Death's Lullaby

Chapter 22

After the Powers had left Death decided to go find Joe. He said he was going to be out in the cemetery. Death heard the familiar noise of dirt landing on the grass and made his way over to Joe who was probably four feet in a hole. Death seated himself on a headstone and watched Joe work.

"Almost done?" Death asked Joe when he climbed out of the hole.

"No, but my back can't do anymore tonight," Joe answered. He leaned the shovel against the fence and wiped his face with a dirty rag.

"I could finish it for you," Death suggested.

"You can if you want to," Joe said handing him the shovel. Death took the shovel and jumped in the hole. He began to dig and Joe watched from where Death had sat. He was only ten minutes in and his back already hurt, but he was going to finish.

"How do you feel Cain?" Joe asked.

"I'm fine," Death answered back. He heard Joe chuckle under his breath as he leaned against a headstone. Joe knew Death was in pain but he didn't say anything. If he wanted to dig himself a hole he was going to let him. Death eventually finished digging the hole and he was now six feet under.

"Joe! Are you still here!" Death yelled. Joe's face appeared at the edge of the hole. He looked down at Death and smiled.

"I'm here!"

"How do I get out of here?"

"I don't know,"

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"It's not my hole to get out of,"

Death looked up at him dumbfounded. Was he not going to help him out? Death looked around and noticed he couldn't get out. The hole was too steep. There was no way he could climb the sides. Joe watched him think about how to get out. Death picked up his shovel and tried to boost himself up with it. He heard the shovel crack and he fell back in to the hole. The shovel was in pieces. Death threw the pieces of shovel and thought. How to get out of here?

"Havin' fun down there?" Joe asked from above.

"Not really!"

Death got up and dusted the dirt off of him. He stepped back and decided to take a running leap at the side of the hole. He got halfway up but gravity pulled him back down. He landed on the ground with a thud. Eventually Death got out of the hole with some help from Joe. The two walked back to the house in silence. Death felt humiliated. They got inside and Joe got them each a glass of water.

"You're job is harder than I thought it was," Death said to Joe. He looked over the brim of his glass and Death could tell he was smiling.

"It's not that bad,"

"I thought that I was never going to get out,"

"But you did, and that's the important part. It doesn't matter about how you got in the hole all that matters is that you got out," Joe stated.

"Did you just turn my experience of digging a hole into a lesson about life?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Joe put his glass in the sink and went to his chair to sit down. Death set his glass in the sink as well and went to his room. His gloves were still laying on the floor where he he had left them. Death picked them up and examined them. He put them on and listened to the sound of crinkling leather. He picked up his List and looked at all the dates once more. There was one later tonight in New York. Death peeked out of his door and heard Joe snoring away. Good thing Death got his Powers back. He could be in New York and back in a few hours. Death snapped his fingers and he disappeared from his room and was on a dirty alley way in New York. Death pinched his nose and tried not to smell the sewage.

"Now where are you?" Death questioned the name on his List. He heard a bark behind him. Death spun around and at first all he saw was the outline of a huge animal. Death squinted at the shape and tried to see what exactly it was. Then the figure came trotting out of the shadows and Death saw that it was Wolfie wagging his tail behind him.

"Wolfie?"

Wolfie wagged his tail and stood beside Death looking up at his master.

"How did you get here? You weren't in my room when I left,"

Wolfie continued to look up at Death and wagged his tail even more. Death pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. This wasn't the first time that Wolfie had ended up somewhere he shouldn't have been without a logical explanation. He shook his head and looked back down at Wolfie.

"Do not leave my side. Do you understand me? I don't have a leash so you have to behave," He ordered the dog. Wolfie barked in response and wagged his tail. Death shook his head and looked at the address once more. Death walked out of the alley with Wolfie at his side. Death was glad that no one could see him, but then again everyone could see Wolfie, a huge Irish Wolfhound loping along the streets of New York without an owner. Death made his way through New York until he made his way to a small house on the outskirts of the large city. He entered the home and walked around. It was dark in the house and there seemed to be no human life inside. Wolfie pulled on Death's pant leg and tried to lead Death in a different direction.

"Did you find him?" Death asked the dog. Wolfie quietly barked and trotted down the hall. Death followed behind him and he smelled a familiar scent. Blood, and lots of it. He saw a light leak into the hall from a room that was further down the hall. So far, this was the only light that had been on in the entire house. He looked through the crack and saw it was a bathroom. Death opened the door all the way and saw a man in his late twenties with a shard of glass pressed into his hand that was stained with his own blood. Fresh red blood was oozing down his arm and dripping onto the tile. There was already a decent red puddle around the man. Death figured that he had cut a main artery in his arm, and the man was slowly dying. Death could already feel the man slipping away. He walked into the bathroom and stood by the sink. The man looked Death square in the eye as he entered the bathroom.

"Death, my old friend. Have you come to take me away?" the man croaked. Death looked at the man oddly. He had never met this man in his life, but this wasn't the first time someone had said such things to him. Death took off his glove and pressed it to the man's forehead. He didn't bother to start singing his lullaby. There wasn't much left of the man. It wasn't worth Death's time to sing to the man who was already half dead. Death felt his life drain and his soul exited his body. Death bottled it up and stood, staring down at the man. Wolfie had patiently sat in the hall and waited for his master to finish his job. Death shut the bathroom door and they left the house.

Death snapped himself and Wolfie back to Joe's house and he looked down at his gloves that were now covered in blood. He had accidentally put his gloves in the pool of blood without realizing. Death scratched the man's name off and rolled the List back up. Death quickly changed his clothes and curled up in bed next to Wolfie who was already snoring. He stared at the blood on his gloves and got lost in his thoughts. He slept with his gloves on now. He didn't want to risk accidentally touching anything while he was asleep, especially Wolfie who alway slept on Death's bed. Death got lost in his thoughts and they wandered back to his List. He hoped that he didn't have to do the bottom of the List. He knew that there was already a lot of blood on his hands, but they were strangers. To him, those people didn't count, but if Death had to kill his newfound friends and family it would surely be the end of him.

A/N
Yes because being stuck in someone's grave is fun. Not really, but he did get out of it at least. Death is now officially back on the job but why does Wolfie keep popping up everywhere with Death? Poor Death having to cope with the thought that he might have to kill the people he cares about. Picture above is of New York City. It seemed fitting. Please vote and comment! Thanks for reading!

-Dragon 🐉