Death Reborn

an origin story

How long had I been running? Everything around me was black as a rabbit’s hole which I must have fallen into. I didn’t know where I was headed but the consistent pounding in my chest suggested I’d been headed nowhere for quite a while. A slight fog glided in, surrounding me on both sides. I wondered what kind of monster caused me to sprint into - where was I?

 

“It is time” a disembodied voice floated in with the fog and bounced off what sounded like cave walls.

 

“Time for what?” I called out half-heartedly, for deep down somehow I knew what was to come.

 

A frantic beeping sound echoed suddenly causing my eyes to snap open. Wide awake and alert I swiveled my head around trying to remember where I was, the nightmare had disoriented me. I was surrounded by white walls and a heavy smell of disinfectant. A door to my left slowly closed as a man in a black raincoat stepped out of the hospital room. I looked back to the far right wall where she laid in a clean, white bed bathed in the alarming sound of her failing heart.

 

“Nurse! Nurse! Help!” I pushed my sleep-deprived body from out of the stiff hospital chair and rushed to her side. “Somebody, she’s dying!” I screamed, teeth bared, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

Suddenly there was a rush of people into the room yelling orders.

 

“Sir, I’ll need you to step outside,” a lady in blue scrubs gently pushed me toward the door.

 

“No, get away from me!” I pushed her to the side and headed back toward the blur of people rushing around the crisp, white sheets.

“Amelia! Is she going to be alright? Amelia I’m here sweetie it’ll be okay,” I could feel a chill creep up into my lungs making it hard for me to breathe.

 

“Sir, please,” the nurse-in-blue pulled at my arm while another nurse urgently pushed me away skipping over any gentle pretenses.

 

“If you want us to do our job as best we can you’re going to have to wait outside,” he said, shoving me into the hallway. The beeping seemed to get louder. Someone called the security-nurse back into the blaring room.

 

“She’ll be alright, dear,” the blue nurse whispered as she closed the door and rushed back into the action.

 

“I can’t lose her too,” I cried quietly to the clean, white door, “she’s all I have left.” I shuffled across the hallway to the wall and faced the door. The pain she must be in. I wish I could take it from her " absorb it like a sponge. I want to hurt like she hurts. I want to suffer for her.

 

“I swear they get a kick out of that stuff,” a familiar voice uttered wryly.

 

I looked around. A man stood, back against the wall, a couple feet away from the room where the last of my family struggled for life. His dripping, black raincoat formed a puddle around his dark, spit-shined shoes. He looked up from reading a cheap, silver watch on his thin wrists and smiled at me. Deep lines formed parenthesis around his dull smile. His eyes, which glinted in the bright fluorescent lights, were highlighted not by the hazel tint but by the crow-feet-wrinkling that quoted them. At the same time he had a youthfulness about him "  the way he sauntered over to me as if walking on a cloud. But like a cloud he carried an enormous but imperceptible weight. I was so mesmerized by the lanky old man that I’d forgotten what he had said.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“These doctors and nurses. They live for this stuff.”

 

“What stuff?” I mumbled, not really caring what this guy had to say.

 

“The excitement. The adrenaline rush. There is a certain feeling you get when you hold someone’s life in the palm of your hand for that one second,” he held out his palm and moved it up and down as if weighing out a heart. He immediately made a fist and returned his malnourished arm to his side and stared at me.

 

I didn’t know who let the crazy one out into the hall but I didn’t have time for his crooked words. I stood up from where I had slid onto the ground. I made a move toward the door. His wrinkly hand, once holding an invisible heart, shot out in front of me " palm forward.

 

“I thought that big, mean nurse told you to stay in the hallway,” he gave me a stern look like a father to a stubborn young son.

 

“Get out of my way old man,” I’d had enough of this mystery man. I needed to see her. I curled my hands into fists and squared my shoulders.

 

Perhaps he sensed my blood begin to boil, or perhaps he saw the anxiety and exhaustion in the eyes of a man who had spent weeks in a hospital in a rigid chair. Perhaps it had nothing to do with the tired man that stood before him but with what was to come. Whatever the reason the old man in the dripping raincoat extended his outstretched arm and rested his hand on my shoulder then patted it twice.

 

“I’m sorry,” he twisted his arm to show me his rusting watch and tapped it hard twice, “but it’s time,” he gave a weak smile, one drenched in pity, and lowered the watch stuck in time. I stared at the broken watch that hung loosely on his wrists. I could feel his eyes studying my face, “it is time for you to let her go,” his breath hot on my face, smelled oddly of hydrogen peroxide.

 

I grabbed him by the collar of his glistening raincoat and shoved him against the wall,

 

“It’s time for you to shut up old man. Don’t you ever tell me to let her go " she’s not going anywhere,” I could feel his bones creak under my weight as I pinned him to the bright walls.

“You don’t know me and you don’t know her so go back to wherever the hell you came from,” I shoved him to the side. He stumbled back a bit before recovering from the shove. He straightened himself then looked at me sadly, not a single trace of anger could be found in his aged face.

 

“We will meet again, David,” he whispered. He gave me one last knowing look before drifting away like a rain cloud after a storm " free of its watery burden.

 

My preoccupation with what lay behind the closed door kept me from hearing the old man’s final words. I waited outside the door in an attempt to calm down.

 

When I finally regained my cool I opened the door to see the nurse in blue rush toward the white bed just as she had done ten minutes ago when she had shut me out. Déjà vu I suppose.

 

“Hey! I thought I told you to wait out there. You couldn’t stay out there two seconds! Grace will you take care of this guy,” the security nurse dove back into the action.

 

“I’ve been out there at least ten minutes! What is taking you people so long?” I gestured to the security nurse and the doctor frantically moving around my little girl.

 

She tilted her head and blinked, “Sir we just put you outside the room a few seconds ago,” her face softened and a worried but kind smile spread across her face. “I know you’ve had a rough couple of weeks. How many hours of sleep have you gotten in the past 24 hours? How about you just sit right here in this chair, sir,” the blue nurse, Grace, guided me over to the chair. I fell into it and let my head fall into my hands.

 

It was that crazy old man. He wormed his way into my head. It’s probably some kind of game he plays - he wanders around the hospital and finds some sad sack sitting locked outside a door crumbling to pieces and tells him whoever they’re crying for is about to die. It had been a long time since anyone had got to me like that - got me angry and violent. I hadn’t pounced on someone like that since my angst-filled teenage years. Ever since Amelia came into the world I lost that need to protect myself - protect my ego. Even before my baby girl first smiled I had lost the anger that had festered since I was a young hooligan dreaming of being in a proper family again. Sarah brought the best out of me and caged the fiery beast. Now I used body language to emit my dominance. I liked having my enemies believe if they were ever to enter into some kind of physical tussle with me I’d beat them every time. It was all in the gaze and stance; the old man had mastered it and he had beaten me.

 

What did it matter? I probably wouldn’t ever see that nut job again. I needed to pull myself together. I let my hands drop into my lap and straightened my back. The beeping had stopped. I looked over at the hospital bed. The two nurses and the doctor were conversing in hushed tones. I stood up to remind them of my presence. The doctor signaled for the security nurse and Grace to leave the room. The big nurse glanced at me and grunted as he walked by and I grunted back. Grace gave me a smile as she left but her eyes didn’t follow suit. I watched as the door slowly closed behind her, not quite ready to face what the doctor had to say.

 

I turned and walked over to where she lay. Her eyes were closed and her small chest moved up slowly with each inhalation. I brushed the dark brown hair out of her face like Sarah used to do before she kissed her goodnight. Her thin arms clutched a worn teddy bear I won for her at a local fair - its hair was thinning.

 

“We were able to stabilize her,” the doctor started. I stared down at the fragile life on the bed.

“She’s in a lot of pain, David, and I think you know that. Now you’re the only one who can make this decision but I think it’s time-,” the doctor hesitated a moment deciding whether to state something I knew was coming,” I think it’s time you said goodbye.”

 

How many times had I heard that today? It was as if the whole cosmos had decided the fate of the closest person in my life without consulting me first.

 

“David?”

 

“Yeah I heard you doc,” I finally looked up into his squinting eyes and furrowed brow. “I just need a moment, alone,” I looked back down letting my shoulders drop. I was tired of seeing pity in everyone’s eyes.

“Of course. I’ll have the papers ready in the hall but take your time.” He stood a moment longer by the bed then walked swiftly out of the room.

 

I kneeled next to the bed and let my head rest in the crook of my arm. I held onto her hand, rubbing small circles into the top of it with my thumb. I felt the lump in my throat start to rise and finally let the dam break. I could taste the salt of my sadness at the corner of my lips. I couldn’t do it. I needed her here " I need them both here.

 

“help me. I don’t know what to do,” I whispered into the sheets.

 

“Daddy, why are you crying?” a small voice sighed near me.

 

I looked up into her open eyes. She was awake " she was blinking down at me. I leaned across and hugged her tight. She hugged me backed, her small arms unable to reach across my back. I took her face in my hands,

 

“I thought I had lost you,” I whispered. I gave her a shaky smile and tried to sniff back the fear and grief that had overwhelmed me.

 

“I’m right here, Daddy” she tilted her head.

 

“I know sweetheart. I know,” I went back on my knees and stared at her. It felt so good to hear her voice again. She had a shine to her like she had just returned from the playground or the beach. She seemed so happy for a kid who actually returned from a coma.

 

“Oh, I better get the doctor, he won’t believe this!” I started for the door, tripping over my own feet in excitement.

 

“Daddy, wait.”

 

There was foreboding deep within her call. The lightness of the moment fled the room. I slowly turned to face her.

 

“What is it Amelia?”

 

“Mommy said I can’t stay for long.” She looked down at her fingers and started fiddling with the clip hooked up to the machines.

 

I hurried back to her bed and kneeled beside her once more.

 

“When did Mommy tell you that sweetheart?”

 

“Just a minute ago.” She continued to play with the wire. I studied her face. She was staring intently at the clip. She had more to say.

 

“A man came to visit me. He was wearing a black raincoat. He said he was going to set me free and that I could go to a place where there is no more pain and that he would lead me there if I liked. I didn’t want to go at first because I didn’t know him and he was kind of weird. I asked if you could come with me but he said you couldn’t come,” she looked at me a small frown on her face.

 

“Was this man old?”

 

She nodded,“Yeah, really old. How’d you know?”

 

“Just a guess,” I growled. That son of a b***h came here and talked to my daughter. I knew I had seen him before. He must have snuck in here while I was sleeping. The nut job tried to kill her.

 

“Daddy are you okay?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Your shaking. And your face is all red,” she gave me a worried look.

 

“Oh, I’m fine, just" what happened next?” I relaxed my face in an attempt to quell my rage.

 

“well, I decided to go with him. He took me to this place, it was bright and light, like the inside of a cloud. He turned me around, cause I was just looking all over the place, and there was mommy! She was just standing there with a big smile and her arms out to here!” She threw her arms out wide as if trying to hug a giant teddy bear. I loved how she told stories. She had so much enthusiasm. Her face slowly dropped.

 

“What happened next, Amelia?”

 

“then mommy said that I had to go back and say goodbye to you,” she mumbled. The mumble turned into a gasp. She started to cry. I reached up to wipe away a tear,

“It’s okay honey you don’t have to go back.”

 

She rubbed her eyes with her tiny fists.

 

“But I want to Daddy. It hurts being here and where mommy is there is no pain. Mommy and the old man said that we would be together again really soon. Mommy told me to say that,” she started to count on her fingers, “you can do it, you have to let her go, and…and,” she struggled with the third message before it dawned on her, “oh and it’s time!” She smiled triumphantly.

I couldn’t help but smile with her. I looked in her wide, shining eyes.

 

“I love you sweetheart.” I hugged her tight. I wanted it to last forever " I needed to remember this moment to survive the rest of my life.

 

“I love you too.”

 

“You tell mommy I love her and I can’t wait till we are all together again.”

 

Amelia laid back onto the pillows, satisfied in her delivering success. She gave me one last bright smile and waved. She closed her eyes. I waited a moment thinking she’d open them once more and laugh and say it was all a dream. I waited with bated breath, with the white hospital walls closing in on me.

 

“Amelia?”

 

Silence. I leaned in close to her face.

 

“Amelia, please.” I shook her shoulders.

 

“Amelia, It’s not time! It’s not time!” I sobbed and held her close to me willing my life into hers. I wasn’t ready. I didn’t think she would actually go. She waved like she was going to walk out a door and she seemed to do just that. She turned out the lights and walked out. I wept for what seemed like forever. Finally I felt arms on me pulling me away. At first I fought them back but upon realizing the futility of my fight I went limp. I heard voices surrounding me but I was numb in all my senses. She was gone and no amount of words was going to change that.

 

 

The cold winter air ruffled my hair as I listened to the preacher mumble on about dust and ashes. The coffin was no bigger than the length of my arms, tip-to-tip; I probably could have driven it to the cemetery in the back of my truck. It seemed wrong for a coffin to be so small. I looked around at the faces in the gathering. I recognized very few of the people " most of them knew my wife, Sarah. In the front row stood an older couple " their faces scrunched up like they had both eaten something sour. Sarah’s parents hated the cold but what they hated more than the winter chill was me. This must be their personal hell. They had ambitious dreams for Sarah and I guess they thought I was getting in her way. Immense dislike turned into pure hatred when Amelia was born " I suppose they thought there was no way I could ever be out of their lives’ or their daughter’s life. Even though they despised me they loved Amelia and through their sour faces I could see their anguish. At that moment we had more in common than we ever had and probably would ever have again. I shifted my gaze to beyond my daughter’s funeral to the cemetery at large. Not far from where I stood hunched over was a man standing near the trees, his black rain coat catching the wind.

 

That b*****d dared come here? Come to see his victim buried, I suppose. I maneuvered my way toward one of the pall bearers trying my best not to disturb the service.

 

“Hey, that guy over there,” I gestured behind me, “isn’t supposed to be here. He’s not allowed near my daughter or me.”

 

The pall bearer looked around my head. He returned his gaze to me with a puzzled and concerned look.

 

“I’m sorry sir but I don’t see the man you are talking about.”

 

“He’s right there,” I wheeled around and pointed…at nothing. He was gone. Well, good riddance. I gave the pall bearer a dismissive look and stalked back to my place.

 

I had been thinking about that old man since the day my daughter mentioned his “visit”. I had decided that day that this man who killed little Amelia needed to pay for what he had done. I was going to hunt him down, wound him, force him to apologize for every life he’d taken, and then take his.

 

As they lowered her into the ground I breathed a quiet promise, “I will avenge you Amelia. If it’s the last thing I do.”

 

I followed him for months. Sometimes I would lose him but I always found him again. The first time I encountered him he was picking his way around a hospital:

I pretended to text but all the while I kept an eye on him as he made his way down a wing of the hospital " ICU. He slipped into one of the rooms. A nurse was working at a mobile station right across from the door but he still went by undetected. I couldn’t believe it. In my panic that he was about to take his next victim I rushed to the nurse.

“Nurse! Some guy just went into that room! I think he’s up to no good.” As soon as I said it I realized how crazy I sounded and she was quick to point that out.

“Calm down sir, no one went into that room " I think I would have seen them. Besides if someone did go into that room it may have been a relative returning from a bathroom break.” She folded her arms.

I relaxed a bit and tried a calmer approach, “Look I know this sounds crazy but you have to check the room. Please, it’ll only take a second.”

She sighed, rolled her eyes and mumbled an “okay”. She opened the door with me right on her heels.

“See, sir, nobody is in here but a man in severe pain.”

She was right. The room was empty save for an elderly man on a bed several tubes and wires running to and from his body. I backed out of the room.

“I’m sorry…I was mistaken.” I walked away from the nurse. I could feel her eyes on my back. How did he get away? I could have sworn he went into that room and there was no way he could have gotten past me. The man in the room was still alive so I guess that was proof enough "

Suddenly there was muffled beeping going off behind me. I turned around to see nurses rushing into the room I had just left. So he had been there and he had succeeded at taking another soul. He was a serial killer on the loose. I had to bring him down " for Amelia, for Sarah, for the man in that room, for everyone he would get before I could stop him.

The chase had begun.

 

 

The shot rang out in the dusty abandoned hospital. A dark spot blossomed red on his right shoulder. He dropped to his knees and let out a grunt " his left hand reached up to touch the seeping wound. The tarnished watch caught some light streaming through an open door. The sun had come to witness his end.

I lowered the pistol and walked toward him, head held high and jaw set. He kept his chin to his chest as I approached.

“I’ve been dreaming of this day for months now,” I looked him over. His breathing came fast and the blood, glistening in the morning rays, flowed into the crevices of his precious watch.

“Took you long enough,” he chuckled, a slow grin stretched across his face. He continued to stare at the ground, his wiry hair creating menacing shadows on his face.

It was my turn to laugh, “I could have killed you a long time ago.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah old man that’s right. You weren’t that hard to find. I’ve been following you around.”

The old man shook his head then finally raised his eyes to look into mine. What I thought would be a look of surprise was a look of amusement flashing across his face. He fell back onto his butt and using his uninjured left arm pulled his hurting body over to the wall and leaned his back against it. He brought the watch laden hand up to the wound and let his head fall back slowly to rest on the wall, letting out a large sigh.

“That’s better. Now you can give me your little monologue,” he said without a hint of mockery. His lack of anger put me on edge. I’ve blamed this guy for killing my daughter, proceeded to chase him down and shoot him, and now I was standing over him with a pistol in my hand ready to blow his brains out and put an end to all my heartache and he didn’t even show the tiniest amount of animosity. I didn’t understand him but it didn’t matter now " I had to finish what I’d started.

“You were in the hospital room the day Amelia past away.” I wanted to get straight to my reasons for putting a bullet in his head. He needed to know exactly why his life was ending in such a violent way. “I had so many emotions running through my mind at the time that I hadn’t paid much attention to the events of that day but now I remember.” I looked down at his meager body " he had lost weight.

He nodded his head and began to whisper,“Yes I visited little Amelia the day she died. It was " “

I slapped him hard across the face. His head rolled with the impact then hung down. He shook his head to get rid of the ringing in his ear. A bright red drop of blood traced its way from his nose to his upper lip. I leaned in close and stared hard at his grey hairline,

“You didn’t just visit her, you b*****d " you killed her,” I growled. He didn’t make a move to agree with or deny my blatant assertion. I straightened up and began to pace in front of him while he continued to stare at the once buffered tiles smeared with an ounce of his life force.

I stopped pacing and stood a little ways a way with my back to him. I looked down at the pistol " weighing the heavy, cold metal in my hand.

“The day my daughter-,”my breath caught. I let out a heavy sigh before continuing,

“The day my daughter died I had a dream. I was running from something. At the time I thought, ‘what kind of monster would have me sprinting for my life’. Thinking back on it I realized I wasn’t running from a monster" I was chasing a monster.”

My hands had started to shake so I tightened my grip on the gun and lowered the weapon to my side.  The old man didn’t say a word.

“I never caught you in the dream but I heard you. You said, ‘it is time’,” I turned to face him. He had lifted his head, the blood was smeared on his face " he must have wiped it with his hand. His eyes, shining in the sunlight, were full of sadness. I clenched my jaw fighting back tears, my free hand forming a fist,

“I’m here to tell you it wasn’t time. She was just 8.years.old. You had no righ "“ I moved closer to him with my finger, free of the fist, pointed straight at his weakening body, shaking  my whole hand in angry accusation, “you had no right to take her life away.”

The old man shook his head, shaking loose tears, “I didn’t kill her David,” he took a deep breath, “you did. You had to David. She was in immense pain and she wanted to be with her mother where the pain was gone. There was nothing you could do. I know David. I know you have always been a person who can’t stand to see others in pain " you’d rather carry all the hurt, take it all upon your shoulders. That’s why you’ve been chosen to be my successor.”

I had let him talk even after claiming it was my fault for Amelia’s death. I guess I thought there was something else going on. He knew something that I didn’t about Amelia’s death, about Sarah’s death, about death in general. There was a glint in his eye that told me he knew more than I would ever know in my lifetime. He had a secret that I wanted revealed so I let him talk. Now he was babbling about a successor. That was the last thing I wanted from him " a compliment, a suggestion that I bear his same characteristics or qualities.

I stalked forward, stopped in front of him and squatted. His left hand rested on the floor, his wound was exposed. I looked him straight in the eyes and lifted the gun, “let’s get one thing straight: I. am not. you. After you die, I’m not going to go around hospitals pulling people’s plugs. I don’t kill innocent people. You’re not God, you’re not some kind of deliverer. You’re f*****g delusional. You’re" are you getting all this old man?” I jabbed the gun into his open wound. He let out a deep grunt and wheezed. He sucked air through his teeth as I pulled the barrel out of his shoulder.

“Now,” I said holding the blood smeared gun loosely in my hand regaining my cool, “ I’m kind of curious why you were playing Grim Reaper,” I let a grin spread across my face and tilted my head at the thought. To my surprise he smiled too. “What are you smiling about?” he let out a chuckle. I jammed the barrel back into the wound, “what’s so funny?” He threw his head back and cried out,

“Okay, Okay! I’ll let you in on the little joke. Just stop doing that will ya!” Finally some anger! He took the bullet so well I was beginning to wonder if he felt any pain or if he even cared about living anymore. The old man still had some fight in him.

I looked him over for a minute more before pulling the gun out. I slowly stood up and backed away from him, leaving drops of blood on the floor.

“Let’s here it.”

“Are you going to let me tell all of it before blowing my brains out?”

“Maybe.”

He gave me an incredulous look. I shrugged.

“Well alright. I suppose I’m in no position to argue. I laughed because, well, you nailed it right on the head. I am the Grim Reaper, at least that’s what some people call me. I’ve been called many things: Angel of Death, Azrael…B*****d.” He glanced at me.

“Anyway, I go around unlocking souls.”

“Unlocking souls?” I smirked at him.

“Yes. You think when people die the soul just floats out like steam in a boiling pot? No, it has to be released.”

“Then it just floats out?”

“Yep. Sometimes " ”

“That doesn’t explain instant deaths. You know like in a car accident.”

“That’s not part of my job.”

I looked at him suppressing a laugh,

“That’s not part of your job? What do you mean?”

“Look I’m just the guy who releases souls in immense pain and those souls are usually found in hospitals where people have side-stepped nature’s instant death.”

I lost the urge to laugh. I wondered if my daughter was in that much pain " enough to die. Silence permeated the empty hallway. I finally spoke,

“So if you’re an angel, why are you bleeding?” I asked in all seriousness. I thought he might actually be speaking the truth.

He lifted his hand a bit to examine his wound. He rested his head on the wall again and let his eyes roll to meet mine,

“It’s a reminder” he swallowed.

“A reminder of what?”

He was silent for a moment then closed his eyes slowly and whispered, “of pain.”

I nodded. Suddenly I felt a wave of sympathy for him. If what he was saying was true then he has had an impossible job.

“Have you ever refused to do it?”

“refused to do what?” His eyes were still closed. I walked over to the wall he was resting on and slid down next to him. He opened his eyes and looked at me.

“Have you ever refused to unlock someone’s soul?”

He kept eye contact with me,

“Yes. A baby boy had some complications at birth.” He let his eyes drop down to stare at the tiles.

“I was new at this whole, Grim Reaper thing, and I couldn’t understand why this little boy had to go so soon. Sure he was crying a lot but with babies that doesn’t always mean pain. I figured whatever problems he was having wouldn’t be enough reason to bring about such an early death.” He blinked.

“I was a couple of feet away from him " I could see his tiny hands waving in the sterile air of the infirmary. As the thought of leaving the poor infant alive began to form in my mind I felt this immense pain all throughout my body. It was worse than this wound in my shoulder, “ he absent-mindedly patted the bullet wound, “ It was indescribable. I wanted, the moment I received it, to be rid of it, however possible.” He squinted at the floor, trying to keep the tears from spilling out.

“I moved toward the baby with every part of me on fire. I locked eyes with him and together we cried out. As we yelled I realized why I must release every soul, young or old, that suffers as we two suffered then.”

He winced as he relived the pain.

I let him sit there in wallow in the pain of the past and this present pain " it was my final act of revenge. I knew before I pulled the trigger what destiny had in store for me; I guess I was hoping it wasn’t true. Now Death and his successor sat side by side in a place many people had once come to die.

Death removed the silver watch from his wrist, wincing with each movement of his right hand. He dangled it in front of my face and finally spoke, “it helps keep track of time,” he gave me a weak smile and winked at me. I removed the hanging watch from his pointer finger and clasped it around my own aging wrist. It was an unremarkable looking watch " worn and loose " but it had character. It was deceptively powerful not unlike the old man.

“So how do you do it " how do you unlock a soul?”

“I suppose you’re not really unlocking a soul but unlocking the body to let the soul out,” he mused.

“Right, well, how do you unlock the body then?”

“Just like a door " you grab the key off the shelf, turn it in the lock and open the door.”

I let out a sigh, “You’re going to have to be a bit more specific there old man.”

“The key is usually just sitting on a shelf in the person’s mind " in a place they could reach if they really wanted to, if they stretched. For you it’s pretty easy to get to. Once you get the key it’s just a matter of finding the lock.”

“Let me guess, it’s on the heart?”

He looked at me with genuine surprise, “how’d you know?”

“Lucky guess,” I smiled at him and he smiled back. This was the nicest conversation I had had with the old man since I first met him " too bad it was about death.

“Well,” he started, “you ready for your first trial?”

The light-heartedness I was feeling suddenly left.

“What? No…no, I can’t. I-I don’t know how.”

“Sure you do David. You’ll know,” he grabbed my hand in his and squeezed it. He looked me in the eyes, gave me a knowing smile and heavily whispered, “you’ll feel it.”

I nodded. He let his head rest against the wall once more and closed his eyes.

“Now David, set me free.”

I looked him over for the last time. His breathing was shallow. He seemed to have grown ten years before my eyes that youthful glow he had when I first met him was gone. It was time. Holding his rough, elderly hand in mine, I let my head rest on the wall and closed my eyes too. I was in a dark room like in the first dream where I had been running, chasing him. It slowly got lighter in the room. On the far wall I could see a shelf with a little object glinting in the middle. I moved toward it and as I got closer to the wall, the small, shiny object took form. It was a key. I reached up and grabbed the key. I felt a change in the air " it felt as if I were in a different room entirely. I turned around and there, on the opposite wall was another shelf " slightly more accessible " with a bright red object. As I approached the new shelf I heard a thumping noise. The red object was a heart, his heart, beating slowly but surely. I let my hand hover over the little muscle, not yet sure whether to pick it up or not. It seemed so vulnerable, so innocent. I remembered the old man’s story about the baby boy. How small his infant heart must have been. I lifted up the old man’s heart and let it sit in my palm. I held both of my hands out in front of me " the key in the right, the heart in the left " they weighed the same. The key seemed to find the lock on its own, as if I didn’t have a part in the guidance. As I turned the key in the heart a bright, blinding light forced me to close my eyes. After what seemed like eternity the white spots faded from my retina.

I opened my eyes.

“Well done, David,” the old man sighed his final words.

His hand went limp in mine. I let go of it and stood up. I stared down at Vincent " his name was written on his heart. A look of relief graced his face. I said my goodbyes and headed toward the door.

I was no longer David, no longer Daddy, no longer husband, no longer son. I was Death.

 

 

Author's Note

Inspired in part by Arcade Fire's My Body Is a Cage.
This is my first short story.

Reviews

[Rose F.]

Amazing song, Awesome story. I have read things like this before but I have never had the hearts in jars point of view. Very interesting.

It needs to be polished up a bit. For example the beginning is a little awkward. You have some quotation marks that are just hanging out by themselves.

Also I think David would have let on to the fact that this guy was Death long before he did... and would have found himself slowly going insane from the paranoia& knowledge. Wouldn't you? But it is your story and you did very well :) Thanks for sharing.

[mark slade]

cool story

[TJ]

"... he wonders around the hospital and finds some..." should be wAnders not wOnders.

Looks like u got by the WC glitch that turns your dashes into quotation marks, may wanna go through and fix those, it gets us all lol, stupid website.

I love this story! The development was great and it was so...intriguing I guess is the word. I can sense the tragedy of a man having to pull the plug on his daughter and that so tugged at my heartstrings. Invoking emotion in our readers is exactly wait we writers want to do and you did that here.
The old man adds another element to the story that just makes you want to read on and see who he is (although it's kind of obvious) and where he fits in.
Good work with this for sure!