I'm riding through the desert on a camel clearly older than anything else there. Vengence is in my heart and a bloody sword in my hand. I’ve done something, I am not certain what it is, but one thing is sure: I have no idea what the hell is going on. My camel has gone as far as he could have, and died....damn, he was only one day away from retirement.

I take a nap on the shady side of his rotting carcass.

Out for what seems no longer than two minutes, I open my eyes to see an Indian standing over me, wearing only paint on his face and a skimpy little number around his unmentionables. He’s holding my sword in one hand and a tomahawk in the other

He jams my sword into the dead camel's body. Hot, red violence paints his face... He doesn’t blink. He reaches out to assist me, I take his hand and he brings me to my feet. He speaks to me in a language no civilized person has ever heard. He speaks of everything, saying nothing—sage, wise beyond his years. He has told me the meaning of life, but there's more to say, apparently.

"One should know why they are here before they die...."

Those words now uttered, he swings his tomahawk at me and catches my arm. I have no idea why he’s gone apeshit but I’m not going to wait for an explanation. I pull my sword out from my dead camel and catch him deep in the chest, he falls to the ground

"You killed my son" he tells me, coughing up blood. "A curse I put on your soul"

"I have no soul" I reply as I end his life with his tomahawk.

I take everything on his person and stumble into the bleak future of this barren land. I see myself slowing dying....trying to go on looking for something that can save my wretched life. I’ve finished the last of the indian's water and the last of his food. I cant help but laugh, soft and mad, insane and free. Sleep is what I need, so I can go painlessly. Under a joshua tree, my body wastes away.

Sleep... Sleep... If only it were that simple.

I have no soul, my madman's mind screams, a short track set on repeat. I have no soul.

       

Written by :

edwin contreras