Kiss of Death

Immortality

If someone had told me that my sad attempt at suicide would end this way, I would have committed the inevitable act sooner. Not because I wanted it to happen but because then I really would have believed that I'd gone crazy. Daemoniorum. Demonic. A demon. That is what plagued my eyes when I opened them to what I thought would be oblivion.

Nothing. That was the first thing I saw. Black that was blacker than death. How do I describe nothing to someone who has always seen something?

The second thing I saw wasn't so cryptic and was, indubitably unexpected. A monster. Its eyes gleamed with a teal tinged ebony that faded into whispers of icy blue. The figure was authoritative and radiated power that affected me so greatly my head bowed in overriding pressure.

"You wish for this?" He whispered, the 's' from each word softly fading into the darkness. I hadn't known what he meant at first, maybe this being was merely a figment of my imagination, the darkness that had been living inside of me personified in my final moments.

"Am I dead?" I questioned not daring to flinch in front of this beast. "what are you?" His laugh echoed in my brain creating ripples of uncomfortable tension.

"I am a Daemoniorum, or a demon in human tongue. You are on the outskirts of afterlife, your soul lost in purgatory. I am here with a task."

"What is this task you speak of?" My voice wavered slightly under the amused glare of the creature.

"365 days of life with the inability to die and a year from this day you will cease to exist." He replied. This proposition struck me. All I craved was death, could I make 365 days of life in a stable frame of mind?

"Immortality for year and then certain death... Do I have a choice?"

"If you die now you take a one way road to hell, I can promise that a year from now heaven will be within your grasp."

I didn't even have to think before I agreed. It seemed to me the decision I took was the only one to find me true happiness.

365 days, 8760 hours, 525,600 minutes.

Let's do this.

"I agree"

"It brung me great pleasure doing business with you, let me introduce myself." The towering figure stepped out of the shadows, loud, clunky steps vibrating the ground as if it was shivering in terror. I gasped as I took in the 7ft frame of what looked like a man but with added... Details. Platinum silver ears stood up like knives from the black - teal ocean of hair. His skin was as pale as freshly fallen snow contrasting with black lips holding animalistic fangs. He was hauntingly beautiful. I felt a strange kind of attraction towards the Daemoniorum. Maybe it was he way the whips of his hair created a sort of sick halo about his head, or maybe it was his gleaming eyes that drew me into his world of haphazard, sinful amusement. I pondered over this though as I noticed his gaze take me in also, not in the creepy way, but with a dangerous curiosity that could drown us both whole.

It was then I realised the change in my change in surroundings. I thick fog coated a forest. The ground beneath me felt sharp and painfully cold on my feet, the sky seemed melancholy, grey and understated. It seemed the whispers of wind through the trees were hypnotising me as my brain felt heavier and foggier like the scene surrounding me. As if I was becoming one with the wood.

"We must hurry, your body is starting to release itself to the afterlife, soon you will no longer be. I am Tenebris", he stated straightforwardly. The idea of slipping silently away was tempting but I knew better then to cross a soldier of the devil himself.

"Ophelia" I replied and with one touch of his hand hand my vision melted away.
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Light poured through my window in tendrils of warmth and my crisp bedsheets were cool against my hands. I cautiously lifted my head from my pillow, a feeling of uncertainty steering my vision to my mirror.

My eyes were bright. My cheeks were rosy. My hair was glowing and I looked... Happy?

That is when it struck me that something was very obviously wrong.

'Ophelia get your lazy butt down here before I force feed you my regurgitated porridge!' My elder brother Leo ordered from downstairs. As I padded my way to the kitchen I made sure to count every worn out floor board I'd ever taken note of to confirm that this was in fact, reality.

'This is real. This is real. This is real,' I chanted the mantra repeatedly to myself as a coping mechanism for my very flummoxed brain. Upon entering my holy haven of food and inevitable obesity my brother dropped his spatula, the confusion on his face reflecting my own with a hint of concern in his eyes.

'Where did you buy them?' He asked.

'Buy what?'

'The drugs'

'Drugs?'

'Drugs, happy pills, angel dust, rainbow juice. I want to know' his face possessing a concerning look of genuine curiosity and interest.

And he was worried about me?

'I'm not on drugs, can I not just be happy?' Wrong answer apparently.

That is when shit hit the fan. Immediately Leo strided towards me, arms in perfect synchronisation and legs looking as if he was a deranged parrot and grabbed my cheeks so hard I felt like a human stress ball. After staring at my face with a look I could only describe as constipated for a good two minutes, I slowly began to retreat out of the kitchen.

'I'm not on drugs', I repeated slowly. He let out a dissatisfied huff and let go of my face.

'I've got my eyes on you missy. I am everywhere, and don't you forget it.' He left the kitchen, bowl a
of cereal in hand and milk trailing down his chin with his gaze locked on mine.

'Everywhere' he hissed before disappearing from site.

It was going to be a long year.