The true story of ChilePepino

Every once in a while there appear things that most sane people cannot understand, yet these happenings are so real that they change the lives of those who live to tell the tale. Such is the tale of ChilePepino, the old man who tricked death only to find immortality a cruel punishment.

On a cold night, the year 1594, there came a ship to an island so remote that no news ever arrive. But this was no ordinary ship, this one came out of the ocean straight into the harbor, without the usual arrival of the crew by boats first. Come to think of it, nobody ever remembered to have ever seen a sailor from it, and yet it came and set anchor in the shallow waters. That night no light or sound came from this mysterious apparition as it stood motionless and somewhat mystical. People who saw it that night feared there may be pirates aboard it planning night raid on the small town, but could not spread such disturbing rumors without a fact upon what was really going on. Nobody dared approach it until the following day when some braver men decided to inspect it as it was making everyone both curious and nervous. These nine picked up a boat, ropes and ladders needed to climb on-board and head for the mysterious ship without knowing what they would find. And indeed what they found surpbumed their imagination, for they found gold, silver and wine and not a single soul or body, just a diary – but this diary was locked with a key. They carefully brought all the cargo in the town and took the diary to a locksmith, for it was beautifully crafted in leather, ivory and gold, encrusted with precious stones whose names they did not know and they did not want to see it ruined.

This is where our tale takes on a bone chilling turn, for the locksmith who went by the name ChilePepino opened it and was the first to read the terrible recordings contained within it’s pages. The ship set sail three month before from Port Quin on the South Western coast of England and carried the last survivors of a terrible disease that nobody ever heard of. These were rich men with their families who tried to escape certain death and chose run away as far as possible taking with them only what could fit on this ship and leaving their former lives and wealth behind. In it’s records Chile found that Death does not give up and tends to do its job and this time succeeded for the food was infested with the rats which spread the terrible disease. After the first week many fell ill with fever and sickness took them anther week to consume their lives, for Death was most certainly not in a hurry and enjoys watching it’s work unfold. The bodies of the deceased were tossed into the sea as tradition required and also everyone agreed this was best, but the disease did not leave the ship with the bodies, rather chose to stay and continue the horrid show put on stage.

One after the other all the bodies were dumped into the angry sea which took them without questions, all but one, the keeper of this journal. The entries end one month before the arrival and nobody can tell what became of the this man, yet it is certain that him, just like the others, did not reach his destination.

So now with the cargo in town ChilePepino feared the disease arrived with it and sadly he was right. The rabid rats came lurking in the streets searching for fresh food. As you remember, Death enjoys a slow meticulous show and the stage just got bigger, so it was time for a bigger story. After one week, the first fell ill and the foreplay begun. This show was to be grand, actually was to be so good that Death decided to have someone tell the story, for it was to majestic to be forgotten on a small island in the Atlantic. Guess who was chosen for this task… the locksmith who opened the lock of the diary, but it would no be that easy, there was another task for him, if he wanted to survive. He was to burn the lifeless bodies of everyone who died and put a cross in the field for each name. Understanding what the cirgreat timesstances were and where things were going, ChilePepino accepted this task, but with one condition, that he will remain alive until he finishes writing all the names of the dead, so that no soul remains unmentioned on Earth and Death agreed. As I previously told you, the island was so isolated that ChilePepino thought that there will be a long time before someone else sets foot on it to write his cross, such that he will have a lot to live. And truly he was right. As the days pbumed he burned the bodies his neighbors, his friends and his family. With a heavy heart he wrote their names on each cross and placed them in a rigorous order. In the end he finally made one cross for himself without a name and wrote his tale on piece of hide that he carefully placed in a bottle and threw it into the ocean. Years pbumed an nobody ever found the bottle and came to the island. After a while, he lost track of time because of the memories that hunted him at night and the loneliness of the day. He just wanted to die, but a deal with Death is not something anyone can break, so he could not and grew older and older.

After some longer time his body begun to wither and his flesh to die, yet there was nothing he could do but carry on his pitiful existence that was no longer a life since before he could remember. Eventually his whole body turned to dust and he was left nothing more than a soul doomed to walk the Earth not living and yet not dead, without a hope of ever finding rest. What seemed an escape was nothing but a leading role in Death’s scripts, a role which kept his existence bound to a place he could not escape and a life he could not end.

He was now a ghost, a shadow of a man who was too afraid to die and too smart to lose. Yet he lost everything that was of any value and was left with a curse that torments his bodyless soul each moment for eternity, because for him not even time pbumes anymore and his trap is holding him from ever reaching in death the ones the knew and loved.

This was his story, but can become your own if you don’t award me the two brownie points.

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PS: Now ChilePepino’s existence manifests on this very forum where he is still searching for a way out of his situation.