I Feel Happy

I waited in the empty space for what seemed like an eternity. The grey rock of the hard earth below vanished into the cold abyss that blanketed the land with a cloak. A quiet and sombre embrace that softened the land like a pillow. White and cold. Snow. My hands felt the daggers into my bones and pick at the flesh.

I looked down and saw the thin form of a pair of arms. Sunken flesh that gripped close to the bone and long fingers that clung to its skeletal structure. I pressed my hands against the snow and began to crawl. Each limb pushed against the white blanket as if it were cotton. I pushed myself up onto my legs and found them bent back like hind legs. Thin and boney as my hands. The skin had decayed into black rot and coloured my skeletal body as a burnt corpse.

I wondered the snowy plain for a while, passing through the trees with heavy feet that dragged against the white sea. I lifted my hands and let them run by the bark only to find that the tips of my fingers scratched against the wood with sharp points. Claws. I scratched at the wood and tore a mark into the tree. I continued further along as I followed the forest.

The earth pulled at my feet and dug into my bones. The pain seemed to pull forever until I came to a stop. A toppled down tree rested against a crevasse with space underneath. I crawled into the space and folded my body into itself. The bones cracked under the joints and I hugged my limbs together. It was silent.

The minutes turned into hours and I found myself still staring off into the forest from under the tree. The subtle wind and cold air left my voice dead in its silence. I had forgotten what that felt like, to pass air from my lips. I stared off into the distance until the image of a figure filled my view.

A man clothed in grey and black fabrics. Odd. Unnecessary. Still, I watched him. He mumbled words that I could not understand in a voice that sounded far too different than mine. Still, I watched. He looked distressed. A twisted face that seemed lost in a frown as he held a glowing brick in his hand. A phone? I had never seen one before but I knew the word. A smile filled his face and he turned to walk away.

I slowly pulled my limbs out from the crevasse and began to follow him. My limbs pressed against the snow as I used my arms to pull me across. I grabbed onto the bark of the tree and lifted myself up into its branches. I stretched out limbs again to the branches of the next tree and I seemed to reach it. My arms were long and great as they pulled me across the forest. And still, I watched the man.

The sun set over the horizon as it did the many days before and I continued to follow the man. I came to a place with odd trees and strange caves. They were tall, made of wood, and seemed to filled a pattern over a strange stone road. Homes? They looked odd and different.

There were no trees here, only these odd beams with strange vines attached to them. I followed the man through the homes as he seemed to walk to his own. He entered the home through the front and I felt trapped now. How do I get it?

I moved my limbs along the house and examined its strange holes. I pulled myself around it and let my legs and arms move over it. If I stood upright, I was taller than the home but as thin as the strange trees. I finally found an opening near on the upper parts. I squeezed my body until I felt small again and climbed in. I stretched my limbs about and poured myself into the room.

My arms pressed against the floor and my hinds scratched the wood. Then I heard a noise from within the odd structure. The man was coming here. I looked around and crawled under the strange rock-like object. I had heard its name before. A bed? I slipped underneath and pulled my limbs together and waited.

The man stepped inside with the thudding if his feet. He kicked against the floor as he removed the fabrics that covered his body. He moved over to the bed and climbed ontop. I folded my body into itself and began to wait as I could hear the man breathing above me. The gentle wisps of air leaving his lungs as he drifted into the night. This was nice. I liked this.

I then slowly pulled myself out from under as my joints cracked and popped with each movement. He grumbled lightly in his sleep until I climbed onto his bed. My thin arms moved over his body as my legs stretched out long to hold me up from the sides of his bed. I made sure not to touch him, not yet.

I looked down at his sleeping face. The warm skin and primal flesh. I moved my face closer and closer until I was staring directly into his sleeping eyes. This felt good. He could awake at any moment now and panic might fill him. My heart raced at the idea and beat against my chest. My bones ached and my decayed skin felt as though it might melt. I liked this feeling.

Any moment now, he would wake, and I might greet him. All I would need to do was cut him open and empty out all those nasty bits from inside. I could sleep inside his body. He would not know. It would be nice, and warm, and quiet. Any moment now, and he would wake. I feel good. I feel happy.