Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

?What do any of us want Denholm?? Cyanquille had said. ?We want to w or k. We
want happiness and w e want to spend time doing the things w e w ould do. Ther e
ar e not such gr eat differ ences betw een the living and the dead as you might
imagine. Per haps w e become a canvas upon w hich the living may paint the fear s of
their super stitious lives. Per haps in dismissing the dead, the living can feel mor e
alive and less fear ful of the limits of their ow n inevitable demise.? Cyanquille and
the dead had spoken w ith passion and conviction.
Denholm felt smaller and mor e humble than he was w ont to in business usually.
He lear ned mor e about life fr om the dead and mor e about himself in that one night
than in all those that had gone befor e. Their passion fed his passion and his passion
fed his ow n dr eams. His dr eams then dar ed to find for m, almost as easily as a ghost
might, fr om a cloud or a mountain fog.
?People judge us and judge us w r ongly,? Cyanquille had ar gued. ?They seek to
make of us w hat they want. They r ar ely ask w hat you have, Denholm, ?What do w e
want??Ever yw her e, in this land and elsew her e, they find w or ds to tr y and descr ibe
us, as if they may w r ap the w or ds ar ound us and contr ol us in the way a deser t
conjur or might tr ap a genie in a bottle. The w or ds of the living ar e fear ful and
inadequate. We ar e not w hat they w ould call us. We ar e not Easter n ?mer ikonville?,
childish ghosts, nor Amer ican ?polter geists?, angr y adolescent spir its. We ar e simply
the dead. And it is our conjectur e that this should be no bar to w or king har d, and
having a good...how should I put it Mr. Denholm? A good life.?
Denholm had paused for a moment and r eplied in kind.
?I am the living, Cyanquille. Per haps it is our fate to have w or ds that still have
the pow er of life w ithin them. It is a consequence that those w ith pow er , even those
that w ould tr y to use pow er w isely, ar e condemned to misuse it by accident or
design. You do r emind me of descr iptions I have hear d of the dead.
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