It’s silent.
No birds chirping, not even the crickets serenade me as I trudge through the forest. Not even a sound, the wind has died, leaving the blistering heat to burn everything up. There was a time when the trees buzzed with life, and small woodland creatures scampered around, but not today. Today, the forest seems to understand that it is not a day to celebrate life. No, certainly not. For I am in search of death.
My finger strokes a dead, withered flower, and I let it turn to dust in my hand. Is this what death is? Do we just turn to ashes and let the wind carry us wherever it wishes? I watch as the dust settles over the forest floor, my feet long to run and feel the wet grass in between my toes, but my bones are heavy. A new weight has settled over my shoulders as I stumble through the woods.
“What are you thinking about?” A voice asks, and I look around to find the source, but see nothing. Although curiosity prickles through the impenetrable sadness in me, I make no effort to find who is talking.
“Death,” I answer simply, not knowing why I should lie. After all, aren’t we all going to die? The birds, the trees, humans, we all have our end.
“Why would a young soul like you ponder such dark horrors?” the voice asks as I brush my hand over the trunk of a tree, leaving a smear of festering decay. Bile bubbles in my throat, but I just clench my fist and press it to my throat, I don’t want to hurt anything.
“I need to ask a question, I want to know what it means.” A soft flitter of laughter fills my ears. The sun burns my back as I hunch over, searching for a place to rest, at least for a little while.
“Doesn’t everybody? For no one truly knows what death is and lives to tell the tale, little one.” My hands grapple for something to hang on to as I force my feet through the forest. My bones are like lead as I take one step, then another. I need to find out where he lies, hidden under secrets and darkness. Even though my heart is heavy in my chest, and my lungs are filled with grief, I take another step.
“Don’t be a fool, turn back.” I can’t, I won’t. The further I go, the heavier I get. 73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEc2VEZmHAI
“Where is death? Where does he sit and greedily collect souls before their time?” The words tear their way out of my parched throat. Silence fills the air, and a twinge of panic flutters in my stomach at being alone in this desolate place, for the mysterious voice has surely abandoned me.
“It is everywhere and nowhere. He only comes when someone's clock has stopped.” Must I die to see him? My knees give out and I crumple to the ground, I have to keep going. I grip a rock and pull myself through the dirt.
“Death, I beseech you. Come here and show yourself!” I call out with the last of my strength, glaring at the sun with red-rimmed eyes. Not a single sound flitters through the air but the echo of my words.
“I must ask you a question.” I choke the words out, feeling my throat close up. Hopelessness starts to trickle in the back of my mind, but I just press my face into the ground. Is this what despair feels like? Like drowning even though there is still air in your lungs? I press a hand to my chest, trying to leach the heavy numbness out. Why won’t it just leave me alone?
Please, I need an answer.
A cool wind blows and the branches shiver in response. I tilt my face up, trying to catch more of the breeze, but it leaves as quickly as it came.
“Why have you called me?” The voice skitters along my bones, hot and cold at once. His voice echoes through my ears and makes my dying heart pound. I look around trying to find his face but see nothing, just withered trees and skeletal branches. The dirt beneath me dries and cracks as if all the moisture has been drained from the world. My voice scratches my throat as I clench my aching and bloody fists.
“Let me see your face.” A soft chuckle sends shivers down my spine as I feel a cool presence behind me.
“You young fool, I have no face. I am nothing, yet everything.” My heart plummets into my stomach as I let out a shaky breath, sending swirls of dust into the air.
“Show. Me. Your. Face,” I say.
“Why do you wish to look upon my face, young one?” his voice is tinged with curiosity, yet so heavy it layers thick upon my heart like a second skin.
“So I can see your eyes as I ask my question.” Silence fills the world once again as I await my answer. Coldness prickles along my neck as a breath tickles the shell of my ear.
“Turn around” I swallow, and slowly turn my head. Words die on my tongue as air escapes my lungs. Eyes as dark as a starless night bore into my own. Even the voices in my head are at a loss for words. Death’s eyes are red-rimmed and empty as if he has seen enough horrors to last hundreds of lifetimes. Lips as red as rubies curve into a smirk as he stares down at my dying body. My chest shudders as it tries to force air into my lungs. This must be what dying feels like, like trying to hold on to something but finding nothing to grab but dust and shadows.
“Ask your question.” Even his voice sounds as if it had been crafted from nightmares and all things hellish. With the last of my strength, I glare into his pitiless eyes, scrounging up the fraying bit of life I have left.
“What have you done with my sister?”
Death is silent.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfr0sNAJLHQ
