Jikakukishi Forest (Story 1)

1st Act

"My love

I expect this letter to arrive 2 days late, tomorrow morning our team will start to pursue through the heart of Jikakukishi forest, tracking the lost contact we received 13 days afore. The past 7 days in this rising sun, winter soon approaching – food and resources are limited, kept for a future emergency. We have not compiled enough intel, objective sought to be far from reach. I will be back after 20 days or sooner when Izrael finally found.

Take care love, I am certain Maggy is a strong girl. Thanks to her guardian angel, loving and supporting without boundaries and doubts. You are my heart, my love, my Vianney. Ialom."

December 25th

Cheers, festive, crowds, warmth, fireplace, snowy those are my Christmas last year. Not today, the thickness of snow has covered the grass – hard to make a walk, the gust of air pierce through our mantle, white, but not welcoming; we are at the mouth of the forest. 12 friends, colleague searching another friend through the unknown. We are specialized with M16A2, a grenade, bandage each, and water – a quarter of flask. Hoss is our "expedition" leader, and Matthew has a thing to "smell foots". Home gave us a lead that no one will be expecting our coming, except our brother only. Still, it does not change the atmosphere whatsoever, we will be meeting lots of wind, some animals if they are not hibernating, see of trees, frozen moss, slippery ravine. Though we have a comedian and singer, so our traveling would not be boring and grim. And so, we start at 5, stepping our boots into this silent forest.

"Mother! Where have I been?"

"Silence. It lurks – awake"

"Mama, I am scared. What is 'it' mama?", … SNAP!

The trees are calling, singing, whistling messages through the gust and bounce off trunks. No signs of life detected, no shrieks, no growls, no howls, nothing, only voices of the woods; it is inhospitable, a nightmare, that I found to be comforting and honest.

12 hours passed, yet, our team has not seen any wrongness on this mass. Mass? Corpses? no, just pure land. Approximately 27km in, walk, just walking, and walking, more walk, walk no more. Thankfully, our comedian kept the noise living, making this long walk, felt like a minute; he was, is, a freelance teacher, taught mathematics and advanced mathematics (I don't like it) but, his thinking is something.

"Yo Chris, make noise"

"Any hole is a pussy if you are brave enough"

And so, the forest lightens up, for a while.

Glare. Shine. Beauty. I love myself. None can compare my supreme, my body, myself. I am Daniel Hennings, youngest and respected blood of Hennings family. We run various businesses: gold mining in the east of Papua New Guinea; oil company based in Qatar; 3rd shareholder of Hennings company; 4 more children and branch businesses. I am comfortable, I am the first, I am Daniel. Clean as pearl, smooth as arctic walrus, fine wine as they say – none can compare, anew. Between stretch – and stiff, mature – yet modern beast; tailored - handcrafted, marked by accountable designers, praised. Rare, the name of Hennings' family suit. I, craft it with fellow designers, seeking perfect – a masterpiece in each string being sewed. The royalty I gain, I earned, and I "received", I know it was from my hands, my sweat, my knowledge, my passion, and intuition. Never, I receive everything from myself; only myself. I am selfish, agony, no awareness. Fall, when I want to; Rise, when I need to; stay, when I am lost. Is it me? Or someone else here, that made me comfortable; how rude am I, to stole this man's comfort.

"hold me" --- "I am losing my consciousness"

--- "why?" --- "why are you leaving me?"

"I AM DANIEL" --- "I AM DANIEL HENNINGS GOD DAMMIT"

November 5th

--- Dialling ---

"Hello, this is Hennings family, how may I help you?"

"Hello, this is Monarta Institution

is Mr. Daniel Hennings available?"

"Yes, He is available, please wait a minute?

---

"Hello, Daniel speaking"

The offer is something, something I have never ever will occur to my mind. Shock, as I heard the words thrown to me. Panic, because I "know" the stake, to reputation, to assets, to Hennings, to lose myself, but, 'he' is my friend, I have known him from my adolescences life. He was my best friend, more than a friend; I love him, as a family – brother. We went to the same junior high school in America, we have the same interest at the time, collecting escargots nearby the river. We would get wet, brown, muddy; we like to explore and lost, to search those escargots. We usually got 4 escargots, but, if wear lucky enough, 9 it is. We would play with it, tucking and scaring my sisters; it was one of my momenta. After we are done playing with it, my mother would cook them, because my family lived in a simplistic and penniless life. However, those life does not stay long, as my family grew side by side with him, we begin to set apart, we were brothers, but no more – after 1998, July. A miracle happened, I believe in a miracle, the existence of above; that is why I believe he can be found, in the deep woods of Japan.

Oh, how foolish am I, how idiocy strengthens, swallow me from the tip of toes to last string of hair. I am a lost man. Oh god please forgive me, forgive for what I am about to do, fear what will be shown to him – to above.

Good morning Vianney,

How's your sleep? Haha, I know we didn't have enough sleep last night. Do you think we can get up right now? Of course, anytime you want. I will make breakfast, oh yeah Maggy also. Let me check her room.

Morning sunshine, oops, still sleeping, damn sleepyhead, you must be bothered from mom and dad's "busyness". Alright then, I will make omelet and toast with melted cheese.

Morning refrigerator, thank you for keeping my cheese frozen; hello eggs, sorry I have to take you 3 to the pan. First, we crack those eggs, put into the bowl, beat the egg with a spoon, add salt, pepper, for taste. Turn on the stove, heat the pan to medium heat – place 2 blocks of butter. Melt it, give it a movement, making the butter cover all area of the pan. Then pour the mixture of egg into a hot pan, be gentle with the egg, we don't want any "disabled" omelets, flip the omelet when no spot of any liquidity. Then, when it is cooked, flip half of it, into a half circle – finally onto the plate.

Second, toast. I like craftiness, the agility of my hand and busyness in my head. It feels like a morning exercise, with more fun into it. So, the hot pan we used before, we will use it once more for the toast. Pick up 6 slice of bread, we will do this repeatedly, one by one. Smear the bread with a block of butter, on to hot pan, wait for 2 to 3 minutes, then flip it, wait for 1 minute. Because we only, smear one side of it, personally, it differentiates the softness and crust; that's how I like my toast, you do yours, be creative. Then, toast is done, we pick up 2 slices of square cheese, place on top of the bread that covered with butter, put into the microwave, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Then, place it next to the omelet, finally for appearance – let me melt some butter, then pour it onto the plate, and some sprinkle of pepper on the omelet, again be creative, never limit your capability of thinking; it is the most powerful weapon, human has. Be grateful with it.

"SNAP"

All gone, no stove, no pan, no beautiful eggs, no pristine cheese, no blocks of butter, no pepper and salt for taste, nothing. Except, water and store-bought bread, for our dinner tonight, in the middle of nowhere, where nothing accompanies us, the only coldness of wind and sound of it coming everywhere, from the darkness that no light able to penetrate through it, even bullets, would be lost against this thickness of snow too. We set a campfire from these fallen trunks, set our sleeping bag, making a circle like scouts back in elementary. We gather side by side, brothers, however, I have not got to know them really well, especially with this guy, Daniel. I know nothing about him, except he is a designer, have a well-managed occupation, and live well; tonight is the best chance to talk and restfully, before tomorrow walk. Benny, true – brother, we went to military together, we trained together, we are soldier brothers. We have good chemistry, we have done 3 assigned mission: Africa, Europe, Asia. This will be the fourth, and second in Asia. The singer, I called him like that, because he likes to sing, especially Elvis', and Sinatra's. That's all I know from him. Hoss, he's my boss, we usually go to missions together, with Chris, of course. Matthew is a new guy in the military, but we know he is skilfully in understanding geographical abnormalities, landscape, etc. 2 Asians, from the local country: Shintoke MoriTake and, Kawa Denki. The other 4, there's Leo, Maron, Oswald and, Jim.

Kawa: River; Denki: Electricity; Mori: Forest; Take: Bamboo

The sound of burning woods, its crippling fire, accompany us thru the night. We sit on logs of wood, it is slippery and wet, though, we do not put much attention to it. Placing our eyes onto nothingness, like an owl, staring deeply, trying to find its prey in full-black virtue; keeping us awake, to our surroundings and, ready for every ambush might come. However, that ambush does not come very long enough, as I, immediately, need to take a piss. I also found my water to be empty, I should seek for water resources on my walk.

"Guys, I need to take a piss, would you wait for me will ya?"

"Sure, take your time, we'll keep the fire burning"

"Gracias"

And so, off to the woods. I am trying to keep a minimum distance from the campfire, so it would not be difficult to go back; also I can still see the red-fiery glow from the fire. Found some bushes, and so, I decided to take piss here, unzip my pants. Let my willy do the work involuntarily. I felt relaxation temporarily. Finished one job, then onto the second. I need to find a river, pond, or anything to refill my water, I will tell my brothers if I found it.

"I see it, I hear it, I feel it", talking to myself, "Its right there, only a few steps to it"

The sound of it flows really fast, carrying small components to its system. As I approach it, it is very narrow, thin, surprisingly it is not frozen, or at least at the surface of it. It flows like a current carrying electron; or, blood vessels, consist of red blood cells carrying nutrients to the body. Just like a human, this forest is alive, rather with the flow of transparent blood; that does not have hemoglobin to colorize, of course. I acknowledge everything I do, this, will be the worst decision I ever have done. I fill my flask with another man's blood, life; drink it, re.

"The blood makes us human, makes us more than human, makes us human no more"

Bloodborne, 2015

I felt enlightened, called as if I am being chosen by something, something greater. The coldness does not chill my body anymore, rather, I felt warm, it is getting warmer, hot even. Fuck, I'm sweating, every pore of mine, excrete water, my eyes, why am I crying. I undress, letting myself naked. I throw myself onto the ground of snows. Yet, I feel blazing, like I'm being surrounded by red-flowers; I saw that I'm next to the hellish fire of the campsite, it is burning, the camp burns, right at the center of the camp, swarming through my body. I have reached the boiling point, my face melting, slowly, my eyes, I lost visibility, so, I threw myself to a nearby river, the one I refilled my flask with. The fire won't die, it grows larger on my body, I'm being a cook – like pork stew, these water, is sulfur – mixed, into acid. It speeds up the process of me, becoming a liquid. I opened my eyes, I have become gelatine, sticking on the surface of the snow. Strangely, I feel no pain, it was a peaceful death – the one every soul will experience in after life, in every bible or religion knows and acknowledge, it is hell.

. . .

"Hoss!" Chris asked, "don't you think John is taking too much time for a piss?"

"Let him be, he probably need to wank, the man has gone from his wife for a month" answered Maron.

"Shut up Maron, maybe you should check on him, where he has been" Hoss replied.

"Oii, Leo, help me out finding Pikachu", Maron said

"Why not Matthew? Ah whatever Dipshit, let's go" Leo answered

I (Maron) am fucking tired, my energy has been drained for an all-day walk. I prefer to go on riding rover than walking. Before We go on finding Pikachu, I grabbed a stick on the ground, lit it on fire with still burning campfire, like a torch. Leo also has a lighter, for an emergency, if we end up stranded and lose our light source. From what I remember, Pikachu went by these 2 skinny trees but very identical to another, with has the same feature: spots on the trunk; a cramped hole facing his brother on the other one; a horizontal straight line circling the body of these trees, but ones on the top, another on the bottom, it creates some sort of vibe as though this is a gate to something. Into the Abyss. Well, if that's what I want to believe, but I believe in drinking for savory and fulfill-life, wake up with bitches, and win the lottery.

October 28th

"Dandy! 1 more!" I shouted,

"You know, you will pay all this right, this is not cheap" Dandy answered

"If you believe in something, that something will be true, I believe in money comes from a tree"

"whatever you say Maron, but I want my money, you still have debt on last week" Dandy replied, "Jim also have unfinished business with you"

"yea-yea, I'll pay all of them"

Jim comes into the bar, looking tidy and all. He straight goes to the bar table, take a seat right next to me.

"speaking of the devil," Dandy said

"Dandy! Whiskey " Jim said

"That's new, you usually take Gin" - "Here you go"

The awkwardness of this situation is painful, the debt, and something I borrowed from him that I cannot return since it is missing – long gone after 3-day use with me. Fuck. We were best friends, I fuck it up, I tried to reconcile with him in so many ways. But, I just can't with the debt. First, I need to break this dead-air.

"Jim, I'm sorry-"

"no, let's talk about something else" Jim interrupted, "I don't want to start this night with shitty atmosphere" with a hefty tone

"Yeah, let's talk something else"

The night suddenly darkens, howls of watchers intensifies – people in here are busy nor pay attention outside breezes.

"my kids are doing fine – all of them are fine"

"I'm sorry, I hope they're peaceful"

"Thank you" – long pause "my wife left me 3 years ago, now he took my Kenneth and Angela", "God is just another Lucifer"

I myself not a religious person, but I want to argue that the death of his kids – is his own faults. Own reckless and foolishness. Albeit, it would make condition worsens, and I have debts on him too – I have to be smart.

"If I listen to you that night, Kenneth and Angle will be sleeping in their bed right now – and I'm not here"

I remain silent

"I have no view, no expectations – I'm just waiting, in grief"

"Home has offered to us" – "I'm offering you this, to move on and maybe temporary purpose for now" – "you may decline it, I'll tell home of your decision"

We remain silent for a while, catching breathe, and try to observe around us. Hookers, suits, late night workers are having chit chats in their circles. I see wine, normal beer, some bottles of vodka, liquor. The feeble light does not difficult me to pay attention since I've trained in the army for more than 7 years and experienced in this kind situation.

The night reshapes – clouds began to form into birches, the breeze outside the bar penetrates our body, the glasses of our whiskey turn into sharp shattered glasses, while our whiskey turns reddish blood, and Dandy is lying on the ground with his body covered and spilled with "whiskey" and stabs of glasses. His face, begin to fuse, making the unimaginable look, distorted, ugly, and broken. Yet, we able to identify who it is, this is not Dandy – its John.

– Dead –

To be Continue