Two crones meet at a crossroad, each one has a wide skirt and painted headscarf on, each one has a brand brown bag and shiny earrings.
'Good evening, my dear.'
'Good evening to you, my dear. How does the life go?'
'Like a rollercoaster; sometimes up and sometimes down, you know, what I mean, don't you, dear? What about you?'
'Well, I guess, that I'm doing quite normal, dear. All the weekend I was looking after my beloved grandchildren. What a spitfires! I feel so tired that I can't wait to...'
Suddenly, a terrible desperate inhuman scream echoes from a deep forest at the horizon. Forrest tightly pent between huge walls with watchtowers. The roar is so heartbreaking, that it might shatter your soul to thousands little pieces.
The crones hold each other's hand, shaking like children in front of cellar stairs. They don't make a sound, they just stay paralysed and stare at the forest with eyes full of fear.
When the scream finally stops, they turn their backs at the woods.
'Well, remind me, how old are your grandchildren again?' one breaks the silence.
'Eight, five and three years, dear. The time goes so fast, doesn't it?'
'Tell me, dear. It's me, who meets some strange old crone in the bathroom mirror every morning! The time goes fast, it really does!' she laughs.
Both crones start to walk towards a nearby town.
Now a sound of a gunshot echoes from the forest, but the crones are already gone.
I think it crossed my mind that day;
that going into the water might be not a very good idea.
The way everything sounds under water is just amazing. It's like a song of dead sailors falling off their sinking decks. I can't wait for the moment, that I'll be finally able to join them and sing to ears of those, who slowly run out of breath, too. Water starts flowing down my neck and lungs. It hurts a bit in the beginning, but then all the pain disappears like if someone simply threw it away. Just me and this harmonic melancholy.
At least, I should be grateful, that my last moments were so beautiful.
At the watchtower there is a man. As usual, he's facing the outside of the forest.
With a great yawn he gazes at the clouds flowing in the orange and red evening skies. He puts on his binoculars. There are two crones at the crossroad. He grins and plays with an idea of reflecting some light onto them with his pocket mirror. That could be a funny way how to spend some time of the remaining shift...
But before he decides to do it or not, the horrifying scream clashes behind his back. His heart skips a beat, he starts sweating and goosebumps appear among all his body. The man closes his eyes and tries to calm himself. Fear is fear, but work is work.
He turns around and draws his gun at the forest. The barrel shakes almost as much as his hands. Inhales. Exhales. The sound is getting louder and louder. Something approaches quickly. Man's bowls seem to turn upside down, that's how terrified he's right now. But he cannot run. This is his damn work.
Then it arrives.
A big screaming face appears in the leaves. Then it runs into light. The face seems actually more scared than the man is, so he considers giving a helping hand for few seconds. But then he notices, that the size of creature's head is terribly enormous. A giant screaming head with a dwarf's body makes him feel so horrified and disgusted, that he starts to scream too.
With his eyes half-closed, he pulls the trigger and kills the creature with one single shot through it's huge skull.
'Would'ya please tell me, how do I get to the Forest of Death?' I ask a passerby woman.
'What the hell is the Forest of Death? I don't have time for silly jokes like that.' she replies with annoyed face and leaves as quick as she can on her high heels. Her eyes told me the truth. She knows really well, what the Forest of Death is and where to find it. Seems like I won't neither get any directions in this town. I guess that I'm supposed to search on my own and hope, that I'll find the Forest soon or later.
I exit the town. I walk along a concrete road and the alpenglow illuminates my way. It really is a pleasant summer evening, even though I'm kind of dead.
That day, when I woke up at the river bank, I found out, that I've become a zombie.
When my ears catch that harrowing scream, I'm suddenly sure which way to go.
Only five hundred meters and I can finally see that huge forest at the horizon. Two crones run past me and few moments after that, I hear the gunshot. I speed up my gait.
It takes me thirteen minutes to get to the wall. I knock at a heavy wooden gate under one of the watchtowers. A really scared-looking man opens the door with a gun in his hand.
'Whadd'ya want, boy?'
'I wanna enter the Forest.' I say.
'What the heck would'ya do there?'
'I have a rendezvous there. An important one, though.'
'Rendezvous.' he re-echoes. Then he lets me go inside. We go up the stairs right into the watchtower. The man points his finger at a recently killed creature under the wall.
'There are things like that, don't ya know, boy?'
'Of course, there are. That's how it always was and will be. The Forest has to prove it's existence once in a while. The more people close their eyes, the more it desires to be noticed. Nobody wants to be forgotten, ya know?' I explain.
'I see. By the way, what exactly are you, boy?'
'A zombie.'
'Oh...'
I finally leave the watchtower. I carefully descend the ladder the man borrowed me from the wall's edge down to the Forest. He watches me from the tower and when I'm about to enter the woods, he waves his hand. I thankfully nod at him.
I observe the dead body lying in front of me. The giant face with eyeballs big as soccer balls.
Fear has big eyes.
I lay a hand at fear's cheek and the body starts to decompose and turn to ashes. The fear is not an enemy, but he's such a troublemaker. If only people knew, how to make him their companion and friend. How to learn from him a thing or two. Well, I guess it seems that easy only to me, since I'm dead for a while.
I continue my journey through dense undergrowth. At the start, it's really rough, but as I go on, the path is wider and wider. After few minutes it seems like the Forrest itself wants me to enter.
In the center, there is an old willow. At a first sight, I know I found it. I approach the willow slowly, I pull the curtains of vertical twigs aside. The stem is full of scars and marks of old age like a hundred years old war veteran. I hug the tree and close my eyes. It feels like the willow is hugging me back.
Oh, that feels so awesome I could die. Again. Literally.
That day, when I woke up as a zombie, nothing seemed right anymore.
It couldn't.
Because every single ship needs a harbor to drop it's anchor.
'Welcome home.' tells me the Death and I smile.
Don't worry.