His screams fit in with the caws from the sky of birds above. I sat there and just listened waiting for something to happen as I had no idea how long I had been here for.

Eventually, everything became white noise and my eyes started closing until I could no longer keep them open and I drifted off to sleep.

I woke up to the static of a tv.

I thought that maybe in my drunken mess I left it on and the islands and pig men and that strange man were all a vivid dream.

However, the first sight of the morning ruined that thought as the strange man from yesterday hitting a TV with static on its screen until somehow a weather forecast appeared on the screen.

He then sat back in a recliner chair that wasn't there yesterday. I wish that was what I could focus on,

however, he was wearing the same bathrobe from the day before and it seemed to be a little more than just loose.

His mighty third leg was relaxing in the cool breeze of the morning as he left it out strong and proud, however, at the same time quite flaccid and had no signs of a little thing called nocturnal penile tumescence.

Another saying that might fit would be there was no wood in this morning.

I turned my eyes away in shock as he noticed that I woke up.

He laughed and said, “sorry about that sight, how about I put on something more comfortable for your eyes today?”.

I heard the sound of clothing ruffling as I tried to burn the previous sight out of my eyes. He eventually told me to turn around.

I was greeted by the same disheveled man as before except this time with sunglasses and a tropical shirt with open buttons that was blue with yellow pineapples on it.

He was also wearing khakis, shorts, and sandals.

I also noticed he was still somehow sitting reclined in the chair as if he never got up to change. It felt as if he was trying to match the vibe of the very early morning sun.

The man clapped his hands as if he noticed me eyeing his outfit and he said: “Anyways you have a long day ahead of you and a lot to learn so let’s start early shall we?”.

He slowly pulled up his reclining chair and turned the tv off. He then went to sit on the same rock from yesterday and offered me to sit in the reclining chair he was just sitting in.

I politely declined as thinking about sitting in the chair that his ball sweat just dripped into didn’t sound too appealing. I chose to sit on the floor.

I decided to wait until he started talking as I still remember his anger from last night and was cautious of him.

He pulled a protein bar out of his pocket and threw it to me. I grabbed it and he gently said “it's breakfast”. I made sure the protein bar hadn’t been tampered with.

After seeing that it wasn't opened anywhere I couldn’t resist my hunger as I had not eaten last night. I chomped down on the bar quickly causing me to choke on my last few bites.

A water bottle rolled on the floor to my foot. I looked at the strange man and drank it after making sure it hadn’t been opened.

I hated being suspicious of someone who showed me this much kindness, however honestly at this moment I felt as If I should only trust myself.

After I finished the water, silence filled the air again.

In an almost impatient manner, I started talking as the silence made me awkward. “Last night I had a weird dream about these strange crows that filled the sky and a crow who said he was going to eat me or something. It feels a little faded now but I remember how real it felt.”

He listened to me as I spoke before saying “you must have met Mr. Crow last night, hopefully, you won’t see them again in the rest of your time here”.

His response made me curious and I tried to speak, however, he held his hand up as if to say he would not answer any question which frustrated me a bit.

He sighed and said

“I'm afraid that I may have caused a bad first impression of myself last night, however at the moment, I do not have time to tell you about it.

There are more important things that I must tell you. In a few moments, you will follow the path out of here to the run-down church deep in the forest.

You will stay there until the seventh bell rings and then you will come back here following the path; however you cannot return earlier as I won't let you in, do you understand?.”

I wanted to ask more questions, however, I had a gut feeling that this information could save my life so I just nodded my head and kept listening.

He then continued to say

“Good, now then the most important part.

I promise you that if you can manage to follow these ten rules I can promise that you will make it out of here alive.”

I gulped nervously as the thought of death filled my mind. Without paying much heed to my nervousness he continued on

“First, One hour before the bell rings every day at noon nothing can kill you other than another human.

Secondly do not eat any meat of any sort while you are here.

Third, do not commit sin.

Fourth, never sleep outside the church.

Fifth, Don’t ever look at other people outside of the church.

SIx, do not trust those who oinks, caw, purr, screech, even if they look human.

Seventh, once the seventh bell rings do not return to the church, run here immediately even at the cost of others.

Eighth do not discuss our meeting with those who you are not certain of their humanity.

Ninth never walk without a weapon whether that be a stick, knife. or guns always be able to defend yourself.

Tenth if you hear the cluck of a chicken run as fast as you can however if it is the sound of a rooster stand still and close your eyes as if you see it you die if you run you die, if you make a sound you die if you flinch you die if you do not stand perfectly still you die.

After the sounds stop count to one hundred and forty-five and run immediately back to the church or if the seventh bell has rang run to me. Did you get all of that?”.

As he finished talking I looked down to process the information and realized I was encircled by strange red symbols.