I was lying in a coffin with nothing on but a white smock. The moon was the only source of light. The sound of water crashing was distracting. Thoughts and questions got dragged away along a sock. The river trapped in the light and bounced it back up the leaves and branches above it. But a beautiful sight was not enough compensation for the cold.
I braided my hair with tiny partings making time. I thought whoever had located me there would come back.
When the sun began to peek through the mountains I began to feel fear. I thought maybe, if I walked against the river I could find others. But the weather was unbearable, and the rocks were sharp. My feet were bare and the feeling of my testicles rubbing on my thighs was everything but nice. I wished someone would reach out to me and carry me home. They would dress me and hold me. And I wouldn't feel as alone as I was then.
I realized when the sun began to hide, that if I had been forgotten, then I was abandoned, then I was alone.
I pierced my naked feet step by step away from my birth coffin into a lavender field.
Found a town with barely any lights on. Still, I could almost sense the warmth of living others. I was excited. The houses were fairly distanced from one another and in between them were gates that lead to the land for farming and gardening. Beyond that, virgin land that belonged to no one.
Laughter interrupted my creeping. A young woman had opened a door to hanging blankets on a string that connected window bars to a palm tree.
I slithered away across that window and found child that played with a fork. Gobbled in food and water.
With round rosy cheeks and wide pupils, he devoured a duck's life away.
He reminded me of a certain emptiness within my very own guts. The cold only a rock by the river could hold and the lack of such warm tones on my skin.
The thought of a savory meal wasn't part of my worries but rather I wondered, if my burning flesh could provide enough warmth that could reach my core.
Something in my chest revolved as if it wanted to crawl out of my throat, it was even more unpleasant than the cold. It was envy.
I walked away towards the streetlamps.
A man rocked on a chair in a porch. Stared without interest. I approached him with the intention of wearing his flesh as a coat. He remained seated without changing direction.
"Kind sir." I whispered to his face.
He startled. "Oh boy."
He leaned forward. Trying to reach me with his widespread fingers. He lightly brushed my shoulders.
"Aren't you cold." he held on to my arms as he pulled me inside.
"Very". I responded as I got dragged like a rug
He dragged his fingers on his dining table as he walked along
"Where do you come from." He asked.
I forgot, however, the thought pictured in my mind a ship.
I chased him around in that dimly illuminated house. Realized his toes would also spread conquering more ground. He pulled blankets out of a rocking chair with furry cow print and threw them by the dying fire. I crawled on top of them and tried to reach his cloudy eyes.
"A ship...is not where I come from, I have never stepped on one actually. I am very confused." I said to him while sitting in the floor, he did not turn to me in any occasion.
He raised his eyebrows. " Are you alone."
"Very."
A tiny orange cat rubbed the sides of its belly on his ankles.
"Cilyth!" He yelled
"Is that its name?"
"Why are you walking around half naked." He asked as he sat on a firm wooden chair by the dining table.
"I was mugged." I said as a sipped on my saliva.
"By whom? Im sure we can find such thief"
"Death"
"You are a very confused child" He stepped on his two feet and slowly walked away into the dark.
"Very." I said as a chuckled. I found warmth in his company.