Dark Rider

Yes, I have seen him.
The dark cloaked one.
He has already taken three that I loved.
I see him.
Creeping in the darkness.
Flitting across my subconscious.
Knowing of his presence.
Smelling his derision of humanity.
Feeling his fetid breath at my heels.
Smelling the rot of a thousand corpses on his breath.
No...
It cannot be.
I cannot be next.
I cannot join the three.
What is the price that I have to pay?
To live and see another day?
I stare into the blackness of his cloak,
Knowing that his white horse was not far behind.
I realigned my thought and prayed that I had a shot.
Of living.
I closed my eyes and felt him pass,
For alas, it was not I who he was asked to take.
For someone else it was the end and what a bitter fate.
For it was not going to end sweetly, nor neatly.
For the task of this grim creature was to take the soul to a place of harsh judgment.