Darkest Night

 

CHILDREN WILL BE CHILDREN

“Mommy, mommy, wake up mommy. I want to play mommy. Mommy! Mommy wake up,” the little girl whined happily, ignorant of all things bad, as she tugged at the woman’s sleeve, “Mommy!” I felt a twinkle of sympathy for the child, but it left as fast as it came. I’ve done this before. Father said they all have to die. I smiled evilly down toward the little girl as I spoke.

“Mommy’s dead child,” I was practically grinning as I stepped out of the shadows, “She’s playing with daddy and your older brother.”

I saw the little child smile slightly and tug vigorously at her mother’s sleeve.

“Mommy! Mommy! I want to play with daddy and Timmy, too. Take me with you. Daddy, tell mommy to let me come,” she called out to the body.

A white spectral flitted on the edge of my vision. I spun toward the ghost.

“You don’t have time to play games. Your father wants you home for dinner,” the ghost’s rough quiet voice echoed in my ears and my ears alone. I know that normal people can’t see or hear ghosts. My father gives everyone a choice when they die. They can stay as a ghost or pass on. People who have insulted, hated, or cheated death must be dealt with. He usually sends me alone, so I have my freedom.

“My father can turn back time if he wanted to,” I snapped at the ghost. The little girl turned toward me scared. Oh yeah, conversations with ghosts are one sided. So, if you happen to yell, people only hear your yell, not the ghost’s answer. Many people get angry at me, but I don’t care. I always get my revenge so why should I?

“Child,” I say charmingly, drawing the child into my trap, “Come here. I can bring you to Daddy and Timmy.” I say this because I want her to die happy. That way she won’t scream.

“Will mommy be there too?” The child asked innocently as she walked over to me.

“Yes, mommy’s there too,” I say as the child accepts my hand, “But you have to be quiet,” I continued whilst making a shushing motion with my hand, “Or mommy’s going to catch you.”

I sat down and hugged her as I position my hands to break her neck and, thus, kill her quick. I wrapped my hands around her neck, but I didn’t apply pressure to her throat. I faltered, if that’s what it was. I never falter. I gathered the courage and twisted, hearing the snap as the spine broke. As I let the girl’s body fall out of my lap, I watched her soft gold curls fall about her smiling face. I heard a loud thud and stepped back, deep into the shadows.

The door to the bedroom came down. A boy about my age ran through it. He spun around saying, “I know you’re here, child of Death. Come out where I can see you.”

My breath caught in my throat, and I’m sure he heard it. I was sloppy, very sloppy. Most likely dad was going to yell at me later. I rolled my eyes at the thought. I turned my malicious thoughts back toward the boy. I grasped at the shadows and pulled a cloak around myself. I sent a tangle of darkness toward the dim light in the corner. I stepped away from the shadows. I heard the boy gasp and turn toward me in the moonlit room. I let myself smile. The only thing that the boy saw was an eight-foot-tall cloaked figure with skeletal hands stretching out from the loose black sleeves of my shadow cloak as the darkness compressed into liquid strokes of blackness. Last time I did this the person I was scaring died of a heart attack. I analyzed the boy and found a sculpted face that’s perfection almost matched mine. He had hair the color of darkest obsidian like me. He also had bright green eyes that looked like a jungle. I realized that this was a child of Terra, or Mother Nature. Mother Nature has control of life whereas Death, my over-protective father, has control of life. As a matter of fact, Dad is over in the next apartment taking care of a certain Mr. Fowler. He thinks I can’t do one job without making a mistake. I carefully chose my next words.