Kismet: A Game of Fates

Chapter 8 - Dan Meets Death

She spoke, but her lips were too dark a red for him to hear. Stained, as a day spent picking blueberries. The sounds as they poured over him. He sifted but one word– It split his ears, centred his focus.

He took two steps back, the scythe following his lead. He'd never had a closer shave.

"My soul?"

"The decisions you make when nobody's watching; the truth of who you are. I'm here to collect it."

He could see her eyes now. Abyss, ringed with starlight.

He was stunned by her.

"Collect it?" The words stumbled from his mouth. What an idiot– Dan was standing above his own body; He could feel the wind blow through him– and this creature made him squeamish enough to feel his heart beat again.

That said– He didn't want to be "collected," whatever that meant.

"Souls should not stay in Neither." She shivered, seemingly at the thought. Her wings moved with her, animated by what she didn't say out loud. "Uncollected souls are stuck between worlds, searching for the way to their afterlife before they forget themselves."

He felt dizzy, watching the clouds shift into unnatural shapes. They moved differently, too, pausing and shooting forward; skipping stones across water.

The sun blinded him. He lifted his hand to block the sun, to get a better look, but the light continued to beat down into his eyes. Dan couldn't cast a shadow.

"Neither?"

"Neither here nor there," she motioned around them without care or interest, "between this life and the next– 'Neither.' "

"Shit," he said. "And if I don't come– What then?"

"How long can a cloth hold its shape when pulled apart, thread by thread?" She didn't wait for him to give an answer. "Any plans you've made for the future are halted. Your promises are now broken; the unfinished threads of your life have already begun to unravel. The fabric of who you are is unravelling. Let me help you before it is too late."

He'd made so many promises. Told Red before leaving he'd bring her back something new to read. His Ma was expecting a deer to sell at the market, at least. Maps would be furious he left with Kid– sure as shit, his sister would bring Dan back from the dead just to kill him, herself.

"It is the last choice for you to make, so know this– If you are still in Neither when your name is spoken for the last time, you will walk until every memory, thought, feeling you've ever had is bled from you. This is how you would spend eternity; not as a man, but as a shadow."

"Huh," was all that he could come up with. His eyes looked out into the distance, anywhere but meeting her stare.

"Now, tell me your name and we can move on."

There were too many questions to move on.

"So if you'll just tell me your name–"

"Vaughan!" he shouted.

Nothing else mattered.

"Vaughan," she said, holding a knife above her head. "With this knife, I cut the cord of your life and free your soul from the weight of the life you have lived. You are now–"

Before she could finish her sentence, he vanished into thin air.

Gone.