Dead Man, Dead Man Where Are You?
(Denmark x Reader)
 

Contest entry for ’s proverb contest!

 

Song(s)- Near Light by Olfur Arnalds www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHVh_L…

 

 

 

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I sighed and watched as the blue seas rolled by. It was a warm night, much of the people had already left for bed leaving me to myself, well, almost to myself. Below me stood a man, a man whom seemed to almost vanish every time I’d look away. He’d appear and disappear on whim, as if he himself was the wind and the warm summer night itself.

 

I never had the chance to speak with him. The many times I’d try and walk over to the waning bridge frightened out of my wits he’d just vanish and appear on another part of the shoreline meters away from me. Even though I’d try and keep my eyes open, not to blink, I’d always do it, afraid of the salty waters that seemed to lick the edge of my eye lids. Thus, giving him a chance to escape, successfully I might add.

As far as I could tell the man was tall and lean, he was well framed and held himself well, he had deep golden hair, too natural to be bleached or dyed. I’ve never seen his face nor have I ever made it close enough to make out much else aside from his appearance.  He always wore a deep red shirt which in turn made him stand out against the crisp blue waters of The Faroe Isles. His pants a noir color, that looked to be blue jeans, I could never tell, the water that slapped against his calves and below was always covered in water at low and high tide. Always searching.

 

The only thing I was sure of was that he had a thing for not only drinking but smoking as well. When I would view out of my hotels window I could see him; a flickering orange light near the leg as he gazed out at the sea, the smoke fuzzing over his body. The odd part was that when I would approach him and he would vanish the smoke that surrounded his form was still evident even though he was long gone on another part of the beach.

 

It was as if the smoker was still there.

 

I decided to give it another try before leaving tomorrow morning, I wanted to speak with this mystery man, he intrigued me. The idiots that I decided to travel with were no fun, only college dropouts and sex driven bums. I needed a breath of fresh air and if that air was to be with a heavy smoker and an adamant drinker then so be it. I grabbed my thin jacket; no use in over bundling when it was near seventy degrees outside (21˚ C). I threw on my sandals and rushed out of the room, most of my roommates passed out from lack of sleep over the passed week and a half. I pushed the door open silently and closed it back softly; waltzed down the inviting royal blue interior of the hallway before hitting a door. I pushed it open and the warm salty winds of July hit me causing me to inhale, the sea water uprising and tickling my senses. I loved it. It gave me newfound courage, tonight was the night I see the man of my troubles and curiosity, I just wanted to speak with him.

 

I pulled my jacket closer as the winds picked up pushing me harshly against my greater will but I trekked on. Who’s ever idea it was to build a hotel so close to the shoreline was insane! As I grew closer and closer to the sandy shores of the Isles that took you out to the never-ending Atlantic sea I began to see a figure. It was moving. For once, the stranger was actually moving back and forth, he’d usually just stare out to sea and smoke his cigar or sip his whisky but for once he had neither in his hands. His paces seemed more and more frantic, less then normal than the lay back figure I had seen only moments earlier. I walked closer and closer until finally coming into ear distance, he was speaking rapidly. He never spoke, ever. Even when in reaching distance he never said a word, the only sounds that could be heard were that of the harsh northern winds and the clashing of water against stone. They would bellow loudly like the singers of the ocean, the sirens of Nordic tales, it was so alluring and pretty I could see how people would drown so easily here.

 

Finally I recognized the dialect he was speaking, Danish. It sounded gruff and strong on his tongue, but one thing stood out, the universal language of man. The fear and tremble was evident every few words, he looked like he was looking for something, it broke me heart. He soon dropped to his knees, stopping the constant moving and began to dig franticly in the chilled waters, throwing the mud and the sand only to stop and stand up. I sucked in a deep breath as I walked closer, feeling as though I’d just entered a new land, like a frightening realization had dawned on me. I suddenly felt cold and alone, a feeling I hadn’t felt in a long time, but It wasn’t my pain, I felt like it was something heavy and overbearing. The stranger turned over to me, half of his face staring towards me, gorgeous blue eyes stared into my own (e/c), a half smile snuck onto his face, a knowing look in his one eye. He turned away quickly before walking off. I quickly followed, my footsteps heavy and thick in the water as I chased him down. I was growing closer and closer to my target, his arm right in front of me, I grabbed onto it, he was cold, beyond cold. I wiggled my hand away from him in fear, what was wrong with him? He didn’t feel right.

 

As I began to panic in farsighted fear he turned back to me, and spoke.

 

“I need to get back.” He stated firmly, an airy sound about it as he did so; he soon turned away and began to walk again. “Do you know where they are?” He questioned, I soon rose feeling the sudden need to help him. What was this foreign feeling? Why did I want to help a stranger?

 

“Where do you need to get back to? Who are you looking for, I can help.” I called and sped back up to him, sudden feelings vanishing as I looked ahead and not at him. I heard a lighter go off but the ever so present scent of nicotine never hit my nose. I looked over to him; he was looking up at the full moon in envy. Still, no smoke or smell ever hit my nose, it was odd.

 

“I need to find them or else they’ll leave me. Again.” Was his only response before inhaling the cancer stick. I simply nodded enjoying the lack of groins and constant hysteria that was with my residents.

 

“Who are you? I’ve always wanted to speak with you but you always seem to vanish.” I calmly stated, trying to gain access into conversation, he sighed and inhaled the pale stick once more before speaking.

 

“I’m someone whom you’ve never heard of, and will undoubtedly never hear of.” He murmured out loosely. I suppose we were strangers but we had to start somewhere. “I vanish because I wish to be alone, I’m only here because of them.” I nod, trying to understand his words; they obviously had another meaning to them. But before I could think of them anymore he spoke up again, tilting the ashes off the stick and tapping it against his forefinger. “Why are you helping me?” He whispered out.

 

“Because….because I always see you and you seemed worth my while.” I turned up and smiled at him, face still gazing above us both, his eyes glaring at the moon darkly.

“I see….so you will help me find them?” I nodded. “Are you sure? I don’t want to take you with me.” I shook with fear and then nodded bravely, what ever did he mean?

I thought over his words as he finished the last of the cigar before looking to me, fully. I dropped my hands to my side and stared in fear. The left side of his face was gone leaving a gapping hole where his eye and part of his nose belonged. I stared more intently, his face looked as if it was falling into the hole. He didn’t look affected by the damage, as his good side simply looked into my eyes hopefully. “Do I scare you?” He questioned, flatly. I simply stared, mouth in a thin line. He sighed and looked up again.

 

“No.” I stated slowly, I felt oddly concerned for him, at this point I knew he was hiding something, he couldn’t be human whatever it was he was. “I don’t.” I said once again, he sent me a slight smile, trying with the lack of flesh on one section of his face. He griped my hand once again, I could see that everything on his left side was missing, weather it be a bone here or there or open/ missing flesh and cartilage, he was contorted. His right side looked normal and human, he didn’t feel human though, there was a certain air about him.

 

“Great!” He cheered, loosing that misty air about him; the fog overlapping his form vanished in my eyes and was replaced with a happier aura, it was nice. He pulled me further, the iciness of his palm not warming up to my own temperature, but I didn’t care, I wasn’t here for me I was here for this stranger. “Onwards!” He encouraged.

 

We walked on the beach for another thirty minutes in silence before coming to a large bush that was near a higher tide, half was emerged in the water and the other half was gasping  in the moonlight of everlasting night, it was a gorgeous tan colored bush, about the size of three tall men on each others shoulders. The plant stood proudly as it relished the weather and the silence that came with it. “What is here?” I asked, the stranger only held a hand up to his mouth as more flesh wiggled its way away from his peach face, I felt as though I was in a zombie movie but I stayed calm. I needed to help him first. I watched in eerie silence as he walked over to the end of the plant and bent down.

 

“Down there. I want you to go there.” He pointed absently to the black depths of the darker end of the water. “He’s down there, I want you to bring him to me.” He stated once more, slight fear in his voice once again, it terrified me to no end. A large man such as himself trembling, the deep black waters and the silence that surrounded us was unnerving.

 

“I’ll do it.” Without thinking I jumped into where he had pointed, his red shirt and deep noir trousers vanishing above the warm blue as I swam harder and faster before making it to where exactly he’d pointed. The water burned my eyes but I ignored them and swam deeper. I had finally made it to the end of the large plant, obviously over grown and unkempt but interesting non-the less. I could see the root that perpetrated the sandy water it was growing from something. I swam over to it with great interest, it was black and somewhat bloated…it was…a man. I couldn’t mistake the frame, too large to be of a women but what really struck fear from me was what the man was what he was wearing….the same linin red shirt and deep noir trousers that were of my counterpart. His hair had already melted away and his flesh was missing, the tree had perpetrated his skull and over grown over the left portion of his body, in the same areas that were missing on the one above.

 

‘This man is dead.’ I mouthed to myself before feeling my air level vanish, I swam up in slight melancholy of what must have happened to the man. Why hadn’t anyone found him yet? Why was he still here, forgotten like trash? I only continued to swim up before hitting the surface taking in deep breaths of air. The stranger whom I now will call Dead Man was sitting by the edge dipping a stick in the water; he stared longingly at the bush. “I found him.” I didn’t want him to know that I knew that he was dead; I didn’t want a vengeful spirit on my ass.

 

“TAK!” He cried out before hugging me tightly, I could feel his rotting flesh rub against my clothing but I only held on tighter, no one deserved to end up like he had; near the bottom of the ocean.

 

“I’m going to bring him up alright?” The dead man simply nodded and pulled away before cheering me on as I dove back in. I was going to need encouragement with this. As I made it back to were the body was laying, lifeless, I grabbed onto his free hand that had minimal deterioration, it was soft and squishy, I only pulled harder somewhat afraid of breaking off the bloated limp but surprise, surprise I had done it. He was finally free from the thin branches. I pulled him up with me, so he could taste the sweet air of life once more, but this time he would not breath it in himself.

 

As I made it back to the Dead Man I watched as his smile began to falter once more, his eyes on his own body, a lifeless but not meaningless corpse. Everyone needed a second chance even after death.

 

“T-thank you…” He murmured out, his eye was glazed over, he gazed up to the moon this time with a gracious half smile. “I’m sorry.”

 

“Excuse me?” I questioned the Dead Man; he looked over to me before holding his hand out to the body.

 

“You can sit him by that over grown bush where he died, a proper resting place.” I nodded and carefully brought the body over to the bush and laid him down. The Dead Man held onto me gently and kissed my forehead softly before letting me go and walking over to the body where it lay. “Thank you…. for everything, I can finally go to them.” I sent him a warm smile he sat by the body. They really were the same person; I wonder what happened to him. “I’ll be going now, they left me here and now I need to get back.” He held his hand up, I waved and blinked, and he was gone once again this time not appearing randomly elsewhere rather to find whoever he was looking for. I was happy to have helped, at least half way. The corpse had begun to turn to ash and eventually was blown into the air, off to some far off distant land, perhaps with its previous inhabitance.

 

I stood up and looked out to the sea, watching as the moon soon began to dip under the horizon as the morning sun began to take flight, it was beautiful. I smiled to myself before walking back over to my hotel, this time, not as lonely as before.

 

 

End