Some things are easy to loose.

Mental sanity is one of them.

It starts with counting the beans on your plate and ends with running around with a sword, a rotten potato and talking with flying eggs only you can see.

All it takes is a little push and people tend to break.

Some try to kill themselves.

Some take an gun and start shooting into the air.

Expect this particular one had a sword. And he didn't tried to stab the air.

His name was Herbert.

And at the moment he was standing in front of a parting of the way. One street leaded to a town. The other into the woods.

It wasn't raining. It was pouring. He was wet to his bones.

He stood still his eyes darting hectically between the two signs. He had to make a decision. He wasn't good at making decision.

In his head existed just two answers to deal with the questions the world just wouldn't stop throwing at him. The first one was killing. The other one was waiting and then killing.

This concept didn't really worked here.

Herbert hesitated. Everything that didn't required the direct use of his sword needed certain abilities Herbert didn't possessed.

In this case it was the ability to read.

''Foooreee.'' His mouth tried to make out the letter that looked like a little snake. 'Fohe_.'' he decided to ignore that one. The next letters was familiar. ''t'' he tried, slightly satisfied at the right sounding of the letter.

''Fore_t.'' he mumbled. He waited for a minute as if to give the word the chance to reveal its meaning. Nothing happened.

His eyes wandered to the other sign. He stared at the first letter then slowly turned his face to the side. ''Smiling mouth?'' he mumbled confused. The next letter was a ''I.'' and then a ''t.''

The last one stayed a riddle even after several attempts of trying to decode it.

He gave up and followed the path leading into the ''Fore_t''

After completely destroying the sign. Later he discovered that the letter that looked like like a small snake was a s. And he met Dennis for the first time. On his list the letter thing ranked higher.

The first thing Herbert noticed about Dennis was that his head was formed like a potato.

The first Dennis noticed about Herbert was the blood.

It went down from here.

''Your heads look like a potato.'' ''Your clothes are bloody.'' They both started at each. Herbert slowly lifted his sword. ''Do you want to die?'' he asked. Dennis flinched back. ''No?'' he wished it wouldn't sound like a question. Questions suggested multiple choices. ''Well you will. Maybe. Your head really looks like a potato.'' Dennis wondered if he should answer that question. ''And your head looks like a bean?'' his voice trailed off when he saw Herbert's eyes. ''I mean yes. My head looks like a potato.'' Herbert still had his sword raised. ''I don't want to die.'' Herbert quickly repeated. Herbert quietly started at him. Dennis didn't know what the glance meant. Judging from the dried blood stains on the sword it probably wasn't anything good.

''Your head looks like a potato.'' Herbert talked slowly like he was thinking closely about every word he used. ''I like potatoes.'' he mumbled. Dennis more and more got the feeling that he was talking more with himself then Dennis. ''Okay.'' he seemed to have come up with a decision. Dennis hoped it didn't involved the sword. ''I'll kill you.'' he looked at the man grinning happily. Dennis mind tried to come up with an escape route but everyone ended with a sword in his stomach. ''Later.'' he added. ''Come potato head. Can you read?'' Herbert turned around. ''Follow me potato-head-man.'' It wasn't a threat Dennis realized. It was a man obvious to the fact that somebody might not do what he wanted.
Mad man, he decided. A really mad man.
You're in good company then, the first egg flying around his head said. He tried to ignore it.
That's good. Ignore the flying egg. It's not real, said the second flying egg.

The third said nothing.

Dennis sighed. ''What's the letter called that looks like a turned-around smile?'' Herbert asked. ''Ahh a c?'' ''Good.'' Herbert hesitated. ''Do you know how to get blood out of clothes?'' Dennis flinched and turned around. ''You know somehow people always turn their backs on me. It's made it easier for me to stab them.'' At again it didn't sounded like a threat. If the subject matter would be more boring it could even be considered small-talk.

Better follow him, the third flying egg said quietly.

Dennis nodded. Better. Right. Better. I'll die right?

You will, said the first flying egg.

You won't, said the second.

The third said nothing.

Dennis sighed again. ''My name is Dennis.'' he said. ''My name is Herbert. Herbert Gunther Kressmayer. I like potatoes. Do you like potatoes?''
''I think.''

They walked through the forest. Dennis couldn't see if they were following a path. It was getting dark and though it seemed impossible it also seemed to rain harder.
''That's good.'' Herbert stopped. He looked up, stared for a second into the sky. Then he turned around and looked at Dennis, who throw his sword an anxious glance.
''Do you know where were are potato-man?''