Death At My Door

Chapter 1- The Truth Comes Out

       I toss and turn in my sleep as disturbing images flood my dreams. Thoughts of gruesome decapitations, grotesque images of dismembered limbs, puddles of blood the size of rivers, and a similar dark shadow in the distance of every picture is present, but I can't make it out in detail.

       Screams can be heard in the background. They are screams of fear and of pain. There's a psychotic laughter of the dark figure as each scream begins to end as the owner of the voice dies and fades away into an unforgiving hell.

       And then it hits me: the dark figure in every image is Death himself. His psychotic cackle deafens me as he takes another life, another soul. The more the screams seem to fade as more deaths occur, the clearer the image gets and I can make out a face. Then another realization occurs: I've seen that face before.

       I wake up gasping for breath as I try to take in the extremely realistic nightmare i had just had. I looked at my clock on my nightstand, it was 4:32 a.m; no wonder why I was having vivid nightmares, I was delirious and was forcing myself to sleep when I wasn't tired. Anybody would have crazy dreams, but would they be as detailed and deranged? I didn't know what to think and I knew I didn't want to go back to sleep, so I called my best friend, Austin.

       "Hey Ashley!" he greeted when he answered the phone. "What's up?"

       "Hey Owl," I giggled at how his nickname I gave him really describe him. "I had a really fucked up dream and sure as hell don't want to go back to it. Will you come over? I'll tell you about it if you want," I offered, knowing Austin would come over.

       "Sure, I'll be there in five minutes. Let me pack a bag for the night," he replied.

       "Okay, thanks," I replied.

       "It's no problem at all my chipmunk!" Austin answered before he hung up.

       I layed on my bed until I heard a knock on door. I jumped out of bed and slipped on a pair of slippers as I shuffled to the door.

       "Hey Chipmunk!" Austin greeted when I opened the door. "Nice pajamas."

       I looked down at what I was wearing to see that I was just in a pink bra and a pair of Austin's blue boxers.

       "Yeah, well it's 5:00 in the morning and it's only you so I don't really care what I look like," I joked.

       "That's okay," Austin replied. "Are you going to let me in?"

       "Oh yeah, come in," I say, stepping inside and motioning for him to enter by waving my arm towards the room.

       "Thanks," Austin said as he sidestepped past me and into the room.

       I jumped onto the couch and patted the cushion next to me so he sat down.

       "So can you tell me about your dream now?" Austin asked, sitting down and cocking his head to the side.

       "Sure," I replied, pulling my knees up to my chin.

       "Start whenever you're ready," Austin informed, clearly anticipating my story.

       "Okay, so at first it was just black but there were strange, faint noises in the distance. The noises became clearer and I was able to make them out; they were terrified screams of people being tortured. There were images of decapitations, dismembered body parts, things I can't even describe. There was a black shadow in the background of every image, it was the same thing in each one. There was an evil cackle coming from it as the screams faded as the people making them died and their souls went to hell. The more deaths there were, the clearer the black figure got. It was to the point where I was able to make out a face, the thing is, I knew who the face belonged to," I informed.

       "Ashley, it was just a dream but whose face was it?" Austin pushed.

       "The face belonged to-" I hesitated before continuing. I sighed. "The face belonged to me. I was death himself."

       "It was only a dream though. You were probably forcing yourself to sleep when you weren't tired. Anybody would have a fucked up dream in that situation," Austin said as he rubbed my back.

       "But there's more," I stated. "When I was having the dream, I found joy in the deaths. And even worse, I remember being there during the deaths in real life. I don't know what to do with myself," I told Austin, searching for something to believe in and for some kind of comfort.

       "I'm at a loss for words," Austin stated. "That's insane! There's no way you could have been there to witness the deaths. You don't represent death at all. You're perfectly normal."

       "But the thing is, it's true. I'm born of a demon, a descendant of Satan. My father judges those who die and sentence them to a firey punishment-"

       "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up!" Austin cut me off. "You said your father died in a fire when you were a baby."

       "I only said that to keep you safe. If you knew about my father, you would be sentenced to an unforgiving hell. I did it to protect you," I informed.

       "So that means you're Satan," Austin gasped, jumping up from the couch and back stepping away from me.

       "I'm not Satan. You could just say I'm a..." I was looking for words. "You could say I'm his long lost granddaughter; except the fact that there is an entire generation between us. Demons don't die and unless another demon causes the death. There is a reason why I had that dream."

       "Why did you have the dream then?" Austin snapped. "Why are you telling me this now if you kept it a secret from me for your entire life?"

       "The dream was a way to contact me because I had never gone to the depths of hell to meet my lord. I have gotten warnings about a strange dream like this from my mother but she never went into it in detail. She just said I may have a strange dream that only I would be able to understand. The message of the dream was that my father was murdered. It told me that I had to take after my father and begin to judge the souls of people; and I realized I'm going to avenge my father's death," I stated.

       "So why are you telling me this now?" Austin asked, fear still filling his eyes.

       "I'm telling you this because I thought you would want to know the truth. I received a name that I was to judge. It wasn't my choice but I must do it to go to hell and continue the family line of Reapers," I stated, sorrow was in my voice.

       "Reaper? Like, the Grim Reaper?" Austin gasped, once again backing away from me.

       "Exactly that. I thought you would want to know before I had to take the soul of the name I received," I replied.

       "Thank you for telling me the truth so I know where you went since I won't be able to find you in this world," Austin informed.

       "Austin, you're not going to be in this world either," I stated.

       "You're taking me with you?" Austin asked happily.

       I shook my head; I really didn't want to do this.

       "Austin, the name I received...it was yours." I took a step toward him.

       "What?" Austin said in disbelief.

       "I'm sorry Austin. I have to judge you; it's not my choice. I must send your soul to hell," I stated.

       The closer I got to Austin, the more my demonly appearance and urges began to take over my normal self.

       My blood flared up into flames, melting my skin until it disintegrated, leaving my bones exposed. My hair burned off of my skull and an invisible flame burned in my eye sockets as a black robe appeared on my body. I began to cackle excitedly as I sensed the fear on Austin. I gave one last squeal as I shoved my hand through Austin's chest and removed his heart from his body, the last beat it created ended in my hand before it burst into flames that engulfed me.