A brief visit with death.

It was dark, dark enough so I couldn’t make any details about the shriveled figure in the corner out.  2 days I have been locked up, in a not so uncomfortable room.  The temperature was comfortable; I had a bed, three square meals that in all honesty weren’t even that bad. The only thing that I couldn’t quite understand was why I was even here. 

                Two days ago I had been abducted from my home, a bag was put over my head, and I was placed into a van, surprisingly gently.  Not once have my captors said a word to me. That combined with the dark, and the shriveled figure in the corner, were the only things that seemed to be of a puzzling nature. What I keep calling a figure is actually an old man, I hear his breathing and I find it quite labored, and his coughing fits go on for literal hours. I have attempted to make conversation with the old man but he is unresponsive. Day and night are the same things down here.  

The door slid open and we were told not to move, I was surprised to find my captor to be female, at least one of them anyway. I could see a very obscure shape moving across the floor to the older man.

“We are giving him some medicine” the female voice told me.

Moments later the definite squeals of an animal being eaten alive echoed through the small room. It was quite obvious the old man was just devouring the poor little creature. I was not looking forward to the man’s stomach undoubtedly throwing the animal back up…but it never happened. Instead to my disgust, the man seemed to instantly thrive on the live animal he just consumed…I say consumed because he ate everything, no bones or hair left.

The door closed and instantly darkness became my world again. The man began to cough quite a bit, but not the cough of a sick man, just someone trying to clear their throat. At last he seemed to clear whatever blockage he had. 

“Nice to meetcha Dave” he said “Undoubtedly you must have a few questions for me, least of all how I know your name.”

“Well actually, I have assumed that I have started to hallucinate.”

“Sorry to dissapointcha Davey bones. Firstly, I sent for you; that’s how I know who you are David. Now you might be asking yourself this but, I’ll go ahead and answer it now. I sent for you, because as you just witnessed, I grow stronger when I consume a living life force.”

“You’re going to eat me?”

“I’ll do more than just that.” He started to laugh this incredibly raspy and childlike laugh.

The sound of bones cracking filled the room as the man, not bound by any shackles got to his feet. The man stretched and bent over trying to crack every bone in a row it seemed. Finally satisfied with what he had just done, he resumed a seat right beside me. 

“Since I know your name Davey, I’ll give you some hints as to mine. Firstly it’s inevitable, secondly it’s natural and thirdly it’s feared.”  

I looked at him in horror, the only answer my mind could draw a conclusion from is impossible. Death cannot exist in a body can it? As if able to read my thoughts this man let out a deep sigh of frustration.

“I honestly have to go through this every time I need to rejuvenate myself. I am the embodiment of death, I am all four horsemen, and I am called the destructor, war, wrath by different people of different beliefs.”

“I thought that about 2 people died every second worldwide, how could you be death if you’re down here with me all decrepit?” 

A hearty laugh filled the room once again, sending shivers down my spine simultaneously.

“Death will always occurs regardless if I cause it or not, but you humans breed at an alarming rate. Are you familiar with causality?”

“I took philosophy in high school.”

“Than what would you call me Davey?”

“The prime mover.”

                Another laughter filled the room.

“Finally, someone in my presence is not a moron, nothing can happen without death. World War Two is thought to be the result of one man’s assassination. The jones town massacre was caused with nothing but words. How many jokes are there about the Jonestown massacre?”

“Are you serious?” I almost screamed at him

“I’m super serious. Please answer the question.”

“For the sake of conversation I honestly don’t know.”

“A lot but the punch lines are too long.”

                A bright white smile turned the darkness into an uncomfortable glow for a fraction of a second. Seeing the glow for a moment made me feel ridiculous, despite the horror of the massacre and how appalled I was at the joke…a laugh crept up through my throat and out my mouth and echoed inside the small room. 

“There you go Davey; you DO have a sense of humour. You have to understand that a human like any animal has a living capacity for your ecosystem. I am here to keep the balance, I am the reason all of the big problems you have ever heard of existed. War, the black plague, the Spanish flue, famine, drought, All of those things and more are my doing. For that I need energy, such energy only a living creature can supply, that rodent was a start. For dessert though you will suffice.”

At this point this started to sound more and more possible as I sat next to this thing. “I see.” I managed to utter.

“Well don’t be too down Davey. I still don’t have enough energy to consume you. You have a few days still to live down here, alone with me.” He began what could only be described as cackling.

Over the next two days, I sat and I sat. I also listened. I began to call the thing by its real name Death. 

Death has preached to me about the downfall of society, which sometimes a great sacrifice must be made to purge humanity. Events so enormously fatal are sometimes the best way to help humans pull together.  I became convinced I was special at one point that I got chosen for an honour. Death informed me I was nothing, just a walking skin bag, and with what he has in mind, I will be one of the most hated men in history.

If anything Death was a salesman, he convinced me there was no other way, if there was he would do it. His grand plan is to release a virus onto the population of china. A virus that is expected to jump china’s borders within days, maybe hours. Only by working together can the world’s best scientist work together on a cure, a cure that works.  Saving humanity will be the greatest accomplishment in recent history. Unfortunately, he informed me that while he won’t eat my body, he will eat my mind, and put his in my body. 

The dreadfully awaited day finally dawned. Now that it was upon me, I was no longer scared. I had days to reflect and accept my end was coming. I asked him if it would hurt, his response made me shiver.

“Only if you want it to Davey. Now close your eyes, and this will all be over soon.”

I closed my eyes slowly letting the last shreds of light slowly leave my sight. The moment they were fully closed I felt my mind fading, my thoughts become more and more distant as if someone was shouting at me across the ocean. I was falling now, losing grasp on everything I had left. The last thought I would ever have would be wondering if this was real, or I was insane and I’d never know the difference.

The Owl Cries

The owl stared at me, the owl talked to me as well. All it would say to me though was “who?”

“Who?” i asked quizzically

“Who.” The owl replied solemnly, unblinking.

“I don’t understa-”

“WHO” the owl interrupted with piercing eyes.

“Oh, i am mike, born Michael. Who are you?”

It blinked and cocked its head to the side, it never answered my questions. It didn’t need to though, i knew perfectly well what it meant, and it was nothing...nothing that I had a word for.

The owl sat on my windowsill just like it had every night since i met the owl. A creature of few words and fewer answers. I fell asleep under its constant gaze. When i awoke in the morning, my pillow was drenched, i must have been crying again. The morning showed no sign of the owl as usual, i would see him soon though...just like usual. The owl sat in a tree adjacent to the window in the washroom and peering in. I was used to the owl now, but i was not always. The owl appeared in my life suddenly years ago and had become a fixture of my day to day life ever since. I thought it was a dream, it had to be, but as night and night passed by, i knew the owl was real, i touched the owl once.

The first time i ever saw the owl and knew the owl was real, i was high. I had seen the owl before, but never in a memory that didn’t seem like i had just woken up or just fallen asleep. This time was different; i could see the owls’ details. Previously whenever i woke up i knew no details about the owls’ appearance. That time i could see its huge bulging eyes, the way its chest puffed in and out, and how the owl never seemed to blink. The owl stepped off my window sill for the first time in any of my dreams, or what i thought of as hallucinations.  The owl walked towards me and held out its limb like it wanted to shake hands, and that’s exactly what i tried to do. It leapt back onto the window sill and shrieked in my head, no one heard it but me. I never tried to touch the owl again physically.

Long term aquantaince generally know something about each other, but as far as i could tell neither myself nor the owl knew anything about each other. The owl reminded me of a child in a zoo staring curiously at something he does now quite comprehend. I finished my shower to the uncaring eyes of the owl. I brushed my teeth to them at my cereal to them. I did a lot of things in front of those eyes. I knew the owl could read my mind, and i used this to my own amusement. Sometimes while doing boring menial tasks like cleaning i would scream as loud as i could in my head, the owl didn’t like the sudden burst of noise, the owl even fell off a tree once. Today was just a normal day though. The owl watched as i rid the bus, as i slept in class and dreamed of pain.

That night the owl was there again, simply biding time until the inevitable and pointless interrogation. Around 3 am the owl chirped up.

“Who?”

“I am Michael.”

“WHO!”

Out of nowhere the owl leapt into my bedroom and grabbed my arm in his talons. I tried to resist but the immense power of the wings dragging me through the window was too much. Little by little i began to be pulled out and through my window. Once in the air, the owl easily lifted me in flight directly above us. Alight that seemed too bright to see shone through the clouds. Higher and higher i was lifted until i began to soar upwards through the thick clouds, until eventually we broke out of the cloud embankment. I strained my neck upwards saw above me a giant rotating, flashing, and noiseless unidentifiable flying object. I kept flying higher until the owl pulled me in through a hatch in the bottom of the craft.

Hallelujah

The simplest pleasures were often rich. A nice drive through the country with a girl riding shotgun was one of the richest. It seemed not so long ago when Buck couldn’t even get out of bed unless it was to eat or use the bathroom. Now he couldn’t even really remember what she looked like. He had someone new anyway.

“Have you ever been out this way buck?” she asked him

“Oh yah, when I was younger me and my dad used to hunt around here, don’t remember exactly where though.” Buck said

“We’ll let me know if any of this sounds familiar an old abandoned house, the roof is collapsed in the back but still up in the front.” She said

“I’m sure I’ve seen and passed it dozens of times but I just can’t think of it.”

“Well don’t worry ill point it out to you as we pass it” she said with a smile.

Buck knew something wasn’t right, maybe with this girl, maybe with this drive, but the last time he let his instincts guide him he got his heart ripped out. Time to try something different this time around. 

“Why are we going to this house anyway?”

“well when I was younger I remember going to explore it during a really tough time in my life, I think I see a little more pain behind your eyes than your letting out. I just think that maybe you’ll find what you need.”

Her hand found the exact right combination of shoulder and neck and gave a very firm and reassuring squeeze. Buck knew the winds were turning, maybe it wasn’t at his back just yet, but he knew it would be, maybe even tonight. 

“Yea I guess I’m hurting more than just a little bit, but I’d be much worse off if we never got to hanging out.” Buck said, and smiled at her.

She never returned the smile, Buck assumed she just never saw his smile, it was dark out.

“So it’s going to be coming up soon on your left, there’s a hidden entrance.”

“Sounds good just make sure you give me enough of a heads up so we don’t go head first into a tree.” Buck said, trying to make her laugh a little, and failing.

She keeps looking around back and forth, but its way too dark out to see anything except for blurry trees on either side of the road.

“Okay you see that elm? It’s on the other side, just slow down and you’ll see it I bet.”

She was right, buck slowed right down and there it was, had he been going even ten kilometres faster it would have been invisible.

“How did you even find this place with an entrance that’s barely visible?”

“Well sometimes you find things no one else can see, but only when you stop looking.” She said.

Buck burst out laughing.

“I didn’t know people actually spoke like that except in movies.” Buck said

“Yea I’m not all too sure where that one came from, I just used to walk down here all the time.”

“From town?”

“Sure did.”

“That’s like a twenty k walk!”

“It’s not like I had anything better to do at the time.”

As they pulled into the hidden entrance, it gave way to a huge clearing where smack dab in the middle was a very archaic and dilapidated house, part of the roof was caved in just like she said.

“Well I was wrong; I sure have never been around here before.”

“Yea I’m pretty sure you remember it if you had.”

“Yea me too.”

They got out of the car and walked over to the house, Buck pushed aside the old door, and it just fell off the hinges and landed with a loud bang.

“Thanks buck, now I don’t even have to call out, they’ll know we’ve arrived.”

Buck felt his stomach tighten and knot up as the entrance way quickly filled with people.

“The fuck is this? Some kind of club?” buck said.

“Well the reason you’d remember this house if you ever came here is because it’s filled with vampires. Feel free to take a seat and let that sink in.”

Buck did just that, except he more collapsed than sat with his back against a wall. He thought about his situation and what it could possibly mean. No one moved or spoke for what seemed like an hour until finally buck spoke up.

“Fine.”

“Pardon me?” she asked

“I’ll let you turn me, I won’t fight it and I’ll do my best to not squirm or scream.”

“Oh buck, your imagination is out of control, you’re not here to become one of us. You’re here to feed us.”

And with that seven pale and vicious faces all found their own spot on buck’s body and as he screamed he died.