A LONELY WORLD OF WONDER: An Anthology ✓

Human Skin

Finally, what a joy it is to slip into the warmth of the earth once more! Ooh, I will forever thrill at these moments, abandoning the cold, rotten waves that spoiled my flesh to turn back into the starlight. Back to a world that feels too real to call a dream. Too soft and tangy to render dead either.

I seem a bit belligerent on that matter.

I roll and grunt, turning from sky to grass, air to soil, cloud to rock, until gravity dares to stop me. My body sinks low to rub each tendril – finger, might I correct – through the seams of green, nicking every hair and tuft of blade. My head sinks low and I breathe in; flavors of silk, grass, and latex fill the air, but it is a smell I am not used to. Its presence is pleasant, as is its richness. But odd, nonetheless.

"Hello?"

Where's that voice coming from? It doesn't matter. Drawing away, these things they call legs bump into the pavements that border its regime. Colorless blocks of ore reek the meadows I study, barren like deserts, but smoother than sand. I flavor my tongue of its essence – it wasn't as gleeful as the greens that licked my skin from behind. But I admired it. As was the asphalt that burned in the glory of the star, burning poor insects who lost their merry ways. So strange to savor heat for enjoyment. I wonder-

"Oh my God."

I lifted my head; a woman gasped, dropping her clay pot to the ground. Three fingers rise to her mouth, eyes glistening with confusion... and fear. I take my time to stand, wavering each limb around like a swimming noodle, and using what little hills the ground offered to raise my body. And when our eyes met, I began to smile. Another human!

"No..." The woman whimpered. "You died, I..." She shrank backward, shakily raising her hands up in protection. "N-No."

My teeth flash with happiness. Both nares flared; she smelled of wonders, too! Silver elden hair riddled her scalp like backwashed sunflowers, and her skin was plush of browns and tans. Her perfume was of the sea, a place of beauty that only I could recall. And I miss it dearly... I miss that salted stench. Hm... If she knows the sea, she could show me more of her world's wonders. And that of the world within, too; the smells drifting from her shelter brought a wealth of comfort inside me, something that my body strangely accepted as food. And sweetness. And pride.

I start to stumble toward her, keeping my smile. I've always wanted to be near a living human. To see what it's like to be comforted... and held... and embraced-

"Get away!"

Something struck me, hard. Something metal and round, carrying moss and mildew forced upon it. And, now, blood...

These sausage fingers of mine drew to the face, noticing my dear, pointed nose had been bludgeoned. No longer did I have the sweet sickled scents of this upper world, only blood. All I smell is blood. And for the next few minutes of standing, that's all I had to smell. To taste. To feel. I feared it would be that way forever because of her...

Using my tentacles, I pushed open the bloodied face – tendrils licking the squelching walls of flesh and bone – and turned to the woman to hear her scream.

Sigh... I guess I need a new body.