flailing around her legs.

She lifted her hand to knock but brought it back down to bite her nails. Second thoughts were creeping in like a thief in the night. She didn't want to seem like a weirdo — because who wakes their neighbor up for a cup of sugar before dawn?

Before she could make a decision, a fowl stench peppered into her nose. It smelled like a burning pile of death and Aspyn couldn't handle it for a second longer. A gag left her lips as she covered her nose and bolted back to her house, momentarily forgetting about Corpse in her moment of weakness.

Aspyn had been sensitive to smell since she was a child. Her parents were both avid cigarette smokers and her grandmother was hooked on black and milds. There was nowhere she ever went, besides school, where there wasn't at least one chainsmoker around.

The result of secondhand smoke left Aspyn with a terrible respiratory system, Hyperosmia (sensitivity to smell), and bullying worse than that of the teasing of her outfits. Her classmates despised the smell of smoke, which was understandable, but instead of keeping quiet about it — they made fun of it.

Aspyn resented her immediate family members growing up, blaming them for her being the way she was. Now even the tiniest unsettling smell sent her running.

"Darn you, raccoon!" Aspyn cursed while peeking through her blinds and at the raccoon who was rummaging through her other neighbor's trash. "Go back to Corpse's house and dig in the grass or something!"

☠︎︎

"Hey, Corpse, how are you?" Aspyn smiled at the sleepy guy who opened the door.

"Great," He muttered while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "You?"

"Same!" Aspyn chirped, her bright mood slowly rubbing off on Corpse and shooing away the dark cloud that hung over him. Her cheerful grin made him forget the nightmare he'd just woken up from and he smiled at her next words. "I brought over a few video games and my playstation because I've noticed you don't leave your house — like ever — and I get bored over at my place so... Why not?"

"That sounds fun. Come on in."

"Oh! I got bread too. You liked the cinnamon bread so I made it again but with raisins this time."

"I love raisin bread..."

Watching the brunette open her duffle bag and place her things on his coffee table, Corpse leaned against the doorframe and smiled softly, a light hum of contentment emitting from his throat. He could feel daffodils bloom in his chest, having been watered by the beaut who stood before him ever since she entered his life.

Just a month ago he'd woken up from the most terrifying nightmare only to be faced with another. He was all alone, reality settling in that he'd escaped from his parents tight grasp and no longer had anyone — as if he ever did.

Now there was a beautiful, outgoing woman in his home — visiting him nearly everyday to make sure he ate and had something to occupy himself with.

He couldn't help but feel like he had someone who actually cared about him, but another part of him was skeptical about Aspyn. He wondered what her motive was and why she always went out of her way to look after him.

While he wanted to believe she was just that kind of person, she didn't visit the other neighbors at all. It was only him, and he questioned whether her intentions were good or not. Did she actually enjoy her time with him and genuinely care, or was she a woman of pride who had a hungry saviors complex that needed feeding?

Did she know how broken he was?

"Have you ever played guitar hero?" Aspyn asked. Her braided pigtails whirled behind her as she turned around to face Corpse with her pretty, round eyes. The sprinkled freckles on her face pushed together as she scrunched her nose and pretended to be annoyed when he didn't answer. "Earth to Corpsey!"

"Yea, I've played a time or two." He spoke.

"Good — but just know, I've never lost!" She bragged while handing him the guitar.

"Loser owes the winner fifty bucks!" Corpse beamed.

"Oh, you're so on!"

Every doubt Corpse had melted away as he looked at her. There was no way she was pretending. Her smile was too genuine and her aura was too sweet — like a pool of warm caramel and he was surely stuck in the sticky, enrapturing mess.

He couldn't believe he'd only known her for a few weeks. She made him feel things he'd never felt before — and that was loved. Although he knew that was far fetched, he liked to believe it was true. He was deprived of true love growing up, so having someone show the slightest bit of concern made him happy for the very first time.

Even a few days with the right person can change ones perspective on life. Aspyn's short appearance grabbed Corpse's heart and twirled it around gracefully, his previous cause of sadness flailing away in the wind.

She gave him a chance and he adored her for it. She gave him something to look forward to, something to smile for and receive one back, and she gave him a purpose — because now, for once, he wanted to live.

For Aspyn, the woman he'd barely known for a month, he wanted to experience life.

Written Nov. 11th 2021