Chapter 1

Who am I? I was a nobody. I had never wanted any goals in life and sought no pleasure. I never felt happy, I never felt sad. I had dreams but they were never special. All I ever did want in life is be left alone. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate other people, it's just that I don't want them in my business and I don't want to get in their business. If I do, then we would get close and then that pain will return. That pain is so fierce that I would never want anyone to experience that pain because of me.

I have no relatives that are left alive. The last time I saw them, Dad was gone and soon my mom and two siblings left this mortal realm when the house burnt down. It was a long time ago and I was young then. I don't remember how young but I remember that I was still a child. I remember that I was the oldest of my siblings. I remember Dad leaving us to fend for ourselves. I remember mom getting sick leaving me to take care of the family.

I remember trying to teach myself how to fish in the river nearby for weeks until I finally caught my first Bass. It made me so happy that I could finally provide food for my younger siblings and sick mother. I remember having to carve out a tombstone for each of them and place them in the graveyard that I work at. Those were the most painful days of my life. Every time I slept, a nightmare would return and torment me. It was always the same thing over and over and over again.

The nightmare was the day I accidentally burnt down our cabin with the rest of my family. It felt like I was there again, at the same time, at the same place. I was so careless then I was playing with sparks in our basement. I remember running away while the fire I made was still going. I remember all the gasoline dripping from our broken chainsaw that I tried to repair. I remember running outside to fish for dinner and returning to see a burning cabin.

I knew I could not put out the fire on my own so I ran to our rusty van and drove it to town to alert the fire department. I remember accidentally crashing into a firetruck then blacking out. That is the part of the nightmare where I would always wake up from. Since then, I could never remember anything else besides the fact that my mom loved to talk about death, that day and a few fishing and cooking techniques, and everything I mentioned earlier.

Everything else before that are forgotten memories. So tonight I had the same dream. Who I am is all based on that. What's my name? I had a name, but that was burnt along with my family that day. Now, I am just a Deadman walking.