Death, come close to me.

A Story by Matthew Soliguen

Death is not as bad as he seems.

"Is it my time?" the old man asked me. He stared at me, his hands shaking in fear.

I give him a swift nod.

"Oh, but my children will miss me. Give me more time." he bargained.

"No." I told him. He sighed.

"I suppose I lived a good life. Quick Death, take me." he answered.

I raised my scythe as he closed his eyes, and with a swift gesture, I cut the tether that held his soul to his body.

"Goodbye old man." I whispered in the lifeless hospital room.

I've spent decades staying near hospitals. This is where people come to die. Or prolong it. Life would also stay near hospitals, using most of her power to desperately keep these people alive.

"What for?" I'd asked her. "They would die anyway. Let them."

She'd shake her head. "Not yet Death. Not yet."

Still, she doesn't stop me from claiming them eventually. Most, if not all, greet me with fear. Others greet me like an old friend. They saw me before, but Life would always stand in the way. She almost always does.

I walked towards her as she held the hands of a dying woman.

"Hang on, Lucette, you'll live." she says, but I can see that she's desperate to keep her living.

"Stand back Life." I told her, stepping near the bed.

"Please Death, not now." she pleaded, but my scythe was already raised. She gave a small gasp as I cut off Life from her.

Then she'd cry. She always does. I wonder, what does she see in these people? I see them as mere corpses, for me to extract. To bring to the afterlife. I left her, as she cried on the bed the flat line of the machine dulling other noises.

I stood atop a huge building. Looking at the view, I can still claim the souls. I am one, but I am also many.

"Why Death!" Life screamed behind me. She gripped the cloth on what I suppose would be my neck, and shook it. Her eyes filled with sadness and anger.

"She had so much to live for, and you just go in there, taking lives like they don't matter!" she screamed.

I'd stare at her. She always does this. She always becomes angry, when I do what I exist for.

"Tell me Life, why do you exist?" I asked.

"To make people live, to make sure that they live well!" she replied in anger.

"And what about the people on the streets? The homeless ones? The ones forgotten by society?" I replied.

She loosened her grip.

"They live their life, calling my name, begging me to take them. They have nothing to live for and yet you insist they live and suffer." I told her.

She let go of my cloth.

"What are you really here for Life? To make them live happy lives? Or to just keep them living?" I asked.

She was silent.

"Well I know what I'm here for. To claim them, to end this mockery that they call living. These people fear me Life, yet they know they can't run. I am the truth Life. If you are the beginning, then I am the middle and the end." I explained.

She sat on a concrete block, putting her hands on her face and sobbed.

"You can't keep them all alive, Life. You can't."

I walked near a huge building when I felt a strong force. A mark for Death. Someone was to die.

I neared a hospital, and the force grew stronger. Then I entered a room, where a baby was placed on what seems to be an aquarium-looking device. Tubes ran forth from her body, to machines. Life was already here, holding the baby's arms, smiling, trying to comfort the dead.

She saw me, and Immediately cried.

"No! No! You are not claiming this one!" she screamed.

"She's marked. I don't have a choice." I replied.

She ran towards, me and tried to hit me with a punch, in which I stepped sidewards, and made her slip on the floor.

"Death, please, I beg you! She's so young! I can see potential in her!" she screamed.

"That's what you always say. And you know where they end up?" I knelt beside her and whispered softly "They end up as the dust they were made from."

This time she didn't even try to stop me.

"Do it you heartless monster!" she screamed as she walked out the door. I can see her sitting on one chair, sobbing silently, waiting for the inevitable.

I walked towards her. And as I raised my scythe, she opened her eyes. Blue, like the skies. Like water, like rain.

I readied myself to kill her when she gave me a toothless smile. I lowered my scythe. What am I doing? She should be dead by now. Then the machine went beeping, and she started to cry. No one came, I could feel the doctors above me, trying to resuscitate a dying man. She cried louder.

I held her hand, and willed the pain to me. I felt her suffering, she can't breathe, her bones are too brittle, and her heart too weak to keep her alive. She must die.

Life watched me as I walked out the door.

"Are you happy monster?" she asked.

"For the first time in my existence, I am Life. And I cherish it." I replied.

Life walked in the room, to see the lifeless baby I presume.

And I heard her squeal in delight.

She ran to me, and hugged me tight.

"Why Death? What made you change your mind?" she asked.

"She reminds me of you Life. A beautiful girl that is born with something that will give her pain." I replied.

"But that won't stop her, now, would it?"

She hugged me again, and together we went inside, talking about what kind of life she will have.

Live, I whispered to her. Live.