I have always wondered how people live with pain. I quietly sit in my room waiting knowing that someday death will find its way to my door. I see now that maybe death is not scary but peaceful. Like floating in a dark ocean floating to god knows where. I thought that life was simple. You live, you love, and you die. I never thought there was something else beyond dying something no one knows about. But I now see that these special things happen to ordinary people like me. You start out great but things become different almost distant and you realize that you are slowly drifting away from the people you love and the things you hate. Soon life will decide that you did what you could and it is now time to move on. I sit back and wait for that one day to happen. Wait for the ground to slip out from beneath me and I fall into a never-ending vortex that people call death. But it is not always that easy. Not always so peaceful.

I am Isabelle downing and this is my story on life's greatest challenge, Death. My story is a little different from the others. Mine includes things that seem odd and non-existent. But is it really that hard to believe? Does everything have to come to an end?

I will start with some basics. I am a thirteen year old girl who is very unsocial. I live with my brother Alois in a manor at the end of the woods. We have a butler named Claude who shows no emotion at all. We also have a maid named Hannah who is so nice and sometimes I see her have scars but I don't know why she has them. Then we have the triplets named Thompson, Timber and Cantebury. They never talk out loud only whisper to each other but that is why I like them.

This morning was just like any other. Hannah dressed me in my short dress that Alois picked out for me. I walked down stairs to see Alois seated at the table picking through his food and Claude hovering over him waiting for the next job. Alois stands when he sees me enter the room. I walk over and hug him good morning. I take a seat a cross from him. The one thing I do not understand about my brother is that he always asks why I am sad but he insists on keeping me locked up in the house.

Claude hands me a plateful of food and I do my best to smile at him. "Well I have some business to take care of today so I will be gone." Alois says looking straight at me. "Oh well um I wanted to know if I can take a walk around the town today?" I ask not wanting to be locked up here any longer. He was going to say no but he nods and says only if I take Hannah with me. He walks out of the room. I slowly push the untouched plate away from me.

Claude walks over to me with his usual emotionless face and says "Miss Isabelle you have not ate anything for a three days. I think you should eat something it is not good for you not to." I roll my eyes and push the chair away from the table. "Claude if I don't want to eat I will not eat. Don't you have to go bow down to Alois or something?" I turn and run upstairs again. When I get to my room I collapse on my bed. My stomach growled but I push the feeling away.

I look at myself in the mirror and noticed that I have lost a lot of weight since I have been on my "diet" that consists on not eating for countless days. I sigh and head to the door to met Hannah for my walk. A wave of dizziness crashed over me but I just closed my eyes and headed out the door with Hannah following right behind me.