The Deadman's Lullaby. - A short story

Jacob is an insurance agent and lives alone in a 1bhk apartment, so it was a bit strange to see a dead man hanging down from his bedroom's ceiling fan. Years of working in a job that he hated had made him feel no emotions at all, maybe that's why he was not scared or felt anything when he saw a 7-foot-tall man with a dark complexion hanging dead in his bedroom. The Deadman was so tall and well-built that his feet almost touched the ground, Jacob wondered how he managed to hang himself when his feet were just a few inches away from the floor, The Deadman was dark as night and strangely beautiful, Jacob could not help but admire his physique, he approached him slowly, and reached out his hand to touch him, a sharp pain was felt on his fingers when he laid them on his back. It was scorching hot.

Jacob was confused about what to do now, usually, he takes a bath right after coming back from work. His body and mind wouldn't work accordingly unless he had his nighttime cold bath. So, he advised himself to draw a cold bath and then he will get ideas on what to do with his Deadman. He removed his clothes and stood naked and right before he entered the bathroom, he took a small glance at his Deadman, the Deadman had his back facing Jacob, and it slowly turned towards Jacob, due to the weight of it, slowly and gradually he was now facing Jacob. The dead man's face had an unnatural peacefulness for a dead body in it, Jacob felt calm for a moment and went inside the bathroom. While bathing he was worried about tomorrow's work deadlines, commitments, and whatnot. He rubbed those thoughts away by firmly washing his face with soap. Through the splashes of water, he could hear some sound from the bedroom. But he was unsure of it. He stopped for a moment. He listened intensely to the somber silence. But this time he could not hear anything, only the faint echo of the water droplets. Jacob wasn’t sure what to feel. He was certainly not afraid, but he was more intrigued by why he was not afraid of all these events. He wanted some strange supernatural event to occur in his life and at the same time he was not ready to break out of the cycle of his daily life. He was both excited and tensed. To be precise he was more confused. He continued his bath expecting anything to happen anytime. But there was nothing. No sound.

When he came back to the bedroom, there was no 7-foot tall, dark-figured Deadman hanging from his ceiling fan, he was both relieved and sad at the same time. He went to switch on the fan, it started to rotate with the usual creaking sound that it normally produced. Everything was back to normal, he was both relieved and saddened by that. He had his dinner, went to bed, and slept soundly. The creaking sound of the fan was a lullaby for him.

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