In The Middle of The Night

In the dead of night, when the world was shrouded in darkness and silence, a dark entity roamed the earth. His job was to guide souls to the afterlife. No one knew exactly how long his presence had been a part of this world but once you saw his face, you knew his purpose. Over time this creature had become used to the despair radiating from his victims when they saw him coming, some say he had come to enjoy it. Others will say the darkness that surrounded him was the pieces of the darkest those souls had to offer. The emotions of those poor unfortunate souls clung so solidly to him he had started to believe that all this world contained was darkness. He had started to lose compassion for the souls he reaped, instead deciding to disconnect entirely, going about his duties as a man trying to walk through slowly drying cement.

The sun had been long gone when he received that familiar call that it was time for another soul to pass on. The song that sang out when the call would ring in his ears used to bring him such fulfillment. Now it had turned into a sour note on a piano radiating through his mind. Every call he received would churn an unwelcome sense of doom that would numb him to his very core. Going about the motions he had become accustomed to, he slid on his boots and glided through the shadows like being carried on the wings of crows. He once had a very enjoyable time gliding from soul to soul, the feeling of being weightless and free gave him a sense of purpose that this job could be so meaningful if the right approach was taken. But just like with most things in this world, if you do the same things over and over again the cycle can become tedious until eventually you wonder why you are doing it in the first place. Appearing in another unspectacular room he could not understand a certain sense of unease. The feeling in his mind told him what he was supposed to do but the feeling in his bones was saying something he couldn't understand. That was until he saw her. Laying in the bed was a petite woman who was completely oblivious to his presence only a few feet away from her. This woman had a sense of serenity that seemed to radiate from her. Standing there, seeing this woman, the dark entity was in absolute awe of her ability to lay so perfectly still while sensing the troubles of her past. As he squinted into the nearly black room trying to understand his sudden peaked curiosity over this mundane woman he started to see a form being taken. The instant familiarity took the breath from his lungs. Though they had never met he sensed a kinship to this woman that he had never felt before. It's as if this small fragile human girl contained a world of darkness that if you weren't looking for, you'd never see it. Unsure of how long he had been there he began to panic when the woman began to stir. Disappearing into the night before she woke as if not to scare her, he became confused as to why he cared. In the centuries of his time guiding souls, he had never failed at a job. It had become second nature. Answer the call, guide the soul, and move onto the next. That was the endless cycle that his existence had become. Even though he failed at that job that night he did not feel like a failure. She had piqued his curiosity and though he knew that eventually he would have to return to take her soul, this would need a different approach.

Over the next few days, he would appear with every intention of completing the job at hand only to be left frozen in time the second he entered the room. The time he spent there made him realize that this room he deemed simple at first held the mysteries that made up this human. Every night she would curl herself around a pillow as if she were craving the touch of another human and though he tried to fight the thought he could not help but wonder if she was craving the touch of someone specific. He noticed the curtains hanging behind her that had little stars cut out throughout the dense, dark fabric as if representing light itself trying to cut through the darkness. Tonight, he noticed the dozens of books laid all around the room as if screaming to the world her desire to escape the life she was living. Walking over to them trying to see what paper worlds this woman had visited in her imagination he had not realized that this woman was waking up. Unable to move he tried to pull more darkness to him in an attempt to conceal himself in the nightscape. Just as the last of the shadows was starting to move into place her eyes met his. Preparing for the fear and recoil that usually followed when he would appear he started clenching his fists as if he were trying to form armor to shield the blows he was certain would follow. However, the blows never came. Instead, the woman simply removed herself from her cocoon and walked over to where he was standing. Though walked didn't seem like the correct word when he looked back at this moment. It was like she was being carried by a soft breeze directly into his path. Once she was in front of him he started to have a very strange feeling wash over him, one that he would only come to realize later on was peace. It seemed to naturally flow from her. As she stared at him the shadows started to fade until they were just two beings occupying the same space. He tried to get a read on how she was feeling but all he could see was the same emotion he had had that very first night he had arrived, curiosity. Noticing the light starting to break through the curtains he knew their time was about to be cut short. In a split moment, quicker than human eyes could process, he produced a single red rose. Not understanding why, he handed it to her and began to evaporate before noticing the hint of a smile that appeared on her face before he was completely gone. She had seen him. More than that, she had seen him and was completely unphased by his presence. Knowing this woman was something different he began planning on how he would return to her the following night.