The Willowbed

Day 1

Wisps of wind made the huge tree leaves rustle and branches shiver as I made my way deeper into the sea of trees. A few rays of sunshine shone through the forest, allowing golden beams of light to brighten the eerie woodland. The sun was nearing its fall, as it had almost slipped underneath the horizon. I had to find something to eat, let alone drink. I was going to die of dehydration or starvation if I didn't find something, and fast. I'm already at risk of dying, as I've lost a lot of blood. I felt drowsy and a bit lightheaded. I whimpered, touching my chest with the ground as I sniffed for any scent of anything I could eat. That was when, I had caught onto something. It had smelt strongly of an older carcass of some sort. It smelt as if the thing had been dead for a few weeks now. I glanced upward, eyeing the trees, before I whipped my head back down and starting to trace the scent, hopping toward its direction.

The odor had become stronger. It didn't smell too edible, but I was absolutely starving, and if this was the only thing I could eat, I would eat it. While following the scent, I had mistakenly bumped into a tree. I whimpered, the slight pain sending me to the floor as I fell. I got back up, and had realized that I had reached the scent destination. Gingerly, I eyed the tree, up and down, and looked by its roots, seeing nothing to be cautious over. I started to slowly circle the tree, when I had completely froze. It was a human. He was dead. 

I stared at him and his inanimate expression. Something about his lifeless gaze that seemingly stared into space had haunted me. My heart had skipped a beat. His skin had become loose to the point where it was drooping from his face and joints and had began to break apart, exposing rotten layers of flesh within his dilapidated skin. His head was tilted, and when I analyzed his neck, I had noticed rope tightly encumbering his throat, hanging him from a high branch of the tree. I took a step back, apprehended. As much as I just wanted to find something else, it didn't look like any more 'food' would be around here for miles. I was stranded, with a dead man next to me. I didn't have a choice.

I approached him, and bent down to grab onto his shoe with my mouth. I bit down onto his sneakers, and pulled them off. The soft, loose skin had came off with the shoe. I quickly let go of it, a rancid smell drifted by me, released from the pockets of air underneath the decaying body. I gagged, shuddering. I glared at his leg, contemplating whether or not to take it, after being exposed to the ghastly odor. Whimpering, I decided to bite and shred the knee, and gnaw at the bone, until the leg had gone off. After a few minutes, the lower leg dropped to the floor, and I grabbed it by the knee socket, beginning to carry it away. The smell still lingered around my nose, and I started to wheeze. I was now a good distance away from the man with the leg in my mouth, when I dropped the leg and turned away from it, and coughed up stomach acid. The smell had made me sick. Thick phlegm hung from my nose as I coughed again. I shook off the mucus, and sneezed, before returning to pick up the leg. 

The sky had become a vibrant fuchsia color as dusk was falling. The sounds of cicadas scuttling through the wood and other insects hollering had began to play. I continued to hop through the forest, looking desperately for shelter. I did not feel comfortable eating exposed. I had to hide my food, I was paranoid something would take it from me. I anxiously glanced around as night broke, before I saw a large burrow hidden between two exposed roots. I sighed a sigh of relief, and forwarded to the opening, sticking my head inside. From what I could make out, it was a hollow space inside the narrow opening. It was very spacious, with a dirt floor. I quickly placed my food inside of the den, and went back outside to scramble to find bedding. I collected soft brambles and leaves, and with my nose, pushed them into the burrow. I slipped inside of it afterward, and arranged the bedding to cover most of the floor. I nudged the leg to be in front of me, and curled up inside of the capacious den. I teared into the leg, starving. The refreshing taste of meat had utterly satisfied me. I ripped off huge slabs of muscle, chewed, and swallowed. Aggressively, I finished the leg, leaving bone and inedible pieces of it. I put the bone in my mouth, and buried it underneath the brambles. 

I exhaled with tranquility, resting my head down against the soft and warm bedding. It felt incredibly satisfying to go from shackled to free. I was once never allowed to go outside and roam around, and enjoy the outdoors. Now, I can control myself. I get my own food, get my own shelter, and get my own territory. I had closed my eyes. Nothing mattered now. I just needed to stay alive, alone. That was my only objective. Hopefully, Mitsuo is pursuing his own dreams, with his own life, free, on the streets, alive.