Death's Visit

Death was knocking on my door.

I didn't want to answer.

I was alone. The wispy silence halted with three rhythmic ticks of the tall grandfather clock. I looked around and inspected the desk, the light, the old wooden rocking chair. I stood up and left the chair to sway back and forth on its own, with no one upon it. I looked at the broken mirror on the wall. The elegant carvings outlined the tattered reflection which never ceased to fade, only distort into strange shapes.

I watched a candle on the shelf light itself. Fire so blue, it froze rather than melt. And I heard the careful tinker of a knife falling upon the kitchen floor. The footsteps upstairs were roaming as usual. Then the voices and whispers walked through me and left.

I grew bored, and opened the door regardless of my previous thought.

"Hello Death," I greeted the dark haired entity.

"Good midnight to you, Despair!" he said in return, a mischievous smile plastered onto his pale face.

Death was a small boy. He was much like a child, enthusiastic and energetic. Every now and then he would come to my home for cookies and tea. He liked to run around and play, but also enjoyed taking part in mischievous schemes. The boy had a second sadistic aura to him whenever he came up with something eerie in his twisted imagination.

A spiral horn grew out of his head of messy reaper cloth colored hair. He had round eyes and pale skin, along with the intricate and unique cheek markings in which everyone had. His cloak was quite large, and hid his skeletal frame, that was absent of all flesh.

'When Death weeped, loved ones died.

When Death smiled, people forgave.

When Death dreamed, people lied in their sleep.

When Death grew ill, funerals were ruined.

When Death knew sadness, people took their own lives.

When Death thought, miracles happened.'

"May I come in?" he asked, hiding something in his sleeve and fidgeting with his cloak a little, making it obvious.

"Yes you may. Cookies and tea?" He walked in and replied, "Chocolate chip of course!"

Once he was seated at the kitchen table I took out a bowl and cracked a basilisk egg. I mixed in flour and added a teaspoon of dark vanilla, along with some sugar, dragon's milk, and chocolate chips.

Death watched a fly buzz around and waited while I began baking cookies. I heated some water on the stove and put wilted willow leaves in the old black teapot. I sat down in a seat across from him.

"So what brings you here on this night?" I folded my arms.

"I found something huge!! I mean, not huge as in size, like huge as in incredible-look!" He pulled out a deck of cards from his sleeve.

"Pick a card, any card," he smiled and spread them out face-down like an accordion. I chose one from the very middle of the fanned out cards. To my surprise, it was an Arcane Card. It was definitely the original card as well. The Major Arcana is a suit of twenty-two cards that are often used in tarot. It is said that the alchemists from long ago used these secret cards and their hidden meanings to understand the laws of nature. I stared at the XIII picture, the armor-clad skeleton on the black horse with his white rose flag raised in the sky looking back. He passed by the corpses of the king, the bishops, the peasants, and the children.

"Where did you find these?" I questioned. Death looked at the ceiling absentmindedly.

"Oh, um, well, ya know...the ground," he said, a bit uncertain of his words. I kept a slightly blank, yet curious expression.

Finally he blurted out, "You must help me return these!" He looked a little hopeful, "Please? I can't do it on my own."

"You want me to go...outside? Death, you know very well that I haven't been seen in decades."

"But this is your chance to come out of your home! C'mon, we'll disguise you or somethin, who shall be able to tell?"

I murmured underneath my breath

'Pity would be able to'.

"Huh?" he said not hearing me.

"My final answer is--" There was a loud, desperate knocking on the door. Death jumped up, "I'll get it!"

He flew past the kitchen, his usual hyperactive-energetic self, and I followed. Death opened the door, and to our surprise, it was the very shy and timid Loneliness who stood there clutching her tattered scarf.

She worriedly looked up and shuffled nervously, her short bobbed hair loosely shaking.

"Y-You m-must-t escape," she sputtered out. "S-Something u-unimaginable is t-taking p-place..."

Death tilted his head to the side, while I raised an eyebrow.

"T-The world w-we all k-know so dear...-"

"-I-It's f-falling apart...t-the Existence...I-It's dying..."