The Creature is at Peace

The man walks through the path barely taken. It looks down the road with its worried eyes. The grass touching his pants which made it wet from the dew. He exclaimed a breath without resistance, sometimes the man is too sick for him to breathe properly but today he was breathing fine, too fine.

“There it is again,” the man thought looking at the tree. The tree was dead, it was leafless and all was left was its skeleton. The man never saw the tree alive but it was beautiful. The branches looks like it was reaching the skies, or maybe it looks like the branches wreathed the skies.

The forest looks like a maze with its trees making it look like its twist and turns. Nothing is here only the leaves up there and the dead down here. The rustle of the dead here sounded like the showers, the one that the man always takes every morning. The man feels calm when he takes a shower so it never failed for him to love it here.

Everyday the man would come here to the forest from the path, then the tree and to the river. The river stream was calm it was normally not but today it was. He never struggled to come here today, the man thought it was unusual.

Across the river was a cave and the man comes here for it, the Creature. The cave had two ends, one from where the man came from and one from the Creature. The cave was like a portal of two different worlds, the man’s and the Creature’s. The Creature is big, black and it has eyes full of loss. The Creature was suffering and the man knew that but he doesn’t know what kept bothering it.

The man enters the cave happily while the Creature laid there in silence looking at the man. The Creature was happy every time the man goes to the cave and so does the man.

They haven’t explored each other’s world because the two were afraid, maybe they’d die or something else but today was different. The man is not scared anymore and the Creature is sad but is ready. The man decided to explore the Creature’s world, the man wanted to do something more.

The two hold hands with the sunrise from the Creature’s world hitting their faces, from the perspective of the man it looked like the world was the same as his and the Creature looks at the man’s world having the same thought as the man. They let out a big breath and stepped into the new light.

The man didn’t die, he could still breathe, feel and touch so the man opens his eyes. The Creature looks at the man with a smile, and the man looks at the Creature with awe.

“It’s beautiful here,” the man said.

“It is,” the Creature said.

The whole world looks like the man’s world but more colorful, it was enchanting. The skies were purples and pinks, the cloud reflects what the skies illuminated which made them color the same, it was in the middle of the day. It was snowing but the trees’ leaves were still there. The ground was grassy with only little leaves on the ground. There was a moon or a planet visible in the sky, the facade of it looked like the whole space eclipsed it.

The man looks at the Creature and gave it a warm kid-like smile. He lets go and plays on the newly found world. The man climbed a tree because he always wanted it, and climbing it with him would make him very happy. The Creature likes it when the man does what the man loves and followed him to the tree.

For once, the two could act how they want from one of their worlds, they would hide themselves inside the cave everyday but today courage is what made them ready. Ready to face the other world with the other and ready to take on the other faces of the world.

“Where’s Willow?” the man said.

“Oh, he’s here somewhere.” the Creature replied. Then a tree a few meters away from where they played cast a moving a shadow. There’s Willow, creeping up from the tree rubbing his back with the grass and snow.

“WILLLOWWW!” the Creature shouted, and Willow perks his head up immediately then wags it’s tails. Willow had three tails, a mix with purple and black fur and almost look like a cat. Willow was adorable.

The Creature climbs down the tree and meets Willow with a big hug. Willow jumped him and starts licking the Creature’s face and giggled. The man called Willow’s name and snapped its head towards the man. Willow sticks out his tongue and wags its tail furiously. Willow laid his back on the ground showed its tummy. He likes rubs on his tummy.

The man touched Willow and a tail grew out of Willows behind. The Creature knew what it meant, the man didn’t but they played with Willow without a care. The Creature looks at the man with sad eyes and smiled.

After hours of playing and having fun the two went to a cliff, the two can see the whole world from up here. The Tree, the houses, the lights and many more. The man sighed and coughed, nonstop, the Creature rubs his back and then it went away.

“Tell me a story,” the man said and the Creature hummed in agreement.

“Do you see the Tree over there? In the middle of the city?” The Creature asked and the man answered a hum.

“The Tree gives us life but its lifeless. It has no leaves only the branches and the stem. Death is the only way we can be alive so our ancestors appoints someone to collect souls to give the dead death for the living. That someone will give “The Kiss of Death” to the chosen soul.”

“That’s you, right?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay, I’m dying anyway. I have nowhere and no one to go back to and my sickness will likely kill me.”

“Actually, today’s your last day. Willow grows a tail when someone will die not because of the ‘Kiss of Death.’”

“Oh, I like you,” the man said plainly.

“I like you too,” the Creature replied.

The Creature holds the man’s head towards his and kisses the man’s forehead. The man closes his eyes and death took him away. The Creature takes the man’s body towards the other world, the man’s. The Creature walks back through the cave, over the river and finally to the tree. The Creature buried the man there, where the dead will carry the death of the man. The Creature lay beside the tree and he slowly starts fading, the Creature knows its world is dying and he’s totally at peace with that.