I watched the flames lick and hiss at the logs above it; slowly growing as it devoured and destroyed it's source of life. I grabbed a plate of food that was sitting on the table behind me and proceeded to dump it's contents [a handful of mushrooms and a piece of bread] into the fire. The piece of bread flopped on top of one of the logs while the mushrooms proceeded to roll off in all directions. They charred rather slowly and after a moment of observing them I lifted my eyes to the room.

I had decided to stay at the Brill Inn until I figured out what I wanted to do. I had no plans, no memories, nowhere to go, no reason for anything, really. It continued to bother me but at the same time, the undeads' words kept replaying in my head. 'You can't do anything about it. So, you can either stay mad at the world or you can take it for what it is and lighten up.' I know there's nothing I can do. I know that. But, at the same time I'm still just...just...angry. I'm pissed off. Being pissed off may not do anything but how much good would prancing around like an ignorant fuck do? It was all the same in my head. No matter what I did, nothing would change. I'd still just be a dead guy who didn't know who the hell he was or where the hell he was supposed to go from here.

"Hey! Did you mess with my food?"

I turned and saw a pale green undead woman standing next to the table where I had grabbed the plate. She was staring right at me, else I would've just ignored it.

"Just cooked it for you." I replied; nodding my head towards the fire.

"Jerk..." she said before turning on her heel and heading out of the inn; her robes dragging along behind her bare feet.

I chortled to myself. Jerk, huh? Guess I should get used to that. I've yet to meet another man around here that wasn't a complete ass. Though, I guess that's to be expected when you round up a bunch of dead guys, bring them back to life and force them to function with no idea of what the fuck they're doing.

My thoughts were interrupted as someone sat down next to me. The guy looked like he had experienced one hell of a death. His lower jaw was hanging off it's hinge, there were several holes poked into his face and he wore a strip of black cloth around his eyes. He held a bowl of mushrooms in his lap and I watched as he proceeded to pick them out and toss them into his mouth one at a time.

"Is there even any point in eating food?" I asked curiously.

"Not really," he grunted. "Just something to do, I guess."

"When did you get here?" I questioned. I'm not sure why I was wanting to talk to him. I guess after having no company but my own mind for the last several hours it was actually sort of nice talking to someone.

"A few weeks ago," he said; setting the bowl of mushrooms down onto the floor and wiping his hands onto his tattered shirt.

"Ahh, I got here just today."

He nodded slowly. "Like it so far?"

I just stared at him a moment as if he was the biggest dumbfuck I had ever seen. 'Like it so far?' Fuck. Really? What kind of question was that. Who the hell would like this? I swallowed quietly and clasped my hands together in front of me. "No, " I said honestly. "Not at all. Do you?"

"What the hell do you think?" he laughed. "But, despite how shitty it is. There are some upsides."

"And the upsides would be...?" I asked; raising my eyebrow at him.

'Well," he began, "You don't have to worry about eating or drinking. You can't get drunk. Don't have to worry about protection with the ladies, since we can't reproduce, and you don't need to sleep," he finished.

I pondered everything he said a moment. "Some of those are alright I guess. Still doesn't make up for...this," I waved my hand around the room and at myself and him.

"Yea well. No one said it would." he cackled.

I sighed and returned my gaze back to the flames. I couldn't make heads or tails of the food I had tossed in and the logs at this point had shrunk quite significantly.

"You should smile more."

I cast a sideways glance at him, "What?" The guy had to be kidding. Smile more? While I'm here? Fat chance.

"People always told me I didn't smile enough," he said, as if he was recalling a memory from long ago. "I still didn't though. I feel like this is my second chance to do just that."

I froze for a second; taking in what he said. "Wait...when you were alive people told you that?" I asked; suddenly a thousand times more interested in hearing what this stranger had to say.

"Indeed."

"Wait...," I said in disbelief. "You...you remember something from when you were alive?"

"Yea. It happens sometimes," he said. "A memory will sometimes just come back to you."

"Is there anything you can do to sort of...well...I guess trigger memories?" I asked quickly.

"It's usually just random. Although, people and places have been known to pull a thing or two from a person's subconscious." he explained.

I nodded slowly as I took this in. Maybe there was hope then? I wouldn't count on it...but I had to admit it did give me a bit of hope. And maybe that was a bad thing to have right now, but it gave me something to look forward to and having something to look forward to would help restore some of my sanity no doubt.