I cannot feel
My limbs.
Am I finally
Going to die?
Ah, sweet Death,
Come and take
This pitiful creature
Home!
I welcome you,
O peaceful and hideous
Death,
With open arms!
My soul was in agony. I just want to escape from it all. Is that so wrong? Increasingly, I feel numb.
A beautiful woman, clad in black clothing and wearing a silver ankh, appears at the end of my coffin.
"Who are you? Why have you come to poor Erik," I manage to whisper.
"Oh come now," she says, with a very cheerful voice. "Surely you would recognize me? I've come to your aid many a time in your life."
"Are you the Devil, come to claim my soul?"
"No! Of course not—for one thing, that is just a superstition, and another, why would you think that in the first place? Do I look like the Devil?"
Odd. I do not feel numb anymore. No pain wracks my body, heart, or soul. Am I truly dead?
"Silly, you can get up, it's time to move on."
"Are you...are you Death?"
"Of course. Who else?"
"What happens now?" I ask this peppy girl who claims to be Death. How can she be? She is not somber and cold-hearted like Death is usually portrayed. I wonder again if she is the Devil or a demon.
"You decide what happens next."
"I would like a chance to be reborn, to have a chance at a normal life."
"Take my hand then, Erik."
Fin.