Thursday, July 22, 2021

Tune of the Dead: Short Story

 Tune of the dead:

There it stood, holding a femur and a tibia in an odd position, yet still with grace and poise; a position commonly seen in violinist. Robed from skull to phalanges, dark as the ever-present nothingness of eternity; one piece of rope to hold whatever cloth and structure it could manage. Balancing what could be considered a body in an awkward posture as it revelled with its makeshift fiddle; tilting its head sideways as the impossible notes appear to be made from the grazing of the bones. Although no facial expressions were seen, it was clear as day that remorse was not one of them, nor was joy, melancholy perhaps.

            One body, two bodies, three bodies, four. The essence of decay and spirituality, mind, and soul, separating into what is understood as death. Motionless, speechless, blinded, deaf, and tasteless. Five bodies, six bodies, seven bodies more. Unceremonious and ugly laid the corpses, peering into the past before it ventures into the afterlife. The scent of the intoxicating rum, the sweet aroma of mead, the bitterness of wine, the smouldering vapours of whiskey, the effervescence of beer. Glass cups scattered in tables and on the floor without the hope of ever getting back together as one. The faint scent of tobacco smoke drifting aimlessly, unable to find a host to irritate.

            Death looming and counting as the manufactured Devil’s instrument gave a symphony to the departed. A slight dissonance in acoustic reverberations, but no one was the wiser to argue. Diabolus in musica and its respective notes demanding to reach someone, waiting for an ear to be lent. Not evil, but the end in progress.

            “Que les feuilles tombent et que les âmes se reposent pendant que je danse avec le macabre. Que le temps progresse et que les fleurs s'épanouissent, car nous devons embrasser la mort.”