Nothing Happens In Canada

"Demon"

"Demon!" I wobbled, lifting my head up to two of the same blurry women screaming and pointing their fingers at me. I clawed at my ears as if it was the only way to keep my brain secure. I didn't feel sick, but I felt light, that couldn't be a good sign either. My double vision cleared revealing one woman standing in front of me. I reached towards her trying to speak, but only a scratching growl escaped my throat. She screamed again as I tripped and fell to my knees. I lazily re-opened my eyes and took in my surroundings. I noticed water droplets falling heavily from the sky. I was in a storm, in a forest with mud splattered up my forearms and thighs. I felt... Incorrect. As if my body wasn't my own. I was dirty, pale, and I couldn't feel the cold air or the darts of water cutting into my skin. I had to find a doctor. While I tried to ground myself, I caught a glimpse of city lights shining through the rain. I pushed myself to my feet, ignored the women, and started my hike through the forest. "AHHHHH!" My arms were stiff and hard to move but I couldn't stand her screeching. Why won't she stop? What did she say before? Was it... Demon?

Photo by Max Kleinen / Unsplash

*Click*

I stopped, turned around slowly, and found a gun barrel sitting between my eyes. I tried to speak again, but my tongue wouldn't contort the way I needed it to. I could open my mouth, make sounds, but I couldn't call upon any muscular function I used to have. I could only continue to growl at these two people. It was a disaster.

Photo by Maryna Kazmirova / Unsplash

*Bang*

The bullet blew through my head and planted itself in a tree. I expected my consciousness to fade quickly, but I was still standing. The man behind the gun had beads of sweat surfacing on his upper lip. He was shaking uncontrollably while his finger was over the trigger. Again the gun fired, and still, I was standing. I tried walking toward him, and fumbled. He jumped, tripped over a tree root and landed on his backside. I took another step. I had to see, to know if his gun was real. As I got closer to the man, I could hear a quick heavy wheezing coming from deep in his lungs. I cocked my head at him confused. His eyes widened and he kicked himself away from me. Another shot went off and my body jolted. I could hear the quiet squeaking of bone and metal rubbing against each other. However, I couldn't feel the pain of the two centimeter piercing in my skin. I quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to reach him. He was just going to pepper me with gunfire. So, I took a moment, and dug my nails deep into my flesh and fished out the bullet. Once removed, I examined it closely. It was a copper colored, crushed metal ball, with sharp jagged edges. It was real... How isn't it-? I tried to snap my head back towards the man, but my body wouldn't allow me to move at more than a sloppy, lazy pace. When we locked eyes he flinched.

Photo by Shivansh Sharma / Unsplash

I continued towards him, hearing a dragging sound behind me. I looked at my feet and found myself unable to lift them off of the ground causing me to fall. The rock bed beneath me shredding the skin of my legs. I started off crawling, in an attempt to stand back up. When I regained my footing, I noticed an overhang behind the man. He was frantic, I didn't understand the terror in his eyes but I had to try to save him. I shoved myself hard and caught onto his ankle. "AHHHH!!" He screamed. His kicking reflex, combined with the heavy weight of his boot, broke my wrist in two. With my sluggish body and now dislocated parts, I was unable to stop him as he launched himself off the cliffside. I growled and turned away from the sight of his mangled body.

Photo by Alexandre Debiève / Unsplash

After a moment I saw the glow of red and blue lights against the rockface opposite of the corpse beneath me. I knew I would have to give some sort of statement to the police. I looked around and found a separate path leading down to them. The woman from earlier was down there with him waiting for the officers to arrive. While the officers approached the mascara stained women, I hobbled down the trail. "There was a demon... There-there was a demon. There was a demon here! It pushed him off the cliff! He was murdered by-by that monster! You have to believe me!" At the tone of their conversation I chose to hide in nearby shrubs... Maybe it's best that I don't engage right now. I don't have the full information. I need to find a mirror.

Photo by Birk Enwald / Unsplash

I trudged back up the trail away from the police to find the city lights I noticed from earlier. I found the start of the forest trail, a lone gas station and a motel... I thought I saw a kaleidoscope of different-... Never mind... I'm confused, and unsure of most things right now. Only one thing was for sure, the couple in the forest truly believed that I was a monster. I needed to figure out why. I slipped into the rest stop doors while the teller was distracted on their phone. I dipped to the back of the food aisle, keeping my head low. I saw hot dogs spinning on their roaster but strangely, I couldn't smell them. I glanced over to the Slurpee machine and saw the sign for the bathroom. Quietly, I snuck in. I turned on the light, while closing my eyes at the same time in an attempt to brace myself before seeing my reflection...

I was able to muster a small hop at the sight of myself, as I didn't have the strength for a larger reaction. I did look like I was dead. My eyes were pale white, my skin was lifeless, with what looked like some rotting already taking place, and my clothes were torn. My eyes trailed to the bullet holes in my body. There wasn't a trace of blood accompanying them... Yuck. I could see why that man was trying to kill me. I was a mess. I braced myself to look inside my mouth... "Ger!" I smacked my hand hard over my lips and clamped my eyes shut. I took a moment for myself before removing a family of maggots that nested in the gums of my teeth. I opened the bathroom cabinets looking for a first aid kit. I needed tweezers to fix my uncomfortable problem...

Photo by Massimo Virgilio / Unsplash

*CRASH*

While I moved things around I knocked a stone soap dispenser on to the tile floor smashing a section to pieces.

*knock knock*

"Hey man are you okay? It smells like something died in there."

I tried to talk, but growled instead.

"Woah dude, you sound awful. Let me call the police over. I'm sure they can give you a helping baton, haha."

I rolled my eyes and looked back at myself. I had to ask the nagging question, 'am I actually dead?' If that's the case, why am I walking? How did I die? How do I still have my consciousness but have lost my other basic skills?

As good as it was to know that I looked like a monster, I had to fix that before I could interact with another human. Next steps... A makeover.

Photo by Mark Bishop / Unsplash