Prompt: After you die you learn why the grim reaper is portrayed holding a scythe. It isn't to harvest you, it's to protect you from something on your journey.
A/N: Let's do a spooky theme for the first week of october! It could be fun to do a spooky month for october! I will see if I can find halloween-ish prompt. Could be fun!
TW: Mention of death and sickness.
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It was a sunny day, the perfect summer day actually. If they were in a movie, they would all spend some quality family time at the beach or at the park. But this was the real life, so here they were in this overly sanitized hospital room. All his kids and grandkids were in the room with him, they all knew the end was near so they all came to say their goodbyes before it was too late. He was tired of all the medecines and treatments so they were moving him to this house of palliative care so he could have as much comfort as he can in his last moments. He spent about a week in this house and then one night, he woke up to this voice, one that he never heard before, but was so familiar at the same time. He opened his eyes this saw this young man. He never saw that young man before, but at the same time, he could swear he knew him. The young man was wearing a black zip-up hoodie with a black shirt underneath, black ripped jeans with a few chains attached to the side of it. The old man in his bed couldn't help but smile a little ''Are you a new nurse?'' But as he was asking the question, the answer came to him. The young man only shook his head with sadness in his eyes. He reached for the old man's hand and said in a whisper ''It is time to go, Marius.''
''Are you...'' Marius couldn't say it out loud. Like saying those words would actually make everything that was happening real. The young man laughed a little ''Yes, Marius, I am the... Grim Reaper as you call me this days.''
For some reasons unknown to Marius, he wasn't afraid or angry. He knew his time would come soon and he was at peace with that fact. And seeing Death like that was actually quite comforting. Marius stood up and took the grim reaper's hand and he followed him.
After a little while, the grim reaper turned around to face Marius and while still walking backward, he said ''Thanks for following me without making a scene. It's a good change of pace for once.''
''Well, you look exactly like one of my grandson and I couldn't help but feel happy seeing you. I didn't expect you to look so...''
''Alive?''
''Yeah!'' Marius answered, laughing ''What is your name, son?'' Marius then made a funny face, realising what he just said ''I don't know if I should call you son... You look young, but I pretty sure you are much much older than me!''
The grim reaper laughed and smiled ''Yeah, I am in fact pretty old. Humans called me many names and I didn't always looked like that. Some names and appearances I loved ,other I hated. Now these days, Humans picture me as a spectral form, all black with floating clothes and gigantic scythe. Most of you are scared of this appearance so I decided to just take the shape of a loved one. To make it easier. And you can call me Than.''
''Short for Thanatos I guess?''
Than nodded his head in agreement ''One of my favorite name.''
They walked for a while, making small talks at the same time until they reached a cave that was going deep into a gigantic mountain. The opening of the cave wasn't really big, but it still felt really intimidating. Marius took a deep breath and looked at Than, waiting for him to lead the way. But he looked at him in a confused way when he noticed that Than seemed scared. What Death himself could possibly be afraid of? Than reached for his chains and as he took them in his hand, they transformed into a really tall scythe. The scythe actually. Than took a look a Marius and shrugged his shoulders ''Yeah Humans actually got that one right. But it is not to harvest souls... So listen, you will have to obey everything that I tell you once we step inside. If I say run, you run. If I say stop, you stop. If I say jump-''
YOU ARE READING
52 stories
Historia CortaI heard about this writing challenge from a youtuber I'm following and I wanted to do it too! Writing one small story every week for a year for a total of 52 stories. Let's go!
