Scene 4: Seeing blue.



It’s funny, you know? I’m here, that feeling of death encroaching on my form like a cold blanket to a burning child. But it’s in death that I see things from a different perspective. Though it’s rather obvious that this being- this creature, a man like myself, is going to take my life for reasons I don’t quite understand yet, but don’t have the time to question, I still make that frail attempt at connecting before death. I suppose it’s a defense mechanism, to not feel like you’ve died alone, in vain or something to that effect.

‘’ Did…you notice? ‘’ Shit, I couldn’t quite push it out with that last breath I had, though at this point I figured there was no point in saving much.

‘’ The….rain.’’ In this world…wherever we are, be it real or fiction, it’s funny how we take something so mundane as two sentences for granted. To such a point that most of us don’t think twice with what we say, but ‘could that possibly be for the better?’ I ask myself, even now. I was always told I was too analytical, but not once did I believe that I’d die here, in this world I know little to nothing about, with five piercing fingers digging into my trachea like five steel bars injecting themselves into tissue.

‘’ Do you know, friend. The sound of the rain is the only thing I live to hear? ‘’  

In a moment my eyes widened, and though every second passed by like a year, I felt as if I knew this man, this… apathy. And I could feel death creeping on me, in impulses, jolts of life that any creature attempts at before they simply cease, that yearning to be alive, that force to realize that nothing is left. It’s quite a harsh realization, death. I’ve seen it once before, but I was never on the ass end of it like this, this is so…real I guess you could say, when all of your thoughts attack your senses, and the only thing you can feel is things you’ve felt before, anger, joy, loathing, appreciation, and acceptance, all at once.

As my eyes widened, I remembered everything that happened. I was born David, and then…came here, as Kou, some fictional apparition of my thoughts, so does that mean that I’m already dead? Can you die in the after-life? Why am I so worried about it? Is this….fear?  As my mind became clouded with thoughts, what felt like two decades went by, but from what I could tell on the large clock that always flew in the sky, it’s been forty-two seconds and eleven, and of course counting milliseconds.

‘Am I afraid to die?’ I was asked before, by that girl at the bar if I was afraid to die. And now that I’m faced with my own mortality, in such a brutal form of anger towards a completely different being, a stranger that could’ve been the greatest ally I’ve ever had, I can tell her again…yes. I am scared to die, to not have left behind anything in my death, to not protect anybody, to not see my friends, to not enjoy their smiling faces again. Though, in fear I’ve found that being mortal is another thing we take for granted, in any life that we live.

‘’My name, is Kou.’’

My body vomited the blood that was building in my lungs on impulse, and in some sort of out-of-body kind of way, I watched as my right arm twitched, before my eyes rolled back in my head. Of course, at this point I was asking if I died again, and was watching my newly-deceased body act on it’s own, in which case I instinctively touched my throat to see if I felt as if I was being choked.

I wasn’t.

The me that was being choked was standing there, directly in front of me, not even a foot away, as well as my assailant. And yet, I can’t feel a thing, they can’t see me, but I can see them. It’s awkward, watching your newly, and appropriately named Zombie self become a puppet to whatever forces at be, while you stand there in a pseudo-Casper way, trying to decipher everything that’s happening. The arm that twitched acted with the speed of a newly fired six-shooter, swinging an ear-shattering right hook into the face of the demon man in blue, something so otherworldly that once I saw the fist connect to the face, a seismic wave ejected from our position like a newly blasting off rocket.

The humanoid creature seemed just as vexed as I was, so much so that he was completely rocked from his balance, and slid on his back at least fifteen feet, which would seem quite dramatic for a six foot suit of scaled armor to slide, what was beginning to happen to me? My zombie body fell to the floor on its hands and knees, the head aiming blood at the ground like one of those ‘pop the balloon with water’ games at a fair, blood and bile was pouring out constantly, overlapping itself on the ground in a red and green display of stress to the body.

While my zombie form was finishing up its last bits of vomit, I began to feel the tips of my real fingers warm up. As any other being would, I looked at them, making note to examine for any other events that might occur that would cause me to question my existence even more. And, just like that, another act of Godliness I can’t even hope to comprehend initiated itself upon my form, both of my forms. My hands began to disintegrate, falling like grains of sand that was made by a child only wanting to make his castle for a moment before high tide. The feeling wasn’t painful, though it wasn’t good. It’s hard to compare to, but if I had to I’d say it’d most likely feel like walking into a pool of Jell-O, with arms open wide, and sinking to the bottom inch by inch of cherry, (or any other flavor you prefer) until you wake up.

And that I did, in my Zombie body, which, I’ve confirmed, is my real body. Since the vomiting was over, I was taking every chance to savor the sweet sweet nectar that is oxygen before I stepped back into this fight unwillingly. Though now, with a new appreciation for such a simple thing as breathing, I screamed at the man, despite the feeling of broken ribs, a fractured ego, and an impaled lung.

‘’ My name is KOU! I am the Angel of Death!’’  

Of course, I only said the last part for intimidating purposes. I figured, that creepy girl could tell me I resembled the Angel of Death ( Or Ado, that’s what she called it..) and give me quite a shock, that I could reiterate her words and have the same effect. Of course, the large humanoid suit of pure armor stood up and began to walk towards me now, with a newly enraged aura about it. I knew I had to fight, because there was no running from something that obviously knew this world far better than myself. My body continued to pump adrenaline, my own thin layer of protection, even though still cracking, was doing its job. Everything sounded like an echo in my head, and the reverberation was killing my eardrums. ‘’ So, bring it on. ‘’ I was never good at intimidating people, hell I wasn’t even good at showing emotions, though right now, at this very moment I was enraged. ‘ At what? ‘ you might ask, forgetting to remember the previous attempt at my life and wanting further justification of such feelings. Though despite that it feels like I’m just angry at not knowing.

In the last world, the real world, I knew everything… I always had signs that I could read, facial expressions on people, obvious connecting of dots, it led to a simple and easy life for the most part. But here, here I have no idea what’s going to happen next, and why the things that are happening now are. The lack of answers makes me perturbed, and this man, or creature was in my way and I didn’t plan on stopping for anything now. I felt a very human urge to want to know about this place envelop me.

So I obliged this enclosing creature by meeting him half-way, with a quickened step and a balled right hand. I was ready for war, but I had no idea what I would be getting into until much later in my life. And how dire my life, or my death would’ve been to the future of this place, real or not, and the people I’ve met.  


---To be Continued --