After Hermes disappeared, we had hit a roadblock with uncertainty in front of us. I knew enough to summarize that Hermes's boss had power over this girl's fate and wanted to 'keep an eye on her'. I did not know why this was so but she had some sort of importance if the god of thieves had to babysit her.
I also knew that Hermes worked for no one and only freelanced for a hefty pay and when I mean hefty, I mean that all the diamonds and gold in the world were nothing to him and only things that were one of a kind could make him raise an eyebrow.
Ursula was quiet, dead silent which was unusual considering the fact that she was a chatterbox that talked my ear off. The silence was deafening and agonizing.
"What's wrong with you? You're so...quiet." I broke the silence and she didn't spare me a single look.
"Ursula?" She didn't say a single word.
"I don't understand your kind. One minute you're describing the wonders of ice-cream and the next you're mute. If you are talkative, wouldn't it be in your nature to talk more?" My words elected a response from her, though it wasn't what I was expecting to here.
"Why does it matter to you if I talk or not?" Her voice was flat and devoid of emotion.
"I-" I realized that I didn't have a good response to that question. Indeed her thoughts were echoed in my own. Why did I care so much for someone who was so insignificant.
"I-I am just curious that's all." I defended myself.
"I was happy with my life and I couldn't remember any of my horrible childhood but now even when I die, I can't be happy. Gods, Death, souls, I don't care. I just want to rest and not be part of this...thing." Her voice was hollow.
I listened, my throat itching to be able to defend myself and not listen to her pathetic cries for help but something stopped me from leaving and instead kept me firmly rooted to the ground.
"I didn't ask for any of this. I wanted to be put out of my misery. I didn't want to be a dog trailing behind someone who looked down upon my kind." Ursula continued.
"I didn't expect you to think of me like that." I felt my insides churn into a vat of liquid.
"Oh come on, mister death, have you seen yourself? You are the one thing that others hate." Ursula spat as I froze with my fists clenching and unclenching.
"You take the lives of people even if they're good, you took me from my mommy and daddy." Her words wounded me like knives biting into my skin.
"I didn't have a choice."
"Mommy and daddy always said that we had a choice to do good or bad." She remarked.
"Well, your parents are mistaken. There is no choice in my line of work."
"Answer me this mister Death, do you like your job? You never laugh or smile except once and when you turned all glowy and stuff, you looked scary and I don't say it to be mean." She spoke like the spoilt human she was.
My silence was enough confirmation for her question.
"So you don't like your job..." Ursula hit the nail on the head. I despised my job, I would rather work in greasy low-income fast food joints than continue to reap countless number of souls.
"Doesn't matter if I like my job or not." I said as we continued to walk towards the town to reap the souls on my list.
"Why? You can always choose not to do it." Her ignorance was so startling that I stopped and raised my head to look at her with narrowly stretched eyes and a thin smile.
"My dear stupid human, unlike you pigs, some of us don't have a choice in what we do and what we want. There is no line of choice, only do. I can't do this freedom you speak so highly of, I can only shove my unhappiness down my throat and continue with my job so you miserable brats can rest in luxury." I finished my eloquent speech with a final spat of distaste as Ursula regarded me with silence again.
"We're not brats." She said quietly, all her bravado from earlier disappearing.
"Sure you are! Your idiotic kind does nothing other than eat, sleep and defecate. You are nothing other than disposable. I don't understand why God favours your kind so much, to everyone else, you're a joke, a lousy excuse for intelligent life. You cry when you die and you cry when you don't get what you want. Weak, foolish, pathetic creatures. If I could, I would dump every one of your souls into the pits of Tartarus where you belong." All my frustration from the years and centuries poured out as I let all my anger stream out from my mouth.
"Is that really what you think of me?" Ursula stared at me with her wide beguiles eyes.
"That barely scratches the surface of my deep hatred of your kind. Ignorant, useless monsters that are mutations of the worst parts of life." I scowled as Ursula turned around and started running away, her weeps filling the air.
I was too caught up in my pride that I didn't notice how Ursula had taken all my words to heart and swallowed it like bitter pills. I did not mean to say those harsh words towards her, I had used it to describe most of humanity because I was so frustrated and all my emotions were building up to explode as soon as Ursula had taunted me.
I knew that the right thing to do was to go after her but I didn't want to. A selfish part of myself wanted to just leave her be and take out my frustrations on her but another part of me, the part buried deep in my gut, that part wanted me to go after her and apologise for my...actions.
It was an internal fight that both my conscious mind and subconscious body argued about. I did not possess a soul so I did not have to worry about emotions, that was one of the reasons why I was created the way I was. I was not suppose to apologise or feel guilty for my actions yet here I am with two contrasting feelings.
The internal fight was broken when a loud scream rang through the air, the scream of a certain girl that I had to apologise to.
