Fright Night! #Wattys2016

The Boy Death Took A Liking To

She sheltered him in Her leathery wings, although he never knew it. He reminded Her of Her favorite children throughout history, but She watched them all die.

She made a decision. She could not let that happen.

When the boy was a child, his father took him to a bar and left him alone. He didn't return until he had had far too many drinks. When he deposited the boy in the backseat, stumbled into the driver seat, and started the car, Death knew what would happen. She had seen it too many times before.

She didn't let it happen.

They would tell the boy for years his father had an unexplained heart attack, "just one of those things that happens".

As time passed, Death grew more protective. The boy was an adult when he entered into his first relationship with a beautiful girl. She was everything to him, and they often hung out with the girl's group of friends. Death became jealous of this other woman in the boy's life, and decided to take action. The doctors would tell the boy that they had all been partying too hard, and it was a miracle that he survived drinking the concentrated alcohol. They never caught who replaced all the drinks with hard liquor.

The boy was devastated. In the following years, he never made another friend in fear of what might happen. Once cold winter night he loaded bullets into a gun and pointed it at his head.

He pulled the trigger.

The noise was deafening, but he was uninjured. He inspected the gun to find only blanks.

He tried to take his life several times after that. He tried shoving a knife into his chest, but it turned to rubber in his hands. He tried jumping off a bridge, only to find that he splashed down into a kiddie pool in his backyard.

Death was proud of herself. She thought that the boy would be hers forever.

The boy knew that Death would not let him go.

So he picked up a rifle and headed for the nearest school.

When it was all over, Death finally let the bullet enter the boy's head.

Death cried.