Warm Bodies (Herobrine X Entity303)

chapter 4

A few nights ago, I went out to the forest near my house to gaze at the stars, as I occasionally did. By pure coincidence, or possibly some supernatural force of fate, Herobrine was also at that same place at the same time for the same purpose. We lay in the field together, watching the starry night sky and making peaceful small talk. No fights, not even any sense of bitterness, just two people gazing at the stars.

Days later I was still trying to decode what had happened. I had almost felt something, like I enjoyed our time together. I had seen a glimpse of a new side to him, a soft and calm side, a side that likes to be in nature and to fall into a trance thinking about existence and mortality, and a side that isn't consumed by rage and hatred and violence. It embarrassed even me to admit I wanted to see more of this soft side. It was a shock to me that I wanted anything to do with him, and a part of me thought maybe I was losing my mind, that I had hallucinated him ever being here, or that we had fought and he had hit me on the head hard enough for me to imagine the entire interaction.

Herobrine had found a presence in my fantasies and my dreams. I occasionally had nightmares about him, which is unsurprising for me, but I dreamt of us spending time in that field. I would lay my head on his bare chest, he would comb his fingers through my hair, and we would lay in peace and in silence, watching a million distant suns pass us by. We would count shooting stars, and we would appreciate life and the world and each other's presence, and we would hold each other. Without fail I woke up hot, and hard, and deeply ashamed of myself.

Yea, as if. I don't even like him. So arrogant, so high-and-mighty, and unbelievably petty. And yet, I had to admit - he kept me sane. If it weren't for our fights, our banter, all the free nights we technically spent together, I'd have way too much time on my hands, time that I would usually spend spiraling into existential crises. He gave me purpose, he was inadvertently training me to fight better, and he made me feel so alive. Something about him allured me, a deep primal urge somewhere inside me that drove me mad, tearing through my system, possessing my body. I wanted my skin against his, I wanted my hands around his throat, I wanted to see what his insides looked like, what they felt like in my hands, dripping with blood and digestive fluids. I wanted to gut him like game and dissect him like a lab rodent. I didn't want to kill him, I hated him, sure, but I needed him around. I couldn't let him go forever. I wanted him to be alive as I ripped him to pieces.

I winced at the grotesque thought and sighed, swinging my legs over the bed and standing. There were better things I could have been doing right now. I walked over to the window and pushed it open, appreciating the cool air filling my lungs. The stars weren't as clear as the other night, but neither were my thoughts, so it didn't seem to matter to me. Some sparse clouds peppered the deep blue, fragmenting the moonlight into rays that lit up the forest below. I thought I heard rustling a few times, but foxes and deer and rabbits roamed in these areas, so I passed it off as some animal before shutting the window and wandering back over to my bed. Tonight didn't seem like a night I'd get good sleep out of, and I figured I'd pick up one of the hundreds of half-finished books stacked on my shelves.

Tap. Something had hit my window. Was it hailing?

Tap. Maybe wasps, or moths.

Tap. Well, shit. May as well go check.

Switching my bedroom lamp on, I walked over to my window to investigate the tapping, looking down to see a familiar face on the ground below.

"Entity, the stars are out. Want to go for a walk?"

"Rocks against my window, huh? What are we, a high school couple?"

"Come on, it's a nice night. And I, uh, need to talk to you."