When Ghosts Whisper (Osomatsu-san Halloween Collection)

"I'm Tired of Watching"

Western Indian tribes believed in supernatural beings known as Skinwalkers. The Navajo tribe especially believed that these Skinwalkers were shape-shifters who could assume the form of any animal which allowed them to travel quickly and gave them the ability to hide in plain sight. Specifically, a person is said to gain the power to become a Skinwalker upon initiation into the Witchery Way. The initiation into the Witchery Way involved murdering a close relative, especially a sibling; other crimes also associated with it were necrophilia, and grave-robbing. Once one has been initiated into the Witchery Way they become "pure evil." It is interesting to note that in the Native culture most witches were male not female.

 - Denver Public Library, "Skinwalkers, Wendigos, and the Witchery Way".

The wind gently blew against his hair, matted and unkempt, as he took a deep breath in through his nose to fill his lungs up completely. With a satisfied huff, he released the air through his teeth like a faint hiss in the silence comfortably wrapped around him.

Decaying leaves were helplessly pushed around by the same wind playing with his hair, lifting the fringe high enough to reveal the man's eyes gazing down at the ground in front of him.

Five bodies lay around him, humanoid in form and naked in dress.

It would be a peaceful scene but for the blood pouring from their necks and chests, the man's eyes switching between the five corpses as he took in another breath. But the feeling swelling within his belly wasn't sorrow or fear.

He was joyful.

His kin -- his five brothers -- had given him a golden ticket to a new life, paid with their deaths. As his lips spread into a smile, he lifted one of his hands to his face and ignored the blood completely coating his hand and forearm while pushing his fringe from his eyes, slicking back the hair and affixing it in place.

The Witchery Way was open to him and he'd gladly indulge himself with its promises.

He lost count of how many times the sun soared across the sky. Thousands? Millions?

Society around him thrived. Buildings previously made of wood and stone were now built in steel and glass. Fashion turned too quickly for him to keep up. What used to be pen and ink was now digital and invisible.

The man had tried to fit in, to walk among mortal humans...but the regimented lives they desired quickly grew boring to him, filling instead his hunger of lust and blood. He felt alive when his animalistic teeth tore skin and muscle from bone.

There was a time that he had thought watching humans would be enough, to wear his animal skin alongside them and ease his boredom for only a moment. He was tired of watching, yet someone caught his eye, her heart pulsing within her chest as the blood flowing through her veins sang to him, begging him to devour her.

And so he donned his skin once more.

----

I gasped for breath as I pushed myself to my limit, pushing out the last quarter mile while the music thrummed in my earbuds and encouraging me to keep going. Sweat poured down my brow as my legs slowed to a walk, the muscles feeling like lead while I popped open my small water bottle and downed the rest of the water.

"Ah...fuck, that was hard..."

"What does that make it?" Another voice called out behind me, drawing my focus for a moment before a sarcastic laugh parted my lips, "I thought you wanted to run a marathon by year-end?"