Death Wish

Chapter 9

It's so strange here.

It's cold, but I don't feel anything. It's dangerous, but I'm not scared. Everything is so strange, but for some reason I'm no longer taken back by it.

I'm just aimlessly drifting and taking it all in. The undead course around me and ignore my existence as they wreck their chaos.

To them, I'm the strange one.

I don't talk much, I go dormant more than usual, and I don't try to steal the Book of Curses in any way. I've never even seen that book the Fallen Angels are always lending out.

I'm not sure why I'd even want it. One of the Fallen Angels that bothers to acknowledge me - Amicus - says the book contains every curse known. The damned can even be brought back to life with it.

But that's silly to want. Why would I go back to a life I'm forgetting so quickly?

~ ~ ~

Mikey drifts through the walls, making his way into the crawl space. It's always isolated from the others, just how he likes it.

He can document as much as he wants without anybody interrupting him.

He floats over towards the end of the space where a small junk pile resides. He picks through it before fishing out a tape recorder.

It's quite dinged up; there are several scratches and chunks of plastic missing and there's tape on the side with the faded letters 'property of'. Mikey ripped the name off, he thought it was necessary to avoid confusion of who it belonged to.

He simply sits down with the second-hand toy and clicks one of the many thick buttons on the side. Static runs for a few moments before words are spoken,

"Uh . . . log one? Is that cheesy?" There's a huff of a laugh through the speaker's nose. A silence settles before he clears his throat and tries talking again, "I dunno what to really say into this thing. Amicus just gave it to me saying it was some human thing he picked up and . . . I guess I'm obliged to use it. He's kind of bad at understanding how people work, but I appreciate the gesture."

More static runs. Mikey clicks again to keep listening the logs.

"Two. I think I'm getting better at this whole vlogging thing." Another shy laugh from him. He sighs softly, "I always made fun of them when I was alive. Irony. But um . . . yeah, really, I just wanted to record that I don't think I mind it here. It's been . . . awhile? I don't know. They say time isn't a concept here, so I can't track days."

Another profound silence hits. His thoughts are practically audible; they're ever so slightly worried by how different things are in Death...and how quickly he's becoming accustomed to it. He finally speaks up again,

"It feels like years though. I kinda miss everyone. Well, everyone being just my brother. That's all I knew of back then. Nobody else really gave a shit about me."

Mikey sits there listening. The static picks up once more and he clicks the button again.

"Three. I finally left to look around today. It's kind of underwhelming though. It's more fascinating in here where people actually act . . . I dunno, alive? Out there everybody's dormant and clueless of what life they came from." Something creaks in the background, perhaps him sitting back. "I hope I don't forget where I came from."

Click.

"Four. I forgot what state I was born in today. One of the newly dead was making conversation and I . . . I dunno. I guess I didn't realize I forgot until she asked.