User blog:GazzaB9/Today I Died, A Fantasy Story

Entry 1
So... today I died... I was walking home from work with my mates Josh and Charlene. I work, or I guess worked, at the I.T. department of a law firm. The firm wasn't all that big so it only really needed me, Josh, and Charlene as their tech support.

Josh was my best friend before I died. He was one of the funniest guys I ever met. I'm really gonna miss him. Charlene and I were also pretty good friends. I even had a crush on her for a little bit, but he was Josh's girl and I didn't want to get in the way of that so I never really said anything. I'm still pretty sure Josh knew and just didn't bring it up though.

The day I died we were walking to a diner together like we always did. And then, out of nowhere, this one drunken guy came up to us singing to himself. I don't know what he was singing but it's really not important. He started making some... remarks at Charlene's expense.

Usually, Charlene was the type to just blow off remarks like that, but the guy was so persistent it became kind of uncomfortable just to hear. Josh became more and more worked up about the whole thing until he turned and yelled at the guy to shut up. The prick stared at Josh for a good while until he took a swing.

I pushed Josh out the way and he hit me instead. And let me tell you, the guy was short and fat as well but I'd be damned if he didn't pack a punch... It was like time slowed down for me as I fell, bashing the back of my head on the side of the road and... well, you can probably imagine what happened.

The next thing I knew, everything went black... then white... and then my vision returned. When I "woke up", for lack of a better term, I was sitting in the middle of a forest. It was a green, beautiful place that was filled with nothing but the sounds of nature.

Currently, I'm living inside a small shack that seems abandoned. I found it and this journal next to a nearby river. I'm not really sure where I am, how I'm alive, or even IF I'm actually alive but I'm just glad I didn't have my entire life cut short in an instant like that.

Truth be told, I'm not sure why I'm keeping this journal. Maybe it's because I want someone to know my story. Maybe it's a way of processing all of this. Or maybe I just wanted to write this down. But I'll try to write in it as often as possible. And if anyone found this journal on my... I guess second dead body, thanks for taking the time to read it.

Entry 2
I finally decided to look around the area. Turns out there's a river by me that's surprisingly really clean for being in a forest, so it's good to know I've got a water source if I get thirsty. More importantly, I found a village close by that seems like it's pretty useful but it raises a lot more questions at the same time.

The place is rustic, made out of nothing but wood and stone. Looks like it was ripped straight out of the 16th century. I also couldn't really understand anybody there. They all spoke in a language I didn't recognize and all their writing looked like the type of stuff you'd find scrawled on the walls of a temple in the jungle.

They're just as confused at me speaking English. The first conversation I had in there was with a girl who kept saying "kiko" to me and pointing at a towel. I don't know, maybe she was a towel merchant or something like that. There was only really one guy who could understand me there, or... I think he could understand me.

The guy's name was Henry, he ran a shop that sold nicknacks and not much else. It wasn't a very good conversation, I could only ask him simple questions. If you're wondering, here's a few of the things I asked him and his responses:

"Where am I?"

"Ingo."

"Who are you?"

"Henry."

"Can you help me?"

Henry took a minute to think to himself before getting up and tossing me a small sack full of berries. He mimed eating one so I did. And then, out of nowhere, BAM! everybody's speaking English! you can't imagine how helpful those berries were, I'd have to go through my whole life guessing what people were saying.

After I realized I could finally understand the people around me I just took a moment to listen to the random chatter I could hear on the streets. "So", Henry said to me with a big grin on his face, "how's that?" I immediately started thanking him again and again and, truth be told, I don't think I thanked him enough. He really did save my life there.

Apparently, Henry was planning on saving the berries for himself, since later that night he was going to have company over that didn't have the strongest grasp on... well, whatever language they were speaking, but he said I seemed like I needed them more.

Apparently the effects of the berries only last about six hours but they're luckily pretty common. I know that they sound too crazy to be true and I would've thought that as well if I didn't use one and have it actually work. And I know that I've said this over and over, but thank god for Henry, without him I wouldn't of been able to talk to anyone and this journal would've ended pretty quickly.

Entry 3
Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Nothing really too interesting's been going on. But something REALLY big happened today. I'm not really sure how to ease into it so I'll just come out and say it: I saved someone's life. It was insane, man! my brain shut off and I was freaking out the whole time, I was worried I was about to have a heart attack!

I was out picking those magic berries that let me understand people when it happened. I found a bush covered in them and was grabbing as many as I could when I saw this guy running through the woods, screaming "help!" over and over. I walked stopped the guy and tried my best to calm him down, but it wasn't working.

"Please, you've gotta help me!" he said and grabbed me, dragging me away. I don't know why I was the person he wanted to help him. Maybe it was just cause I was the nearest person. When you're that panicked and need help you'll take just about anybody you can find. He dragged me to an insane sight: a black ooze-like blob sitting in the middle of the woods with a girl half-way poking out of it.

I was in shock for a good few seconds and, in those seconds, the thing completely took her. The last thing I saw before she slipped inside of it was her arm reaching out for me, her fingers slowly being engulfed by the slime monster. I don't know what came over me at that moment. I don't consider myself a particularly brave person and I didn't have a reason to help her, but I ran over there and plunged my arms inside of the thing.

I could feel it was trying to absorb me along with her, it's gross ooze made a disgusting noise as it crept up my arms. I noticed that it couldn't grab me as fast as the girl though, which was pretty confusing. Maybe I'm, like... made differently than the people of whatever this place is so it took a while to get used to what I felt like? that sounds kinda dumb, actually...

Well, anyway, I felt around inside of it until I felt something solid. I grabbed and pulled as hard as I could. The guy who brought me there also grabbed me and helped me pull and, with one more good tug, I popped out the arm and half the head of the girl. When she realized half her head was free she gasped for air, the freaky thing's ooze leaking out of her mouth as she did.

Once her arm was free, pulling the rest of her out was actually pretty easy. She slowly slid out of it, its black... stuff covering her clothes. When she was finally out, she let herself flopped to the floor and coughed out some more black liquid. Its prey freed, the monster ran away, shrinking in size and sliding into a very tiny hole in the ground. After that, I just sorta... blacked out. I didn't faint, just to be clear, I just stopped moving and was thinking about everything and nothing at the same time.

When I came too, the guy was counting his money. He was trying to pay me. Obviously, I refused. He said the usual movie things like "oh, I insist", "I can't let you go empty-handed!" and all that but really, I don't have any use for his money. I can find the berries for free, my pen doesn't seem like it runs out of ink somehow, and, truth be told, I haven't eaten in days and yet I feel like I'm not hungry even in the slightest.

Eventually, we came to a compromise: I won't take his money but he and the girl will help me clean my cabin for the night. They're currently working on my bed. They're pretty good at it actually, not a spot of dust in the place and this was one of the dustiest places I'd ever seen just a few days ago. The girl seems to have recovered from the trauma pretty fast with no real lasting damage luckily enough. She did have to wash and change into new clothes before coming though. She also burnt her old ones for I'd dare to say obvious reasons.

I'm still pretty curious about what the hell all of that was if I'm being honest. I'll wait for them to finish, ask them some questions, and then write another entry about it. Talk to you soon, um... journal.