The Paper Sky

Chapter Six

"Who are you?" Delilah demanded.  "Why have you brought me here?"  She shivered.  "Why is it so... cold?"  The blood left her face, and she stared at the oblivion in horror.  "What is that?"

"I'm sorry," I said.  "We have to move." She began walking.  "I think it began this morning.  I don't know what it was.  I fell and knocked my head, and I woke up... I thought it was a storm.  But it seems to be a sort of... Well, I don't know.  You caught up with me and insisted that we should go together.  That was what you wanted.  Our memory is fading fast... We have to go."

"Why should I believe you?" she said.  "How do I know you haven't kidnapped me and wiped my memory?  How do I know that there isn't a cage at the top of this mountain?  You could be leading me right into a trap." 

"Please come with me," I said.  "I don't know how long I have until my memory is wiped as well.  Please..."

"No," she said.  "I'm going to figure out what that oblivion really is."  She marched the other way, and I forced myself to stay as she walked into the oblivion.  I heard a shrill scream, and when it faded, I could no longer see her.

A tear fell down my cheek, and I continued up the mountain.  I couldn't have saved her.  I tried, but it wasn't good enough.  Now she was gone.  When I reached the top of the mountain, I saw a cloaked figure.  It's cloak was being pulled by the wind, but it stayed still.

"Hello Jasper," it said in a thousand voices.  Each voice rang in my ears.  I walked closer to it, and shivered as I approached it.

"Who are you?" I asked.  "How do you know my name?"

"I am Death," it said.  The chorus of voices rang through the mountaintop. 

"What is happening?" I cried out.  "Why is the world being destroyed?"

"There is a being who cares for this world," it said.  "He is called the Author.  Everything you see here, he has created.  Everything that once was, he created as well.  Now he is starting anew.  You will come back to this world with no recollection of me, no recollection of this disaster."

"Will Delilah come back as well?" I asked.

"Of course," Death smiled.  "Delilah needs you.  You need her.  She will need someone to sit with while she watches the rain." My memories came back to me.  I remembered Delilah telling me about the boy she would sit with and laugh with as the rain fell.  That was me.

"I will allow one more question," Death said.  "Before we depart."

I searched my mind.  Never had I wondered what I would ask Death. 

"What can you recall?" I asked, unsure how Death would respond. 

"Everything," Death said.  "And I cannot forget." Death reached out a calloused hand, and i drew back.

"I don't want to leave," I said.  "I don't want to start over again."

Death's expression did not change.  "As you wish," it said, and before my eyes, Death was gone.