Corpse | Corpse Husband

6

Corpse's shoulders relaxed and tears dropped from his eyes as Aspyn's arms wrapped around his form. That's all he wanted. For years, all he wanted was a hug. Was to be wanted, needed, and loved.

His arms were warm around Aspyn. No matter how low the temperature was, his embrace generated comfort and warmth throughout her body. She could stay outside all night as long as he held her. The wind blew softly, Aspyn's hair gently moving with it. It was tantalizing, the wind. Ghoulish howls resounded as if something unearthly was whispering to them.

Corpse's arms loosened around Aspyn as his legs grew weaker. When she felt his weight begin to drop on her, she lifted her head from his chest and gasped. His face was drained of all color, which was hard to notice as he'd already been freakishly pale.

The first thought that ran through Aspyn's mind was that he'd moved too fast. He'd gotten to his front door from his bedroom window far too quick - and with him being visibly one hundred pounds underweight and inactive, that wasn't good.

"L-let's get you inside."

Aspyn quickly pulled Corpse into his home and shut the door behind them. She could've left it open and it'd make no difference, as Corpse's house was colder than it was outside. She helped him to his couch and sat him down, immediately sitting beside him and wiping the tears from his face. The rough texture of his skin surprised her. It was as if she'd touched sandpaper, but his skin hadn't always been that way.

She didn't say anything about it. Instead, she curled under his throw blanket and pulled him into her arms, not wanting to be without his touch for a second longer. She'd already gone long enough due to her own personal fears, and she couldn't do it again. She wanted to be close to him and spend as much time with him as possible, even if they were merely wiping each other's tears.

People live on borrowed time, so in the time being, they might as well borrow each other's hearts as well.

They stayed there like that for hours. Corpse snuggled in Aspyn's embrace while her fingers glazed through his hair soothingly. Occasionally, Corpse would apologize without context, to which Aspyn replied with an, "It's okay."

He wasn't the only one at fault - actually, he wasn't at all. Aspyn was the one who left. She was the one who approached him, initiated a date, and pursued him since meeting him. Corpse told her how he felt and she ran, so why was he the one apologizing?

She wanted to know.

"Why are you apologizing?" She asked. "It's me - I should be saying sorry, not you."

Corpse removed himself from Aspyn's arms and looked into her eyes with tears still glittering in his own.

He loved her eyes.

"Because... I made you leave-"

"You did not. I left because I've never heard anyone say that before - and I didn't know how to believe it."

It was silent for a while before Corpse spoke again. He didn't want to stay inside anymore. He wanted to leave; to go somewhere outside of his house. He wanted to go somewhere specific, which is weird because ever since he woke up in his new home months before, he wanted to avoid that place.

He was finally starting to regain his memories from before that day. They were coming back slowly, but something in those memories were drawing him away - as if they were the missing pieces to the puzzle. He could remember the day he first awoke in that home vividly.

It was his first time having that nightmare. He lurched forward in bed, chest heaving and breath ragged. Cold beads of sweat ran down his body as he looked around at an unfamiliar space. Not only was his surroundings alien, but so was he and his existence.

He cautiously got out of bed and searched the house from top to bottom, looking for any clue as to who he was. He found the lease to his house and his name was on it - but the pain in his chest after reading his own name caused him to drop the paper.

He no longer wanted to remember himself or who he was but as he lived in the house, especially this night with Aspyn, he did anyway. The small memories along with the nightmares forced him to fear the world outside of his house, so much to where he couldn't leave.

Now, something was telling him to go. He needed to go, but he couldn't without Aspyn.

Partly because he no longer knew how to navigate the world outside of his house but majority of the reason being, he was too scared that if he left without Aspyn, he'd return without her as well.

"Aspyn," He started. "I want to go..."

"Where?"

"I will show you, but- I have to go with you. I have to go. Now."

So they went. Without anything but their bodies and wallets, they left. They drove almost seventeen hours nonstop to California, taking turns on the road.

"The beach?" Aspyn questioned when Corpse pulled up to the beach. "You wanted to go to the beach?"

"This place is special to me," Corpse smiled, sharing with her the memories he'd only recently been regifted. "and my family."

"How so?"

"My mom and dad would bring me and my sister here... back then, they were good at pretending they cared about us."

"They probably do care about you guys, Corpse."

"Then why haven't they found me? If they cared about me, they'd have found me by now, Aspyn!" His voice cracked. "I'm not hard to find! I'm right here! I'm here!"

It was all coming back to him, and now that it was, he didn't want it.

"I know," Aspyn said softly while walking into his arms. "I know, Corpse."

"Me and my sister used to try to scare my mom and dad in that cave," Corpse sniffled while pointing, prompting Aspyn to lift her head and look. "It's supposed to be off-limits to beach goers - so we'd sneak in and hide from them. They never looked for us. It wasn't until we were too tired of hiding that we'd finally leave. They didn't care."

"I'm sorry-"

"Should we go in?" Corpse asked. "It's still off-limits, but - no one ever got caught before."

"Sure..."

Written Nov. 23, 2021