Blink

A pool of crimson liquid lay around my lifeless body as I stared at myself. A shadow flickered as my last memory came to an end. The memory of my death.  Try as I might I could not recall what had caused my untimely death. All these thoughts passed in an instance. This second of confusion quickly turned into what seemed like a life time of horror. Shocked at seeing myself lying on a sidewalk in the pouring rain blood seeping from what seemed like every part of my body. Unable to come to terms with the fact I could actually see myself I stepped backwards blinked and...

Darkness.

An eternity of darkness.

A timeless abyss tormented by memories. Tortured by images of the corpse almost unrecognisable but yet, so obviously me. I was but an entity, I had no body. Just a mind. Was I to stay like this forever? I would surely go insane, but perhaps that would be a blessing in this nightmare. Drifting in and out of dreams and reality though this reality was nothing more than a dream. A dream in which there was nothing. Was this what Hell was? It felt like it. I couldn’t take it anymore! My mind screamed in agony. Was I simply stuck here? Trapped here by questions of my abrupt death. Can I not find peace while it still eats at me? If I were to explore my last memory and find a reason, would it end my psychological suffering? Well it was the only chance I had. I focused on my corpse and the events that led to me lying dead in a park, so near to my house. I felt feeling coming back to me and rain started gushing around me yet not touching me as if I was not really there. I was in the memory.

I looked around me and noticed I was in the same place as where I die, but it was not dark enough to be the right time. The sun was slowly disappearing as if it was backing away from the horrible event that was about to take place. As the sun slowly emerged with the horizon I sensed it was getting nearer to my time of death. A shiver ran down my spine as I felt myself enter the park and slowly walk up to where I stood. Myself came to a stop and looked around. I looked edgy and had my hand in my pocket as if clutching something very tightly. My memory of me was completely soaked from head to toe in the heavy rain. Though my memory self was shivering I had a feeling it was not from the cold. Why did I not recall such an event? Had my mind somehow blocked it out except in my deepest darkest memories. That was where I was now. This was all happening in my head, which was why I wasn’t getting wet, I wasn’t really here.

A shadow stirred about a hundred metres away and a dark figure appeared. He paced swiftly up to me with such confidence that was not even demonstrated by the fearless heroes in films. He wore almost business like clothing with a long black trench coat that had a life of its own in the wind. His face was covered in shadow beneath a black trilby hat which was pointed down against the weather. As he approached he slowed down lifted his head and smiled; a patronising smile that caused my spinal cord to go stiff. This smile held no emotion and was not an indicator of happiness.  It was a face that told the tail of a thousand battles and many more deaths. The man had piercing green eyes that were as cold and emotionless as stone.

My other self that was still alive stepped forward to him and pulled out the item in which my memory self had been clutching so hard. A gun. This gun was now pointed at the man’s chest. The man let out a bitter laugh and sighed. “If only you had the guts to actually pull the trigger, my dear”. He said, remaining completely calm.

“You think I won’t shoot” I saw myself say, a hint of hesitation in my voice. “You are mistaken. I will. You deserve nothing else but to die. You killed so many people.”

“I had no choice; it was my destiny to kill as it was theirs to die.”

I suddenly remembered who he was; He was The Reaper, a man that took people’s lives if he thought it was their turn to die. The police had tried to lock him up but he could never be caught, he was seemingly untraceable, seemingly inhuman.

“Well then it is your destiny to die tonight” Anger surged out of me as I spat out those words at him.

At that moment I could feel both the alive and dead me blink simultaneously, both missing a vital second. The Reaper was no longer there. I spun around just in time to see him behind the alive me with a hand on each of my shoulders.