Cold Body, Warm Heart

CHAPTER ONE

LUCRECIA

"what am i doing with my life?

i'm so pale. i should get out more. i should eat better. my posture is terrible. i should stand up straighter.. people would respect me more if i stood up straighter.

what's wrong with me?

i just wanna connect.

why can't i connect with people?

oh, right. it's because i'm dead.

i shouldn't be so hard on myself; i mean, we're all dead. this girl is dead, that guy's dead. that guy in the corner is definitely dead. jesus, these guys look awful.

i wish i could introduce myself, but i don't even remember my name anymore. i think it started with "lu" but that's all i have left. i cant remember my name, or my parents or my job. although, my outfit would suggest i was unemployed.

sometimes i look at the others and try to imagine what they were..

you were a janitor.

you were the rich son of cooperate CEO.

you were a personal trainer.

and now you're a corpse.

i have a hard time piecing together how this whole apocalypse thing happened. could've been chemical warfare.. or an airborne virus, or a radioactive monk.

but it doesn't really matter.

this is what we are now.

this is a typical day for me - i shuffle around, occasionally bumping into people. unable to apologize, or say much of anything.

it must've been so much better before; when everyone could express themselves. and communicate their feelings. and just.. enjoy each other's company.

a lot of us have made our home here at this airport. i don't know why, people wait at airports i guess, but i'm not sure what we're all waiting for.

oh man, they call these guys 'bonies'. they don't bother us much, but they'll eat anything with a heartbeat.

i mean, i will too but at least i'm conflicted about it.

we all become them someday, and at some point you just give up i guess. you lose all hope, after that, there's no turning back.

oh man, gross. stop, stop! don't pick at it, you're making it worse.

ah, this is what i have to look forward to. it's kind of a bummer.

i don't wanna be this way. i'm lonely. i'm lost. i mean, i'm literally lost. i've never been in this part of the airport before.

i wonder if these guys are lost too.

wandering around, but never getting anywhere.

do they feel trapped?

do they want more than this?

am i the only one?"

i wandered outside of the airport, limping and dragging my feet before getting to my destination: my favorite airplane.

i come here to hang out by myself for a bit.

i dragged my undead body up the dirty stairs of the airplane, and inviting myself into the messy plane that i grew to love.

i passed by a bobble head cat, which of course, i tapped, as i walked down the aisle.

once i reached the record player, i moved the thingy over so that the music could play.

the music filled my ears as i faintly and softly smiled before walking further down the aisle.

i found a seat, in which i sat, staring ahead of me blankly as i pushed the button for my seat to recline back.

i aimlessly walked through the airport where the undead roamed, until my eyes landed on my best friend, carla, sitting.

this is my best friend.

by best friend, i mean we occasionally grunt and stare awkwardly at each other.

we even have almost conversations sometimes.

days pass like this.

but sometimes, we even find actual words.

words like... "eat" and.. "same".

i looked at her, before getting up hungrily and beginning to walk.

i noticed carla was still sitting down, though. her finger up.

even though we can't communicate, we do share a similar taste in food. traveling in packs just kinda made sense.

especially when everyone and their grandmothers was trying to shoot you in the head all the time.

god, we move slow.

this could take a while.