How I Died As A Cow

Dangers We Can't See Coming

PART ONE
CHAPTER 5:
"Dangers We Can't See Coming"

The day after, I felt miserable like someone had food poisoned my stomach. Maybe my soul reeked of corruption and that ultimately decided a fate I've been trying to avoid all along. Perhaps, I was thinking dramatically, reaching too far.

Since I had nowhere else to sleep, I trusted the words of the sheep, and stayed with the human inside the secret room of his shop. Queasy my body felt, comfortable auras unfolded as the hours went by and the sun rose again. I walked and talked and followed Dayo into a garden he had behind the shop. Once the greenest grass of the garden coursed through my mouth smoothly, I no longer carried tiredness and hunger.

Dayo would grab the nearest fishing pole out of his loaded collection, traveling to a silent pond to collect a family of fish. Indeed, unfavored by his method of catching dinner, he still needed his stomach to be fuller than the sky, for he was a grown man too. When I heard the dead fish sizzle under the grill loudly, I could feel a pain they no longer had to heed. At least in a world greater than this, they lived better in death where harmony rested.

The day fell quiet because the last time I interacted with a human, I ran them over like a bull on basalt. What made it worse was that I killed out of survival reasons, which meant I held no regrets, no morals attached. But I still remember. I still remembered how my heart ached through all the dark it witnessed in one wholesome night.

The human and I gathered by a small table in the town's most favorite park, though I stayed misinformed as to what it was called. The name seemed irrelevant until Dayo mentioned it to break the silence that kept the truth sealed.

"Dawson's Creek the people call this park. It's like home for them, something not too many have out here. At least, in a sense, I was lucky."

"Luck doesn't exist." I said coldly.

"I disagree. I find luck comes to our lives in various degrees. Not too many people get lucky." I nodded, understanding that the human was spouting nothing but excuses. He laughed, pointing at me cheeky while he finished the last piece of fish.

"Ever since I saw those eyes, it's been ridden with pain. What exactly troubles you?"

"I need to find someone," I suddenly said. "One of the magazines in your shop told a story about these group of animals."

"Oh that's your concern, I see." Dayo grabbed the plastic plate full of crumbs, then dished it down the local trashcan. "Kite can elaborate more on this group you're trying to reach out to, though my conscience is to not get involved."

"You remind me of a cow, Dayo. His wise nature also led to his death, just food for thought."

"I usually sustain from threats to a person who would one day save your life."

I lifted from the table seat. "By feeding me? I could've done that myself."

"By realizing what you don't; your true self."

Of course, I never listened to what Dayo had to say or examined the meaning of his specific wordings. He acted as though we've trudged through the whole world with thick hearts, yet he couldn't acknowledge that every human's were in the dark. Later, I waited for Kite to return to the shop in hopes he would help with my search, peering through the wide glass windows that made my pupils wider.

Amongst the boredom the shop was disguised in, I noticed it's been closed for hours now, peeking my curiosity as to what I could find since no one was under my sight. I fell under radar, creeping to rows and rows of books, figuring out if there were any that talked about the group of animals I saw in that magazine. The magazine showed an old picture of them in patchy clothing, living upon a setting centuries old.

Aside from them appearing historical, there was a brisk mention of them below the pictures, shadowing the possible achievements they probably accomplished. Maybe if I was to find them, I could convince this group to push a bill that would change everything.

The only books I found were based on astrology however.

A soothing bell struck a delicate sound in the shop, notifying me that someone had stepped inside, maybe the sheep returned from his doings. I rounded the corner, only hearing the blood fluctuating within from my ears and my long breaths that held ulterior motives. On fours, I approached the entrance of the shop, finding not a soul to be there. Perhaps it was lost.

My lips pursed shut when I felt a slight shiver haunt my skin like a ghost, becoming a part of my aura as it surrounds me like armor. Something darker than human itself had entered the premise and I could feel it's energy engulfing the shop with its withering shadow of darkness. This energy trembled with more troubles than my heart carried, which immediately worried my mind. This place was no longer safe.

It started with an inaudible whisper that spread from one corner to the next, hinting it warned me of its second coming. The sky still showed it's color, bright and nothing but. Inside, something infamous wandered with slick legs, faster than a mountain lion on his chase, taunting like a grizzly on hind legs. My breath soon came to a quick stop once I stepped closer to the entrance, touching the handle.

I waited and I waited.

The voice was gone.

A gust of wind whooshed my core back to a book shelf heavily, cracking my back on solid ends of it. I mooed to the pain that struck harder than the ones pricking at my heart and mind. With my eyes barely open, the entrance door pushed open roughly, slamming it back to as far as it could go. Though heavens only knew how long I could still go on.

I tried to get up on all fours, though I stayed shaken with fear as a great shadow appeared on the floor I stared at. Each second it became darker, expanding before ends meet. I looked up, watching the shadow appear in its truest form, unlocking new questions I never thought needed an answer. What this life I had stumbled into meant, I didn't know. All I knew was this wasn't the fate of I, the sad cow. It was the fate of the unlucky.

A village of decaying skin flourished together in a mini tornado that brushed many books and magazines aside messily. Mending, the skin strengthen to form a rotted disfigured body and a face none could explain. A horrible sensation along with wicked winds finally exposed the treacherous being haunting the shop. Unpleasant it looked, the way it hovered over me like a God terrified me in ways a human never could.

And when it screamed, I swore mountains moved.

Vote and you'll see the true danger.