Hallucinatory Tribulation Vol. 1 [Anthology]

Decompose

My body lay only five foot under now. With my newfound numbness to pain and increased stamina, I had managed to scratch my way out of the wooden coffin I had been buried in. My death had been quick and my funeral had been cheap.

There was no one to mourn me.

I died at the hands of some punk trying to make a name for himself in the misplaced family of a gang that he belonged to. I had been sitting in the familiar alley one too many times as far as safety was concerned, and fifteen too many for what was fair.

I had given my life to my country. I had trained in the academies, lived in the barracks since I was old enough to shoot a gun, and had only been retired a year prior to my death due to injuries that kept me from being of any use to them any longer.

But instead of being taken care of by the government for whom I had risked my life numerous times, or the people for which I fought to keep free, I was cast aside, forgotten and unappreciated...sent to live in the unforgiving streets like a bum, scavenging dumpsters for scraps of food, being criticized by every passerby.

I wasn't even given the chance to work. I had scoured the town and three more looking for any sort of job and was always either passed up for a kid with a good leg, or was told there was nothing they could do to help. Veteran or not.

Bullshit.

If they knew what I had sacrificed for their well-being- my very sanity, they would not be so callous. I had been treated better by enemies than the very country for which I had fought for and given my all. Sometimes I wondered if it were possible to find my enemies again...just for a chance at a semblance of life. Some peace. Some love. Some recognition that I was a human being and not some scum...a worthless beggar. I was barely even afforded a wheelchair to carry my lame legs.

And now...now what was I?

I was moving, but I didn't feel alive. My thoughts and my vision a muddled flow of time. It was hard to keep straight in my mind what was happening at present and what had already transpired. Clenching and unraveling my fists, I felt the loose soil around me...tearing through the coffin had broken its hold. I had to continue digging. I had to escape.

"SOMEBODY CALL 911!!!" I hear the voice, but I cant see anything; it's all black.

I tried to move my hands, my neck...even my legs which had lost their function years ago. All was useless. A numbness had settled over my body and was slowly taking over my brain as well. I was in no pain; that experience had quickly passed.

Everything was so quiet.

I couldn't see or hear or feel. I had no understanding of where I was nor what surrounded me. I thought perhaps I was dreaming...maybe there were people around me, moving me even, saving my life and I just wasn't capable of comprehending these things anymore...but what if everything was really gone?

I don't want to be alone.

Please! God! Anyone! Don't leave me! Not like this...not alone...I've long since learned that my thoughts were no company.

Wait! I could see again? Stretching my eyes wide, I saw the moonlight illuminated outlines of the trees in the near distance. Their branches were slightly swaying in a breeze. The wind? But I felt nothing upon my skin. My eyes fell to the ground where there were leaves rustling across the neatly trimmed grass and there, stretching across my sight, were gravestones.

There was no pain. 

There was no feeling at all. Looking behind me, I noticed that my legs were still partially underground. Without thinking, I pulled them out and found a seated position beside my own headstone. My legs worked?