G/T Adventures

Life and Death

(So, I've had this idea for some time, I just wasn't sure if I wanted to make it a series of shorts or a full mini story. A couple different parts will have to do, as I don't have an idea for an entire story.)

Death is a difficult subject for some people to discuss. For some, the word brings fear and sadness. Others it brings a sense of dread or maybe even relief. For one particular being, however, death is simply work. The phenomenon itself lost meaning long before the first man walked the Earth. 

This being the humans had many names for. The Grim Reaper, Shinigami, La Muerte, or to put it far more simply Death itself. Some cultures claimed there was one true Death, some claimed there to be multiple beings that catered to the collection and placement of souls once they ran out of time. As far as Marcella was concerned, if there was only one of her, the work would be endless. She was relieved there were at least one or two others out there that shared the load.

The life of Death was a cold and lonely one, and Marcella was certain she'd spend her eternal years alone. After her work was finished, she'd return home to the same dull cottage to read the same books she'd read over and over only to return to work in just a few hours and repeat the process. However, the black-haired woman's life had only recently changed.

Now when she returned to her cottage, it didn't look so dull. The outside had a fresh coat of soft yellow paint, the grass and flowerbeds that expanded around its perimeter teeming with life and color. The windows that were once coated in dirt and dust polished and wiped clean on the regular. Even the shingles of the roof that had become a thriving ecosystem for moss and weeds had been tended. It was a far more welcoming sight to return home to.

Stepping through the door, Marcella let out a heavy sigh. The ticking of clocks would immediately overwhelm the senses of anyone that stepped inside, for from the ceiling of each room of the cottage hung hundreds of golden pocket watches. Rather than your normal watch, these ones had seven hands on the face. Each hand represented a selection of time. Years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and finally seconds. Each ticking watch a countdown. A timer on a soul. And once the watch stopped, it would be taken from the ceiling and disposed of. The place would not stay empty for long, new ones were always being hung to symbolize a new life that came into the world.

"My Lady," a female voice rang out cheerfully, and a young woman would enter the room. Marcella found the woman charming. She wasn't anything too special. Marcella had seen plenty of humans in her time. This soul was plain, but pretty. Average. She wasn't too tall, but not short enough to be noticeable. She had chocolate brown eyes and a dirty blonde head of hair that paired nicely with them, and she was always wearing a smile.

"I told you that you don't need to call me that, Penny," Marcella said with a smile, and removed her black coat. Penny was a lost soul that came to Marcella a few years back. The young woman had actually been misplaced by one of Marcella's colleagues. Her name wasn't Penny, not really. In the mix-up however, she'd lost any memory of her time alive and who she was. If Marcella hadn't taken her in, she'd have been forced to wander the Earth as a ghost. A shell of a soul.

Penny took the black coat from Marcella to hang it and stopped only briefly to admire her employer. She could come home looking so worn, and yet she could almost be considered the perfect example of human beauty. No matter how many hours she worked, her black hair would still be in the same neat, tight bun it was in when she left. Her bangs swept to the side, styled out of her face. Her eyes that rested behind a pair of small spectacles were an icy blue, but they hardly ever appeared cold. Pale skin that had just enough color with no evidence that she'd ever had blemishes or bruises. Penny could only assume that a being such as her was created in such a way to avoid any unnecessary self-care routine.