Terminal Of Sorrow

it was dark aberrant midnight. The moon, obscured by clouds yet still remains bright as day. It made him think that it chooses to be bright to highlight the upcoming happenings.... A breeze which brings a chill down his spine passes through the graveyard. A rustle in the grass intervenes his thoughts of fear. The carved angels on huge tombstones appear to be staring down with helplessness and sorrow. His heart rate increasing furiously as the universally feared reaper emerges from the dark. Crows squawk excitedly, circling around him like how vultures would wait for the predator to finish off the prey....his name is Ned Jefferies and this may be his last night! 

''It’s half past one... one more hour, must survive this.”  muttered Ned. The shady figure is closing in on Ned’s team. The squad should be here, “The cavalry will come!” he says aloud emerging from the bushes...hoping to have caught his interest. He glances at him with his devilish red eyes giving him a cold, uncomfortable stare. His gold-trimmed scythe stained by blood yet glimmers in the moonlight. The handle, made of bones of his previous victims. His hands looked withered and rotten, exposing some of the bones. His skeletal face intimidating as ever. It would be any being’s nightmare to face a Grim Reaper but this specific one is not ordinary. It is one of the five Elder Grim Reapers, the strongest and ruler of all Reapers.    

“It seems we have a gutsy one in our midst,” he says. His husky voice gave Ned a tremble but quickly recovers his composure. “But as we all know, putting on a brave face can lead to this,” he hoists up one of his fallen teammate’s head. It’s Barry, his childhood best friend. He looks away from the revolting sight trying to erase the scene he had just witnessed, but knows that it will haunt him forever. Ned glanced at his team and observes that Fey, Barry’s younger sibling and the woman of his dreams fall to her knees in disbelief and sorrow. “He should have never visited that graveyard,” he thought guiltily...knowing in the back of his mind that he was responsible for this. “If I haven’t, he may be alive still.”

It all started on a fine Sunday morning, six years from now (Ned was sixteen at the time). Most teens would be at home with their parents, watching TV or relaxing but not him. The reason was that he had no parents, for almost 2 years then. The only sibling he has is his dear sister Meg – She was a year younger than him. Ned’s parents died two days after his 14th birthday.  A car accident claimed their lives. The siblings were at home waiting for their parents’ return from work.  He felt guilty ever since because they had a fight that afternoon. Ned never got the chance to say sorry. After the incident, they moved from California to their grandparent’s penthouse in Linwood, New Jersey – on his mother’s side. They were enrolled at Mainland Regional High school. Ned spent three years there and eventually went to college at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. One day Meg and Ned were taking a stroll through Burwick lane and passing by Hartshorne Park.  She had nothing to do in the house so she asked him if he wanted to take a walk with her. But Ned already foresaw her scheme. For the past few months, she’s been urging him to visit his parent’s grave in Linwood. But Ned was currently fighting a losing mental battle whether he should go or not. He knows he doesn’t have the guts to face his horrific past....yet. “Ned, the real reason I brought you here...”

“I already know Meg!” he cut her sentence short as he perfectly knows the reason she brought him here.

“Look, I know it’s been hard for us, especially for you. But if you don’t face the past, it will haunt you forever.” A hint of desperation was present in her tone of voice.

“It’s not that easy Meg, you of all people should know that.

“Of course I know but it’s not going to get any easier.”  They sit down on a bench on the outskirts of the park. Ned looks up and sees the sky, calm and peaceful unlike the life he has right now. The tree’s branches wave in sync with the breeze. Juvenile birds fly from one tree to the next, getting ready for life’s challenges. He sighs with regret and uncertainty. “Maybe Meg is right,” he thought.” Maybe it’s time to face my past.”