His Corpse Bride/ / DISCONTINUED

Chapter 4

      I stood looking in the mirror the next day and wished so badly that I could cry. I wanted to so badly. I missed my skin, my fingernails, my eye lashes. For something I always tried not to do when I was an ordinary human girl, I felt so stupid for taking it for granted. Death explained that I would never cry in this world but when we would visit earth then I would be able to do all humanly things. That did little to console me as I yelled and pushed him out, slamming the bathroom door in his face. I then proceeded to yell about not needing bathrooms if we're all skeletons. I mean, it's a fair statement.
He then explained on the other side of the door that skeletons still shower. Partly because showers feel nice and part because we get a smell of decay if we do not. I was surprised since we DONT HAVE AN FLESH. But you know, this world is all sorts of crooked so...
That was week ago and now I have just kind of been solemn, sarcastic and... not caring really. You can call it depression if you want. Whatever it was, it made whatever this is... easier.
"Good morning." Death said, entering my room.
I sighed and turned my gaze back to my novel. After much discussion, I convinced Death to give me my own room. He is not happy about it and I had to agree I was not allowed to lock him out except for the bathroom and that he did not have to knock. He said it makes it feel more... couple like? I rolled my eyes.
He crossed his arms and I shivered as I heard his bones clank together. He sat next to me on the bed and brushed my (quite lifeless) hair to the side. His eyes seemed to lighten as he saw my whole face. I was slowly recognizing a smile on a skeleton. A jaw itself cannot show a smile but someone's eyes brighten with a smile. I closed my book and set it on my bedside table.
"What can I do for you, Death?" I asked him, lacing my fingers together.
"I have to travel to the living today and will be gone until tomorrow afternoon." He said.
The way he said that suggests that he is not taking me....
"I assume I am not going for some deathly reason?" I said, waving my hand about as I said the world 'deathly'.
He sighed but chuckled a bit.
"No, my love, you will be here, accompanied by my younger sister, Sarraphine. It is tradition that the queen does not leave upon first getting here for at least a month." He said.
I clenched my teeth together so hard I feared I would break all of them right off my jaw. I turned my gaze away from Death and crossed my arms. He sighed and took my chin between his fingers.
"I'm sorry, darling. But we cannot break tradition. My father would surely rise from his eternal sleep and hide my skull from me." He said.
I rolled my eyes and one of them popped out. I shrieked before huffing in annoyance and popping it back into it's rightful place, carefully. Since there was nothing holding our eyes in place, we had that problem a little too often. Death started to laugh lightly but stopped when my head whipped to look in his direction. He grazed my arm but I swatted his hand away, cringing once more when I heard our fingers sound off a dull 'clunk'.
"I really am sorry. But I promise, Sarraphine is so sweet and is dying to meet you." He said, mood lifting slightly.
He got up from the bed and made his way to the door.
"I think she may have beat you to the punch." I grumbled under my breath.
"Sorry, What?" Death asked, coming back into the room.
"Nothing, dear." I said sarcastically, before throwing the blankets over my head.

          I decided later that I was growing bored of sulking and decided to nose around the castle for an hour or two. Death had left an hour ago for his trip and he bid me goodbye, to which I may have given a sarcastic reply. Sarraphine would not be around until a couple hours from now, Death told me. She was with her mate until then. So, this was as good a time as ever to explore.
         I exited my room and decided to go left to start my exploring. I walked down the hall, which wasn't all that special and came to a large oak staircase, leading to the next floor.
       As I began to take each stair, I came across photos as I kept going up. The first was labeled 'Marietta' on a small silver plate under a framed picture of a girl who looked only sixteen. She had blonde hair and looked... creepy. For the first time I could not see the beauty in a corpse like death or myself.
      As much disdain as I had for Death, I still thought he was morbidly beautiful. I shook the creepies away and continued up the stairs. The next picture was labeled 'Sarraphine' and I looked curiously at the girl I was about to meet. Her long blonde hair was almost to her waist and, from being dead, looked almost as if it were a bit grey. I could not deny that she was beautiful. Her arms were crossed and her head tilted up slightly so a light hit her just right. I was slightly jealous. Her eyes were so lively and I hoped mine were as such.
        I moved on to the next photograph, about six steps up, labeled 'Damien'. If I had eyebrows, they would have furrowed. Who was Damien and why was he such a beautiful corpse. His eyes were so full of life and he was clearly laughing in this photo. This corpse seemed familiar but I could not put my finger on it. But I quickly dismissed it since I have not met any other corpses.
At the very top of the staircase was a picture of two corpses with their arms around each other. They seemed very much love, their hots a lovely, bright, cherry red. The woman's long blonde hair was pushed back as she leaned on her love's shoulder and the man seemed proud as he looked down at her. I subconsciously touched my own chest over my zip up and felt slightly empty. I looked at the label that said King Andrew and Queen Alexandria. So these are Death's parents. No wonder he was good looking. His parents were the best looking corpses I had ever seen. I stopped at my thoughts.
"That is the weirdest thought I've ever had." I whispered to myself.
I took a few more short moments to admire the king and queen before moving on to the next floor. The dark brown walls were... cozy actually. There were about 8 doors on this floor down each hallway and three hallways. One totally opposite the staircase and two adjacent on either side. I decided on going down the hall to the right and looked at all the photographs and art on the walls. This hall was all pictures of past kings and there were only about 20 pictures up. Again, I was confused. Death has been a thing since the beginning of time. I mean, I'm pretty sure things died way back then. I assumed that was way too many pictures to put up all at once upon further thought.
      I grew bored with the third floor, not being able to explore any rooms and descended the staircase to the first floor. I had to correct my slightly wabbley legs as I took the steps. My legs shook and wabbled quite a bit but Death assured me I would get use to them. They just are lacking muscle and... everything, so it would take time to adjust.
      I reached the first floor and sighed at the beauty of this place. It was hardly fair that a place that is always in night hours can have a palace as beautiful as this one. I want to say it is bitter sweet but I have yet to taste the sweet, if I ever will.

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The photo at top does not do justice for what I am thinking in my head but just a small thing to give a better visual of what I am thinking.