The little girl laid back on the bed. Every bone in her body seemed to groan in satisfaction as they pressed into the mattress. Her tired eyes gave into sleep's restful hand almost immediately. Behind her closing eyes the corpse stirred.
The corpse rose from behind the girl's eyelids giving a great yawn, and stretching itself wide. They left the girl as she slept because that's what their job was. They pealed themself from her body, and looked down at her. She was a very young thing, they thought. Such a young thing should not have a corpse in her. Young things should be out exploring the world that they thought they owned, not laying exhausted with a corpse behind their eyes. What had this cruel world done to put a corpse behind the eyelids of someone so young?
The corpse realized, with some astonishment, that they felt sorry for the young thing. They didn't ever want to rest behind the young thing's eyes again, nor did they want any other corpse too. Even if it was the kind that left while she slept.
What could I do to plant such life in her that no corpse will ever return to her? it wondered, and suddenly it came to them. They searched the ground for a minute, and soon found a rose seed. (When a corpse looks for a rose seed they have a habit of appearing out of nowhere.) They took the rose seed in their hand and whispered a blessing to it that I cannot repeat. (It is impossible to write down a corpse blessing.)
The corpse planted the rose seed in the girl's heart, where it grew into a rose plant, and then blossomed into a rose. The girl woke up
She pealed herself away from the bed, yawning and stretching herself wide. She went about her day with newfound hope and life. That day and every day since she has blossomed with the life of the rose in her chest, and never once has another corpse come to reside behind her eyes. Not even one that left while she slept.
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The Corpse & the Rose
Short StoryCorpses are shadowy creatures that enter into people and give them the 'dead tired' feeling. It is nothing personal, it's just their job. Roses can be used by corpses to give people a feeling of life. They give them out very rarely. It's nothing per...
