At the End of It All

Mirror to Sunrise

Aubrey Lee O’Connor had seen his fair share of Death. Huddled by his mother’s bedside, barely high enough to see her take her final breath, he’d seen him. Kind-eyed and sad, the figure of a man crouched next to him. He rested a hand on Lee’s tiny shoulder. Death. He came with no scythe, no cloak. Just an exhausted man, pitying the living he had to leave behind.

“Your mother will pain no longer, small one,” He’d whispered to him, eyes misty as he regarded the meek boy with great empathy, “It’s time for her to move on. She’ll go with me now.”

“Why?” Lee had prompted, his eyes beginning to sting with newly formed tears. His voice cracked heinously, “Why can’t she stay with us?”

Death looked startled, his eyes wide as he observed him carefully, “You can see me?”

Lee nodded, shrinking down to the floor. Death pursed his lips. Lee guessed he wasn’t supposed to be able to do that. He stood there, mouth agape, for a moment, as if searching for a way to answer the child’s sudden inquiry. “It’s just her time.”

He stood, placing a hand delicately on Lee’s mother’s forehead and brushing a strand of her dark hair, dampened with perspiration, out of her eyes. Her chest stilled. A bright ball of light rose from her open mouth, and Death grasped it tight. He tucked it neatly in his pocket, as though it were a handkerchief.

Lee fumbled with the satin duvet, ripping at threads anxiously. He glanced at his brother, who stared down at the bed blankly from where he was perched in their father's arms, then back at Death. Death smiled anxiously, following the blond’s gaze, “I’m afraid I’ll be seeing you again very, very soon.”

“Wait!” Lee shouted, his bright, pale eyes panicked.
In the blink of an eye, he was gone. It was like he’d just vanished into thin air. Lee didn’t know how ‘soon’ was ‘very, very soon’ to a figure like Death, who was undoubtedly much older than he was, but apparently he’d meant about a decade, because that’s when he next saw him. Three days before his sixteenth birthday. He’d been arguing with Alize when they’d gotten the news. He could barely remember what he was angry about.

His aunt, who’d been watching them for a bit while his father was working, came sulking up the stairs. For a few seconds, they’d continued to quarrel. “Alize! Give it back, I’m serious!”

Lee reached for it pleadingly. His hands grasped empty air.

“You need to focus,” his brother deadpanned, holding his arm out over the railing in a silent threat to drop it, “that assignment is due tomorrow and you haven’t even started yet.”

“Boys.”

“C’mon! Ruby is gonna text me back any second. We’re supposed to see a movie later.”

His brother frowned slightly, which was record-breaking emotion for him. “Oh? Is she your girlfriend or something?”

“Ew! No. Gross! Take that back right now,” Lee demanded, leaning farther so that Alize, who remained looking bored as ever, had to practically fold himself backwards over the side of the railing to keep the phone from him.

“Boys!” His aunt hissed sharply, her voice cracking. They stopped dead in their tracks, turning their heads to look at her. Her expression switched from anger to grief instantly. That was when they learned of their father’s death. He’d been found in his bedroom, blood staining his off-white bed sheets. He’d been stabbed. Murdered. The thought of it made Lee’s heart ache.

He saw Death at the funeral. Lee’s eyes were red and puffy and they stung, but he was able to keep his composure for the most part. He watched his brother calmly walk up and pay his dues. His strawberry blond hair was slicked back, and he was wearing a neat, freshly ironed dress shirt. Lee cursed quietly to himself, rubbing his face. How could Alize be so apathetic at a time like this? He jolted when a voice to his left answered his inner monologue. “Everyone copes differently.”

Lee looked over. One of his hands had subconsciously jumped to rest over his heart and he could feel it drumming harshly against his ribs. Next to him was a boy who appeared to be only a little older than him-- 18 or 19. There was something about him that struck a chord within Lee. After a second, he recognized him. The olive-skinned boy had bags under his eyes as though he hadn’t slept in an eternity, and Lee found himself idly wondering if Death had time, or even the need, to sleep. “What?”

Death leaned forward towards the grief-stricken teenager before him. “Your big brother--”

“We’re twins,” Lee sniffled, wiping his nose on his sleeve in a very ungentlemanly manner. Death graciously said nothing at that, instead opting to press onward.

“My point is, small one,” He said, furrowing his eyebrows at being interrupted, “Tread carefully. Or you’ll regret it.”

Lee ran his fingers through his dyed-red hair, tugging on it to ground himself in reality. His brother sat next to him on the other side, and although he didn’t look the least bit genuinely concerned, asked softly: “Are you alright, Aubrey?”

Lee sharply exhaled, fidgeting. If anyone else were to use his first name, he’d throw a fit. But this was Alize. He glanced at Death out of the corner of his eye, who looked perplexed. “How are you okay with this?”

When Alize didn’t seem to understand, Lee continued, gesturing wildly around them. “With any of this? Dad’s dead. He’s not coming back.”

“Yeah,” Alize said breathlessly, straightening his cuffs thoughtfully, “Yeah, he is, but grieving won’t change that. No amount of sadness will bring... our father back. He’s dead. People die. It’s the way it is.”

Lee realised this was a very analytical, and alarmingly in character, Alize way of viewing it. It made him feel sick.

His bedroom was devoid of a certain bookworm, Lee noted as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. There was a strikingly clean divide between the two halves of the room, each one perfectly capturing the essence of its residing twin. His brother's bed was empty, as usual, the sheets still neatly tucked into the bed frame as though it had never been used. As a matter of fact, it hadn’t. There wasn’t a wrinkle to be found, not a thread out of place. Alize hadn’t slept in their new room yet. He might’ve been going through a hard time, after all. He was at home less and less frequently. Sometimes Lee feared that one day he wouldn’t come home at all. True to form, every item on Alize’s shelf was in the exact spot it was supposed to be-- or so Lee was told-- and his textbooks were neatly stacked on the right side of his desk, a pencil cup on the left.

In ridiculously stark contrast, Lee wasn’t even entirely sure where his desk was. His jacket was tossed haphazardly over his chair (if you could even call it that); his books from last semester were still stacked at the foot of his bed. Everything was generally a mess. If not for Alize, he probably wouldn't have known whether they had carpet or hardwood flooring. His stomach grumbled painfully and Lee decided he should probably eat something.

The door opened and Lee bolted upright immediately. Unsurprisingly, it was his brother, fully dressed and ready to go… somewhere. Alize glanced at him momentarily, in an almost bored kind of way, then walked over to his desk. He always moved like what he was doing was of the utmost importance, every step purposeful and planned. Alize cleaned his glasses on the hem of his shirt.

“You’re awake,” he murmured, grabbing a book or two and tucking them delicately into his computer bag, as if protecting a newborn child. He didn’t look up again.
“Where are you going?” Lee’s voice cracked a little from sleep. His mouth felt dry.

“Don’t worry about it,” Alize drawled in a dull monotone, “Just going somewhere with Blue. Some coffee shop I passed earlier. I’ll be back soon.”
The younger twin smirked. “Alright, man. Have fun with your little girlfriend.”

“Don’t remind me. As soon as this semester is over, she’s gone.” His brother huffed in annoyance, narrowing his eyes at the ground. Lee threw his head back and laughed, which earned him a glinting golden-eyed glare. He knew Alize only toyed with the poor girl, who had been crushing on him since freshman year, because he needed to pass History. It was, unfortunately, one of his brother’s weaker subjects. He had to say, he felt bad for her. It sure was fun to tease the older boy about, though. Alize left without another word, shutting the door behind him.

He didn’t return until much later. Lee was sure that a pity date wouldn’t take six hours, so he wasn’t sure what had happened, but Alize came back looking absolutely filthy, one arm tucked behind his back. His white dress shirt was stained reddish-brown and his slacks were covered in grass stains. This was, honestly, a little weird. Not only because of Alize’s neat-nick nature, but also because, if he hadn’t known his brother, he would’ve told you that the stains on his shirt looked suspiciously like dried blood. He did know his brother, however. Alize was so mild mannered that Lee couldn’t picture him angry, nor with the ability to commit any semblance of a crime. Alize’s eyes gleamed dangerously as he carefully crept around Lee and dropped something into the sink, letting the water run over it. Okay, so that might have been grounds for suspicion.

He went through his brother’s side of the room later that day in annoying brotherly fashion. He rifled through the closet, because that’s where he thought Alize would likely hide some condemning evidence. Lee had found the shirt his brother had been wearing earlier in the trash can outside when he’d gone to take the trash out. Needless to say, upon closer examination, it had definitely been blood on Alize’s clothes.

“I wish you hadn’t done that, Aubrey.” The voice of his twin brother took on a rather eerie tone in this context. Looking into his eyes, Lee’d expected to see anger, rage. Instead, he saw only regret. Glancing over his brother’s shoulder, he spotted Death, looking forlorn. “I really do.”

Reviews

[Al. S. Neworth]

Impressive. I like the premise, and the new 'take' on Death's appearance.
One or two niggly bits, but they're likely personal preferrence. Looking forward to reading 'Sunrise'.