1 The Mud Of Flesh And Blood

The air was stinking with the smell of corroded bones in the mud of flesh and blood. The people standing in it were numb to that smell, cheering and shouting out loud.

A man wearing a black suit was walking, tearing a crowd into two, with a touch of air, the corner of his jacket was drifting into the air and pushing his black tie on his shoulder. His dark black hair was damp and rolling all over his face touching his lips which has been darkened with continuous smoking of cigarettes. 

A dark black jaguar was walking along with him, taking slow and heavy steps. The jaguar was so dark that it made him almost invisible in the darkness of the night, only his golden eyes can be seen, walking like the two headlights of the car. 

In the left hand, the man is holding the right leg of another man pulling that man along with him. The man on the ground was wearing a suit, which colour is hard to recognise anymore, due to the tiers of thick blood over it. 

Winston takes out a silver case of cigarettes from the pocket of his jacket with his right hand, carries that case to his mouth and pulls out one cigarette from it with his lips. As he put the case back inside his pocket and looked toward the man in the crowd, the man came forward with a lighter in his hand and lit his cigarette. 

Winston took a deep breath of smoke inside his soul, which touched every particle of his soul and created a sensation, which he used to feel when he was alive and had a physical body. 

At the centre of the crowd, there was a big stone. To reach that stone there are seven steps. 

As Winston climbs up the stairs, the wind started to strike his jacket harder, making the feather in his inner pocket slightly visible. 

Winston threw the man that he was holding with his hand at the centre of the stone. And turns to look at the crowd. Everyone was shouting his name, they were shouting as if they had found their saviour. One can see it in their eyes, the pride, and the sense of achievement that they were feeling with someone else's achievement. As if it was their own. 

Maybe they did achieve something today. Is there a bigger achievement for a soul, living in hell, than finding hope? 

"There is joy in vengeance, '' Winston said softly, and the crowd stopped shouting. A blanket of silence fell all over, a deep silence. Only a sound of wind can be heard, roaming through the crowd and entering the forest. 

"I didn't seek vengeance for joy though, it's about self-respect." He said disturbing the sound of the wind, as his voice was a bit heavy this time. 

"The enemy of Winston must know that Winston never forgets and neither he fucking forgives." He said with a firm voice, a bit louder, that his voice started echoing, and the silent crowd again start cheering and shouting, expressing their joy. 

A man appeared in the middle of deserted land, it was dark everywhere. Half-moon was flickering in the sky, it's the only source to see what's around.

It was Winston, who had just died. Winston starts walking, without knowing where he was going, there is no way to understand the routes and directions here, everything looks the same. Dark and glittering with silver moonlight. He didn't have any choice but to keep walking, so he did what he could do, he kept walking.

He was walking for hours now, and to his amazement, he didn't feel any tiredness, after that continuous long walk. 

He keeps walking in the hope that he might find someone or something. Part of him also wanted to be left alone, the fact of being with himself is frightening as well as encouraging for him. 

Hours passed but there was no sign of morning, instead, the moon looked smaller.

Winston somehow started to see more clearly than before. Living in the dark for a while and you start getting used to it, he thinks in his mind, taking a glance at his memories. 

At a far distance, he saw something, something like a dot, and a green shade around it. "Finally this fucking desert end somewhere", he said to himself, and start walking towards it, with a bit of haste.

It was a bar, with a wall without colours, a busted window, and the smell of a fish market. 

Winston stands at a distance from the bar and notices it, with wide-open eyes, " this is a fucking hell, I don't have any doubts anymore", he said with a sarcastic tone and walk towards the door.

There were four people in the bar, two were playing cards, one was passed out on a table, and one was at the counter looking at his half-filled drink, maybe thinking about the times when the wall used to be coloured. 

Winston takes a look at everyone from the door and walks inside, the guys who were playing cards notice him entering, and both the players look at each other and start playing again, their eyes were dry like they have no dreams in them anymore.

Winston walks towards the counter and sits on a chair beside a thinker lost in old glory. There were dirty bottles filled with coloured liquid, placed on the wooden stand. Winston takes a look at the bottles, the unusual thing about liquid is that they look like someone added something lustrous to them.

Sitting on a chair Winston takes a look behind the counter, there was no one there to serve those lustrous liquids. Winston turns his gaze towards the door, and then all over the Bar, thinking, might one of them is the owner.

Suddenly, a voice came from behind him, " you look thirsty". Winston turned back towards the voice, it was a woman with dark light skin and curling hair rolling over her chest. She was looking unusually beautiful with her seductive smile. 

Winston was shocked, for a moment, thinking about where she came from? But going with a moment, with a little pause, he says, " bit". 

"Then what do you like to have?", she said and looked at him like she was offering more than just a liquid.

Winston couldn't help but looks at her seductive eyes, a thin smile spread all over his face, taking a moment of pause, he said,

" I don't have anything to pay", assuming that nothing is nowhere free. 

" You sure about that", the woman said, with a miscellaneous smile and looked straight into his eyes and turned towards the shelf where lustrous liquid was placed. She picked a blue-coloured liquid bottle, rolled out its lid, and poured that liquid into a circular glass. 

" it's from horse soul, smuggled from Warrington forest", she gives glass into his hand scantily touching his finger for a moment.

Winston notices her touch and looks toward the liquid in a glass. He thinks for a moment and then looks at a woman, there is a pause of suspicion in his eye, but then he looks firmly at the glass and says, "fuck it, I can't die again, what worst could happen?", and starts drinking it. 

It tastes like a fine whisky, he likes the taste with a first sip. And he finished his drink with another sip. 

" thank you", he says, as he finishes his drink and puts the glass on a table.

Women smile as if she has achieved something. Maybe his love.

"So how do things work here? Winston asked, feeling a little dizzy.

" you will know, let the time come", the woman said with a mysterious smile.

Winston looked at the people playing cards, both of them were masculine, and had long beards, and one of them had a clean-shaven head. 

Suddenly, his vision started to feel blurry, he turned toward the woman, and before he could say anything, he fell out of his chair to the ground. 

The mystery behind the smile of a woman starts to be uncovered.

Time went by and he heard the sound of people bargaining.

"Look at him, he is worth more than that, you are just robbing us", the woman said, with an enraging voice. 

" Look, my final offer is one and a half bottles, and it is a pretty generous offer", an unknown voice said.

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