Chapter 3
1077 Words
“Nana, please don’t leave me,” Anna wailed, her head buried in her grandmother’s chest. She was six years old.
It was her grandmother’s third stroke, which left her comatose. Their family doctor has advised Anna and her mother to prepare themselves for the inevitable and should say their goodbyes.
Anna inhaled her grandmother’s familiar scent, desperately committing it to memory. And that’s when she first felt his ‘presence’.
Her tear-soaked cheeks suddenly went ice cold and she felt a sudden chill. She tentatively lifted her head up and saw a man wearing black standing by the foot of the bed and looking intently at her nana.
Her body stiffened with fear.
“Mama,” she flung herself to her mother who was seated by the bed.
"Shhhh….. it’s okay my love,” her mother reassured her. She held Anna tighter, stroking her hair.
“Who… who is he?” she stammered. She couldn’t stop herself from staring at the scary man.
“He’s a Grim Reaper. He’s here to fetch nana go to heaven Anna,” her mother whispered, also eyeing the Grim Reaper.
“No, no, I don’t want to. I won’t allow it!” Anna protested.
Anna suddenly stood-up, intending to tell the Grim Reaper off but her mother was quick to pull her back.
“Anna, listen to me …. listen carefully. You … we….., we cannot interfere. It is their duty,” her mother explained softly.
“But mama, I don’t want nana to go … not yet!” Anna pushed back.
“I know how you feel my love, but look at her.” She indicated her nana who was lying unconscious in the bed and attached to a respirator.
“Do you want her to stay like that forever? Nana is ready to go. We must let her go. We should not keep her here with us just so we don’t become sad,” she gently chided her daughter.
“But…. but…” fresh tears flowed down Anna's cheeks.
Her mother hugged Anna tightly and said, “Promise me Anna, in future if you see a Grim Reaper, don’t talk to him.”
“In fact, don’t even look at him. Leave him be to carry out his duty. You should not interfere. Will you promise me?” She held her daughter’s chin up. She looked intently into Anna's eyes, willing her to agree.
Anna doesn’t understand what her mother meant but she reluctantly nodded her head, stifling a sob while stealing glances at the Grim Reaper.
“Say you promise Anna,” her mother insisted.
“I promise…. I promise mama.” Anna reluctantly agreed as great sobs racked her small body once again.
Anna did not see another Grim Reaper after her grandmother died. Her mother has also not talked to her about that incident again. She had actually forgotten about him until ten years later.
Anna was in a mall with some girlfriends from school. They were happily trying on some lipstick and make-up at the cosmetic counter when halfway though her lipstick application, she had a sudden premonition of danger.
A cold sweat broke-out and she started to tremble.
She looked around her, everything seemed normal. The girls did not notice her changed demeanor as they continue to apply their make-up and tease each other.
Anna was standing still, trying to calm her nerves, when she felt the first tremor. It was so mild that it was hardly noticeable except for Anna who had inadvertently tuned-in to her surroundings.
"Ladies, I think we need to leave the mall ….” she told her companions. They turned to look at her. Anna was still and alert. Her face was pale and her expression worried as her eyes dart left and right.
“Why? What’s wrong?” they asked in unison, suddenly feeling nervous.
“NOW!” Anna suddenly screamed. Her commanding tone left no room for debate. She pulled Cynthia who was next to her and bolted to the main entrance.
Seeing them flee, the others immediately put the cosmetics down, picked-up their belongings and followed their two friends running ahead.
They were a few feet away from the main door, when a strong quake shook the whole building and within seconds, glass shards from the ceiling started falling down and the walls slowly crumbled.
They lost their footing and stumbled. Amidst the shaking ground and disintegrating building, they managed to hold their bags over their heads to protect them from the falling debris.
Around them, everyone scrambled to go out. In their desperation to escape, they pushed and pulled and clawed their way through, stepping and stumbling over those who fell down.
Anna and her friends made a dash for safety and barely made it out before the whole building collapsed.
Outside, Anna and her friends were dumbstruck with terror. They huddled together and haven’t uttered a single word, just continued to stare at the ruins before them.
What was once considered the biggest mall in Bayouville, have turned into just a heap of rubble within seconds.
After the initial shock was over, they were overcome with grief. They could have been easily trapped inside or worse…. had it not been for Anna. They hugged each other and cried.
Anna recovered her composure and counted her friends… one, two, three, four…. everyone made it out safe. They were all covered in dust and some cuts but no one was seriously injured.
Thank God.
She looked around, a number of people also managed to make it our alive. Others were walking in a daze while some were attempting to get back in, wailing and clawing their way through the rubble, in an attempt to save their loved ones who were trapped inside.
The sky suddenly darkened. Anna looked-up and saw a wave of dark shadows descending.
And that was when she saw the Grim Reaper again, but not alone this time. There were a swarm of them.
A great trepidation coursed through Anna’s body. She knew right there and then that many perished that day.
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