A Beat Up Stuffed Cat

Saying Goodbye

Death's POV:

Alright let's check my list here... ah Paris, the Agreste family. Looks like its time to pay mummy a visit.

I entered the Hospital but didnt bother checking in at the front desk, they know me here. Yet they never notice me until it's too late. For some reason Death is usually a surprise to most people. 

 I have a job to do and my main priority just then was the woman whose name resided at the top of my list. 230... where is room 2...3...0... ah here it is! Oh, look I'm just in time. 

Faint beeps emanated from the room they seemed to be slowing down, it was almost time. 

 I slipped in through the door, no need to open it, I just glided on in. there was a tall man with glasses wearing a white suit and a blue striped neck tie, tears brimming in his magnified Sapphire eyes. He was clutching the hand of a fair skinned woman with blonde hair and large Green eyes, she laid in the hospital bed. This, I presumed, is Amelie Agreste. 

Contrary to popular belief, my job is not to take to souls from their bodies, only to be present to make sure they find their way to where ever it is they are going to spend their afterlife. I stood calmly in the corner and waited for her to be ready. It didn't take very long. 

She saw me, I could tell by the look of acceptance in her eyes. That's how most people are, very few choose to fight they know it will only prolong their suffering. I think she's ready to go but then I see a flicker in her eyes, something that she wants desperately to stay for, or rather, someone. 

That's the first time I noticed the children. I hate when there's children. They don't really understand what's happening and its always more heart breaking. These children were asleep, curled up together on the large seat of a chair that has been pulled up to the side of the bed. 

One of the kids, the girl, had dark blue hair pulled up into pigtails at the top of her head. she is an artist, I could tell by the paint covering her dress. I don't think she was part of this family Her parents must've left her to play with the boy curled next to her, they were obviously very close, and, after all, people don't expect me so suddenly. 

Unlike the girl, the little boy was most definitely an Agreste, judging by the shock of blond hair atop his head. He had his thumb in his mouth and she had a stuffed cat cradled in her arms. Both appear to be about 6. 

My eyes drifted back to Amelie. She was looking at the children with such affection and I could tell she believed they will be alright, so long as they have each other. she lingered on them for a moment, a sad smile on her thin lips, then her eyes drifted back over to her Husband. She studied him then spoke in a voice hardly above a whisper, 

"You know, blue is my favorite color." He smiled, sniffed lightly then replyed, 

"Yes, Mon amour," he took a shaky breath then continued, "I wore it for you, I know it reminds you of the sea and of the sky," she smiled, her eyes closed,

 "oh Mon beau, I love blue not for the sea or for the sky, but for your eyes. Your beautiful blue eyes... "

I saw her nod so subtly I think I'm the only one who noticed. Then, her head lolled to the side and her hand went limp in his. 

After someone moves on, time slows for just a few seconds. She left her body lying there and hovered for a moment above her family and the girl. She sunk down next to the little girl's ear and whispered, "take care of him for me," she took one last look at her sleeping son and her husband frozen next to her body, then, turned to me. "Hello," she said in a voice that indicated she was faking the happiness her face attempted to show. 

"You go right on up, they're waiting for you." I gave her my kindest smile. Just because I am the physical embodiment of death doesn't mean I have to be creepy and run around with a scythe and a black cloak, and, after all, would you want to be met with that when you die? I didn't think so. 

She nodded and smiled nervously. Her eyes closed, she took a deep breath and disappeared in a flash of white light. She would be fine, and her family? Well they would have a harder time for sure. 

I decided to hang around a little longer than I usually would, to try and gauge how Amelie's loved ones would fare without her. Time was freed to continue and in those next few minutes I saw quiet the change in the man Amelie had loved so much. 

"Amelie? Ma Cherie? Amelie?! AMELIE?!"

Countless doctors rushed about checking this and messing with that, but it was to no avail, she was already gone. 

All the confusion woke up the children, who, took the excess of movement very well for kids their age. They stood out of the way and held onto each other, it seemed like each was lending the other strength. The cat doll lay in the middle of the floor, forgotten. 

 After they had carted Amelie's body out of the room, the children, Gabriel Agreste and the little girl's parents stood on the front steps of the hospital in grief heavy silence. 

I watched Mr. Agreste's face harden, his blue eyes turned dark and I could see his face become more angular; full of shadows. He reached up, took ahold of the blue neck tie that his wife had loved so much because it reminded her of not the sea or the sky but of him, and tore it from his neck. Gabriel tossed it behind him then grabbed his son by the shoulder and jerked him out of the little girls grasp. 

The child started to protest but quieted when he saw his father's face. He didn't see the joy or light anymore, only sadness and shadows. 

"say goodbye to your friend, Adrien." Gabriel said, his voice like iron. 

"Goobye Mari" the boy, Adrian, squeaked out. 

The little girl waved goodbye sadly, tears in her wide azure eyes, as her parents pulled her one way and Mr. Agreste pulled Adrien the other. 

Sometimes I check in on certain families that struggle a little more and, almost a decade later, neither Adrian nor Marinette would remember their childhood friend nor what they experienced together, but differently. 

All Mari knew in later years was she could never remember where she put her favorite stuffed toy, or why she had dreams about a blonde boy with striking green eyes. 

Gabriel pulled Adrien out of school and got a tutor/ nanny to raise him. 

 Under his bed, in a box, Adrien kept a blue striped neck scarf and a beat up stuffed cat. He didn't know where they were from, but he had vague memories of a man full of laughter, a woman who loved them both, and a girl with blue hair worn in pigtails and beautiful blue eyes.