Stories of the Undead

Oscar Zelaya

I have been dead for twenty seven days now. The leaves are turning all sorts of colors. They are talking to me, but I cannot hear what they are saying. I keep walking, the bricks on this road I am taking are not yellow, and they just exist as bricks tend to exist. Where does this road lead? It leads back to my happily depressing apartment. A Frisbee hits my head as I cross the quad; I let out a faint moan and keep shuffling along. I stop in at the local coffee shop; all the livings are walking around in a synchronized waltz of mundane activities. Why did I come here? I like my coffee. One foot in front of the other, you can do it just keep going. Ding. The cup falls and the coffee seeps into the ground, a whirlpool in the pavement swallows up all the coffee and the cup. Sipping on hot beverages was never my expertise anyways. The livings walk around the whirlpool like it never existed, but it existed for me and only me. The parking lot is packed with monstrous pieces of machinery, waiting to roar back to life. The air is dry, I breathe out of my nose, a bull that’s accepted the matadors sword.

The wind is whipping up the leaves and the trees fingers. The world is slowly shaking around and I cannot hold my footing, the livings have such good balance, this bench will do. Another sip of courage is all I need. A living falls on the ground, other livings come to help. Before long the birds are gone, and the bats are flying around. I get back on the brick road. This bed is sinking deeper every day. The water is never warm, the food is always cold. I pull myself out from the inside. The university has its plan for me, but what is my plan for the university? Class is in session, the livings are automatons scribbling down the words of a mad man. The smell of chalk brings me back into the world. The words I am writing are melting away every second, do the livings not see? The sessions are over, it is finals week. The final is optional.

I took some inspiration this morning, but the witches brew has no more effect on me, the sisters are failing me. Mexico is a long ways away, but somehow the brick road is still here. I trudge along. A prostitute comes up to me, says she will give me half price, I pop some vigor and go to town. Right there in the street in the dark. I walk back into the light and it burns. The corner store has the emotions I need, stock up on enough for the whole year. Have not seen a tree for days.Time to take the bricks back home. It was hot, too hot; my rotting skin does not do well in the heat. My brain is Swiss cheese; my heart wears a crown of thorns. Am I unfolding? The livings are back on campus. I take my Mexican emotions and go to my first session. A living comes to me after session, wants a better grade. I tell myself it is just a letter, I tell the living I am just their subconscious letting them pass into consciousness.

Dreaming is good; do not let dreams take control. Never let dreams take control. The livings all let the dreams take control. If you control the dreams you control reality. What the livings do not know is that all of the dreams are connected. I am the dream king; I choose who has nightmares and who has sweetness. Nightmares are tricky little bastards, let them take over and they win. You see dreams are reality, what happens in a dream actually happens, but in a parallel universe.

Crossing campus to another session of brain melting monotony. The grass is waving the wind is whistling. A crow is standing in my way, kick the damn thing. The livings are just staring; they are all frozen, stuck in time. I stopped them. Time is tricky because it does not exist. When you stop it, you are stopping nothing, and when you stop nothing, nothing happens and everything happens. Chatting with a dinosaur is a delight none of these livings will ever have the luxury of indulging in. Tea with a t-rex, biscuits with a brontosaurus. Time starts again, not ready, I fall into the void. This floor keeps sinking every day. The water is never cold, the food is always warm.

It is snow, the dreaded white blanket of blissful ignorance covering all the livings. Slinking through the mess of slush I get to my session. How wonderful it is to see that no automatons have showed up, they are all replaced by reptiles. Took too much emotion this morning. The government has called me in on a special mission. Reject the offer. They put me to sleep for a while, reconsider the offer and take the mission. What is the mission, I have to kill the king of space. He has been courting death, when space and death combine we are all done. Putting the space suit on is the hardest part. They put the worms in my head so that they eat my brain after the mission is done and cannot remember. Their last reported location was the Andromeda galaxy. Flying faster than the speed of might, get there and see the beautiful fox trot between space and death. Are the dreams taking over? Take out the shark skin blade, they are giants. Blood gushes everywhere as I slit spaces throat. Take his place in this dangerous dance. Surprised how much death knows about dreams.

The windows are cracked, the house is falling apart. Perfect. It is so close to campus too. No more sessions. The university says they need me to control the livings to come to the school to bring in more money. Magnificent the livings will be under my thumb, at least the younglings. Cats are the main threat to my empire. They know what I am doing. They can control dreams and time better than I. the one with different colored eyes can see in the past and the future. It lives in the house next to me. Make sure to keep enemies close. We have been locked in a nightmare battle traveling through many times, changing many lines, making curves. It is just toying with me for right now, but I have a plan.

Broke, the machine is broken. I have finished all my emotions. The nightmares have taken over. Should have never tried to control them. Time is running wild. The livings cannot see any of it though they keep on going in their dance. It’s about time I get back on the brick path. This time I go the opposite direction, into oblivion. This limbo has reason, it has logic, it has control, I have power. Power over the nothingness. The empty, all that keeps me company is death.