Fredrick Andrew Schlek gazed out of the window and watched as a setting sun shone its radience over the sea which now covered the pathway back to the villiage beneath its waters.
He mused for a moment as he realised that the footpath they'd walked on only an hour before, was now nine feet underwater. If it wasn't for the two rowboats laying upturned on the grass lawn, the isolation would be crippling.
Fredrick shivered.
This was his old nightmare, this lighthouse where he'd grown up. The place he'd endured through fifteen years. In its halls the echo of the whip, still cracked, unaudable to the outsiders who suspected nothing of the type, but he'd seen the fear in each of his brother's eyes as soon as they'd passed under the doorway.
Fredrick let his ears drift backwards towards the table where his late father's solicitor, the senior partner in Burrows and Slyde, was reading the last will and testament. The white haired old man had been a friend of his fathers, of thirty years nearly, managing his affairs loyally on the mainland, whilst his father lived out his life here, isolated nearly.
"..... Therefore, as time is short I will disclose to you your father's wishes, rather than to read the whole thing." He said.
Out of the window, Fredrick looked skywards at the black stormclouds which came almost every night.
He shivered again, horrible memories of that whip, blending with the rain and thunder.
"Your late father's fortune is to be divided between his sons by proportion of the respective family. His wish was that twenty percent of the money be passed on to Fredrick Schlek. David, you have been given a larger amount oweing to the family you have to support. The same goes for Jason. You both recieve thirty five percent of the money. The remaining share of ten percent is to be given to the medical fund which sustained your fathers life with their treatment.
The solicitor gathered his papers quickly, wasting as little time as possible. The family maid, who Fredrick had already decided he was going to retain, was already waiting to leave.
No one spoke until the two civil servants had left. But when the rowboat touched the water, David called Fredrick back to the table where supper had already been neatly laid out by the old maid.
As Fredrick sat he placed his napkin on his knees, automatically as their father had brutally taught them.
There was a lot of suspence in the room at the moment, the money, a fairly trivial piece of buisness had already been decided, but the real treasure was still to be decided.
To break the silence, the two women present passed a few comments around. Reinforcing the feeling, to Fredrick, that they were the outsiders here. In his mind the two had no place at this table.
There was no doubt in anyones mind that they were all rich. Their father's money had been no megre sum. Too rich, a man might say, to care about petty things like who has more than his brothers, but Fredrick did care.
Fredrick opened his mouth to speak but at that moment thunder boomed and the temperature at the table seemed to plumet.
Another bolt of thunder came and one of the women shouted in surprise as the electric lights in the room flickered.
Fredrick was in a state of shock now though he couldn't say why.
Then another boom and the lights went out.
"Some storm, eh?" Jason tried to lighten the situation.
They waited for a few moments in the darkness.
The storms were expected out here, and power outs were fairly comman. Thats why their father had had a backup generator.
But the darkness did not receed. The generator was out for the night. One of the girls moaned in horror, as they realised it should have kickstarted by now.
Fredrick smiled in the darkness and pulled a matchbook out of his pocket. Striking a match loudly he lit the base of the elegant candlarbra, and thirteen flames, like candles burst into life. Fredrick shook the match out as light slowly filled the room again.
"So..." Fredrick started, his voice was even and slippery, it was his "Board Meeting" voice. "What it really comes down to here, is which of us should inherit Chem Co."
Chem Co. was their father's mega corp which had earned him his money. Fifteen years ago he'd bought out a failing company through stocks and shares and instilled a new manager there who'd worked hard and turned the company into a raging success within three years.
Since then the company had gone into corperate ledgend, procuring their father sixty five billion dollars, to leave to them.
"I think Jason should front it." David said turning to him. "You are the most level minded with dads instinct for buisness."
Fredrick nodded.
"I agree." He lied.
Jason seemed surprised, probably with the ease that Fred had submitted, but spoke quickly. "So, thats settled then." Fredrick had far more important matters on his mind, and he didn't want to argue with his brother, not now of all times.
Outside a torrent of rain began to batter at the glass and another boom lit the dark sky.
There was another awkward silence between the diners, but the fear returned when three ominous knocks echoed throughout the house. To Fredrick, those sounds seemed louder than thunderclaps.
They all turned towards the door, but no one moved.
After a moment Fredrick recovered himself and rose, crossing to the front door.
The door sounded its old familiar creak, but this time Fredrick felt irritated by the sound.
The storm hit him in the face and he braced his eyes just as another clap of thunder lit the sky infront of him, touching down somewhere in the villiage.
Through the flash he saw a terrifying figure. A small form in a hooded cowel, a large patch of darkness obscuring the face, the cowel which was obviously two sizes too large for the occupant billowed around it in the unforgiving wind.
"Come in quick." He shouted above the roar of the sea.
The figure on the step hurried forwards past him, eagre to escape the wind.
As Fredrick pushed the door shut the arrival waited patiently.
As the wind died, Fredrick picked up a scent from the figure that he hadn't been able to detect before.
He couldn't place the smell itself but had a vague idea of neutrality and earthern overtones.
*Shit. Listen to me.* He thought. *I'm beginning to sound like one of those house design specialists.
Small, white hands appeared in the billows of the gown and reaching up, threw back the cowel's hood.
There were several things that Fredrick thought the hood could have contained, all of them frightened him. But he did little more than tence in anticipation.
A second later Fredrick smiled with relief.
It was a girl.
Fredrick had always believed that he and his family were magnificent over-achievers by nature simply because they had loads of money and were able to sustain their personal fortunes. He'd never realised it as strongly as this before, but he was feeling basefully resentful of this villiage intruder from the lower classes. He decided to privately show himself his own superiority by second guessing the visitor's story.
The face was odd though, it was exactly the same as her hands, pastely white.
The girl wasn't too old either. Maybe just out of school, or in the final years.
The girl had noticed his smile now and smiled back. "Thankyou."
There was something about her which Fredrick couldn't identify. It was like she was some kind of goth. But not a goth. Not unless it was some kind of extreme which crept into every part of a person.
Her skin was pale, and her eyes were a kind of blue which Fredrick had never seen before, they seemed to burn with color. Her hair was jet black and shortened into a kind of crew-cut that seemed strangely feminine.
Fredricks air of superiority flicked back to him and he tried to show his intelligence to her. Curiously he did not feel that he was building favor by doing this. Certainly the girl was extremely attractive, but not in a way that appealed to him.
"You must have been cut off when the time came in." He stated.
"Something like that, yeah." She nodded.
Fredrick was surprised. Her voice was like silk but with an accent he couldn't trace. Her words were careful and deliberate.
"Can I take your coat?" Fredrick asked holding out his hand. He noticed that the girl hardly had any rain on her, even though it had been raining most of the day.
Her reaction to his formality was instant. Her hand went up and drew the cloak tighter around her.
"No." She said mildly.
Fredrick suddenly detected a perculiar sencation of vulnerability from the girl. Could it be that the cloak was all she wore?
"W..We were just having dinner, would you care to join us? We have plenty of space here too if you don't mind heights. You're welcome to stay." Fredrick said quickly.
She smiled charmingly. Fredrick couldn't help notice that her face had lit up. "I'd love to stay for dinner."
Fredrick noticed another perculiarity about her then as she flashed a perfect white smile. Her teeth were more pointy than he felt they should have been.
Fredrick mused that David would jump to the conclusion that she was a vampire from one of those books he wrote about.
Without noticing his pause, the girl walked before him into the dining hall.
Her feet must have been light because he could hear nothing of her passage save the whisper of her gown. Normally even the simplest of shoes caused noise.
Fredrick followed her.
The girl walked into the other's view and the temperature seemed to turn to ice for a moment until Fredrick appeared behind her. No one could put their finger on it but a profound sence of doom engulfed the four visitors momentarily until Fredrick appeared. As one, the four looked to Fredrick, their eyes prefering something they recognised as a less disturbing sight.
Fredrick either ignored these strange feelings or he never noticed them at all.
He led the strange figure to the table where an unused plate seemed to have been deliberately place their for her. Fredrick shook his head and told himself that the servants had just been trying to make the table even.
Many ordenary people, at this point, would politely enquire as to whether they are intruding. But this was no ordenry visitor. She merely let Fredrick guide her to her chair.
When he'd reseated himself the first really unusual thing happened.
First, he swore that the girl was reaching out towards the chicken in the centre of the table like a child reaching for an out of reach toy. There was a rip and a chicken leg just flew into her hand.
She started to eat the meat, ignoring the surprise on the faces around her.
"You must be one of these telekenesis people we hear about." Fredricks ego cut in quickly.
A couple of the others glanced unsure at Fredrick before deciding that he must be right.
"Something like that." The girl replied tactfully. Her voice was deep. Not as in her pitch, but rather as if it were deep in some other scale. It made the others feel uncomfortable.
"Do you perform on stage?" Asked one of the women, trying to lighten the atmosphere which had recently plummeted.
The girl laughed. Once again those jagged jaws flashed. They looked incredably sharp to Fredrick. The girl shook her head grinning.
There was another silence which lasted for an entire ice age. All except Fredrick and the girl noticed at that moment that their breath was starting to smoke as though the room really was cold.
Fredrick stuck out his hand to the girl.
"Fred Schlek. I own most of Macrohard Media." He said confidently.
The girl took his hand. "I know."
Fred paused for a moment wondering why she hadn't followed him and introduced herself properly. He decided not to push though.
"These are my brothers." He told her. "David and Jason, and their wives, Mary and Jo. David writes fantasy novels, and Jason here is the owner of Chem Co." Fredricks eyes sparkled. He was proud of showing off to this newcomer, however strange she was.
Something was wrong though because the girl was now looking at Jason, puzzled.
"Mr Schlek." She addressed Jason. "Are you aware that thirty seven of the fifty three oil tankers that have ever sunk causing major biological damage have had some degree of direct relation to your company?"
*Holy shit.* Fredrick told himself. *She's from greenpeace and we're stuck with her for the night.*
He corrected himself quickly as he realised his mistake.
*No.* He laughed, *Not for the whole night.
Jason squirmed under the girl's gaze. She had that devoted look that he'd only seen on the most determined of activists.
"I was not aware of this, no. I shall appoint a new manager for the company and ask him to look into this quite unacceptable statistic." He replied diplomatically.
"I'll remember that you said that Mr Schlek. I'll tell that to the next oil soaked bird I find on the beach."
"Are you a member of the Enviroment Council?" David asked, pausing before adding, "Miss...?"
The girl appeared to remember something. "I'm sorry." Her voice was calm and diplomatic now. "I appear to have forgotten my manners. My name is Sarah."
Fred smiled nodding. "Well, Sarah, are you a member of the EC?"
"No," She shook her head. "I just do the cleaning up really." She said sadly. "I just take the animals away."
*RSPCA too?* Fred thought.
"Where do you take the animals Sarah?" Jo asked. "Do they go to a special cemetary or just to the dump."
"No. I take their spirits away. Not their bodies." She told Jo.
There was a silence. No one knew what to say. Jason and Fredrick's eyes met.
David chipped in quickly.
"Sarah. You haven't had a accident have you?" He asked sympathetically. "Maybe bumped your head?"
"Had an accident?" She smiled. "Me?"
She laughed.
"This is no accident David." Sarah said. "You've been murdered."
David was too shocked to speak.
Jason chipped in angrily.
"Look." He burst out. "I don't think you know what you're saying Sarah, so...."
"You too." She cut him off.
Jason's face went white. He sat back down.
"I never believed in you." David said. "I've heard tell of you but I'dve never believed it."
"What are you talking about?" Jo asked him. She was scared now.
"She's the reaper." He told her. "Now it all makes sence."
There was a long silence at the table. Sarah reached for another chicken leg.
"What?" Jo asked David. "You can't believe that?"
David turned to her. Sarah listened. "Why?" He replied in a pleading voice. He wanted her to prove him wrong, everyone could see that.
"Well.... well..... well, the reaper's 'sposed to be a seven foot tall skeleton...."
"Well Jo." Sarah chipped in good naturedly. "I wouldn't get very far if I looked like that, would I?"
".... And the reaper's meant to be a he." Mary said.
"Hands up anyone who's ever seen the reaper before?" Sarah said. There was an awkward silence.
"So, I could have been a stuffed giraffe for all you knew." Sarah said to Mary.
"Are we all dead?" Fredrick asked. He too looked like he was in shock.
"No." Sarah replied.
Fredrick smiled nervously. "Then who...."
Sarah held a finger to her lips, lifting an ear, encouraging the others to listen.
The storm had fallen silent outside, strangely, and for a moment or two, nobody could hear anything.
Then far away, came the sound of a dog yapping. Only it didn't sound like any kind of dog any of them had ever heard before.
Sarah stood, her form mingling with that of the table. She was a ghost as far as it was concerned.
"Oh dear." She muttered.
"What is it?" David asked. He looked petrified. Fredrick didn't blame him. He wasn't feeling too good himself.
"The dogs are coming." Sarah said, listening.
"Dogs?" David asked.
"I don't like them. They're nasty horrible things. They're one of the collectors that you'll find in this kind of work." She told them. "The dogs are the worst."
*She's abstractive, that's what its called.* Fredrick told himself.
Sarah turned to him as if hearing the thought.
"I think it's time for you to confess Fredrick." She told him.
"Am I dead too?" He asked unbelievingly.
Sarah shook her head sadly. "I'd like to say they're coming for you, but they arn't, not yet."
Fredrick listened to the dog's baying for a few moments.
"I had the chicken poisoned." He said glumly. "With everyone dead, I would inherit everything."
"You unbelieveable little shit." Jason stormed. "You were always selfish. I didn't realise that you were willing to kill us over dads fortune."
David shouted out then, startling the group. "For God's sake shut up Jason."
Jason sat back down, shocked.
Sarah walked down the table to the end and stood infront of Jason.
"Listen Jason. The dogs are coming. And they're coming for someone at this table."
"Someone other that the murdering shit who put us in this mess in the first place?" Jason asked retorically.
Sarah turned towards the doorway.
The dogs were close now, very close.
Sarah's hand whipped out, passing through Jo's head, but pulling back so the finger's were inside her brain.
Jo looked petrified.
Slowly Sarah's head turned. Her eyes were wild.
"The dogs are coming for you Rachel Morby."
Jo's face went white. Not just pale, but inpossibly so.
"Rachel who?" David asked.
Jason saw the muscles under Sarah's skin twitch as though she was closing her hand. He could have sworn that Jo looked even more surprised then.
Then Sarah began to draw her hand towards Jo's mouth and Jo just kept that look on her features.
As the front of her hand came into view, Jo's mouth opened. Sarah tugged and a white glass sphere came out from Jo's lips in Sarah's fingers.
"This is your soul Rachel." Sarah said. "Though really it should be black, shouldn't it?"
Jo just gazed up at Sarah guiltily. A moment later, Jo's body fell out of her spirit, falling face down in the soup she had been eating, knocking a wine glass over.
"This," Sarah said, holding the sphere. "Is the thing which seals your doom."
Jo tried to snatch the sphere away from Sarah but her hands passed straight through her.
"Please, no... it wasn't my fault.... I didn't know what would happen..."
"That's only what you told the police. That it was an accident." Sarah said coldly. "But you forget one important detail, Rachel. I was there. I saw you drop the iron into the pool."
Rachel broke down.
Sarah lifted the white sphere, which at first had seemed to glow, but now looked hard and cold. "This is what happens to you...." Sarah turned to Fredrick who was looking increasingly nervous. ".... and those like you." Sarah put the sphere in her own mouth and swallowed. It was impossible, a human could never swallow something the size of a baseball, but Sarah did.
"No...." Jo shouted. "Give it back!"
There was a howl, very close by. Fredrick's blood ran cold as he realised that whatever it was it had paused outside the house.
"Come." Sarah called.
A small mongrel walked through the walls.
The mutt was no earthly creation. It's coat was grey and matted, uncared for. It looked rangy and lean. But its face was the worst.
It's eyes were gone. And through them you could see flames, the light shone through it's teeth too and Fredrick guessed that the inside of it's skull was an inferno.
What Fredrick found most surprising was Sarah's expression as she gazed at the mutt.
She just looked sad, but in her eyes was a look of horrified wonder.
Sarah reached out and clamped her hand over Jo's face. Pushing her roughly through the back of the chair and onto the floor infront of the dog.
Jo was crying now, though no one heard her.
The room dimmed. Nothing seemed to exist outside of the table's circle, except Jo and the dog.
"Behold, Rachel," Sarah said sternly. "the gates of Hell."
Fredrick couldn't say for sure what happened then, just that there was a sudden movement on Jo's behalf and then her hand was reaching back out of the dog's mouth, slowly sinking back into the jaws allowing passage to Jo's screams which were plainly a thousand times more than agonized.
Then the jaw closed and Jo's wrist fell to the floor. The screams stopped instantly.
Sarah walked over and kneeling, picked up the ghostly hand, the fingers curling.
"I've told you before that you can't just leave these things lying around." She said to the dog.
The others at the table sat in horror of what they'd seen, wondering to themselves whether the nightmare was over.
Sarah reached out and grasped the dog's face, her fingers drawing blood as they hooked behind the bone. The dog protested violently.
She did a quick flick of the finger and the dog's jaw dropped open. Fredrick guessed correctly that she'd dislocated it.
Before the dog could move Sarah grabbed a handful of fur and pulled the dog to her as she knelt.
She lifted the dog's head and dropped the hand between the open jaws. Then she pushed at the dog's open mouth and they all heard the snap as the bone slid back into place.
She stood and the dog pelted, yelping. It passed straight through the wall.
Sarah brushed her hands, turning around. She spoke quietly, but Fredrick didn't think she was speaking to herself. "Let that be a lesson to you."
She approached the table again and sat back down at her old place.
"And then there were five...." She said smiling relieved.
"What happened to Jo?" Jason asked.
"Do you really want to know?" Sarah asked.
Jason fell silent. No. He didn't want to know. Instead he asked another question.
"Why?"
"You were engaged, to be married to her?" Sarah asked as if confirming something she'd just been told.
Jason nodded.
"Jo's real name was Rachel Morby. She has been married five times before. All to weathy batcholers. Every single one was robbed of their fortunes by her, one, she even killed as a last resort. That is what sealed her fate." Sarah explained.
"And you're saying Jason would have been next?" David asked.
"No. I'm telling you her past, nothing more." Sarah clarified.
David saw what he needed to.
"Please, I don't deserve to die." Mary begged.
Sarah turned towards her irritated. She didn't speak for a few moments as she held the gaze of Mary.
"Don't you get it Mare," Sarah spoke. "I didn't kill you. I didn't kill any of you."
"Theres only one monster here." David spoke, looking hatefully at Fredrick. "I hope he goes the same way as Jo did."
Sarah smiled. "Rachel only killed once."
David didn't smile but his expression told Fredrick that he deserved whatever was going to happen.
"But...." Fredrick stammered. "I'm alive arn't I? I survived?"
Sarah nodded, closing her eyes. She looked shameful.
"What?!!" Jason burst out. "You take Jo to hell, yet you can't take a real murderer?"
Sarah looked very annoyed then as her head whipped around to look at Jason.
"Murder is wrong." She said softly, as if to herself. Mary thought she saw a tear running down Sarah's face, but if there was it was gone quickly.
"Sarah?" Fredrick snapped, drawing her attention. To Jason, both of them appeared to be in shock, though Sarah's seemed internal.
"Is there any way I can make up for what I've done?" Fredrick said. Jason wondered whether it was guilt, or fear that was causing the change in the man who until this evening, he had been proud to call his brother.
"Make up?" Sarah asked unbelievingly. "Heh. Thats a notion."
She paused, her mind seemed to wander for a moment, then she returned to Fred.
"To make up for something like this Fredrick, you need to do something incredably generous and reattain your brother's respect. Thats something that I doubt very much that you'll have time to do."
Fredrick paused a moment. Then it seemed to Jason and David, he seemed to realise something.
"You know what Sarah..." He said leaning forwards. Suddenly Sarah looked a little uncertain. That frightened both the other two brothers, but Fredrick seemed to not notice. Fredrick picked up an apple from the table and tossed it to Sarah.
She caught it instinctively.
".... I don't believe you know what you're talking about." Fredrick continued. "I think you're just trying to scare me."
Sarah looked angry now. "So what if I am Fred. What else am I supposed to do?"
David could see a certain amount of hurt in Sarah just then, but it disapeared quickly. Could she really care about what happened to Fredrick?
Fredrick stood and pretended to cross to the wine bottle, behind Sarah, but at the last second turned away and picked up the axe by the fire.
Sarah didn't see him until it was too late, neither did the brothers. David, it seemed was in a state of permanant shock. But when Mary screamed, Sarah half turned towards Fredrick, her face puzzled.
Thats when he hit.
The axe passed through the back of Sarah's chair with a crack and buried itself in her back.
Sarah's reaction was instant. She screamed as though she was a normal human, her back arched, her eyes wide.
The four onlookers watched in horror. Fredrick even, didn't seem to have expected this.
Sarah tried to stand, but the chair, it seemed, impeded her.
As she screamed in agony the three seated watched horrified, unable to do anything, as her eyes slowly lost their colour and turned instead into a pure white ball with no visable iris.
Then Sarah tried again to stand. This time the chair fell apart around her, though a crosspiece still remained, held in place by the axe, deeply imbedded in Sarah's back.
The three seated could now see that blood, real blood, was staining the back of Sarah's black cowel.
Fredrick backed away, scared out of his mind now.
Sarah still screamed, but she reached behind her to the accompanyment of a dozen sharp cracks. David told himself that those sharp reports were the bones in those arms which were now impossibly reaching behind to grasp the axe handle.
She pulled the axe out of her back with another echoing scream. Then she grasped the axe handle and turned back to Fredrick who was standing with his back to the wall, scared stiff.
Fredrick saw pure hatred in those eyes then and he knew she was going to throw the axe at him, but still he couldn't move.
Sarah drew back and threw. It seemed to David then that time slowed to a crawl. The axe spun twice as it crossed the room towards his defenceless brother, but at the very last moment, before the blade buried itself in Fred's forehead, the axe seemed to lift upwards so it missed him by a couple of milimetres, sinking deeply into the wall above Fredrick's head.
Fred screamed in shock at the impact, but then, as he felt nothing he looked slowly upwards. David noticed with a small amusement, that Fred had wet himself with fright. He'd heard about it but had never been able to understand it actually happening in real life.
David didn't know exactly what he felt about Fred just at that moment, but he felt as if he deserved this.
"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST." Sarah shouted. You could hear the pain in her voice. "What'd you have you go and do that for you fucking moron?"
Fred flapped but said nothing.
Sarah fell to her knees, curling inwards. David had a strong idea that she was healing as she stayed still.
*This is it* David thought. *This is when we find out whether or not she actually is who she says she is.* He reflected for a moment on what had happened to Jo, but decided that that could be done with special effects.
There was a strong smell of blood in the room now, and David thought it was real. Sarah had been hit with the axe and she was bleeding.
Then her head lifted again and she looked outwards again with her blue pupils.
She glanced back at the dinner table to check on the three there, then she turned back to Fred who was still flapping his jaw wildly.
"Just be thankful that your time is still to come Fredrick." She said mildly. She showed no pain now. "Soon. You and me are gonna go on a little journey."
She walked closer to Fredrick now, grabbing his shirt and tossing him nimbly back towards the table. He landed on it with a crash and shouted in pain. But when he rose, Sarah met his eyes.
"Sit down Fredrick." She commanded.
David was extremely surprised when Fredrick actually obeyed.
Fredrick sat back at his chair, crying. While Sarah turned to the remains of her chair. There was a white flash and the chair was rebuilt and tucked under the table.
Sarah sighed and sat back down.
"Jason."
Jason met Sarah's gaze, his eyes were watery.
"It's time."
Sarah's voice was soft and gentle. David could see that she really did care about her work. To her, this wasn't just another customer, this was an art, that she crafted.
Jason lowered his eyes.
"Does this hurt?" He asked.
Sarah shook her head. "No."
"Where is he going?" David asked quickly.
Sarah listened for a moment or two before replying. She shook her head. "I don't know."
David was surprised by that. "What do you mean you don't know?"
"I mean I don't know. I don't have access to all the paths out of this world. I don't know where he's going." Sarah replied a little too defencively.
It was then that David began to suspect that Sarah was more than just a reaper.
Jason took a long breath. "Do I have time to say goodbye?"
Sarah paused then nodded. David saw that her eyes changed back to white again, just for a moment.
*It's just a reaction.* He told himself wonderingly. *I doubt she even knows.
Jason turned to David and reached out his hand.
"Good luck buddy." David said, a tear in his eye. Jason too looked ready to cry.
Mary took Jason's attention then.
"It's been a pleasure knowing you Jason. I hope everything works out for you." She told him.
Jason nodded. Then his eyes journied down the table to his brother. They took on a glazed look and his lips pursed.
"Fred. You are a fucking bastard for doing this. I just hope you know that." He said.
Fredrick said nothing. David thought that he was realising that he had made a mistake. The incencitive prick actually looked hurt by Jason's words.
Sarah stood, passing through the table once again. She turned and walked until she stood infront of Jason.
"You sure this doesn't hurt?" Jason asked.
Sarah nodded affectionatly. "You won't feel a thing. Trust me."
*If you can't trust Death, then what can you trust?* David reflected.
Sarah stretched out her hand and it passed through Jason's forehead, just like it had through Jo's.
Jason's eyes widened with the sencation. A moment later Sarah's hand had moved downwards and that perfect sphere was in Jason's mouth. She tugged once, quickly.
Because David was a writer he was used to noticing things which might pass another by. David reflected that the tug could be attributed to the sudden change from life to death, kind of like cutting a cord, the separation of body and soul.
Sarah held the globe infront of Jason for a moment. Then Jason's body fell sidewards, off the chair.
Jason's ghost still sat in the chair. Sarah sighed.
David listened for the sound of the dog again, but heard nothing. He decided that Sarah had told the truth when she said that Jason was going a different way to Jo.
The silence lasted a good few seconds, then Jason just faded away.
Sarah crossed back to her chair, carrying the white ball. David fancied he could see the reflection of the tablecloth in that soul, or whatever it was.
*Do I have one of those things inside me?* He wondered. *If so, what will it look like?
Jason's soul was incredably reflective, it was beautiful.
Sarah lifted the thing to her mouth and tilted her head back. She seemed to have some difficulty in swallowing this time.
David saw the bulge as it passed down Sarah's throat.
*Bye buddy.* He thought.
Sarah coughed violently for a couple of seconds, reaching for the wine glass that had been placed infront of Jo.
She took a long drink.
Holding a fist to her chest she looked up, meeting David's eyes.
"Damn things taste pretty bad." She said, her voice dry.
"Do you eat everyones?" Mary asked.
"Most, yeah." Sarah replied. "It's the rules."
Fredrick spoke up.
"There's no way I'm letting you have mine." He said.
"Don't worry about it." Sarah said quietly. There was anger behind her eyes, David could see it plainly.
"I know exactly where you're going." She smiled. "And you'll be pleased to know that you get to keep your soul."
Fredrick didn't look pleased, he only looked uncertain.
"Believe me. It'll bring you more pain than you ever thought possible Fred."
Fred paused, he seemed to be thinking. David hoped it was regret he was feeling. He really did.
"You told me I was alive?" He said.
Sarah sat back. She nodded.
"So I can leave?"
Sarah looked away, she was ashamed to admit the truth.
Without another word, Fred's gaze passed over David and Mary. He stood, smiling.
"You fucking BASTARD!" Mary screamed at him.
Fred walked to the door. Sarah did not move.
David heard his brother pause as he reached the front door. He thought for a moment that his brother was having second thoughts. Then he heard the front door slam.
David hung his head.
"Don't feel too bad about it David." Sarah said. "It's no crime to expect people to do the right thing."
David reached across and took Mary's hand.
"Is there any way, that we can go at the same time?" David asked.
Sarah looked him in the eye before shaking her head.
"Sorry David, but Mary here, her future lies on a different path." Sarah smiled sadly, as though she enjoyed dramatic situations like this one.
"What do you mean?" Mary asked, a little worried. "Am I going the same way as Jo?"
Sarah turned to her.
"Mary. I know this is difficult to understand right now, but in time you'll come to comprehend what happened here tonight." Sarah said considerately.
"You mean...." David's eyes widened.
Sarah nodded. "Yes. Mary, you don't die tonight."
Mary turned back to David.
"Please, don't worry about me David. I'll get Fredrick for what he's done to you."
David noticed with horror that Mary's eyes were closing. She yawned.
"I'll get him David." She said with conviction, then she fell still for a moment.
David watched her slowly lean backwards, her head resting against the large chair back.
David turned at last to Sarah. She said nothing.
"Something doesn't add up here." David said. His tone was neutral.
Sarah continued to keep her face expressionless and silent.
"I mean..... Something just isn't right." He said, thinking quickly.
Finally Sarah smiled but still said nothing.
"Is this a dream?" David asked.
"No. This isn't a dream David." She replied.
There was a long pause while David thought quickly. Sarah turned sharply towards the door Fredrick had exited through.
David was startled then and listened instinctively, for a moment he thought he heard something, but it was gone just as suddenly as he realised.
"Carry on David." Sarah commanded.
"I mean....." He said, unsure now as to why Sarah had paused. "That if things really did happen this way, then people would know. If this sort of thing had happened before in more or less these kind of circumstances, then the ones who escaped would be able to tell the world what really happened after death."
Then came a horrible sound that virtually nailed David into his chair. A whistle. A thin piercing sound that seemed to push needles right into David's heart.
It was the whistle of an old steam engine, but it was unlike any locomotive that had ever crawled on rails.
The whistle came again, blowing twice this time. David's mind raced.
Sarah appeared to be smiling.
"You're right about that David. Word would soon get around if something like this happened and people really did escape." Sarah said. "You see, though Mary is still alive, she will remember nothing more than arriving at this lighthouse when she wakes up in the hospital."
"....And Fredrick?" David asked.
Sarah's face was suddenly stony. David could swear that he could actually hear the engine in the steam train turning over.
"It's time David." She said sadly.
David waited silently. He had no intention of running. He believed in fate, and if this was his end, then there was nothing to be done.
Sarah reached forwards and pulled his soul out of him.
David's body fell forwards into his soup. David looked down at it.
The sound of the train was deafening now, and when the whistle came again, David put his hands over his ears in shock.
Infront of him Sarah shivered as she held his soul.
"Goes right through you," She said with a half smile. "Doesn't it."
David bearly heard her.
Suddenly there was a scream of brakes that by all rights, should have shattered every single piece of glass in the house.
The scream of the brakes is probably not in the same dimention as this old house.
To explain it to himself he likened his situation to a designer's drawing board.
On the board, all neatly laid out in infinite detail, was the world, ticking along. Now, David placed a sheet of clear plastic over the picture and on it appeared a quick sketch of a train.
He nodded. Yes, that was suitable analagy.
Sarah held out David's soul. David reached out and touched it. Feeling it's solid form, he grasped it.
"You can keep hold of that for the time being David." Sarah said.
The scream of brakes stopped suddenly, and all was quiet again.
"I hate that train." Sarah said standing.
David looked up at Sarah expectant, but not understanding.
"Is that train here..... for me?"
Sarah reached forward and grabbed David's free hand, pulling him over the table like he weighed nothing.
David could still see the blood staining the back of Sarah's cowel.
"Follow me David." Sarah commanded as she walked over to the wall, pausing to look back, then stepping through it.
David shrugged, then followed.
The scene before him expelled absolutely all doubt that he was still alive.
The massive train before him had never rode on railways. It was made entirely out of black bones, and it's face....
It had a face on the front where David had expected to see a snow plough. The Jaws of the skull placed there were alive, moving in those thousand little ways that tell you it is very much aware. From between the teeth of this monster, David could see flames, throwing their suggestive light out into the world.
There was a light up above the jaws, buried into the very core of the bone train. It was cast in the shape of an eye.
Sarah was walking ahead of him towards the cab of the bone train, he followed dumbly.
From the cab emerged a skull with a green cap on, like those old ones the train riders used to wear at the turn of the century.
David came closer but gave the front of the train a wide bearth.
"Hiya Sash." The driver called good naturedly at Sarah.
"You know I don't like that name Bennel." Sarah said quietly.
"Heh." The driver laughed. "Brings back painful memories?"
"Tell me again why I didn't send you through Bernie?"
As David came closer he saw into the cab properly.
The skeleton was real, this was no wire model. The bones weren't white, they were yellow. The things jaw moved up and down with the words, but did not move in any other way.
"'Cause Bernie chewed the driver up and you needed a replacement." He answered smartly.
"Is Bernie the Train?" David asked dumbly.
"No." Came a deeper voice. "I'm a fucking moon rocket."
Sarah smiled and reached up. Bennel, the skeletal driver, reached down and pulled her up gentlemanly into the cab.
"Thats a nasty wound you've got there." Bennel remarked, touching Sarah's back.
There was a pause as Bennel's face turned to David. David knew then that he was looking into the face of someone who'd lived through a thousand tradgedies, and he knew that the very flames of hell had scorched through Bennel's eyesockets and melted his fleshy form away from his bones.
"I SAY!" Called a English voice. David turned towards it.
For the first time he saw that the train had a couple of carriges behind it. He thought he could see a third too, but it was too dark to tell. The lighthouse behind him seemed darker now, more full of shadows. The world he had left behind seemed inexistential, where as the train seemed just as real.
"I SAY!" Called the English voice again. "YOU THERE!"
David's eyes found the face of the shouter. A white skull poking out of a window.
"WOULD YOU MIND HURRYING IT UP A LITTLE, I'M RUNNING TERRIBLY LATE AS IT IS."
David reflected that if skeletons could have English mustaches, this one would have a `corker'.
A second later. Bennel crossed to the steps and leaned out, looking back at the passenger.
"Get your rotting carcass back in the train, you brummie bastard. We'll be moving just as soon as we start rolling."
"I REMIND YOU THAT AS SOON AS WE REACH PITTSBURG I INTEND TO REPORT YOU TO THE AUTHORITIES FOR GROSS INHOSPITALITY. I SHALL SEE YOU HANG SIR!"
"YOU'RE DEAD, YOU FUCKING IDIOT. YOU'RE NEVER GONNA REACH PITTSBURG AGAIN." The driver shouted back. He turned to Sarah and shook his head. Sarah laughed. "Dumb bastard has been through the end of the line about five times now. He just doesn't seem to be taken off when those Imps come to take 'em all away. I wish I could get back there and get hold of the bastard."
David didn't understand what he meant for a moment, then he noticed a extremely large shackle on the leg of Bennel. The chain was attached to the wall.
The skeleton reached down in a fluid movement, holding out his palm close to David's face.
David didn't want to touch that skeletal hand for fear of what it would feel like. But he knew that there was no other way forwards.
"Give me your soul, boy." Bennel demanded.
David was damn near petrified. The driver was extremely intimidating. Sarah was looking at him, she nodded.
His eyes trusting, David handed the small globe over to the driver.
Those boney digits closed around Davids soul and gripped it tight.
Bennel's face never changed, but David imagined that Bennel smiled just then.
David's soul was lifted away from him, and Bennel gave it to Sarah. Then Bennel reached down again, this time for David's hand.
As David was pulled up into the cab, he noticed that behind the cab was a square of light. A doorway, where a candle flickered beyond.
Sarah crossed through this doorway, motioning David to follow.
"I SAY! DRIVER!" Called the English voice again.
Bennel made a disgusted sound. Reaching down he opened the shackle on his leg, holding it out to Sarah.
"Take over for me a minute Sarah, will you?"
Sarah put her arm in the shackle and locked it.
Bennel took a long breath. "Right." He moved across the cabin and picked up a large mallet that had been lying on the floor.
David watched the six foot skeleton walk into the shadows in the rear of the room.
"Don't mind Bennel." Sarah whispered. "He's a bit grumpy, but he's a good driver. He does his job well."
David said nothing, but rather turned back to the shadows Bennel had disapeared into.
From somewhere in that direction came a sound that could only be described as a sickening crackle.
"No!" Came the Englishman's voice again. "Don't do that."
The voice continued but David could swear that it was furthur away now.
"There." Bennel's voice came. "Let's see how much you can complain when you're just a damn head."
Bennel made his way back up to the cab and removed the shackle from Sarah, placing it back on his foot.
"Bernie gets grumpy if there's no one on the end of this thing." Bennel explained to David.
"Okay, Bennel. Take us out." Sarah said.
"Yessirree Ma'am." Bennel said turning to her, his voice sarcastic. "I feel I must say that I never actually realised that you was in command of this little dreamboat, but I guess with a pair of titties like those and an ass as big an' beautiful as my ol' home Texas, you can command me any time you fucking well want just as soon as you kiss my ass and call me Elizibeth."
Sarah smiled like a shark.
"Would you please get Bernie moving?" She said, politely. "And if you make one more comment about my figure Bennel, friend or no, you'll be thinking with only half a skull."
Bennel laughed and turned to the Engine.
"Maybe you wanna explain a few things to your guest there first. Ain't no way that guys gonna get far enough away."
Sarah nodded and turned to David.
"You remember I said that only one of you would survive."
David nodded dumbly.
"Well, this train isn't your future. Not yet, anyway. It's Fredrick's."
David's eyes widened in surprise.
"Are we.... going to go get him?" David asked.
Sarah nodded.
Overhead the whisle blew.
David's eyes looked sorroful for a moment.
"It doesn't matter what you feel about him David." Sarah said, putting her hand on his shoulder, comfortingly. "It's his time to die. This has nothing to do with his actions, or any feeling towards him. It's in his soul, and this is where it ends."
David had tears in his eyes. "I mean, I just can't believe he did it. I know what happened to us, but I just don't believe he's the one to blame."
"I know this is hard for you now, but in time, you'll come to terms with it."
David really didn't know if he wanted to come to terms with it. All this was like out of some weird morbid nightmare. And why had Sarah chosen him only to show revenge on Fredrick. Why had Jason just disapeared without getting this chance.
"Take it slow Bennel. I owe this twat some hurt." Sarah said.
"He the one that attacked you?" Bennel asked.
Sarah nodded.
"You hear that Bernie?"
"Yep." Came the deep voice again. "We'll take our time with him."
Fredrick rowed, trying to tell himself that he was not hurrying.
*Just follow the plan you made and you'll be fine. That intruder, she'll be gone before any police or anybody arrive there.* He told himself.
Then, suddenly, a massive locomotive burst forth out of the ocean just behind him, passing over him as he cowered and drenching him immediately.
The train missed his boat by a couple of metres as it returned to the water, but instead of falling back into the deapths it rode the surface of the water.
Fredrick knew it was something to do with him and what he had seen.
He also knew he had better move it quickly if he had any chance of escape.
But he could not pick up the oars, much less close his mouth as he sat there surprised and terrified.
"But.... I'm alive. She told me I was alive." He said.
Could death have lied? He didn't think so, not on a afterlife basis of points of goodness or whatever they used to judge you.
Then it struck him as the headlight fell on his face once more. She hadn't lied. He had been alive when he left the house. It's just that he wasn't now.
He nearly froze in terror as he looked upon the face of Bernie, the origional and last train. But instead he managed to realise that the boat couldn't move fast enough to dodge the speeding train. He took a dive.
Bernie tore through the boat, scattering it to matchwood, snarling as the human evaded him again.
He'd always likened himself to a speeding bull, one that was not confined to an area of any kind. That made sure that even though his targets ran, then could never escape.
Plus, the targets were also dead, and would be impeded by their growing physical incapasities.
Certainly that guy in the water, the one who'd hurt Sarah, he couldn't swim for very long.
Bernie knew Sarah's past, he knew she'd led the war against this world which had brought him some of the rich souls, but also a billion normal ones. He knew also the she regretted those days now, after all this time. But he really felt sorry for her now because she had become an immortal, that shouldn't be inflicted on anyone less than a god. A god can cope with immortality because they are born with invulnerability automatically endowed upon them.
But for Sarah, who knew the fear of death, it was the worst punishment a human would or could ever face. Sarah's only standing crime, to Bernie at least, was trying to be something she wasn't.
Bernie passed by the struggling human who was now swimming furiously.
Bernie had come to respect Sarah, over the ages. Thats why knowing that the human infront of him had hurt her, angered him greatly.
Whether Sarah deserved, or didn't, what had been inflicted, she was Death, the base of all afterlife lines of conduct. She was the one who visited everyone reguardless of which route the souls took on their way back to the Lake of Souls.
Bernie took a couple of souls every day, but he was only one of a hundred or so routes. Thats two hundred a day easy.
Sarah wouldn't sleep of cource, she wouldn't be allowed. Having said that, neither she, or the one who'd given her the job, had ever looked really tired.
Bernie slowed to a crawl, tracking the offending human. He opened his jaws wide, letting the vast ocean flood into hell as he slowly gained on the human.
Steam was blowing back out of his mouth now as the sea returned to this world, unable to stay in Hell.
A second before the human disapeared between his jaws, he turned, and Bernie plainly saw the orange glow reflecting of the human's eyes. It was a glow Bernie would never actually see himself, and never could.
He would see Hell, because that was where he was taking this stupid human who had attacked his friend, but that was different to seeing the part of Hell which you had inside you.
He felt the human passing through the bottom of his engine.
Sarah smiled as she heard Fredrick passing underneath their feet. She knew that just below them, Fred would be burning, his skin melting then evaporating, his bones fizzling as his soul reinforced their marrow magically.
If she'd actually taken Fredricks soul, then this regeneration would not have taken place and his marrow would burn away, leaving the hollow bones that actually made escape from Hell possible.
You see, Sarah would have to remove Fred's soul before he could melt back into the ledgendary Silver Lake, ready to be born again.
*One day.* Sarah told herself. *I'm gonna get myself freed and return to that place myself.
Sarah had had her time. Even she knew that.
And she had blown it by getting too much power too quickly.
She'd thought at first that the power she had could have boosted her soul up from the human she was, into a dragon, like Kali.
Sarah shuddered at her lover's name.
Kali.
"Sarah?" Bennel looked concerned now. Sarah focused.
"Ahh, yes." She turned to David.
"Sarah, before we do this can I just ask you something."
Sarah looked puzzled but said nothing.
"Why did I get to watch Fred die, and Jason didn't?"
"Theres two reasons David." Sarah said. "Firstly, Jason travelled on a path that I do not and will probably never control. Secondly, we have another use for you."
"Use?" David asked.
Bennel distracted him.
"What do you think of the train boy?"
"Yeah. It's like something I wrote." David responded quickly turning back to Sarah. He was about to speak when Bennel continued.
"You see Davie, one time I had this guy with a real posh accent who just so happened to die with a copy of `Undertaker's' on him. Pretty lucky eh? Well, I read that book cover to cover as we were travelling, and I thought, hey, this here is a guy who has a really good grasp on things." Bennel said. "Well, after that I thought nothing more about it. Only when I touched your soul there did I remember."
David had heard of waffling, he humoured the old driver because he was afraid of what he might have to face up to when Sarah took his soul away.
"What I'm saying is that if you'd like to pay off your dues serving on this train, I could use a good conductor to keep the passengers in check."
"Pay my dues?" David asked.
"Every sin you ever committed is scored against you David." Sarah clarified. "In death, providing your score isn't too high, you work off your score until you reach zero again. Then you get another chance at life."
"What is my score?" David asked.
"I don't know, I'm not allowed to see such data." Sarah answered.
"What happens if it's too high?" David asked quickly.
"You're confined to Hell for a minimum of twenty lifetimes, upwards one more for every point over. However if your question was is your's too high then no. At an extremely rough guess I'd say you've got about twenty years to work off."
"So my choice is between this train and..... what exactly?" David asked.
Sarah narrowed her eyes a little as she realised she didn't know if he was being deliberately stupid, wanting her to spell it out.
"I don't know what your destiny is David. But it could certainly turn out to be worse that Bernie."
David fell silent as he thought.
"You see David." Bennel put his arm around his shoulders. "I saw this character you created, Mr Tumosay, the real hard undertaker of your story. And I knew that there was no better person who would be able to control the people in my carriages."
"I don't think you understand Bennel, I'm not Mr Tumosay."
"It's only a detail." Sarah said quickly. "It can be arranged."
David fell silent again. Bennel appeared agitated, but he wasn't going to rush a decision like this.
"Listen. We're running out of time." Sarah said quickly. "Now, we've got ten minutes before we reach Hell's Gates. If you havn't decided by then then you'll never decide at all. Hell isn't your destiny, but it can be if you make it so."
David nodded.
"Theres no need to badger me Sarah, I'll do it."
Sarah's eyes never changed, but she smiled and nodded.
"Good." She said.
"Then I guess we're gonna be mates after all David." Bennel laughed.
David smiled. He wasn't sure if he'd made the right choice, but he'd never know now. He felt like a quiz show contestant in a game of chance.
*And whats behind door number 3?* David thought. *No, its not a door, its a tunnel.
Sarah turned towards the rear of the train.
"Do you want to face your brother David?" She asked.
"Yeah." David said, suddenly feeling the part he was supposed to have only written. "Why the hell not."
He walked past Sarah into the rear of the train, picking up the hammer as he went.
"Don't worry about damage." Bennel called. "You can't kill them any more."
As David disapeared, Bennel's eyes looked down at Sarah. Sarah found a familiarness, but also something spooky about the fleshless skeleton.
"You know," Sarah breated out. "for a second there, I thought he wasn't going to."
"You did well. He'll do fine." Bennel reassured her.
"You'll look after him won't you Bennel?" Sarah asked quietly. Curiously she felt a little protective of David. She put that down to him being a writer, just like......
She shuddered again.
Bennel was watching her, she realised.
"You're thinking about her, arn't you?"
"Her?" Sarah asked coldly.
"That Dragon you fell in love with, the one who put you in this place." Bennel said disgusted but sympathetic. He pronounced the word `Dragon' in the same way he'd say cockroach.
Sarah's anger flared.
"Dragona deserve more respect from you Bennel." She said bitterly, avoiding an answer.
"Everyone knows Sarah." Bennel said ignoring her. "It's time you faced up to it. Those Ancients of their's, they used you."
"No." Sarah shook her head, deciding it was time to tell the truth. "I tried to use them."
"Sarah, I'm human. David's human, everyone on this train is a human. Except you refuse to believe that you're one of us."
"I took a gamble Bennel. And I lost, I lost everything. And what I didn't lose I destroyed. I utterly destroyed my soul. Thats something I can never forget." She said.
Bennel saw he was getting nowhere.
"Nevermind." He said, turning back to the front. "You leave that soul with me, I'll take good care of it for him."
"Make sure you tell him the slowdown proceedour." Sarah said. "I don't think he wants to end up like you just yet."
Bennel nodded.
Sarah vanished into the shadows.
He mused for a moment as he realised that the footpath they'd walked on only an hour before, was now nine feet underwater. If it wasn't for the two rowboats laying upturned on the grass lawn, the isolation would be crippling.
Fredrick shivered.
This was his old nightmare, this lighthouse where he'd grown up. The place he'd endured through fifteen years. In its halls the echo of the whip, still cracked, unaudable to the outsiders who suspected nothing of the type, but he'd seen the fear in each of his brother's eyes as soon as they'd passed under the doorway.
Fredrick let his ears drift backwards towards the table where his late father's solicitor, the senior partner in Burrows and Slyde, was reading the last will and testament. The white haired old man had been a friend of his fathers, of thirty years nearly, managing his affairs loyally on the mainland, whilst his father lived out his life here, isolated nearly.
"..... Therefore, as time is short I will disclose to you your father's wishes, rather than to read the whole thing." He said.
Out of the window, Fredrick looked skywards at the black stormclouds which came almost every night.
He shivered again, horrible memories of that whip, blending with the rain and thunder.
"Your late father's fortune is to be divided between his sons by proportion of the respective family. His wish was that twenty percent of the money be passed on to Fredrick Schlek. David, you have been given a larger amount oweing to the family you have to support. The same goes for Jason. You both recieve thirty five percent of the money. The remaining share of ten percent is to be given to the medical fund which sustained your fathers life with their treatment.
The solicitor gathered his papers quickly, wasting as little time as possible. The family maid, who Fredrick had already decided he was going to retain, was already waiting to leave.
No one spoke until the two civil servants had left. But when the rowboat touched the water, David called Fredrick back to the table where supper had already been neatly laid out by the old maid.
As Fredrick sat he placed his napkin on his knees, automatically as their father had brutally taught them.
There was a lot of suspence in the room at the moment, the money, a fairly trivial piece of buisness had already been decided, but the real treasure was still to be decided.
To break the silence, the two women present passed a few comments around. Reinforcing the feeling, to Fredrick, that they were the outsiders here. In his mind the two had no place at this table.
There was no doubt in anyones mind that they were all rich. Their father's money had been no megre sum. Too rich, a man might say, to care about petty things like who has more than his brothers, but Fredrick did care.
Fredrick opened his mouth to speak but at that moment thunder boomed and the temperature at the table seemed to plumet.
Another bolt of thunder came and one of the women shouted in surprise as the electric lights in the room flickered.
Fredrick was in a state of shock now though he couldn't say why.
Then another boom and the lights went out.
"Some storm, eh?" Jason tried to lighten the situation.
They waited for a few moments in the darkness.
The storms were expected out here, and power outs were fairly comman. Thats why their father had had a backup generator.
But the darkness did not receed. The generator was out for the night. One of the girls moaned in horror, as they realised it should have kickstarted by now.
Fredrick smiled in the darkness and pulled a matchbook out of his pocket. Striking a match loudly he lit the base of the elegant candlarbra, and thirteen flames, like candles burst into life. Fredrick shook the match out as light slowly filled the room again.
"So..." Fredrick started, his voice was even and slippery, it was his "Board Meeting" voice. "What it really comes down to here, is which of us should inherit Chem Co."
Chem Co. was their father's mega corp which had earned him his money. Fifteen years ago he'd bought out a failing company through stocks and shares and instilled a new manager there who'd worked hard and turned the company into a raging success within three years.
Since then the company had gone into corperate ledgend, procuring their father sixty five billion dollars, to leave to them.
"I think Jason should front it." David said turning to him. "You are the most level minded with dads instinct for buisness."
Fredrick nodded.
"I agree." He lied.
Jason seemed surprised, probably with the ease that Fred had submitted, but spoke quickly. "So, thats settled then." Fredrick had far more important matters on his mind, and he didn't want to argue with his brother, not now of all times.
Outside a torrent of rain began to batter at the glass and another boom lit the dark sky.
There was another awkward silence between the diners, but the fear returned when three ominous knocks echoed throughout the house. To Fredrick, those sounds seemed louder than thunderclaps.
They all turned towards the door, but no one moved.
After a moment Fredrick recovered himself and rose, crossing to the front door.
The door sounded its old familiar creak, but this time Fredrick felt irritated by the sound.
The storm hit him in the face and he braced his eyes just as another clap of thunder lit the sky infront of him, touching down somewhere in the villiage.
Through the flash he saw a terrifying figure. A small form in a hooded cowel, a large patch of darkness obscuring the face, the cowel which was obviously two sizes too large for the occupant billowed around it in the unforgiving wind.
"Come in quick." He shouted above the roar of the sea.
The figure on the step hurried forwards past him, eagre to escape the wind.
As Fredrick pushed the door shut the arrival waited patiently.
As the wind died, Fredrick picked up a scent from the figure that he hadn't been able to detect before.
He couldn't place the smell itself but had a vague idea of neutrality and earthern overtones.
*Shit. Listen to me.* He thought. *I'm beginning to sound like one of those house design specialists.
Small, white hands appeared in the billows of the gown and reaching up, threw back the cowel's hood.
There were several things that Fredrick thought the hood could have contained, all of them frightened him. But he did little more than tence in anticipation.
A second later Fredrick smiled with relief.
It was a girl.
Fredrick had always believed that he and his family were magnificent over-achievers by nature simply because they had loads of money and were able to sustain their personal fortunes. He'd never realised it as strongly as this before, but he was feeling basefully resentful of this villiage intruder from the lower classes. He decided to privately show himself his own superiority by second guessing the visitor's story.
The face was odd though, it was exactly the same as her hands, pastely white.
The girl wasn't too old either. Maybe just out of school, or in the final years.
The girl had noticed his smile now and smiled back. "Thankyou."
There was something about her which Fredrick couldn't identify. It was like she was some kind of goth. But not a goth. Not unless it was some kind of extreme which crept into every part of a person.
Her skin was pale, and her eyes were a kind of blue which Fredrick had never seen before, they seemed to burn with color. Her hair was jet black and shortened into a kind of crew-cut that seemed strangely feminine.
Fredricks air of superiority flicked back to him and he tried to show his intelligence to her. Curiously he did not feel that he was building favor by doing this. Certainly the girl was extremely attractive, but not in a way that appealed to him.
"You must have been cut off when the time came in." He stated.
"Something like that, yeah." She nodded.
Fredrick was surprised. Her voice was like silk but with an accent he couldn't trace. Her words were careful and deliberate.
"Can I take your coat?" Fredrick asked holding out his hand. He noticed that the girl hardly had any rain on her, even though it had been raining most of the day.
Her reaction to his formality was instant. Her hand went up and drew the cloak tighter around her.
"No." She said mildly.
Fredrick suddenly detected a perculiar sencation of vulnerability from the girl. Could it be that the cloak was all she wore?
"W..We were just having dinner, would you care to join us? We have plenty of space here too if you don't mind heights. You're welcome to stay." Fredrick said quickly.
She smiled charmingly. Fredrick couldn't help notice that her face had lit up. "I'd love to stay for dinner."
Fredrick noticed another perculiarity about her then as she flashed a perfect white smile. Her teeth were more pointy than he felt they should have been.
Fredrick mused that David would jump to the conclusion that she was a vampire from one of those books he wrote about.
Without noticing his pause, the girl walked before him into the dining hall.
Her feet must have been light because he could hear nothing of her passage save the whisper of her gown. Normally even the simplest of shoes caused noise.
Fredrick followed her.
The girl walked into the other's view and the temperature seemed to turn to ice for a moment until Fredrick appeared behind her. No one could put their finger on it but a profound sence of doom engulfed the four visitors momentarily until Fredrick appeared. As one, the four looked to Fredrick, their eyes prefering something they recognised as a less disturbing sight.
Fredrick either ignored these strange feelings or he never noticed them at all.
He led the strange figure to the table where an unused plate seemed to have been deliberately place their for her. Fredrick shook his head and told himself that the servants had just been trying to make the table even.
Many ordenary people, at this point, would politely enquire as to whether they are intruding. But this was no ordenry visitor. She merely let Fredrick guide her to her chair.
When he'd reseated himself the first really unusual thing happened.
First, he swore that the girl was reaching out towards the chicken in the centre of the table like a child reaching for an out of reach toy. There was a rip and a chicken leg just flew into her hand.
She started to eat the meat, ignoring the surprise on the faces around her.
"You must be one of these telekenesis people we hear about." Fredricks ego cut in quickly.
A couple of the others glanced unsure at Fredrick before deciding that he must be right.
"Something like that." The girl replied tactfully. Her voice was deep. Not as in her pitch, but rather as if it were deep in some other scale. It made the others feel uncomfortable.
"Do you perform on stage?" Asked one of the women, trying to lighten the atmosphere which had recently plummeted.
The girl laughed. Once again those jagged jaws flashed. They looked incredably sharp to Fredrick. The girl shook her head grinning.
There was another silence which lasted for an entire ice age. All except Fredrick and the girl noticed at that moment that their breath was starting to smoke as though the room really was cold.
Fredrick stuck out his hand to the girl.
"Fred Schlek. I own most of Macrohard Media." He said confidently.
The girl took his hand. "I know."
Fred paused for a moment wondering why she hadn't followed him and introduced herself properly. He decided not to push though.
"These are my brothers." He told her. "David and Jason, and their wives, Mary and Jo. David writes fantasy novels, and Jason here is the owner of Chem Co." Fredricks eyes sparkled. He was proud of showing off to this newcomer, however strange she was.
Something was wrong though because the girl was now looking at Jason, puzzled.
"Mr Schlek." She addressed Jason. "Are you aware that thirty seven of the fifty three oil tankers that have ever sunk causing major biological damage have had some degree of direct relation to your company?"
*Holy shit.* Fredrick told himself. *She's from greenpeace and we're stuck with her for the night.*
He corrected himself quickly as he realised his mistake.
*No.* He laughed, *Not for the whole night.
Jason squirmed under the girl's gaze. She had that devoted look that he'd only seen on the most determined of activists.
"I was not aware of this, no. I shall appoint a new manager for the company and ask him to look into this quite unacceptable statistic." He replied diplomatically.
"I'll remember that you said that Mr Schlek. I'll tell that to the next oil soaked bird I find on the beach."
"Are you a member of the Enviroment Council?" David asked, pausing before adding, "Miss...?"
The girl appeared to remember something. "I'm sorry." Her voice was calm and diplomatic now. "I appear to have forgotten my manners. My name is Sarah."
Fred smiled nodding. "Well, Sarah, are you a member of the EC?"
"No," She shook her head. "I just do the cleaning up really." She said sadly. "I just take the animals away."
*RSPCA too?* Fred thought.
"Where do you take the animals Sarah?" Jo asked. "Do they go to a special cemetary or just to the dump."
"No. I take their spirits away. Not their bodies." She told Jo.
There was a silence. No one knew what to say. Jason and Fredrick's eyes met.
David chipped in quickly.
"Sarah. You haven't had a accident have you?" He asked sympathetically. "Maybe bumped your head?"
"Had an accident?" She smiled. "Me?"
She laughed.
"This is no accident David." Sarah said. "You've been murdered."
David was too shocked to speak.
Jason chipped in angrily.
"Look." He burst out. "I don't think you know what you're saying Sarah, so...."
"You too." She cut him off.
Jason's face went white. He sat back down.
"I never believed in you." David said. "I've heard tell of you but I'dve never believed it."
"What are you talking about?" Jo asked him. She was scared now.
"She's the reaper." He told her. "Now it all makes sence."
There was a long silence at the table. Sarah reached for another chicken leg.
"What?" Jo asked David. "You can't believe that?"
David turned to her. Sarah listened. "Why?" He replied in a pleading voice. He wanted her to prove him wrong, everyone could see that.
"Well.... well..... well, the reaper's 'sposed to be a seven foot tall skeleton...."
"Well Jo." Sarah chipped in good naturedly. "I wouldn't get very far if I looked like that, would I?"
".... And the reaper's meant to be a he." Mary said.
"Hands up anyone who's ever seen the reaper before?" Sarah said. There was an awkward silence.
"So, I could have been a stuffed giraffe for all you knew." Sarah said to Mary.
"Are we all dead?" Fredrick asked. He too looked like he was in shock.
"No." Sarah replied.
Fredrick smiled nervously. "Then who...."
Sarah held a finger to her lips, lifting an ear, encouraging the others to listen.
The storm had fallen silent outside, strangely, and for a moment or two, nobody could hear anything.
Then far away, came the sound of a dog yapping. Only it didn't sound like any kind of dog any of them had ever heard before.
Sarah stood, her form mingling with that of the table. She was a ghost as far as it was concerned.
"Oh dear." She muttered.
"What is it?" David asked. He looked petrified. Fredrick didn't blame him. He wasn't feeling too good himself.
"The dogs are coming." Sarah said, listening.
"Dogs?" David asked.
"I don't like them. They're nasty horrible things. They're one of the collectors that you'll find in this kind of work." She told them. "The dogs are the worst."
*She's abstractive, that's what its called.* Fredrick told himself.
Sarah turned to him as if hearing the thought.
"I think it's time for you to confess Fredrick." She told him.
"Am I dead too?" He asked unbelievingly.
Sarah shook her head sadly. "I'd like to say they're coming for you, but they arn't, not yet."
Fredrick listened to the dog's baying for a few moments.
"I had the chicken poisoned." He said glumly. "With everyone dead, I would inherit everything."
"You unbelieveable little shit." Jason stormed. "You were always selfish. I didn't realise that you were willing to kill us over dads fortune."
David shouted out then, startling the group. "For God's sake shut up Jason."
Jason sat back down, shocked.
Sarah walked down the table to the end and stood infront of Jason.
"Listen Jason. The dogs are coming. And they're coming for someone at this table."
"Someone other that the murdering shit who put us in this mess in the first place?" Jason asked retorically.
Sarah turned towards the doorway.
The dogs were close now, very close.
Sarah's hand whipped out, passing through Jo's head, but pulling back so the finger's were inside her brain.
Jo looked petrified.
Slowly Sarah's head turned. Her eyes were wild.
"The dogs are coming for you Rachel Morby."
Jo's face went white. Not just pale, but inpossibly so.
"Rachel who?" David asked.
Jason saw the muscles under Sarah's skin twitch as though she was closing her hand. He could have sworn that Jo looked even more surprised then.
Then Sarah began to draw her hand towards Jo's mouth and Jo just kept that look on her features.
As the front of her hand came into view, Jo's mouth opened. Sarah tugged and a white glass sphere came out from Jo's lips in Sarah's fingers.
"This is your soul Rachel." Sarah said. "Though really it should be black, shouldn't it?"
Jo just gazed up at Sarah guiltily. A moment later, Jo's body fell out of her spirit, falling face down in the soup she had been eating, knocking a wine glass over.
"This," Sarah said, holding the sphere. "Is the thing which seals your doom."
Jo tried to snatch the sphere away from Sarah but her hands passed straight through her.
"Please, no... it wasn't my fault.... I didn't know what would happen..."
"That's only what you told the police. That it was an accident." Sarah said coldly. "But you forget one important detail, Rachel. I was there. I saw you drop the iron into the pool."
Rachel broke down.
Sarah lifted the white sphere, which at first had seemed to glow, but now looked hard and cold. "This is what happens to you...." Sarah turned to Fredrick who was looking increasingly nervous. ".... and those like you." Sarah put the sphere in her own mouth and swallowed. It was impossible, a human could never swallow something the size of a baseball, but Sarah did.
"No...." Jo shouted. "Give it back!"
There was a howl, very close by. Fredrick's blood ran cold as he realised that whatever it was it had paused outside the house.
"Come." Sarah called.
A small mongrel walked through the walls.
The mutt was no earthly creation. It's coat was grey and matted, uncared for. It looked rangy and lean. But its face was the worst.
It's eyes were gone. And through them you could see flames, the light shone through it's teeth too and Fredrick guessed that the inside of it's skull was an inferno.
What Fredrick found most surprising was Sarah's expression as she gazed at the mutt.
She just looked sad, but in her eyes was a look of horrified wonder.
Sarah reached out and clamped her hand over Jo's face. Pushing her roughly through the back of the chair and onto the floor infront of the dog.
Jo was crying now, though no one heard her.
The room dimmed. Nothing seemed to exist outside of the table's circle, except Jo and the dog.
"Behold, Rachel," Sarah said sternly. "the gates of Hell."
Fredrick couldn't say for sure what happened then, just that there was a sudden movement on Jo's behalf and then her hand was reaching back out of the dog's mouth, slowly sinking back into the jaws allowing passage to Jo's screams which were plainly a thousand times more than agonized.
Then the jaw closed and Jo's wrist fell to the floor. The screams stopped instantly.
Sarah walked over and kneeling, picked up the ghostly hand, the fingers curling.
"I've told you before that you can't just leave these things lying around." She said to the dog.
The others at the table sat in horror of what they'd seen, wondering to themselves whether the nightmare was over.
Sarah reached out and grasped the dog's face, her fingers drawing blood as they hooked behind the bone. The dog protested violently.
She did a quick flick of the finger and the dog's jaw dropped open. Fredrick guessed correctly that she'd dislocated it.
Before the dog could move Sarah grabbed a handful of fur and pulled the dog to her as she knelt.
She lifted the dog's head and dropped the hand between the open jaws. Then she pushed at the dog's open mouth and they all heard the snap as the bone slid back into place.
She stood and the dog pelted, yelping. It passed straight through the wall.
Sarah brushed her hands, turning around. She spoke quietly, but Fredrick didn't think she was speaking to herself. "Let that be a lesson to you."
She approached the table again and sat back down at her old place.
"And then there were five...." She said smiling relieved.
"What happened to Jo?" Jason asked.
"Do you really want to know?" Sarah asked.
Jason fell silent. No. He didn't want to know. Instead he asked another question.
"Why?"
"You were engaged, to be married to her?" Sarah asked as if confirming something she'd just been told.
Jason nodded.
"Jo's real name was Rachel Morby. She has been married five times before. All to weathy batcholers. Every single one was robbed of their fortunes by her, one, she even killed as a last resort. That is what sealed her fate." Sarah explained.
"And you're saying Jason would have been next?" David asked.
"No. I'm telling you her past, nothing more." Sarah clarified.
David saw what he needed to.
"Please, I don't deserve to die." Mary begged.
Sarah turned towards her irritated. She didn't speak for a few moments as she held the gaze of Mary.
"Don't you get it Mare," Sarah spoke. "I didn't kill you. I didn't kill any of you."
"Theres only one monster here." David spoke, looking hatefully at Fredrick. "I hope he goes the same way as Jo did."
Sarah smiled. "Rachel only killed once."
David didn't smile but his expression told Fredrick that he deserved whatever was going to happen.
"But...." Fredrick stammered. "I'm alive arn't I? I survived?"
Sarah nodded, closing her eyes. She looked shameful.
"What?!!" Jason burst out. "You take Jo to hell, yet you can't take a real murderer?"
Sarah looked very annoyed then as her head whipped around to look at Jason.
"Murder is wrong." She said softly, as if to herself. Mary thought she saw a tear running down Sarah's face, but if there was it was gone quickly.
"Sarah?" Fredrick snapped, drawing her attention. To Jason, both of them appeared to be in shock, though Sarah's seemed internal.
"Is there any way I can make up for what I've done?" Fredrick said. Jason wondered whether it was guilt, or fear that was causing the change in the man who until this evening, he had been proud to call his brother.
"Make up?" Sarah asked unbelievingly. "Heh. Thats a notion."
She paused, her mind seemed to wander for a moment, then she returned to Fred.
"To make up for something like this Fredrick, you need to do something incredably generous and reattain your brother's respect. Thats something that I doubt very much that you'll have time to do."
Fredrick paused a moment. Then it seemed to Jason and David, he seemed to realise something.
"You know what Sarah..." He said leaning forwards. Suddenly Sarah looked a little uncertain. That frightened both the other two brothers, but Fredrick seemed to not notice. Fredrick picked up an apple from the table and tossed it to Sarah.
She caught it instinctively.
".... I don't believe you know what you're talking about." Fredrick continued. "I think you're just trying to scare me."
Sarah looked angry now. "So what if I am Fred. What else am I supposed to do?"
David could see a certain amount of hurt in Sarah just then, but it disapeared quickly. Could she really care about what happened to Fredrick?
Fredrick stood and pretended to cross to the wine bottle, behind Sarah, but at the last second turned away and picked up the axe by the fire.
Sarah didn't see him until it was too late, neither did the brothers. David, it seemed was in a state of permanant shock. But when Mary screamed, Sarah half turned towards Fredrick, her face puzzled.
Thats when he hit.
The axe passed through the back of Sarah's chair with a crack and buried itself in her back.
Sarah's reaction was instant. She screamed as though she was a normal human, her back arched, her eyes wide.
The four onlookers watched in horror. Fredrick even, didn't seem to have expected this.
Sarah tried to stand, but the chair, it seemed, impeded her.
As she screamed in agony the three seated watched horrified, unable to do anything, as her eyes slowly lost their colour and turned instead into a pure white ball with no visable iris.
Then Sarah tried again to stand. This time the chair fell apart around her, though a crosspiece still remained, held in place by the axe, deeply imbedded in Sarah's back.
The three seated could now see that blood, real blood, was staining the back of Sarah's black cowel.
Fredrick backed away, scared out of his mind now.
Sarah still screamed, but she reached behind her to the accompanyment of a dozen sharp cracks. David told himself that those sharp reports were the bones in those arms which were now impossibly reaching behind to grasp the axe handle.
She pulled the axe out of her back with another echoing scream. Then she grasped the axe handle and turned back to Fredrick who was standing with his back to the wall, scared stiff.
Fredrick saw pure hatred in those eyes then and he knew she was going to throw the axe at him, but still he couldn't move.
Sarah drew back and threw. It seemed to David then that time slowed to a crawl. The axe spun twice as it crossed the room towards his defenceless brother, but at the very last moment, before the blade buried itself in Fred's forehead, the axe seemed to lift upwards so it missed him by a couple of milimetres, sinking deeply into the wall above Fredrick's head.
Fred screamed in shock at the impact, but then, as he felt nothing he looked slowly upwards. David noticed with a small amusement, that Fred had wet himself with fright. He'd heard about it but had never been able to understand it actually happening in real life.
David didn't know exactly what he felt about Fred just at that moment, but he felt as if he deserved this.
"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST." Sarah shouted. You could hear the pain in her voice. "What'd you have you go and do that for you fucking moron?"
Fred flapped but said nothing.
Sarah fell to her knees, curling inwards. David had a strong idea that she was healing as she stayed still.
*This is it* David thought. *This is when we find out whether or not she actually is who she says she is.* He reflected for a moment on what had happened to Jo, but decided that that could be done with special effects.
There was a strong smell of blood in the room now, and David thought it was real. Sarah had been hit with the axe and she was bleeding.
Then her head lifted again and she looked outwards again with her blue pupils.
She glanced back at the dinner table to check on the three there, then she turned back to Fred who was still flapping his jaw wildly.
"Just be thankful that your time is still to come Fredrick." She said mildly. She showed no pain now. "Soon. You and me are gonna go on a little journey."
She walked closer to Fredrick now, grabbing his shirt and tossing him nimbly back towards the table. He landed on it with a crash and shouted in pain. But when he rose, Sarah met his eyes.
"Sit down Fredrick." She commanded.
David was extremely surprised when Fredrick actually obeyed.
Fredrick sat back at his chair, crying. While Sarah turned to the remains of her chair. There was a white flash and the chair was rebuilt and tucked under the table.
Sarah sighed and sat back down.
"Jason."
Jason met Sarah's gaze, his eyes were watery.
"It's time."
Sarah's voice was soft and gentle. David could see that she really did care about her work. To her, this wasn't just another customer, this was an art, that she crafted.
Jason lowered his eyes.
"Does this hurt?" He asked.
Sarah shook her head. "No."
"Where is he going?" David asked quickly.
Sarah listened for a moment or two before replying. She shook her head. "I don't know."
David was surprised by that. "What do you mean you don't know?"
"I mean I don't know. I don't have access to all the paths out of this world. I don't know where he's going." Sarah replied a little too defencively.
It was then that David began to suspect that Sarah was more than just a reaper.
Jason took a long breath. "Do I have time to say goodbye?"
Sarah paused then nodded. David saw that her eyes changed back to white again, just for a moment.
*It's just a reaction.* He told himself wonderingly. *I doubt she even knows.
Jason turned to David and reached out his hand.
"Good luck buddy." David said, a tear in his eye. Jason too looked ready to cry.
Mary took Jason's attention then.
"It's been a pleasure knowing you Jason. I hope everything works out for you." She told him.
Jason nodded. Then his eyes journied down the table to his brother. They took on a glazed look and his lips pursed.
"Fred. You are a fucking bastard for doing this. I just hope you know that." He said.
Fredrick said nothing. David thought that he was realising that he had made a mistake. The incencitive prick actually looked hurt by Jason's words.
Sarah stood, passing through the table once again. She turned and walked until she stood infront of Jason.
"You sure this doesn't hurt?" Jason asked.
Sarah nodded affectionatly. "You won't feel a thing. Trust me."
*If you can't trust Death, then what can you trust?* David reflected.
Sarah stretched out her hand and it passed through Jason's forehead, just like it had through Jo's.
Jason's eyes widened with the sencation. A moment later Sarah's hand had moved downwards and that perfect sphere was in Jason's mouth. She tugged once, quickly.
Because David was a writer he was used to noticing things which might pass another by. David reflected that the tug could be attributed to the sudden change from life to death, kind of like cutting a cord, the separation of body and soul.
Sarah held the globe infront of Jason for a moment. Then Jason's body fell sidewards, off the chair.
Jason's ghost still sat in the chair. Sarah sighed.
David listened for the sound of the dog again, but heard nothing. He decided that Sarah had told the truth when she said that Jason was going a different way to Jo.
The silence lasted a good few seconds, then Jason just faded away.
Sarah crossed back to her chair, carrying the white ball. David fancied he could see the reflection of the tablecloth in that soul, or whatever it was.
*Do I have one of those things inside me?* He wondered. *If so, what will it look like?
Jason's soul was incredably reflective, it was beautiful.
Sarah lifted the thing to her mouth and tilted her head back. She seemed to have some difficulty in swallowing this time.
David saw the bulge as it passed down Sarah's throat.
*Bye buddy.* He thought.
Sarah coughed violently for a couple of seconds, reaching for the wine glass that had been placed infront of Jo.
She took a long drink.
Holding a fist to her chest she looked up, meeting David's eyes.
"Damn things taste pretty bad." She said, her voice dry.
"Do you eat everyones?" Mary asked.
"Most, yeah." Sarah replied. "It's the rules."
Fredrick spoke up.
"There's no way I'm letting you have mine." He said.
"Don't worry about it." Sarah said quietly. There was anger behind her eyes, David could see it plainly.
"I know exactly where you're going." She smiled. "And you'll be pleased to know that you get to keep your soul."
Fredrick didn't look pleased, he only looked uncertain.
"Believe me. It'll bring you more pain than you ever thought possible Fred."
Fred paused, he seemed to be thinking. David hoped it was regret he was feeling. He really did.
"You told me I was alive?" He said.
Sarah sat back. She nodded.
"So I can leave?"
Sarah looked away, she was ashamed to admit the truth.
Without another word, Fred's gaze passed over David and Mary. He stood, smiling.
"You fucking BASTARD!" Mary screamed at him.
Fred walked to the door. Sarah did not move.
David heard his brother pause as he reached the front door. He thought for a moment that his brother was having second thoughts. Then he heard the front door slam.
David hung his head.
"Don't feel too bad about it David." Sarah said. "It's no crime to expect people to do the right thing."
David reached across and took Mary's hand.
"Is there any way, that we can go at the same time?" David asked.
Sarah looked him in the eye before shaking her head.
"Sorry David, but Mary here, her future lies on a different path." Sarah smiled sadly, as though she enjoyed dramatic situations like this one.
"What do you mean?" Mary asked, a little worried. "Am I going the same way as Jo?"
Sarah turned to her.
"Mary. I know this is difficult to understand right now, but in time you'll come to comprehend what happened here tonight." Sarah said considerately.
"You mean...." David's eyes widened.
Sarah nodded. "Yes. Mary, you don't die tonight."
Mary turned back to David.
"Please, don't worry about me David. I'll get Fredrick for what he's done to you."
David noticed with horror that Mary's eyes were closing. She yawned.
"I'll get him David." She said with conviction, then she fell still for a moment.
David watched her slowly lean backwards, her head resting against the large chair back.
David turned at last to Sarah. She said nothing.
"Something doesn't add up here." David said. His tone was neutral.
Sarah continued to keep her face expressionless and silent.
"I mean..... Something just isn't right." He said, thinking quickly.
Finally Sarah smiled but still said nothing.
"Is this a dream?" David asked.
"No. This isn't a dream David." She replied.
There was a long pause while David thought quickly. Sarah turned sharply towards the door Fredrick had exited through.
David was startled then and listened instinctively, for a moment he thought he heard something, but it was gone just as suddenly as he realised.
"Carry on David." Sarah commanded.
"I mean....." He said, unsure now as to why Sarah had paused. "That if things really did happen this way, then people would know. If this sort of thing had happened before in more or less these kind of circumstances, then the ones who escaped would be able to tell the world what really happened after death."
Then came a horrible sound that virtually nailed David into his chair. A whistle. A thin piercing sound that seemed to push needles right into David's heart.
It was the whistle of an old steam engine, but it was unlike any locomotive that had ever crawled on rails.
The whistle came again, blowing twice this time. David's mind raced.
Sarah appeared to be smiling.
"You're right about that David. Word would soon get around if something like this happened and people really did escape." Sarah said. "You see, though Mary is still alive, she will remember nothing more than arriving at this lighthouse when she wakes up in the hospital."
"....And Fredrick?" David asked.
Sarah's face was suddenly stony. David could swear that he could actually hear the engine in the steam train turning over.
"It's time David." She said sadly.
David waited silently. He had no intention of running. He believed in fate, and if this was his end, then there was nothing to be done.
Sarah reached forwards and pulled his soul out of him.
David's body fell forwards into his soup. David looked down at it.
The sound of the train was deafening now, and when the whistle came again, David put his hands over his ears in shock.
Infront of him Sarah shivered as she held his soul.
"Goes right through you," She said with a half smile. "Doesn't it."
David bearly heard her.
Suddenly there was a scream of brakes that by all rights, should have shattered every single piece of glass in the house.
The scream of the brakes is probably not in the same dimention as this old house.
To explain it to himself he likened his situation to a designer's drawing board.
On the board, all neatly laid out in infinite detail, was the world, ticking along. Now, David placed a sheet of clear plastic over the picture and on it appeared a quick sketch of a train.
He nodded. Yes, that was suitable analagy.
Sarah held out David's soul. David reached out and touched it. Feeling it's solid form, he grasped it.
"You can keep hold of that for the time being David." Sarah said.
The scream of brakes stopped suddenly, and all was quiet again.
"I hate that train." Sarah said standing.
David looked up at Sarah expectant, but not understanding.
"Is that train here..... for me?"
Sarah reached forward and grabbed David's free hand, pulling him over the table like he weighed nothing.
David could still see the blood staining the back of Sarah's cowel.
"Follow me David." Sarah commanded as she walked over to the wall, pausing to look back, then stepping through it.
David shrugged, then followed.
The scene before him expelled absolutely all doubt that he was still alive.
The massive train before him had never rode on railways. It was made entirely out of black bones, and it's face....
It had a face on the front where David had expected to see a snow plough. The Jaws of the skull placed there were alive, moving in those thousand little ways that tell you it is very much aware. From between the teeth of this monster, David could see flames, throwing their suggestive light out into the world.
There was a light up above the jaws, buried into the very core of the bone train. It was cast in the shape of an eye.
Sarah was walking ahead of him towards the cab of the bone train, he followed dumbly.
From the cab emerged a skull with a green cap on, like those old ones the train riders used to wear at the turn of the century.
David came closer but gave the front of the train a wide bearth.
"Hiya Sash." The driver called good naturedly at Sarah.
"You know I don't like that name Bennel." Sarah said quietly.
"Heh." The driver laughed. "Brings back painful memories?"
"Tell me again why I didn't send you through Bernie?"
As David came closer he saw into the cab properly.
The skeleton was real, this was no wire model. The bones weren't white, they were yellow. The things jaw moved up and down with the words, but did not move in any other way.
"'Cause Bernie chewed the driver up and you needed a replacement." He answered smartly.
"Is Bernie the Train?" David asked dumbly.
"No." Came a deeper voice. "I'm a fucking moon rocket."
Sarah smiled and reached up. Bennel, the skeletal driver, reached down and pulled her up gentlemanly into the cab.
"Thats a nasty wound you've got there." Bennel remarked, touching Sarah's back.
There was a pause as Bennel's face turned to David. David knew then that he was looking into the face of someone who'd lived through a thousand tradgedies, and he knew that the very flames of hell had scorched through Bennel's eyesockets and melted his fleshy form away from his bones.
"I SAY!" Called a English voice. David turned towards it.
For the first time he saw that the train had a couple of carriges behind it. He thought he could see a third too, but it was too dark to tell. The lighthouse behind him seemed darker now, more full of shadows. The world he had left behind seemed inexistential, where as the train seemed just as real.
"I SAY!" Called the English voice again. "YOU THERE!"
David's eyes found the face of the shouter. A white skull poking out of a window.
"WOULD YOU MIND HURRYING IT UP A LITTLE, I'M RUNNING TERRIBLY LATE AS IT IS."
David reflected that if skeletons could have English mustaches, this one would have a `corker'.
A second later. Bennel crossed to the steps and leaned out, looking back at the passenger.
"Get your rotting carcass back in the train, you brummie bastard. We'll be moving just as soon as we start rolling."
"I REMIND YOU THAT AS SOON AS WE REACH PITTSBURG I INTEND TO REPORT YOU TO THE AUTHORITIES FOR GROSS INHOSPITALITY. I SHALL SEE YOU HANG SIR!"
"YOU'RE DEAD, YOU FUCKING IDIOT. YOU'RE NEVER GONNA REACH PITTSBURG AGAIN." The driver shouted back. He turned to Sarah and shook his head. Sarah laughed. "Dumb bastard has been through the end of the line about five times now. He just doesn't seem to be taken off when those Imps come to take 'em all away. I wish I could get back there and get hold of the bastard."
David didn't understand what he meant for a moment, then he noticed a extremely large shackle on the leg of Bennel. The chain was attached to the wall.
The skeleton reached down in a fluid movement, holding out his palm close to David's face.
David didn't want to touch that skeletal hand for fear of what it would feel like. But he knew that there was no other way forwards.
"Give me your soul, boy." Bennel demanded.
David was damn near petrified. The driver was extremely intimidating. Sarah was looking at him, she nodded.
His eyes trusting, David handed the small globe over to the driver.
Those boney digits closed around Davids soul and gripped it tight.
Bennel's face never changed, but David imagined that Bennel smiled just then.
David's soul was lifted away from him, and Bennel gave it to Sarah. Then Bennel reached down again, this time for David's hand.
As David was pulled up into the cab, he noticed that behind the cab was a square of light. A doorway, where a candle flickered beyond.
Sarah crossed through this doorway, motioning David to follow.
"I SAY! DRIVER!" Called the English voice again.
Bennel made a disgusted sound. Reaching down he opened the shackle on his leg, holding it out to Sarah.
"Take over for me a minute Sarah, will you?"
Sarah put her arm in the shackle and locked it.
Bennel took a long breath. "Right." He moved across the cabin and picked up a large mallet that had been lying on the floor.
David watched the six foot skeleton walk into the shadows in the rear of the room.
"Don't mind Bennel." Sarah whispered. "He's a bit grumpy, but he's a good driver. He does his job well."
David said nothing, but rather turned back to the shadows Bennel had disapeared into.
From somewhere in that direction came a sound that could only be described as a sickening crackle.
"No!" Came the Englishman's voice again. "Don't do that."
The voice continued but David could swear that it was furthur away now.
"There." Bennel's voice came. "Let's see how much you can complain when you're just a damn head."
Bennel made his way back up to the cab and removed the shackle from Sarah, placing it back on his foot.
"Bernie gets grumpy if there's no one on the end of this thing." Bennel explained to David.
"Okay, Bennel. Take us out." Sarah said.
"Yessirree Ma'am." Bennel said turning to her, his voice sarcastic. "I feel I must say that I never actually realised that you was in command of this little dreamboat, but I guess with a pair of titties like those and an ass as big an' beautiful as my ol' home Texas, you can command me any time you fucking well want just as soon as you kiss my ass and call me Elizibeth."
Sarah smiled like a shark.
"Would you please get Bernie moving?" She said, politely. "And if you make one more comment about my figure Bennel, friend or no, you'll be thinking with only half a skull."
Bennel laughed and turned to the Engine.
"Maybe you wanna explain a few things to your guest there first. Ain't no way that guys gonna get far enough away."
Sarah nodded and turned to David.
"You remember I said that only one of you would survive."
David nodded dumbly.
"Well, this train isn't your future. Not yet, anyway. It's Fredrick's."
David's eyes widened in surprise.
"Are we.... going to go get him?" David asked.
Sarah nodded.
Overhead the whisle blew.
David's eyes looked sorroful for a moment.
"It doesn't matter what you feel about him David." Sarah said, putting her hand on his shoulder, comfortingly. "It's his time to die. This has nothing to do with his actions, or any feeling towards him. It's in his soul, and this is where it ends."
David had tears in his eyes. "I mean, I just can't believe he did it. I know what happened to us, but I just don't believe he's the one to blame."
"I know this is hard for you now, but in time, you'll come to terms with it."
David really didn't know if he wanted to come to terms with it. All this was like out of some weird morbid nightmare. And why had Sarah chosen him only to show revenge on Fredrick. Why had Jason just disapeared without getting this chance.
"Take it slow Bennel. I owe this twat some hurt." Sarah said.
"He the one that attacked you?" Bennel asked.
Sarah nodded.
"You hear that Bernie?"
"Yep." Came the deep voice again. "We'll take our time with him."
Fredrick rowed, trying to tell himself that he was not hurrying.
*Just follow the plan you made and you'll be fine. That intruder, she'll be gone before any police or anybody arrive there.* He told himself.
Then, suddenly, a massive locomotive burst forth out of the ocean just behind him, passing over him as he cowered and drenching him immediately.
The train missed his boat by a couple of metres as it returned to the water, but instead of falling back into the deapths it rode the surface of the water.
Fredrick knew it was something to do with him and what he had seen.
He also knew he had better move it quickly if he had any chance of escape.
But he could not pick up the oars, much less close his mouth as he sat there surprised and terrified.
"But.... I'm alive. She told me I was alive." He said.
Could death have lied? He didn't think so, not on a afterlife basis of points of goodness or whatever they used to judge you.
Then it struck him as the headlight fell on his face once more. She hadn't lied. He had been alive when he left the house. It's just that he wasn't now.
He nearly froze in terror as he looked upon the face of Bernie, the origional and last train. But instead he managed to realise that the boat couldn't move fast enough to dodge the speeding train. He took a dive.
Bernie tore through the boat, scattering it to matchwood, snarling as the human evaded him again.
He'd always likened himself to a speeding bull, one that was not confined to an area of any kind. That made sure that even though his targets ran, then could never escape.
Plus, the targets were also dead, and would be impeded by their growing physical incapasities.
Certainly that guy in the water, the one who'd hurt Sarah, he couldn't swim for very long.
Bernie knew Sarah's past, he knew she'd led the war against this world which had brought him some of the rich souls, but also a billion normal ones. He knew also the she regretted those days now, after all this time. But he really felt sorry for her now because she had become an immortal, that shouldn't be inflicted on anyone less than a god. A god can cope with immortality because they are born with invulnerability automatically endowed upon them.
But for Sarah, who knew the fear of death, it was the worst punishment a human would or could ever face. Sarah's only standing crime, to Bernie at least, was trying to be something she wasn't.
Bernie passed by the struggling human who was now swimming furiously.
Bernie had come to respect Sarah, over the ages. Thats why knowing that the human infront of him had hurt her, angered him greatly.
Whether Sarah deserved, or didn't, what had been inflicted, she was Death, the base of all afterlife lines of conduct. She was the one who visited everyone reguardless of which route the souls took on their way back to the Lake of Souls.
Bernie took a couple of souls every day, but he was only one of a hundred or so routes. Thats two hundred a day easy.
Sarah wouldn't sleep of cource, she wouldn't be allowed. Having said that, neither she, or the one who'd given her the job, had ever looked really tired.
Bernie slowed to a crawl, tracking the offending human. He opened his jaws wide, letting the vast ocean flood into hell as he slowly gained on the human.
Steam was blowing back out of his mouth now as the sea returned to this world, unable to stay in Hell.
A second before the human disapeared between his jaws, he turned, and Bernie plainly saw the orange glow reflecting of the human's eyes. It was a glow Bernie would never actually see himself, and never could.
He would see Hell, because that was where he was taking this stupid human who had attacked his friend, but that was different to seeing the part of Hell which you had inside you.
He felt the human passing through the bottom of his engine.
Sarah smiled as she heard Fredrick passing underneath their feet. She knew that just below them, Fred would be burning, his skin melting then evaporating, his bones fizzling as his soul reinforced their marrow magically.
If she'd actually taken Fredricks soul, then this regeneration would not have taken place and his marrow would burn away, leaving the hollow bones that actually made escape from Hell possible.
You see, Sarah would have to remove Fred's soul before he could melt back into the ledgendary Silver Lake, ready to be born again.
*One day.* Sarah told herself. *I'm gonna get myself freed and return to that place myself.
Sarah had had her time. Even she knew that.
And she had blown it by getting too much power too quickly.
She'd thought at first that the power she had could have boosted her soul up from the human she was, into a dragon, like Kali.
Sarah shuddered at her lover's name.
Kali.
"Sarah?" Bennel looked concerned now. Sarah focused.
"Ahh, yes." She turned to David.
"Sarah, before we do this can I just ask you something."
Sarah looked puzzled but said nothing.
"Why did I get to watch Fred die, and Jason didn't?"
"Theres two reasons David." Sarah said. "Firstly, Jason travelled on a path that I do not and will probably never control. Secondly, we have another use for you."
"Use?" David asked.
Bennel distracted him.
"What do you think of the train boy?"
"Yeah. It's like something I wrote." David responded quickly turning back to Sarah. He was about to speak when Bennel continued.
"You see Davie, one time I had this guy with a real posh accent who just so happened to die with a copy of `Undertaker's' on him. Pretty lucky eh? Well, I read that book cover to cover as we were travelling, and I thought, hey, this here is a guy who has a really good grasp on things." Bennel said. "Well, after that I thought nothing more about it. Only when I touched your soul there did I remember."
David had heard of waffling, he humoured the old driver because he was afraid of what he might have to face up to when Sarah took his soul away.
"What I'm saying is that if you'd like to pay off your dues serving on this train, I could use a good conductor to keep the passengers in check."
"Pay my dues?" David asked.
"Every sin you ever committed is scored against you David." Sarah clarified. "In death, providing your score isn't too high, you work off your score until you reach zero again. Then you get another chance at life."
"What is my score?" David asked.
"I don't know, I'm not allowed to see such data." Sarah answered.
"What happens if it's too high?" David asked quickly.
"You're confined to Hell for a minimum of twenty lifetimes, upwards one more for every point over. However if your question was is your's too high then no. At an extremely rough guess I'd say you've got about twenty years to work off."
"So my choice is between this train and..... what exactly?" David asked.
Sarah narrowed her eyes a little as she realised she didn't know if he was being deliberately stupid, wanting her to spell it out.
"I don't know what your destiny is David. But it could certainly turn out to be worse that Bernie."
David fell silent as he thought.
"You see David." Bennel put his arm around his shoulders. "I saw this character you created, Mr Tumosay, the real hard undertaker of your story. And I knew that there was no better person who would be able to control the people in my carriages."
"I don't think you understand Bennel, I'm not Mr Tumosay."
"It's only a detail." Sarah said quickly. "It can be arranged."
David fell silent again. Bennel appeared agitated, but he wasn't going to rush a decision like this.
"Listen. We're running out of time." Sarah said quickly. "Now, we've got ten minutes before we reach Hell's Gates. If you havn't decided by then then you'll never decide at all. Hell isn't your destiny, but it can be if you make it so."
David nodded.
"Theres no need to badger me Sarah, I'll do it."
Sarah's eyes never changed, but she smiled and nodded.
"Good." She said.
"Then I guess we're gonna be mates after all David." Bennel laughed.
David smiled. He wasn't sure if he'd made the right choice, but he'd never know now. He felt like a quiz show contestant in a game of chance.
*And whats behind door number 3?* David thought. *No, its not a door, its a tunnel.
Sarah turned towards the rear of the train.
"Do you want to face your brother David?" She asked.
"Yeah." David said, suddenly feeling the part he was supposed to have only written. "Why the hell not."
He walked past Sarah into the rear of the train, picking up the hammer as he went.
"Don't worry about damage." Bennel called. "You can't kill them any more."
As David disapeared, Bennel's eyes looked down at Sarah. Sarah found a familiarness, but also something spooky about the fleshless skeleton.
"You know," Sarah breated out. "for a second there, I thought he wasn't going to."
"You did well. He'll do fine." Bennel reassured her.
"You'll look after him won't you Bennel?" Sarah asked quietly. Curiously she felt a little protective of David. She put that down to him being a writer, just like......
She shuddered again.
Bennel was watching her, she realised.
"You're thinking about her, arn't you?"
"Her?" Sarah asked coldly.
"That Dragon you fell in love with, the one who put you in this place." Bennel said disgusted but sympathetic. He pronounced the word `Dragon' in the same way he'd say cockroach.
Sarah's anger flared.
"Dragona deserve more respect from you Bennel." She said bitterly, avoiding an answer.
"Everyone knows Sarah." Bennel said ignoring her. "It's time you faced up to it. Those Ancients of their's, they used you."
"No." Sarah shook her head, deciding it was time to tell the truth. "I tried to use them."
"Sarah, I'm human. David's human, everyone on this train is a human. Except you refuse to believe that you're one of us."
"I took a gamble Bennel. And I lost, I lost everything. And what I didn't lose I destroyed. I utterly destroyed my soul. Thats something I can never forget." She said.
Bennel saw he was getting nowhere.
"Nevermind." He said, turning back to the front. "You leave that soul with me, I'll take good care of it for him."
"Make sure you tell him the slowdown proceedour." Sarah said. "I don't think he wants to end up like you just yet."
Bennel nodded.
Sarah vanished into the shadows.