COURIER IN THE BIRD MASK

TRIGGER WARNINGS child death, suicide, abuse, plague, sickness, breakdowns, first person, spouse death, starvation

Day One

Today ended in a panic. Rumors started to circulate that the end is near. Let me explain. 

           Five years ago, there was a pest. A plague. Five years ago, I was fifteen. I lost both of my parents to this plague. This plague, the Sand Pest, would kill you if you caught it. There was no cure, no chance that you could live if you caught it. It would tear you apart inside, it would maim you and it would break you. 

The symptoms are cruel- I watched firsthand as my parents died from the sick. I saw it all, first you’d feel your skin dry up. That’s where the “Sand” part of Sand Pest came from. Your skin would feel like sand, gritty and cracking. It would become unbearable and you’d scratch at it, there would be welts that would pop up under that newly scratched flesh, bubbling and simmering underneath your skin to the point it felt like bugs. Bugs consuming you as you whimpered, groaned and felt your muscles spasm. 

You’d start to hallucinate, which might be one of the worst symptoms- you’d hear this voice, this deep, gravelly voice, overlayed with a feminine one, tell you that you don’t have long left. It’d whisper to you- 

“Your lips crack, a feverish embrace holding you. That’s me, you feel. Me. Take my kiss, embrace me… I am not your foe. Do not push me away, I love you. You need me, and I need you. I complete you. Flies… rats… blood… skin… flesh… cold… hot… all of it is us. There is so much more to us, there is so much more to you. You are me, I am you. You are part of me, the hive mind of the plague. You will be loved, you will love me, and everyone else will love you… .” 

Everyone reports the same voice whispering into their ear, everyone reported the same theme being put across, and yet no one listens to it deeper other than the indigenous tribe that the town was built on.

The Kin are a group of people that worship this mother Buddho… their rituals would be rhythmic dancing in the fields, listening to her heartbeat as they dance to a melody-less beat. They would sacrifice bulls to the mother as women would be wed to the Earth, giving up their innocence to please the Mother. Mother Buddho… or Mother Earth as she is called, would reward them with twyre. 

A mystical herb that remedies ailments of all kinds.

They’re immune to the sickness- at least the Herb Brides are.

If there really is another outbreak… I’m not sure how we will cope. Isidor Burakh- the town doctor- the town’s only doctor- will have to administer enough of the cure to prevent a pandemic. I’d offer to visit him tomorrow but I’m sure he’s swamped with work. The thought of the sandpest tears me apart. I lost my family to this plague and I spent the last five years picking myself back up, and yet- I don’t want to be strong, like they said I was. I don’t want to have to do this again- god, families dying, losing their parents or sisters or brothers- do you think I want to see people lose their families like I did?! 

I’m not a doctor, nigh, I am an author. One of the few people in town that can read. Do you think I can help them? They’ll all suffer… I can’t do anything.

15:00 update: The plague has been all but confirmed. A traveler has come to our town, a doctor… Daniil Dankovsky. I’ve heard of him, but I have not yet caught a glimpse of the Bachelor. In horrid news, one that sinks any hope I had, Isidor Burakh is dead. That’s all I know. I hear my neighbors scurrying about, they’re heading to the nearest grocery store to stock up on food in the light of this pandemic. I am too. I can’t write more, god, this panic is eating me alive, like the flies do to twyre. I don’t want to do this again.

I can’t be this monster anymore. 

Last Sand Pest- I was but a watcher. I didn’t help cure it, I didn’t catch it. I only watched my parents die from it, like a bird on the rooftop, too afraid to join in on the mayhem. To try and help.

Damn this birdcage of a town, give me back to the ground where dandelions and dirt lay, cover me in mud and rocks and free me from this damn town!

TO-BUY

FOOD

• Bread x3 
• Canned veg x2
• Fish x10 
• Eggs x12
• Kashk x3
• Pemmican x12
• Coffee Beans x3
• Nuts (to trade)

Check all trashcans for glass bottles, fill with water. 

BUY MEDICINE.