I was happier than most to escape the city of death.

My journey through had been long and arduous. The initial weaving between the worried and bedraggled masses taking longer than expected. There were more arrivals than last the decade when i was here last. It was a combination of some ingenious idea to start a trend of collecting venomous snakes and not-so-shockingly another war. This one in particular was between two previously peaceful neighbours. Apparently there was an untasteful comment from one side about how an archbishop's mother on the other made record profits from largely horizontal employment... It triggered a wider discourse on which side had larger hotdogs which of course escalated to the dusting off of the ceremonial cannon balls and pointy metal sticks. As such i get to enjoy the great honour of rush hour traffic.

I darted into a quiet side street grateful for the cold embrace of undisturbed fog. I fished out my coins, enjoying the way they clinked between my bony fingers. The door to the shop was appropriately rusty, pleasantly creaky, and nicely mold speckled. I cast my empty sockets across the spiderwebbed shelves looking for something in particular. Upon spotting it i gleefully hopped over and took it to the shop keep. He was a ghastly fellow, maggot crawling from a flap of cheek next to his chunk of missing skull, complete lack of manners! He did all but scoff at my comment on how the infrastructure was going to struggle with so many new souls. I was just being nice! Making polite conversation with someone who seemed by all estimates utterly miserable. The dead these days are so rude.

I pondered about which way i should take home. The ghostly carriages were up and running but slightly too packed for my liking and i didn't really have enough coin for the whole trip anyway. I could go back the way i had come in, shuddering at the thought. Tunnel network it was. I didn't mind having the dirt between my bones anyway. I carried my happy purchase safely hugged to my ribcage the whole way home. Opening the trapdoor, I nestled back into my coffin. Delighted with my new pillow, i drifted off to a peaceful rest.