The Scythe-Bearer

Chapter 7: Afflictions of the human heart

I left through a portal after Sarah had left the clearing, I feel numb, it takes all my effort just to move. I stepped out of the portal into an unknown location in the middle of nowhere; it was a cliff parting from the mountain like an outstretched arm with the raging ocean throwing itself against the dagger rocks below. The cold air swirled and I felt it break through my thin, tattered T-shirt but the cold didn't phase me. I noticed how the fishing boat struggled against the unbreakable tide, the ocean was vast and more stronger than them. "Still why do they fight when they know they can't win? Why suffer disappointment when there is no chance to begin with?"

I watched the boats for a moment longer then I sat on the edge of the cliff, wallowing in the past events. "Stupid Lucas! It's his fault for making me take on this stupid case!...I...No it is my own fault...I shouldn't have interfered with things...I knew I could never be with her yet I still fought against the tide much like those boats."

I thought back to our last moments before everything went to hell, her smile, her warmth, her laugh, her stupid self-sacrificing ideals that are too familiar to my own and her understanding soul... “She didn't seem too understanding just a few hours ago...but that is mostly my fault...I scared her...Dammit, I hate thinking about all this stuff."

My chest felt tight when I thought back to her face twisted with fear, it was face that I was shown many times before but on her face it seemed fresh and more painful. I pulled my knees to my chest as the freezing rain poured down from the grey dark clouds, I thought back to the time before the car hit me. Before I pushed Sarah out of the way, I noticed a grey hue in the window of the car. So it was the smokie that I am chasing which caused all this mess, that made me more depressed than I already was, "Once again the fault is mine for not catching that thing in the first place...Damn...I really need to get my head on straight...I am not human, I am not alive. I must start acting like it but something is always pulling me back...I can’t put my finger on it…"

My thoughts went back to the case that caused a whole of trouble for myself, it was one of my first souls to collect for Hell. Warren Baker was the man’s name and he was a very peculiar human.

Warren Baker laid on his death bed hanging on to the last bit of his life by the last thread. He was notorious in the neighborhood for being one the most feared street fighters. To say he had anger issues was a major understatement, this man would literally beat a person to death for just looking in his general direction. Men, women, he had no preferences, he would kill them with his bare hands if he felt like it. A lot of people have tried to test the truth behind these theories but no one came back to prove the hypothesis incorrect. Now as he lays fighting tooth and nail for his life, just to have one more taste of victory in the ring. His battered fists lay on top of his blanket, shaking from the weakness flowing through him as his organs begin to shut down one by one. Every night he dreamed of winning another fight and feeling the other person’s skull crack under his fist. The sickening sound is like sweet music to him and the rush he gets from making the other person his punching bag is better than any drug you would find on the streets. I visited him on a night where he couldn’t sleep, his pain didn’t give him mercy. I sat on a chair next to his bed and alerted him to my presence. He glared at me and if looks could kill I would have been dead a thousand times over.

“What do you want?”

“I am a Scythe-Bearer who was assigned to take you to your rightful place when you die.”

He laughed painfully then he stared at me with the ‘you gotta be kidding me’ look on his face. I didn’t play his staring game and chose to look at the dark sky through the small window. I was planning to wait out his death in silence but the man himself decided to have a conversation with absolutely no meaning whatsoever.

“You know who I am right? You know what I have done? Why not ran along to your mama and be a good little boy because I rather die alone than have some stupid kid babysit me.”

I turned to face him feeling slightly irritated by his tough guy attitude that I decided to play a little game since I am a ‘little boy’.

“I am bored so I think I will play a little game with you, if you win you can shoot me in the head with this gun here…” I pulled an old pistol that I stole from Lucas’ office.

“Like you are going to give me that gun and plus it is not even loaded...”

He didn’t say anything more after I turned and fired the pistol into the wall above his cupboard. I tossed him the gun and sat down again.

“So as I was saying, the game is one of truth and death. I ask questions and if you cannot answer truthfully then I can take away some of your life force which by the way is painful for you. Then we switch and if I don’t answer truthfully then you can shoot me in the head which is equally painful for me. Sounds fair enough?”

“I can’t believe I am about to play a game of 20 questions with a damn crazy person.”

I looked at him with doubt written all over my face,

“You think you will last for 20 questions?”

The game began and I asked my first question,

“Why did you start street fighting?”

“That is easy, because I loved beating the crap out of people who think they are better than me.”

His tell showed almost immediately and I rolled my eyes at his absolute stupidity. I outstretched my hand and literally ripped some of his life force out of his aura without hesitation. He gasped and sputtered while clutching his chest tightly with his right hand.

“What was that!?”

“I don’t take lightly to humans lying at the first question and still thinking that they can get away with it. I am not stupid. Now the truth before I take more than that.”

He shook slightly at the final realization that what I have been talking about is in fact the truth but he continued all the same.

“At the time my mother left my sister and I to fend for ourselves. My sister, she was beautiful and it was a kind of beauty that caused a lot of eyes to watch her. One day she caught the attention of a dangerous man, he ran one of the most successful fighting rings. He wanted her and when that man wanted something he got it, she was taken that and I didn’t see her until I found her in a ditch a few months ago. She was violated and thrown away like trash once a prettier girl came around. I lost her and I couldn’t save her…she was starting school soon…I worked hard to give her a better life than what I had and that man took it all away! He took her light away and I snapped. I entered the ring for revenge and it consumed me, I was no longer the big brother she knew and loved…

I sat in silence, not expecting the answer that I got. I knew he was lying with the first answer but I didn’t know that the real answer was this different. His hands was shaking and his small eyes barely contained his tears of frustration. A few moments passed before he regained his composure to ask me a question.

“What is your name, Grim Reaper?”

“Sy...”

He pointed the gun at my head and brace his finger on the trigger, a predictable move that every single human that I play this game with does on the first round.

“Sorry buddy but I don’t feel like dying today, I still have that man to kill.”

He pulled the trigger and the pistol clicked unleashing a bullet into my head.

I fell from the chair and hit the ground as the bullet lodged itself in my brain. I was barely conscious but I was aware of my surroundings. My first stable thought was that humans are stupid and gullible because they seem to believe every story that they hear on the streets. I rolled my head forward again and sat up onto the chair, to meet his look of utter disbelief.

“What the hell?! I shot you!”

I spat out the bullet that he inputted into my head and glared at him.

“I did mention before that I am the grim reaper and it takes more than this to kill me. Don’t believe everything you hear, just because you shoot a grim reaper in the head, it doesn’t mean that you will magically live. There is always another one to replace me and take you when you die.”

He seemed to settle and he sighed a tired sigh

“Guess there is no way around it, your turn grim reaper.”

For the rest of his lifespan we played the game but it was different to what it was before. I felt his prideful layers uncurling and he seemed to a bit of his old warm self again, the one his sister saw. The countdown came so soon and he was not prepared…He begged me to allow him to live just long enough for him to exact his revenge on the man who killed his sister. It was pathetic to see him like that, crying and sniffing while talking about killing someone with his bare hands. I then had to take him down to Hell because regardless of his reasons he still killed numerous amounts of people. I felt conflicted about him and it showed to the higher ups. I think he was the first human that I actually enjoyed spending time with and he was a serial killer…

My thoughts came back to the present and I am still wondering why I am bringing up old stupid stuff. The rain has pretty much increased into a storm, it slapped against my skin with a vengeance and pulled my clothes taunt against my skin.

The blood from my clothes ran onto the rock and ran off the edge of the cliff, I was shivering partly from the rain. I shook my head and stood up angry with myself, "Enough! This is getting me nowhere! I should be doing my job...but...No! she doesn't want to even look in my direction...You know what! I am done with this self pity crap!"

I summoned a portal at the wall of the cliff, "I have made up my mind and I don't care what others say this is my life and I am going to do what I feel is right. I am a Scythe-Bearer and always will be but no one said I had to follow those stupid rules the angels came up with. To hell with them! I know what I must do and nobody is going to stop me..."

I walked out onto the lawn of Sarah's yard filled with new found determination and courage; I noticed her parent's cars weren't in the driveway. I sucked in a defining breath and uttered a phasing spell, "Sorry Sarah but you wouldn't have let me through the front door anyways...pardon my intrusion."

I walked through the wall into the kitchen where I had felt Sarah's presence; she stood behind the island and noticed my appearance straight away. She backed away until she stood against the counter.

"Wha...How?"

"Sarah please allow me to explain myself."

She shook her head quickly and her hand went to the drawer behind her.

"I told you that I didn't want to see you! Leave now!"

I wasn't backing down that easily, I walked towards her.

"Sarah, listen...I..."

"No, stop don't come any closer!"

I didn't stop until I was about an arm's length away from her but I didn't touch her.

"I am not human, I am a Scythe-Bearer..."

"I don't want to hear it!"

"I pass judgement onto those who died to be able to send them to where they are supposed to go..."

"Stop!"

She brought out her hands in front of her with a knife glinting in the light pointing straight at my chest. Her cheeks were wet from her tears and her hands were shaking, "She doesn't want to hurt me but she is scared...I can't back down though if I do I will lose her."

"I know it is hard to believe but I promise you none of it is a lie."

"How can I believe such a story, Sy! I mean from what you are telling me you are some kind of grim reaper!"

"Well you can put it in that way if you want."

"Don't patronise me, Sy!"

She was becoming angry, the knife stood more confidently.

"I am sorry, Sarah...I am sorry that I did this to you...I am sorry that I am making you go through this, Sarah."

She faltered for only a second, her voice was soft and weak.

"Please just stop...I don't...I can't believe such a story."

I watched the knife in her unstable hands, "The only way to do this is..." I looked her in her eyes, I felt calmness wash over me. I sighed.

"If you saw it would you believe it?"

"What?"

Before she knew what was happening I summoned my beacon, my scythe, in a cloud of grey smoke. Her eyes widened and her mouth gaped but the knife stood in a rigid position.

"What the heck!?...You really do have a scythe..."

"You see, what I have said..."

"But it doesn't prove anything, normal humans can also do magic or illusions."

She wasn't believing it, I sighed and retracted the scythe. "I guess this is the only way I can show her the truth..."

I moved closer to her, she held up the knife higher.

"Stop, what are you doing?"

I looked at her focusing only on her eyes, eyes that were once warm but now were cold with fear and distrust. I took another step until the knife tip was against the left side of my chest right against my heart. I placed my hands over hers which clutched the knife in a vise grip, my eyes never left her face.

Time began to slow, silence overwhelmed us. Her eyes searched mine, looking for answers.

"I guess I have to show you then..."

Before she could catch on, I pulled the knife into my chest causing red to bloom across the front left side of my chest….